Hola Foodies! It’s Super Bowl Weekend; and for all of you vegans out there, maybe feeling left out because of all the cheese, chicken wings, and stupid comments… Well, I got you covered. I made us a vegan chicken wings recipe that’ll keep you happy, while you are enjoying the game with your friends.
The case for veganism
I’ll say it again before we start, I’m not vegan.
A few days a week, I will commit to eating only plant based recipes. The reasons behind that choice are pretty simple. For one I do enjoy eating things like tofu, tempeh and other awesome vegan staples.
The other reason is, choosing to eat plant-based dishes is a pretty good way to introduce a vaster array of nutritious foods you would not think of otherwise.
And finally, it is a pretty damn good way to save some money on food if you are on a tight budget.
Exhibit A: 450g of Tofu $3 vs 450g of Chicken breast $8+
However, I need to say this to all my friends and reader-friends: being vegan does not mean making sacrifices. It’s more about making adjustments, and additions.
Once you open your mind to the possibilities out there, you find out that you were missing out on so many plant based ingredients out there just because your initial definition of protein was meat.
Now that’s what I call an unconscious sacrifice.
Think about it.
As a vegan, I still can eat pizza, lasagna, and tagines; on top of pretty much any dessert I could ever want. All I had to do was to make adjustments and explore other alternatives. Once I got used to that mindset, I started craving all the vegan ingredients that a year ago didn’t even know of their existence. Not only that, I actually started to want to turn classics into vegan treats. I like the challenge!
Being vegan does not mean being perfect all the time.
It just means making adjustments for the sake of your body, the environment and all the animals stuck in an inhuman agricultural model that has no consideration for it’s workers, consumers, and the environment […or anything that is not profit for that matter].
If you can make one of your week days free of animal products, you are already making a difference.
You can learn more about veganism from this great blog post.
Vegan “Chicken” Wings
The beauty of this recipe is that you can pretty much make it with any vegan protein you like. It works perfectly with tofu.
When I went into this, I simply just swapped the chicken wings with tempeh and followed my all time favourite chicken wing recipe.
When it comes to chicken wings, I really don’t like all the complicated recipes that call for a thousand ingredients and an infinite number of steps to follow. As long as you have a protein to work with, and the ingredients listed down below all you have to do is follow my instructions.
The Technique
The secret behind great chicken wings is that crispiness and stickiness that we love so much.
So first thing to do, is to give your choice of protein a good searing on high heat until you get a nice brown colour. Once that’s done, just toss it in the barbecue sauce and send em back to a screaming hot pan for a minute, max. This will basically burn all the sugars on your tempeh and you will end up with super sticky, super crispy, vegan “chicken wings”.
Hope you will enjoy this with your friends, and if you like what we do, please subscribe to help us grow our tiny blog.
Vegan Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 1 Pack of tempeh 240g. Works great with Tofu too.
- 1 Tbsp of olive oil or any oil you like.
- 1 Tbsp of Chinese 5 spices.
Barbecue Sauce:
- 2 Tbsp of Hoisin Sauce. You can also use ketchup or teriyaki sauce.
- 2 Tbsp of Soy Sauce
- 1/2 Tsp of Sesame oil
- 2 Tbsp of Sriracha You can add more if you want it spicy
- 2 Tbsp of pure Honey You can swap with maple syrup
- 1/4 Tsp of liquid smoke
Salt and pepper to taste
Some Toasted Sesame seeds to garnish
Instructions
- Cut your tempeh into triangles.
- Make your barbecue sauce by mixing all ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Warm up a frying pan on high heat and add your olive oil.
- In a bowl, place your tempeh triangles and five spice. Rub your five spice on the tempeh gently.
- Add your tempeh and sear until both sides are completely cooked and crispy.
- Add your sizzling tempeh to the bowl of barbecue sauce and toss until it is fully covered.
- Heat up your pan on high heat and add your tempeh. Your bowl will still have sauce in it, don’t add it to the pan, set aside for later.
- Cook for no longer than a minute. Just until you see caramelization.
- Now, add your hot tempeh to that barbecue bowl again and toss. This will ensure that crispy and sticky texture we all love.
- Garnish with some toasted sesame seeds and enjoy !
Recipe Notes
Cost per recipe : 6.60 $CA
Cost per portion (1/2): 3.30 $CA
The cost of my recipes is based on the average cost of ingredients I use. It's mostly provided as a guideline for you to understand the true savings you can make when you choose to cook at home.
Very cool recipe! I’m a meat lover, but recently I’ve been trying to have vegetarian meals more regularly, for health and environmental concerns. I’m often lacking inspiration so it generally ends up being a salad and pasta with tomato sauce… Thanks for this idea, this is something I want to try!
You’re welcome ! I hope this blog will be of help to you. If you have any requests or questions don’t hesitate to contact us, we will be more than happy to oblige 🙂
I don’t have any dietary restrictions but this looks super yummy!
After becoming a vegan’ish guy, I”m always on the lookout for good vegan recipes. This looks like a good one. Thank you .
You are welcome Mark ! Glad this blog is helpful to you 🙂
Is there a version without honey that you recommend? Vegans don’t eat honey — I’m just inquiring. Thanks!
Hi Melissa!
You can easily swap the honey for either agave syrup or maple syrup, depending on which you prefer. I find agave syrup a little sweeter than honey so I would scale it down to 1.5 Tbsp.
Enjoy 🙂
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Hi!
This looks great! 🙂 I want to try to make this but we don’t have the “Chinese 5 spices” here where I live. Can I sub it for something else ?
Hi Selina ! You sure can, I have used Garam Masala before, I find that it works very well. If you can’t find chinese five spices mix, you can try to make it yourself, it’s always better and much cheaper. Here is the recipe : 1 Tbsp of each : ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground star Anise, ground szechuan peppercorns (Sub with regular black pepper if you don’t have) and ground fennel seeds.
I hope this helps 🙂