Vegan Chicken

I use these vegan chicken shreds in so many things! They are incredibly tasty and versatile. You can put them in curries, pastas, stir-fry, pies, or anything else you would normally use shredded chicken for.

This recipe is quick and simple, saving you time. It uses a very similar process to my vegan bacon, so I normally make them both at the same time and freeze any extras for the next week.

How did I make vegan chicken?

Seitan! Seitan is amazing and if you haven’t made it before, it’s actually really easy.

It’s a meat substitute that has been used in China since around the 6th century [1]. Made using just the gluten from flour is has a really high protein content, around 75g per 100g [2].

I use vital wheat gluten, which is a powder that has already had the starch separated and leaves just the gluten.

I prefer to use the vital wheat gluten rather than washing the flour myself as this way you can get more flavour into the dry mix before adding the wet mix.

Ingredient notes

Beans – You can use any white beans that you like. I have used cannellini bean and butter beans successfully in the past, but I prefer the final texture when I use chickpeas. They are naturally high in protein and fibre and are generally really good for you [3].

Miso paste – Make sure you use a light miso for this recipe. It will help to add a deep umami flavour to the vegan chicken.

Nutritional yeast – The classic vegan staple. It’s another ingredient to add the umami depth of flavour. I wouldn’t recommend leaving this one out.

Vital wheat gluten – This is what the recipe is built around. It’s basically just pure gluten when the starch has been removed from flour. Its high protein content means this vegan chicken also has a super high protein content.

Pea protein – This isn’t technically necessary, but I found I got a better texture by adding it. If you don’t have it, you can substitute something like soy protein or just leave it out if you wish. If you leave it out, you may need a little less water, or a bit more vital wheat gluten.

MSG – As I said in my vegan bacon recipe, I know this can be contentious. But there was a lot of misinformation spread about MSG. I use it happily with no concerns, but if you don’t want to use it, you can leave it out. It will be hard to replicate that umami glutamate flavour. Since there are glutamates found in meat, adding it here builds the flavour foundation we are going for.

Onion & garlic granules – These just help to build on those base flavours. Using powder instead of granules requires less as it’s stronger.

How to make vegan chicken

1. Start by adding the beans, along with all their liquid, into a food processor and process until you have a smooth paste. You will probably need to scrape the sides down a couple of times.

2. Now add in all the rest of the dry ingredients apart from the vital wheat gluten and pulse until combined.

3. Add in the vital wheat gluten and pulse gently. It will be too dry, so add in the water 50g at a time. Depending on how absorbent your dry ingredients are, you may need a little less water, so don’t add it all until you know you need it.

4. It should come together as a dough. Keep pulsing until it wraps itself around the blades of your food processor.

This part can be fairly hard-going on your food processor, so be careful!

5. When you can see little fibrous strands forming in the dough and it’s getting stuck around the blades, it’s ready to be turned out onto the bench.

6. Give it a bit of a kneed by hand to bring it all together.
7. Now stretch it out into a long flat band. To prevent it from contracting again, you may need to work and stretch it.

8. When you have it as long as possible. Cut it into three 95% of the way along. The top is still intact, with three strands below it.

9. Now, plait (or braid for those in the states) it by starting with one of the outer sides of the three and bring it over the middle one. Move the outer strand to the centre. Then move the unaffected side to replace it as the new middle. Repeat these steps until the entire length has been plaited.

It’s pretty easy, but there are some general instructions here

10. Once the whole thing is plaited, tie it into a knot in the middle. Continue tying knots in the dough until it’s all used up. The result should be a ball with loads of twists, ties, and folds. These are all helping to make our vegan chicken form those fibrous strands that mimic the texture of meat.

11. That’s the hard part done. Time to wrap it up as tightly as possible in baking (parchment) paper.

12. Then wrap it again in aluminium foil and steam for about 90 minutes.

If you don’t have a steamer, you can bake in the oven for 60 minutes at 180C (350F). It will come out with a thicker and dryer skin, but it’ll still take amazing.

13. Once done, take it out and let it cool down completely before putting it in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
14. The last step is to shred and portion it. I normally get 8 portions in total out of this. So, I keep it in bags of two portions, freezing what I don’t need immediately.

Tips for getting it right!

Take care not to overwork your food processor! Making seitan in it comes out amazingly but it can be hard on it, so go slow and keep untangling the strands that form around the blades.

How to use vegan chicken shreds?

You can use this in any recipe that you would normally use shredded chicken. Personally, I love it in any stir-fry recipe. They go great in curries like my butternut squash curry as an additional protein or make something like a vegan butter chicken.