most realistic VEGAN fried chicken?!

see you're pushing the bar to the next level okay if you have nine i do ten you've been to tenerife i've been to eleven a reef it's no secret that people love kentucky fried chicken and i was one of those people before going vegan six years ago the crispy coating the succulent center all those herbs and spices it was an amazing treat and since going vegan i've tried to recreate it loads of times and restaurants all around the world vegan restaurants have also made their versions of fried chicken today's video is going to be a little bit different to my usual recipe videos this is going to be an experiment i'm going to test out a few different plant-based ingredients to see which one makes the best kentucky fried chicken vegan replacement i got a panel of friends and family vegans and non-vegans to taste my creations and to tell you which one they like the most so that you can recreate it at home we're going to be making go on yeah yes sorry we're going to be making that extra special herb and spice blend to make the best coating even a vegan buttermilk plus obviously that succulent center which is replicating the chicken let's get to the kitchen and do this bloody experiment so the four ingredients i'm going to be experimenting with are oyster mushrooms tofu jackfruit and seitan so the first one we're going to be doing is that wheat gluten seitan chicken trust me when you make this you will never ever want to buy a vegan meat alternative again because when you make yourself you see exactly what goes into it and you can really tinker the flavors to your palate wheat gluten aka seitan originated in china and is popular in east and south asian cuisine it has been widely used as a meat substitute since the 6th century especially among buddhist monks who don't eat meat it is made by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch granules are removed however nowadays it comes in a convenient powder called vital wheat gluten which is what i buy and use in the past i've made steaks burgers turkey chicken pepperoni and so much more using wheat gluten and still to this day i'm so impressed by the meaty texture i'm able to achieve seitan is also super high in plant-based protein so for that really flavoursome wet mixture i'm going to be adding to a blender some dried onion some ground garlic some ground white pepper some vegetable stock some firm tofu which i've just patted dry some white miso paste for that umaminus some tahini some celery salt dried sage future tom drop in office reference big tiny cup cafe disco episode i think i'm growing into a giant because look at this normal-sized coffee cup looks so tiny in my giant hand now you can just put that in actually that's funny dried sage some dry thyme squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of sea salt so that is some powerful ingredients in there the reason why you need the powerful ingredients is because vital weak gluten aka seitan this stuff here does have a sort of subtle flavor to it that you want to completely overpower otherwise it doesn't taste good and to help that and to help this taste even more meaty we're going to call upon our old friends again mushrooms these are dried porcini mushrooms but you can add any dried mushrooms you can get your hands on and we're going to get them in as well don't need to rehydrate them they're going to rehydrate in this mixture and i'm also going to be adding some non-dairy milk some soy milk here or whatever non-dairy milk you want and that'll keep the color white glitz it until completely smooth [Music] guys honestly this is so intense there's so many powerful flavors in here and that's exactly what we need to overpower the flavor of the what the white or wheat gluten you get what i mean anyway the vital wheat gluten now goes into my mixer i'm gonna add this wet mixture we're gonna mix it all up we're gonna knead it for about eight minutes in the mixer on a medium speed in the meantime we'll get our broth on the go [Music] so just into a saucepan of vegetable stock i'm going to add some miso paste an onion just chopped in half some rosemary a bay leaf and half a lemon [Music] so we've got this really flavoursome broth heating up to a simmer i'm gonna get the seitan now that it's been kneaded and cut it into some bite-sized chunks it does expand when it's cooking so just cut it or break it into smaller pieces than you want basically when the broth is simmering add the seitan chunks so my meat is in the broth now needs to be in there for about 70 to 75 minutes pop a lid on just make sure that it doesn't bubble rapidly just wanting to bubble lightly when the vegan chicken is firm to the touch remove it from the saucepan and set it aside for at least two hours to firm up it can be left overnight in the fridge and it'll get even meatier before we crack on with the tofu the jackfruit and the mushrooms i can't resist in giving this a little taste test because it does look so meaty