You can always buy vegan chicken nuggets at your favorite supermarket. But why spend a lot of cash when you can simply make some from scratch? Chicken nuggets that are chicken-less are good for a vegetarian like you because they are also rich in protein just like the real thing. Oh, and they’re so delicious and satisfying, too!
So without further ado, let’s get started:
Ingredients for the tasty nuggets:
- 1 14-ounce can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed with water)
- 1 14-ounce can of artichoke hearts (drained)
- 2 garlic cloves (peeled and minced)
- 1/4 cup of diced onions
- 1/2 cup of cornmeal
- 1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon of liquid smoke
- 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar
- A little kosher or sea salt
- A little ground black pepper
Ingredients for the rich batter:
- 2 tablespoons of flour (whole wheat)
- 1 cup of almond milk (you may also go for 1 cup of soy milk that’s unflavored)
- 1/4 cup of flaxseeds (ground)
Ingredients for the crunchy coating:
- 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs
- 1 cup of cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- A little kosher or sea salt
- A little ground black pepper
Procedure:
- -Using your food processor, pulse the artichoke hearts a little until they are chopped up coarsely.
- Add the rest of your ingredients into the bowl — chickpeas, minced garlic cloves, diced onions, cornmeal, panko breadcrumbs, liquid smoke and red wine vinegar
- Pulse once more until you see that the chickpeas are finely chopped up. Make sure that you don’t pulse the ingredients excessively — you don’t want them to end up soggy.
- Transfer to a container that comes with a lid. Season with a little kosher or sea salt and ground black pepper. Mix very well with a spoon. Cover the container and stash it in the refrigerator for half an hour.
- In the meantime, grab a small mixing bowl. Place your whole wheat flour, almond milk (or unflavored soy milk) and ground flaxseeds in it. Mix with a spoon and set aside.
- Take the chicken-less nugget mixture out of the refrigerator and have them shaped into small nuggets — around 20 all in all. You may also use a small cookie cutter in the shape of your desire. Fun! Just remember to form and flatten all the scraps and have them cut, too. Nothing should go to waste!
- Get a skillet with a flat bottom. Add some olive oil (or any other healthy oil with a high smoke point that you prefer) into it. Aim for not less than 1/8 deep. Using low to medium heat, heat up the oil.
- In the meantime, grab a nugget and dip it in the batter. Shake off excess batter and place on the large mixing bowl or plate with the coating mix. Remember to flip to have both sides of the nugget equally coated. Place on a wire rack. Repeat until all of the nuggets are battered and coated.
- Place the nuggets in the skillet (as many as the skillet can accommodate) once the oil is hot and ready to fry. Allow the nuggets to fry for about 4 minutes or until browned, and then have all of them flipped over. Cook the other side for another 4 minutes until browned.
- Repeat until all of your nuggets are fried. Feel free to add more oil to the skillet in between batches, if necessary.
- Transfer the cooked nuggets on a plate that’s lined with kitchen paper to have excess oil removed.
- Serve your chicken-less chicken nuggets together with the dipping sauce of your liking. Enjoy!
