Vegan Fried Chicken & Waffles with Cajun Maple Butter
Vegan "chicken" and waffles served with a Cajun maple butter dipping sauce. The chick'n is super flavorful, juicy, crunchy, and extremely realistic. The waffles taste like vanilla wafer cookies, and when both are paired with the Cajun maple butter sauce, it is vegan food euphoria.
Ingredients
Chick'n
- One 10 ounce package Gardein lightly seasoned chick'n scallopini, thawed
- Sprinkle of vegan poultry seasoning
- 1 quart vegetable oil, for deep frying
Chick'n Dry Batter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp favorite cajun seasoning, plus more for sprinkling on top of fried chicken
- 1/4 tsp celery salt
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Chick'n Wet Batter
- 1/4 cup almond milk, plain, unsweetened
- 2 tbsp Frank's RedHot sauce
- 1 tbsp maple syrup, 100% pure
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
Waffle Wet Mix
- 3/4 cup almond milk, plain, unsweetened and at room temperature
- 1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract, 100% pure
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
Waffle Dry Mix
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup organic cane sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Cajun Maple Butter Sauce
- 3 tbsp vegan butter, melted
- 3 tbsp maple syrup, 100% pure
- 1/4 tsp favorite cajun seasoning
Instructions
Fried Chick'n
- Thaw the chick'n scallopini in the refrigerator. Once the chick'n is almost thawed, cut each piece in half and then mold them to make them look a bit more realistic.
- Lightly sprinkle both sides of the chick'n with poultry seasoning. Set aside.
- Preheat a deep fryer or a pot with at least 6 inches of vegetable oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. *Use a thermometer!!!
- In a wide, shallow bowl combine all of the dry batter ingredients.
- In another wide, shallow bowl, combine all of the wet batter ingredients.
- Dip a piece of chick'n into the wet, then into the dry, then back into the wet, and then back into the dry. ***DO NOT bread more than a couple of pieces of chick'n at a time unless you can deep fry them all simultaneously because otherwise, they will get soggy if they sit out for too long.
- Deep fry a couple of pieces at a time for 5 minutes, flipping them over halfway through.
- Place on a wire rack above a sheet pan to drip off excess oil.
- Immediately season with a dash of cajun seasoning.
Waffles
- In a small bowl, whisk together the almond milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside and let rest for 10 minutes to create buttermilk.
- In another bowl combine all of the dry ingredients, whisk well.
- Then, add the vanilla extract and melted coconut oil into the buttermilk and whisk well. *Make sure the milk is at room temperature, or the coconut oil may solidify.
- Add the wet mixture straight into the dry mixture and stir just until combined, and there is no visible flour. Do NOT over mix; lumps are good!
- Let the batter rest for 10 minutes to activate the baking powder.
- ***All waffle makers vary in size and how they cook!! Below is how I cook my waffles, but you may need to make adjustments accordingly.
- Preheat waffle maker to medium-high/high.
- Spray the top and bottom of the waffle maker with coconut oil.
- I pour about 1 cup of the waffle batter into the waffle maker. I then quickly, but gently, spread it around evenly. The batter should almost meet the edges of the waffle maker.
- Cook for 4-6 minutes. The waffle will crisp up shortly after pulling it out of the waffle maker.
Cajun Maple Butter Sauce
- Whisk all ingredients together until well combined.
- *Add more Cajun seasoning if you'd like! I always add in a 1/2 teaspoon total because I like mine super spicy!
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!