look at that that's firm to the touch that is unbelievable and it's going to get firmer as it sets and cools basically and any leftover chicken can be stored in the fridge for up to seven days or in the freezer for up to three months throw it into curries into stir fries into shoes whatever you want is super high in protein too the next chicken alternative we are going to prepare is tofu and we don't have to do much to it because this is extra firm tofu look how meaty that is this has been pressed with like hydraulic presses in the factory and it results in this really meaty product high in protein as well and i'm going to tear this into chunks and uneven pieces so that my coating really crisps up around it and just creates this lovely texture for the jackfruit i've just got some chunks from a can and i'm going to pat them dry as firmly as i can with a clean tea towel and just squeeze as much of this water out usually i would wring it out if i was making a different type of dish but for the crispy fried chicken i want the whole pieces to be intact and that will make it really meaty and as you can see it's very fibrous which i think will create a lovely texture inside the coating so here's the oyster mushrooms this is the fourth element and look at these beautiful clusters here this is how you should buy oyster mushrooms this is a big piece so i'm going to break something this size in half but if your mushroom clusters are this size that's perfect and if there's any hard bits in the center just cut those out as you know i love growing my own food and recently i had a go at growing my own oyster mushrooms for more details check out my instagram or tik tok so before i went vegan kfc and fried chicken was something that i had as a treat every now and then i did really enjoy it but the thing i enjoyed most about it was the crispy coating now kfc have keeper now kfc have keepin now kfc have kept their secret recipe under wraps for a long time but i did some searching i did some research and i put together what i think is very similar and having done very various experiments this is my favorite version of a spice mix for the crispy coating so into a bowl with some plain flour some all-purpose flour and some corn flour i'm going to add the following herbs and spices we have got some cracked black pepper some ground ginger some cayenne pepper some dried oregano some smoked paprika some garlic granules some onion granules some dried basil some dried thyme and some celery salt i'm also going to add a couple teaspoons of sugar as well because that mixture of the spiciness with the sweetness is very good and that is going to add that boom that we need for our crispy coating i'm also gonna be making my own buttermilk too we're gonna be mixing some soy milk with some vinegar or some lemon juice and that's gonna curd a little get thicker add some acidity and that's gonna be a nice batter klinger runner that's what i'm going to call that a blatter klingeronga that was ten spices okay you have nine well see i've gone no i've gone one up one above see i'm pushing the bar to the next level okay if you have nine i do ten you've been to tenerife i've been to eleven a week so the important thing is when you're making this batter is that there's enough flavoring running through the flour if you can't see many speckles then you haven't got enough seasoning in there get more herbs and spices in if that's the case we're all set now buttermilk is done spice mix is done we just need to coat up the four different chicken replacements and then get them fried and then the all-important taste test so when you're coating a vegan chicken it's exactly the same process for each ingredient first up you want to dip into the dry flour mix then into the buttermilk then back into the dry flour spice mix then put it on a plate and we can get it fried once we've coated everything [Music] [Applause] occasionally i may double dip or double coat the ingredients just to get extra coating in the crevices so when you've coated your vegan chicken it's time to get it cooked i'm so excited for this now you can bake it for an oil-free version just pop it in your oven for 35 to 45 minutes and you can even store this at this point put it in a sandwich bag into your freezer it'll last months and just take it out as and when but i'm gonna fry it of course this is a treat i don't have it often and i'm gonna do it properly if i'm gonna have vegan fried chicken so into our pan of hot oil to test if it's hot enough just drop a few crumbs of the batter into the oil if it bubbles the oil is hot enough let's get cooking [Music] [Applause] so on first glance the mushroom one looks most realistic it's because of all those crevices i told you i knew it would be like that look at that wow and you want to cook this until the batter is super golden because obviously the mushrooms need to cook jackfruit needs to cook tofu needs to firm up and the seitan needs to just warm through to the center the