Vegan Chicken and Waffles

Make the Flax Egg: Combine the ground flax seeds and water in a small bowl and set it aside until ready to use.

Make the Vegan Buttermilk: Combine the milk and lemon juice and in a small bowl and set it aside for five minutes.

Preheat your waffle iron according to the manufacturer’s directions.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flax egg, vegan buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla extract.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just until combined– make sure not to over-mix! A few lumps are okay.

Spray your waffle iron with nonstick spray and add enough batter to fill the waffle iron, leaving about 1” around the edge. In my 8” waffle iron, I use 1 cup of batter. Cook the batter until the waffle is golden brown and crisp around the edges– about 3 minutes. Repeat with the remaining waffles.

Drain and press tofu according to these DIRECTIONS. Once pressed, break the tofu into large chunks. See video for reference but aim for them to be roughly the size of average chicken nuggets. You want them to be a little rough around the edges so it doesn’t need to be perfect.

In a shallow dish, whisk together marinade ingredients. Add in the tofu and let marinate for 15 minute or even overnight overnight.

In a large bowl, mix together the ingredients for the buttermilk and let sit for 5 minutes. Remove the tofu from the marinade (squeezing very lightly to release excess liquid- a little is totally fine and you don’t need to remove all of it) and add it into the buttermilk mixture (you can do this in stages as desired). Let sit for a few minutes while you make the breading.

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat enough oil so that it will come up roughly halfway up your pieces of tofu (about 1/2 an inch of oil).

In a shallow dish, whisk together all of the breading ingredients. Dip a piece of the buttermilk soaked tofu into the breading, covering on all sides. Dip it back in the buttermilk and then again cover it in the breading.

Place the breaded tofu pieces directly into the hot oil and cook for 3 minutes. Flip and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes so that the nuggets are a nice golden brown color all around. Once done, place on a paper towel lined plate to soak up excess oil. Serve and ENJOY!*

*You can also freeze your tofu prior to making this recipe to enhance the meaty texture.

*Once the nuggets are completely cooked, you can freeze the nuggets for quick and easy meals later! Just freeze in an air tight container. When ready to eat, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F and bake for 20 minutes, flipping halfway.