Vegan chicken is a delicious meat alternative suitable for stir-frying. 

I have written a recipe to explain making vegan chicken with seitan using regular flour.  I will make a vegan chicken dish with vegetables and mushrooms in this article.  This dish is easy to prepare and is served as the alternative to chicken and vegetable stir-fry that is popular among the Chinese.

How to make vegan chicken

• The mock chicken I used is what I prepared in the seitan recipe by using the ‘wash the flour method.’ First, the flour is added with water, kneaded like making bread, then soaked in water to relax the gluten formed.
• Next, the dough is washed with water several times to remove the starch and eventually left behind the protein, which is gluten. Then, the gluten is stretched, twisted, and braided, pulling the gluten to form a meat-liked texture resembling real chicken meat. Finally, the gluten is braised in a soy-based liquid, then marinated in it for a day after cooling to absorb the incredible flavor.

Here is the image of the final produce- it looks like real chicken meat!

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Note: There is an easier way by using Vital wheat gluten rather than all-purpose flour. Since the gluten content is high in Vital wheat gluten, you can skip the washing process and jump straight to the stretching and kneading of the dough.

Mock chicken stir-fry with vegetables and mushrooms

So assuming you have made the vegan chicken, you proceed to use it to make stir-fries with various vegetables. Here are the steps in detail.

1. Prepare the vegetables

• Cut the broccoli and cauliflower into florets.
• Red bell pepper is an excellent addition to the array of vegetables, adding color and texture to the whole dish. Cut it into large pieces.
• Shred the oyster mushrooms into smaller pieces.
• Cut the baby corns into two or three on the bias.
• Snap off one end of the snow peas and pull along the snow pea pod toward the end to remove the fibrous ‘string.’
• Soak a few dried shitake mushrooms with hot water until fully hydrated. Then remove the stem and cut each mushroom into thick slices. Part of the mushroom flavor has been released into the water, ideal for use as stock.
• Lastly, rough chop two cloves of garlic to be used as aromatic.

Note: The above combination of vegetables and mushrooms is my preferred combination, as it has a beautiful mix of color, texture, and flavor. However, the choice of ingredients is flexible.

2. Prepare the shredded ‘chicken’ meat

Assuming you have already made the seitan chicken, you have the option to cut it into thin slices (to resemble chicken slices) or shred it into small pieces. I always tear it by hand as it looks nearly identical to shredded chicken thigh meat.

If you do not have homemade seitan, you can purchase soy curls from the grocery store as the real chicken substitute. It is another vegan chicken alternative besides seitan.

3. Stir-fry with the mock chicken

• First, saute the chopped garlic over medium heat in the wok until aromatic.
• Next, add the broccoli and cauliflower and stir-fry for half a minute. Then pour the mushroom water and simmer the vegetables for a while. The reason to cook the broccoli and cauliflower this way is that they take longer to become tender than other ingredients. 
• Once they are tender, which takes roughly three minutes, include other ingredients except the bell pepper and mock chicken.
• You can add more mushroom water if it is too dry.
• Stir-fry the vegetables and mushroom until the broccoli is crisp-tender, the time when it will slip out from the tyne of the fork smoothly.
• Now add the bell pepper.
• Season with salt sugar (brown sugar if you like), ground white pepper, vegetarian oyster sauce (made with mushroom extract), and light soy sauce. You can premix it as a stir-fry sauce or add these seasonings separately directly to the vegetables if you are confident to do it correctly and not miss out on any of them.
• Add the chicken seitan pieces to the vegetables and mix thoroughly.
• Thicken the gravy with cornstarch slurry. Alternatively, premix the seasoning with the cornstarch added, so there is no need to make the slurry separately.
• Stir-fry over high temperature for fifteen seconds. Dish out and serve either as a standalone dish or with white rice.

