This Vegan Fried Chicken is a healthier, Japanese-inspired twist on fried chicken and makes the perfect quick and easy weeknight dinner!
Japanese fried chicken is slightly different from its Western counterpart in that it’s marinated with soy sauce, ginger and garlic, then coated with potato flour before being fried.
This means it’s naturally dairy- and gluten-free (as long as you substitute tamari for soy sauce), and the potato flour makes it SUPER crispy!
I became very tempted to use tofu to make a slightly healthier, Vegan Fried Chicken recipe. The biggest attraction of this recipe is how easy it is to make – all you need to do is cut some tofu into cubes, plunge into a 4-ingredient marinade, then coat with cornflour.
You can use potato flour but I think cornflour is generally more accessible and you’re much more likely to already have it in on hand.
Then just heat up some oil in a frying pan and quickly fry until crispy! Pan-frying the karaage not only makes this dish much healthier than its traditional, deep-fried counterpart, but its also much easier.
It’s quicker as you don’t have to wait around for ages for a lake of oil to heat up, and the whole process is generally much less stressful. I don’t know about you, but I honestly find the thought of deep-frying anything a little scary – I’d probably set my house on fire!
I was pretty impressed with how this Vegan Fried Chicken turned out – it’s perfectly soft, almost juicy on the inside, packed full of flavour thanks to the marinade, and amazingly crispy on the outside. I’d happily eat it instead of chicken!
I highly recommend serving this alongside some rice and fresh salad, with a couple of lemon wedges to add juicy bursts of fresh, citrusy flavour.
Side dishes that would go really well with this Vegan Fried Chicken include:
- Potato Salad
- Broccoli and Edamame with Sesame Dressing
For more delicious tofu recipes, check out my:
- Tofu Pad Thai
- Tofu Satay Curry
- Scrambled Teriyaki Tofu Onigirazu
- Japanese-Style Mapo Tofu
- Twice-Cooked Tofu
- Tofu Satay Skewers
- Peanut Tofu Stir Fry
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Helpful tools to make this Vegan Fried Chicken:
glass mixing bowl
Vegan Fried Chicken (Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
For the karaage:
- 400 g (14oz) firm tofu
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and grated
- 1 cm (½ inch) ginger, peeled and grated
- 2 tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce if not gluten-free)
- 2 tablespoons mirin (or sub 1 tablespoon any other sweetener)
- Salt + pepper, to taste
- 4 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch) (or sub potato flour)
- Oil, for shallow-frying (vegetable or rapeseed oil)
To serve:
- Lemon wedges
- Fresh salad
- Cooked brown or white rice
Instructions
- Drain the tofu, pat dry with a paper towel then cut into small cubes
- Mix the tamari, mirin and salt + pepper in a large bowl
- Add the tofu and mix well, making sure to coat every cube
- Leave to marinate either overnight, for a few hours or for a few minutes if pressed for time
- Just before frying, heat up a generous amount of oil in a frying pan until hot
- Meanwhile, add cornflour to the bowl of marinated tofu, and mix well (easiest to use your hands for this!)
- Add more cornflour if necessary, and ensure you coat every cube of tofu
- Once the oil is hot, keep it on a medium heat and add tofu
- Fry for a few minutes on each side, turning over half way through (it's easiest to do this using chopsticks)
- Once crispy and golden brown, transfer tofu onto a plate lined with kitchen paper (to drain away the excess oil)
- Best enjoyed immediately, served with lemon wedges, fresh salad and Japanese rice
Notes
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you click through and purchase any of these films, a small percentage will come to me, with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
Anonymous
Good idea to use garlic and ginger thank you!
Rhian Williams
Thank you!