Chicken nuggets are a modern comfort food, in recent decades joining the ranks of mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese as a dish that imparts a sense of well-being or nostalgia just by its very existence.
This particular chicken nugget recipe, adapted from vegan chef
Laura Miller of TasteMade, maintains all of the classic comfort food's savory taste with none of the animal products! (She admits that there are a lot of ingredients, but points out that all you need to do is blend them up, so the actual "work" part is quite easy.)
Vegan Chicken NuggetsPreparation time: 20 minutes of cutting and measuring (but should soak sun-dried tomatoes 1 hour prior to cooking)
Total time: 2 and ½ hours
IngredientsNuggets⅓ cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon miso
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons chia seeds (soaked 10 mins)
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (soaked 1 hour)
1 red bell pepper, diced
½ onion, diced
3 ears of corn, shucked
2 cups ground sunflower seeds
2 cups ground sesame seeds
1 cup nutritional yeast
Breading½ cup bread crumbs
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon pepper
Pinch of salt, to taste
Ketchup1 cup tomato paste
4 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch of salt, to taste
Directions1. Begin with liquids. Add maple syrup and apple cider vinegar to blender. Pulse.
2. Add garlic, chili powder, miso, paprika, cumin, salt, and chia seeds to blender. Blend.
3. Strain sun-dried tomatoes, and add to blender. Add red bell peppers, onions, and corn. Blend. (Stop and push down ingredients in blender if they get stuck.)
4. Put blended contents aside in big bowl. Clean blender.
5. Blend sunflower seeds till they develop grainy powder-like texture (not too fine). Dump into wet contents bowl.
6. Blend sesame seeds until they develop same texture. Add to same bowl.
7. Pour in nutritional yeast and mix dry and wet ingredients by hand.
8. Mix bread crumbs, garlic powder, pepper, and salt in separate dry bowl to make breading.
9. Mold nugget-like shapes. Dip in breading bowl and place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
10. Bake in oven at 200 degrees for 1 hour. Flip, and bake for another 1 hour.
11. While nuggets are baking, make homemade ketchup by mixing ingredients in bowl.
12. Enjoy!
There you have it! Delicious, seriously flavorful vegan chicken nuggets without any of the guilt. Make sure to
share this recipe (and let us know if you give it a try!)
