Looks like the real stuff, huh? I gotta say, I love how food manufacturers are getting better and better at making allergy-friendly and humane-friendly foods. It's no secret I'm a big fan of Beyond Meat like this vegan BBQ chicken pizza I made and this Curry Chicken salad.
Super Bowl Sunday is coming up and I was thinking of snacks. I've being seeing tons of photos of hot wings, and I wondered what I could I make with vegan chicken? I've made baked gluten-free and egg-free coconut chicken nuggets before with real chicken, so I thought I'd play with the idea of making popcorn chicken like KFC but the Noshtopia way.
Happy to say my little popcorn chicken experiment was a success. Yumminess achieved! I wasn't sure if the Beyond Meat would bake well or if the Pop Chips breading would stick to it. Mission accomplished. I got crunchy outside, soft inside, Jalapeno popcorn chicken!
Ingredients (makes about 2 cups of popcorn chicken)
- 1lb of Beyond Meat chicken strips
- 1/4 cup Soy-free Earth Balance Buttery Spread
- 2 tbsp Jalapeno hot sauce (I used Trader Joe's brand)
- 30 Pop Chips Jalapeno chips
- 3/4 tbsp agave nectar
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut the Beyond Meat into popcorn chicken size pieces.
- Melt the Earth Balance Buttery Spread in a salad bowl in the microwave for about 30 seconds until it's a pool of butter.
- Mix in the hot sauce with the melted butter.
- Dump the chicken pieces into the bowl and mix with the sauce. Let the chicken marinate in the hot sauce mixture for 15-20 minutes.
- While the chicken is marinating, grind the Pop Chips in a food processor until it is the texture of bread crumbs.
- Pour the Pop Chips crumbs onto a dinner plate to get ready to coat the chicken pieces.
- Line a baking pan with parchment paper. The paper will help the chicken from burning on the pan.
- Pour the agave on the chicken pieces still in the bowl and mix in a bit to cover the chicken. The agave is used to help the crumbs stick. It's not vegan, but you can use honey instead if you are avoiding agave.
- Toss a couple of the chicken pieces onto the Pop Chips crumbs in the plate and coat with crumbs. Place coated crumbs on the baking pan.
- Bake for 5 minutes and then rotate the baking pan. Bake for another 6 minutes. Any longer and the Pop Chips will quickly start to burn.
Cool for 5 minutes, and serve in a fun bowl. Enjoy!
For a dipping sauce, make more of the original hot sauce mixture with the Earth Balance and Jalapeno sauce.
