With a spicy and crunchy outside that encloses a juicy and flavourful seitan piece, these KFC style vegan nuggets won't allow you to miss the meat version!
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Sometimes even if you're following a healthy plant based diet, it happens we find ourselves craving for something comforting, less healthy but soul fulfilling. I know guys, I've been there too.
If you're new to the vegan/plant based lifestyle you probably still need to search what seitan is and how it is used in a meat free diet. A while back I put down a post that explains briefly what seitan is and how to make the different styles it at home.
More recently I added the version of my Seitan Chicken starting from gluten flour (Vital Wheat Gluten), which would be a perfect base for these nuggets.
On the other hand if you're a seitan veteran, you already know full well what I'm talking about.
For this recipe I won't be focusing too long on the seitan part. Each one of us already has a favourite seitan texture, so I'll leave that part to you. However, if you want to learn more about the different textures and uses of seitan you can check out this post that will (hopefully) help you find the right seitan for you.
Long story made short: this recipe works well with ANY type of seitan, as its secret lies under its batter.
How to make the perfect batter
The main ingredient for this batter is vegan yogurt.
A easy 3-ingredient yogurt marinade made of yogurt, turmeric and semolina + a coat in a bunch of spices and bread crumbs and corn flakes are the way to make these vegan nuggets finger licking good!
For the marinade we just need to combine the 3 ingredients together, add the seitan pieces to it and coat them nicely.
In the meantime we can add all the ingredients for the crust to a bowl or deep dish and mix it together until well combined.
We can marinate the seitan in the batter for as little as 15 minutes to a couple of hours (marinating more won't really change/improve the end result, I tried it for you), then toss each piece into the bread crumb mixture and deep fry until gorgeously golden brown.
A little sprinkle of salt flakes on top and our DIY KFC vegan nuggets are ready to be enjoyed!
Seitan Nuggets | KFC Style Recipe
Ingredients:
500 g Seitan (cut in bite size)
Vegetable Oil for deep fry
...for the marinade...
400 g Vegan Yogurt (Soy)
20 g Semolina/Semola Flour (1 tbsp)
½ teaspoon Turmeric (optional)
...for the crust...
100 g Corn Flakes (vegan, ground)
50 g Panko Bread
2 teaspoon Paprika
1 teaspoon Garlic Granules
1 teaspoon Celery Salt
1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 teaspoon Mushroom Powder
½ teaspoon Oregano (dried)
½ teaspoon Basil (dried)
½ teaspoon White Pepper
¼ teaspoon Ginger (dried)
Method:
1. Cut the seitan into bite-size portions.
2. Prepare the marinade by combining all the ingredients to a bowl.
3. Add the seitan pieces and coat them well in the marinade with a spatula. Allow to marinate from 15 minutes up to 2 hours.
4. Heat up the vegetable oil into a deep pan. The oil will be ready for deep frying once after dipping a wooden skewer into it, it will start having small bubbles around it.
5. Mix together all the ingredients of the crust into a deep dish or bowl.
6. Coat each piece of marinated seitan into the breadcrumb mix.
7. Deep fry the seitan nuggets until golden brown (this will take up to 5-10 minutes, depending on the temperature of the oil/size of the nuggets).
8. Serve the nuggets immediately with a sprinkle of sea salt flakes with your favourite dipping sauces or simply with lemon wedges.
FAQs:
Can I air fry/oven bake the nuggets instead of deep frying?
Indeed. If you are looking for a lighter version this recipe works well both air fried than classically baked in the oven.
You will need to cook the nuggets sprayed with some vegetable oil in a 200°C (390°F) preheated oven or air fry for 25-30 minutes in the oven and 15 in the air fryer, flipping the nuggets and spray with some extra oil in both cases half way through.
Can I make these Gluten Free?
Yes and no. Seitan is basically gluten, so it's not suitable for a GF diet anyway. However, if you want to attempt something similar gluten free I'd suggest you to follow this recipe for the "meat" and substitute the semolina with corn starch or GF breadcrumbs and the panko with GF breadcrumbs or more corn flakes.
What Vegan Yogurt can I use?
Any vegan yogurt will do, as long as it's unsweetened and unflavoured (last thing we want is for our nuggets to have an aftertaste of vanilla!). I like using soya yogurt, but if you can't have soy there are plenty of other plant based yogurts to choose from!
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