Spicy Vegan Chicken Salad - EASY Lunch Recipe

I swear vegans eat more than salads (lol)

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been loving this simple, delicious vegan chicken salad. It’s full of fresh, healthy ingredients and makes a great quick and easy vegan lunch–the ‘hardest’ part is just chopping up the veggies.

Having quick and light meal options that you can throw together, especially during the summer, is essential to making living a vegan lifestyle accessible and sustainable long term.

You can make all sorts of variations on this salad by switching out the dressing, adding different seasoning, and using a different brand of vegan chicken. Use this recipe as a template and customize it to your liking!

In this recipe, I’m using Gardein Nashville Hot Chick’n Tenders which are made out of pea and wheat protein. Gardein products are some of my absolute favorites and I always suggest Gardein to new vegans since they are so great for replacing animal products with a similar taste and texture while being a healthier, more ethical option.

Want to see a visual for this recipe? Head on over to my YouTube channel to watch the video. 

Vegan Chicken Salad

• Red & green leaf lettuce

• Spring mix greens

• 1 Red bell pepper, chopped

• 1 Green bell pepper, chopped

• Can of black beans. drained and rinsed

• 1/4 Red onion, chopped

• Gardein Nashville Hot Chick’n Tenders

• Cilantro

• Tomato

• Avocado

• Dressing of choice, I used Chipotle Bitchin’ Sauce

Optional additions:

• Garlic salt

• Imperfect Foods Seasoning For All the Things
  

Instructions:

1. Cook the vegan chick’n tenders in the oven or air fryer for about 10 mins.

2. In a large bowl, throw together your greens. I used spring mix & red and green leaf lettuce.

3. Drain and rinse your canned black beans, add to the bowl with the greens

4. Chop your bell pepper, onion, avocado, and tomato to your preference and add to the bowl

5. Remove the vegan chicken tenders from the oven and cut into bite-sized pieces; add to the bowl

6. Top with fresh cilantro, and optional garlic salt and All The Things Seasoning

7. Plate your portion and add dressing of choice

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Southern Fried Chicken | Veganize It! (Video)

Jason has been asking for fried chicken lately, so I was super excited when I came across this recipe from Chef Robert Martin.  It has the perfect texture of regular fried chicken-crispy on the outside tender on the inside.

The taste is pretty close to conventional fried chicken and everyone in the house gave it a thumbs up. I even had to make another bag because they asked for more. :-)

Watch me make the recipe here…

Fried Chicken

by Brown Vegan

Keywords: fry entree vegan vegetarian

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• Two 10-ounce packages frozen Gardein Chick’n Scallopini, defrosted
• 1 1/2 cups organic, unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon blackening spice or Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Blackened Redfish Magic
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 package spring roll wrappers (rice paper)
• 2 cups cashew cream
• 3 tablespoons Tabasco sauce
• High-heat oil such as safflower or grapeseed oil, as needed (maximum 2 cups)

Instructions

Preparation

It is important to prepare all the ingredients and have them ready to go before you start the cooking. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, blackening spice, garlic powder, Old Bay Seasoning, onion powder, and salt until well incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix the cashew cream and the Tabasco sauce and set aside. Roll each Gardein Chick’n fillet into a ball and then shape it into a 1-inch-thick, oval patty. Place the 8 patties on a plate and set aside.

Put the “skin” on the Chick’n:

Select a dish or pan that is large enough for the rice paper to lie flat inside. Inspect each rice paper carefully and discard any sheets that have holes or cuts. Add about 1 cup of very warm water to the dish or pan and soak 1 sheet of rice paper for about 20 seconds, or until the paper has softened but has not become completely soft.

Place the rice paper on a cutting board and rub it gently with your wet hands to flatten it and work in more water. Place the Gardein patty on the rice paper, slightly below the center, working from the edge closest to you. Pick up the edge closest to you and fold the rice paper up and over the patty. Fold the right and left sides toward the center. Working from the edge closest to you, gently roll up the patty burrito style.

Repeat the process with the remaining patties. Lightly dust a baking sheet with a bit of the seasoned flour. Roll a patty in the flour, then in the cashew cream, and then dredge it again in the seasoned flour. Place it on the floured baking sheet. Repeat the process with the remaining patties.

A cast-iron skillet performs best for frying Chick’n, but if you don’t have one, use a heavy-bottomed pan with sides that are at least 3 inches high. Pour enough oil into the pan to come halfway up the side of the Chick’n patty. Heat the oil over medium heat until it looks thin like water and shimmers. Using metal tongs, panfry 4 patties at one time, for about 2½ minutes per side. Do not turn the patties more than once. Transfer the fried patties to a baking sheet fitted with a wire rack or lined with paper towels. Repeat the frying process with the remaining patties.

Serve hot and crisp.

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Additional info:

Here's what the Gardein chicken fillets look like....

*Gardein is a very popular brand of vegan chicken and most grocery chains carry their products.

*You don't have to wrap your chicken in rice paper but it does make it nice and crispy. You can find rice paper in the international section of your grocery store.

*I made my own nut butter by blending together 2 cups of cashews and 1/3 cup of soy milk. 

*I only used 1 cup of flour for the batter and that was plenty.

*I skipped the 1 tablespoon of blackening spice because I didn't have any

*The chicken is best served hot

*Here's the mac n cheese recipe I used

This recipe is from Chef Roberto Martin, who just released a new vegan cookbook, Vegan Cooking for Carnivores. Martin told the Today show that he never experimented with vegan cooking until Ellen hired him. He just took all of Ellen & Portia de Rossi's favorite meals and replaced the dairy and meat with vegan alternatives.  This is the best way to approach vegan cooking. :-)

Let me know what you think when you try this recipe. :-)

Song Playing While I Cooked...

Zapp & Roger-More Bounce to the Ounce