seitan is my least sort of spectacular looking one at the moment because it's not enough crevices on it maybe you can tear the seitan but i wanted a nice big thick piece [Music] [Music] look at that mushroom what the hell as soon as they come out of the oil season with salt to keep them crisp and to season them up we've got a big old bucket of vegan fried chicken let's see what one is the best all right guys here it goes i don't know which one is which now i know which one the mushroom is though i'm tempted to try that one first so let's go look at that [Music] that coating is real good hmm the mushrooms are flaky it's almost like a thigh of chicken i know that sounds quite bad gruesome but it's like chicken thigh the crispy coating has got inside all of those crevices and those layers of mushrooms so it runs right through which is amazing and the mushroom is very juicy it's almost fatty the mushrooms are going to take some serious beating because that was unbelievable that coating the spices oh my god okay let's go for this one this is actually thick finger looking good i don't know which one this is it could be tofu or seitan i'm going to break it it's tofu so let's bite into this it's good it's more chicken nuggety it's not as fatty and as succulent [Music] it's just like a nice breaded sort of nugget i guess that's why i call it a tofu nugget i think these jackfruit nuggets here are great for kids especially if you were to bake them and not fry them and not put as much spice in so let's give these a taste wow that that texture there see the fibers the fibers give it a real sort of meat like texture and that was surprising i thought that would be too moist but this is really good the jackfruit is surprisingly good and you can't taste the sweetness too much the flavor of the spice mix is really worked well with jackfruit actually okay the seitan let's try this look at that that is very meaty but there isn't as many crevices as there are in the mushrooms so it's not as crispy but as i said you can tear it to make more crevices for sure mmm this is giving me a different kind of fried chicken vibe this is giving me maybe like um this could be perfect inside a burger with some mayonnaise some lettuce you know like a proper chicken sandwich kind of vibe the taste of the seitan is amazing mmm i think i need to find out what the crew and my mum thinks before we can make a final decision on which one is the best for a vegan fried chicken alternative all right guys this is finger licking good i need to know what you think is the best one so tuck in save major opinions the end oliver which do you think is the best vegan chicken alternative out of the ones you try today i think almost hands down the mushroom like mushroom gang just represents him once again it's the most chicken like out of all the three they're different but just to enjoy on their own the mushroom i think wins i think the other three are really good but like you said in stuff like sandwiches or maybe with like dips or something yeah just on its own yeah mushroom cool another which is your favorite um i'd say the mushroom as well mushrooms but i was very surprised with the jackfruit okay um i didn't expect it to be as nice as it was but it it really goes well especially with that coating the lovely texture but i must say the seitan and the tofu were both lovely as well but mushrooms mushrooms okay so tom your favorite a fourth opinion has to be the mushroom man the mushrooms yeah all the textures and crevices just and the fattiness as you said with the juices it just tastes so good there we have it mushrooms are the winner for vegan fried chicken if you're gonna make vegan fried chicken you must use oyster mushrooms they were unbelievable and i actually paired them with some vegan waffles to make chicken and waffles look how good that looks if you want to make it head over to my website the links below this video and you can also find the recipe for the jackfruit the tofu and the seitan on there too so head over there you'll find loads of amazing vegan recipes don't forget to share this video subscribe like it all that good stuff please it really helps the channel grow and we've got some epic videos coming your way from our trip to mexico where we've actually made a whole food documentary it's coming your way soon so don't miss it click subscribe all that stuff see you soon not gonna do it [Music] you

Channel: avantgardevegan

Views: 195,221

Keywords: vegan, food, cooking, plant based, eat, chef, cooking show, avantgardevegan, gaz oakley, what i eat in a day, vegan what i eat in a day, vegan daily food, gaz oakley vegan food, gaz oakley high protein meal prep, high protein vegan, vegan chef, vegan fried chicken, vegan kfc, kfc recipe, how to make Kentucky fried chicken, vegan chicken recipes, how to make vegan chicken, seitan kfc, kentucky fried seitan, tofu kfc

Id: SbJiZfKqqQ8

Length: 17min 52sec (1072 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 30 2022