This dish pairs crispy homemade seitan with a sticky sweet & sour sauce. The seitan is completely vegan, but its texture is chewy, crispy, and meaty – without the meat!
Ingredients
You’ll make a crispy seitan and a sweet & sour sauce for this dish.
For the crispy seitan (“chicken”)
- cornstarch
- seitan (make a batch – recipe here – then let it cool and remove from broth)
- cooking oil of choice
For the sweet & sour sauce
- maple syrup or agave
- low-sodium soy sauce
- unseasoned rice vinegar
- sesame oil
- garlic
- fresh ginger
- chili garlic sauce
- cornstarch + water
How to serve
We love serving this over a bed of prepared white rice. You can also enjoy it alone or pair it with Veggie Fried Rice and a side of Coconut Curry Peanut Noodles.
Check out some other seitan-based recipes
Seitan Chick’n Tenders with Sweet BBQ Dipping Sauce
Vegan Sweet & Sour “Chicken”
This dish pairs crispy homemade seitan with a deliciously sticky sweet & sour sauce.
Ingredients
For the crispy seitan ("chicken")
- 1/3 cup (40 g) cornstarch
- 1 batch seitan (recipe here), cooled and removed from broth
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) cooking oil of choice
For the sauce
- 1/3 cup (80 mL) maple syrup or agave
- 1/3 cup (80 mL) low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp (30 mL) unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) sesame oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced (or 1 tsp jarred minced garlic)
- 1/2 inch fresh ginger, minced
- 1-2 tsp (5 – 10 mL) chili garlic sauce, optional use 2 tsp for more spice
- 2 tsp (5 g) cornstarch + 2 tbsp (30 mL) water
For serving (optional)
- Prepared rice
- Sesame seeds
- Chopped green onion
Instructions
Make the crispy seitan ("chicken")
- Place the cornstarch in a mixing bowl and set aside.
- Cut the seitan into bite-sized pieces.
- Place the seitan pieces into the mixing bowl and shake around so that all the pieces are lightly coated in cornstarch.
- Heat the oil on a non-stick large frying pan over medium heat.
- Remove seitan from the bowl, leaving the excess cornstarch. Place all of the seitan into the pan.
- Allow the pieces to get crispy on all sides, cooking for a few minutes on each side, stirring and flipping occasionally.
- Once crispy, remove the seitan from heat and set aside.
Make the sauce
- In a large skillet over medium heat, add the soy sauce and maple syrup and whisk.
- Add rice vinegar and sesame oil to the mixture and mix.
- Next, add the minced garlic, ginger, and chili garlic sauce (if using). Mix.
- In a separate, small bowl, combine the cornstarch with the water. Mix until the cornstarch is dissolved to create a slurry.
- Add the cornstarch/water mixture to the saucepan and mix again.
- Turn up the heat to medium-high and let the sauce cook until it becomes thick and sticky, constantly stirring while it cooks. Once it has thickened, turn the heat to low.
Combine and serve
- Add the crispy seitan to the pan and mix until completely coated.
- Serve as-is or over cooked rice. Top with sesame seeds and chopped green onion, if desired. Enjoy!
