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Vegan Fried Chick’n with Pumpkin Spice Waffles

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This was one hell of an experiment since I never worked with seitan before OR made a vegan waffle. It was so much fun!

My parents were happy to be the guinea pigs even though they’re pretty tough food critics

I’m happy to report everyone loved it!! I can’t WAIT to use this same technique for nuggets, wings, and cutlets in the future. I think I see some buffalo wings and chick’n parmesan coming soon…

The waffles were pretty easy, but I did find one odd thing was they take much longer to cook than a traditional waffle. The key is, be patient, leave it on your waffle iron until it browns, and if you accidentally remove it too early (like I did once or twice), you can toast them up to get them more crisp!

I’ll be honest, the process was easier than I thought it would be, although it IS time consuming. This is a great project for feeding guests or special occasions, but making seitan wings is NOT a weeknight activity in my opinion. The waffles, however, were pretty quick. I think that’s an easy Saturday morning activity. I think next time I’ll toast some pumpkin seeds in the same spice blend and sprinkle those on top as well! I’m going to post these as two separate recipes, but both in this post, just keep scrolling. Here we go!

Country Fried Chick’n (Seitan)

This fried chick'n is in the flavor of a classic, southern flavor.
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Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 1 hr 20 mins
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

For the Chick'n

  • 2 cups vital wheat gluten
  • 5 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper optional
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 6 cups veggie broth

For Dredging Batter

  • 1/2 cup mustard
  • 1/4 cup hot sauce
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup

For Dredging Flour

  • 2 cup flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp paprika optional
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper optional
  • 1 tsp onion powder optional
  • 1 tsp garlic powder optional

For Frying

  • high smoke point oil of choice Pour enough in the pan to submerge your chick'n chunks at least halfway. I used peanut oil for flavor, another good choice is canola due it it's neutral flavor and high smoke point.

Instructions
 

For the Chick'n

  • Using a large pot, heat 6 cups of vegetable broth to a boil while you begin to prepare the seitan
  • To prepare the seitan, take a large mixing bowl and combine the vital wheat gluten and seasonings. Slowly add water, 1/4 cup at a time, and mix to combine. You will need to knead it into a dough with your hands until the consistency is elastic, but not dry. You will likely need a little over 1/2 cup.
  • Divide the dough into chicken sized pieces. Be aware that they will expand to about double the size once boiled in broth, so make them smaller than you think. Also, very large pieces may come out tough and chewy, so be aware smaller is better for final texture and consistency.
  • Add pieces to boiling broth, cover with lid, and bring down to a simmer. Let seitan simmer for 1 hour. When seitan is finished simmering, transfer to a wire rack or a plate lined with towels so it can drain and dry before frying.

Dredging instructions

  • Combine the ingredients for your dredging batter in a medium bowl and set aside.
  • In a separate large bowl, combine the flour and dry dredging ingredients, then split the mixture into two separate bowls. You can season the dredging flour as slightly or as heavily as you want depending on what you are doing with your final product. If you plan to serve these plain, I recommend seasoning this more heavily. If you plan to use on waffles with maple syrup, or if you are going to be dipping in a buffalo sauce, it's less important to heavily season the flour.
  • I like to set up my dredging station as follows: bowl of dry mixture, bowl of wet mixture, second bowl of dry mixture all in a line. Dip the chick'n pieces in flour bowl one, then in the wet bowl, then in flour bowl two.
  • In a large pan, bring oil to a medium high heat. Test the oil temperature by adding a tiny piece of seitan. If it sizzles immediately, the oil is ready. If not, you may need to wait a few more minutes and try again.
  • Add the dredged wings to the hot oil, allow to fry until you can see the sides turning brown, then flip and finish frying. Transfer to wire rack or plate lined with paper towels to drain excess oil while cooling.
  • That's it! Once they are cooled they are delicious as-is, but you can also make a dipping sauce and go crazy! OR you can throw them on top of waffles and serve with maple syrup like I did!

Notes

This fried chick’n is designed to have a classic flavor. If you want to make these buffalo, barbecue, or any other special flavor, you’ll need to make a separate sauce to coat them in after frying is complete. You might also want to add extra hot sauce to the dredging batter, or alter the dredging batter with your final sauce of choice to better match the flavor of the final product you’re going for. For example: if making buffalo wings, increase the amount of hot sauce. If making barbecue wings, swap the hot sauce in the batter for bbq sauce (or use both!).

SO the chick’n is the time consuming part, but really really worth it. I’m thinking about making a buffalo sauce for the leftovers today and bringing it to my in-laws house for the Eagles Game! The TRUE test is to see what the men of Delco think.

PS: If you’re not familiar with Delco, this is all you need to know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAyvQSzfeW0. Another helpful reference would be the movie Silver Linings Playbook, filmed in my husband’s home town.

Back to waffles. PUMPKIN SPICE WAFFLES. YEEEEESSSSSSS

Pumpkin Spice Waffles

Vegan waffles that are sure to give you all the warm fall fuzzies
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Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 20 mins
Servings 5 waffles

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 cups plant based milk
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp coconut sugar or vegan friendly sugar of choice
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 4 tbsp neutral oil

Instructions
 

  • Heat up waffle iron and coat lightly with oil or cooking spray
  • Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, mix with a whisk until smooth (some small lumps are okay)
  • Using a ladle, pour batter into waffle iron. These waffles will take longer to cook than non-vegan varieties. I turned by waffle iron to the "darkest" setting and STILL needed to leave them in past the timer. My advice is to let the timer complete, check on them, and just close it right back up and let them cook until they begin to turn golden brown.
  • That's it! Serve with fried chick'n and maple syrup for a comforting brunch, with fresh fruit, non dairy whipped cream, toasted pumpkin seeds, or just vegan butter and syrup. The sky is the limit! Your friends and family are sure to love these!

Notes

If you take the waffles out too soon, feel free to throw them in a toaster, toaster oven, or air fryer to finish crisping them up.

So what do you guys think? Can you picture yourself frying up some wings this fall for football Sundays? Or maybe just a pumpkin waffle brunch? Drop a comment below so I can hear your thoughts and suggestions! If you like the content you see, subscribe to my blog or follow me on instagram (@chrissygoeshippy)

XOXO
Chrissy

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