Chinese vegan chicken, 素鸡 is a soy product. It’s not as popular as tofu, but it’s always been tofu’s neighbor on your Asian grocery shelf. It’s just not as recognizable to most people.
I bet you’ve seen it but just didn’t know how to “handle” it. Vegan chicken is actually one of my mother’s favorite things to eat, and one of my favorites as well. I think it’s about time for us to include it in our vegan recipe archives.
What Is Chinese Vegan Chicken?
Vegan “chicken” is shaped by pressing soft tofu sheets together, bundling them, and cooking them. Like tofu, it’s edible out of package and cooks rather fast.
Sometimes you will find this vegan chicken in the freezer section. Other than tofu, all soy products freeze well. BTW, you can freeze tofu too. It’s actually a “thing” called frozen tofu––they love it in Northern China. We will save it for another post!
I usually slice the bundle into 3/8” thick pieces, pan-fry both sides, add one star-anise, a couple of ginger slices, a little light soy sauce, sugar and water, and quickly braise it for a few minutes.
To finish off the dish, I top it off with some chopped scallions. The flavor is delicate and taste of home for us Southerners (Southern Chinese, that is).
Pumping Up the Flavor
But for this recipe, I thought I’d stray from the usual a bit and let the vegans have a taste of our Shanghai Braised Pork Belly, an idea that has been brewing for awhile now.
Like tofu, vegan chicken has little flavor on its own, so it’s usually braised in soy sauce and/or with stock. I also added ginger and scallions to “pump” up the flavor.
Braised Chinese Vegan Chicken: Recipe Instructions
Place a wok over high heat until it starts to smoke slightly. Add 3 tablespoons of oil to coat the wok. Add the sliced vegan chicken, and arrange it in a single layer.
If you have a smaller wok, you can do this step in two batches, adding more oil if needed (this is also a good time to use your non-stick pan if you have one, which will require less oil). Turn the heat down to medium. Lightly brown both sides of the vegan chicken. Remove from the wok and set aside.
Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok along with the sugar, using low heat to slowly melt the rock sugar until it completely dissolves. Next, add in the ginger and white parts of the scallions and cook for a minute.
Add in Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and the water. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover the lid, and simmer over low heat for 5-8 minutes. You don’t want too much of the liquid to cook off, so check it every so often.
Now add the pan-fried vegan chicken slices to the sauce.
Gently mix together, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Uncover, add the green parts of the scallions, stir gently, and serve.
This dish is tasty when hot, at room temperature, or cold right out of the refrigerator! I made this recipe a couple of times to test it, and I almost ate a whole plate by myself. I hope you fall in love with it too!
Braised Chinese Vegan Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (plus 1 tablespoon, divided)
- 500 g vegan chicken (sliced 1/4-inch thick)
- 12 g rock sugar (or 1 tablespoon granulated sugar)
- 3 slices ginger
- 3 scallions (chopped with the white and green parts separated)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 2 ½ tablespoons light soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 ½ cups water
Instructions
- Place a wok over high heat until it starts to smoke slightly. Add 3 tablespoons of oil to coat the wok. Add the sliced vegan chicken, and arrange it in a single layer. If you have a smaller wok, you can do this step in two batches, adding more oil if needed (this is also a good time to use your non-stick pan if you have one, which will require less oil). Turn the heat down to medium. Lightly brown both sides of the vegan chicken. Remove from the wok and set aside.
- Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok along with the sugar, using low heat to slowly melt the sugar until it completely dissolves. Next, add in the ginger and white parts of the scallion and cook for a minute. Add in Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and the water. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover the lid, and simmer over low heat for 5-8 minutes. You don’t want too much of the liquid to cook off, so check it every so often.
- Now add the pan-fried vegan chicken slices to the sauce. Gently mix together, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Uncover, add the green parts of the scallions, stir gently, and serve.
- This dish is tasty when hot, at room temperature, or cold right out of the refrigerator! I made this recipe a couple of times to test it, and I almost ate a whole plate by myself. I hope you fall in love with it too!
nutrition facts
Could I make this with seitan instead? thank you!
Yes, Amy, if they are in large chunks or can be sliced like the type I used for this recipe.
Hi where would I find vegetarian chicken or beef ?
Hi Nishi, they are in the frozen section of your Chinese grocery store.
To freeze tofu, use firm/medium tofu. Boil water, add a little salt, and add tofu into the water. Wait till the water has been cooled off to room temperature. Take tofu out, drain water, and put them into freezer. The texture of frozen tofu is chewy and will not break up if it is not treated with boiling water first.
Thank you for the tip, Christine, I have to try it.
I feel well equiped with complete tasty recipes that are easy to follow, elated for the vegetarian site. Thank you!!!!
Thank you!
The ingredients listed on the package in the foto are soybean, water, and “bittern”. Surely this is a mis-translation of..what.? because bittern is a bird.
Hi Jane, bittern is a food grade compound used to solidify soy products.
Found it – nigari (magnesium chloride). I was pretty sure it wasn’t Ixobrychus, but imagine the surprise of finding “bittern” listed as an ingredient in something believed to be vegan!
hahahaha…understandable :-)
Out here we can get canned vegetarian/vegan soy duck and such. Somewhat expensive for a small can. I have had it in Thai dishes and it, to me, sucessfully mimics the texture–it even has “skin” on it. Pretty cool, and tasty in a recipe.
I will check our local 99 Ranch market for the frozen “chicken” above, thanks for the info! Never thought of checking the freezer section!
And I must add, maybe I will find it fresh!
Hi L. Watts, show a store employee the image of the package included in this post––hope they have it :-)
There is a restaurant in the town where I live that has a dish called Shanghai Assorted Soy Product, and it’s made up of probably 7-8 different varieties of mock meat. Each item has the texture and unctuousness of beef, chicken, fish, fish skin, jellyfish. It’s all in a sauce redolent if star anise, ginger, soy, sugar. I am not vegan or veg yet I find it addictive. Do you have a list of these products?
Hi April, not sure what they all are, but I am pretty certain that they are all made of soy and/or wheat gluten. I bet it is very similar to our Shanghainese wheat gluten.