Additioanl information:

• I use the water to soak the dried shitake mushroom to cook the vegetables, typical for most Chinese home cooks. It has a concentrated mushroom flavor that works as a free vegetable broth. 
• The amount of seasoning should be moderate since the mock chicken soaks up the flavor and salt from the braising liquid while preparing. Therefore, you may need more salt and light soy sauce if you use unseasoned mock meat.
• If you like spring onion (green onion), cut it into thin rings and sprinkle it on top as a garnish before serving. Another suggestion is to sprinkle some sesame seeds to add flavor and improve the presentation.

• A large skillet is an ideal alternative to a wok, which I often use when cooking in my son’s kitchen. He does not have a wok 🙂
• Add some sesame oil before dishing out (which I did not) for extra taste and aroma.
• An alternative seasoning set is to omit the vegetarian oyster sauce, add some rice vinegar, balance with more sugar, and enhance with Szechuan chili oil. You may want to try that for a change when getting bored with the basic Cantonese seasoning, which is relatively mild. One more suggestion is to use Hoisin sauce as part of the seasoning ingredients.

Other delicious vegetarian recipes

If you like this vegan stir-fry recipe, you will likely want to try other related vegetarian dishes on this food blog. Here are my picks:

• Mock duck meat (vegan duck) is made with beancurd skin and looks and tastes like roast duck/goose. It is gluten-free so is an ideal recipe for vegetarians who can not tolerate gluten.
• Finally, here is the real chicken stir-fry with broccoli recipe if you prefer the real chicken meat over the vegan version. 

More about vegan chicken

I understand making vegan chicken takes time, but you can make a large amount and make various dishes. Adding some seasoning to the dough before cooking is a way to change the flavor significantly. Usually, these dry seasoning ingredients include onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, and black pepper.

I shred the vegan chicken, which is suitable for stir-frying. The vegan chicken can be shaped like wings or chicken thighs before cooking or making vegan chicken nuggets.

Continue to Content

Vegan chicken - how to stir-fry with mushrooms and vegetables

Yield: 3

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Chinese stir-fry with vegan chicken, mushroom, and mixed vegetables flavored with soy sauce. It is and healthy and simple recipe.

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Ingredients

Ingredients A

• 200g Seitan (see note)
• 80g broccoli, cut into florets
• 80g cauliflower, cut into florets
• 50g oyster mushrooms
• 3 medium-sized dried shitake mushrooms, soaked to soften, then into slices
• 50g baby corns, cut into sections
• 30g snow peas, remove the ‘string’
• 60g red bell pepper, cut into pieces
• 1 tsp chopped garlic
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil for stir-frying

Ingredients B (stir-fry sauce)

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 tbp vegetarian ‘oyster’ sauce
• 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Instructions

1. Tear the vegan chicken into small pieces by hand to look like shredded chicken meat.
2. Saute the chopped garlic over medium heat in the wok until aromatic.
3. Add the broccoli and cauliflower and stir-fry for half a minute. Then add the mushroom water and simmer the vegetables for three minutes.
4. Include other ingredients except for the bell pepper and mock chicken.
5. Stir-fry the vegetables and mushroom until the broccoli is crisp-tender.
6. Now add the bell pepper.
7. Season with ingredients B, and mix thoroughly.
8. Add the chicken seitan pieces to the vegetables and mix thoroughly.
9. Stir-fry over high temperature for fifteen seconds. Dish out and serve.

Notes

You can make the vegan chicken from scratch or use soy curls as a substitute. Some shops also sell ready-made vegan chicken made with seitan.

Recommended Products

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• 
  Lodge 14 Inch Cast Iron Wok. Pre-Seasoned Wok with Flattened Bottom for Asian Stir Fry and Sautees
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  Butler Soy Curls, 8 oz. Bags (Pack of 6)
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  Lee Kum Kee Vegetarian Oyster Flavoured Sauce - 510 Grams
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  Pre-Seasshioned Cast Iron Skillet 2-Piece Set (10-Inch and 12-Inch) Oven Safe Cookware - 2 Heat-Resistant Holders - Indoor and Outdoor Use - Grill, Stovetop, Induction Safe

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 3 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 226Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 700mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 3gSugar: 4gProtein: 19g

This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix on 11/5/2022