In recent memory, I cannot think of a meal I have enjoyed more! These vegan crispy hot “honey” soy curls, served with creamy coleslaw and the best cornbread ever. The soy curls are coated in cornstarch and crisped in a pan. Then tossed with a sweet and spicy and buttery magical sauce. The cornbread is easy, and sweet and has the best outer crust and soft inside. Real corn is mixed in and it complements the soy curls so well. The coleslaw though, oh the coleslaw. Sweet, creamy and tangy. This coleslaw really brings it all together. Get just one bite of all three and I promise, you’ll be very sad when you realize you have eaten the whole plate and the meal is over.
What You Need For This Southern Inspired Meal:
- Soy Curls: Of course, you can’t have soy curls without soy curls.
- Cornstarch: To coat the soy curls and make them nice and crispy.
- Hot Sauce, Agave Syrup and Vegan Butter: These combine to make the best sauce ever!
- Vegetable Oil: To crisp these babies up and add to the cornbread!
- Cabbage and Carrots: As the base for the coleslaw.
- Vegan Mayo, Vinegar and Agave Syrup: To dress the cabbage and carrots.
- All Purpose Flour: This starts the cornbread.
- Cornmeal: All cornbread must have this!
- Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Sugar and Salt: Very important to make the best cornbread ever!
- Flax Meal: This mixed with water is my preferred egg replacer for the cornbread.
- Non-dairy Milk: This is the dairy replacer for the cornbread.
- Canned Corn: I know a lot of people don’t put actual corn kernels in their cornbread, but I really hope you do!
You all probably could have guessed from my book Southern Vegan, that I grew up eating food like this and it is my favorite. There is so much flavor here. But, I like to simply traditional flavors enough so they are easy and anyone can make them! This meal of vegan crispy hot “honey” soy curls with coleslaw and cornbread is a Southern fantasy!
Why Should You Make This Feast?
- My lord, it is good!
- Y’all, this meal is so easy.
- I can’t think of anything more delicious, seriously.
- This is a really cheap meal too!
- This recipe feeds a crowd and they will all be very impressed!
Vegan Crispy Hot "Honey" Soy Curls
Crispy soy curls tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce, served with coleslaw and cornbread!
Ingredients
Creamy Coleslaw
- 1/4 Cup Vegan mayo, I used Hellman's
- 1 teaspoon White vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Agave syrup
- A few pinches of salt and pepper
- 2 1/2 Cups Shredded Green Cabbage
- 1 Cup Shredded Carrots
Sweet Cornbread
- 1 Cup All purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon Baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 Cup Yellow cornmeal
- 1/2 Cup Organic cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 Tablespoons Flax meal
- 3 Tablespoons Water
- 1 Cup Non-dairy milk, unsweetened I used soy milk
- 1/3 Cup Vegetable oil
- 1/4 Cup Agave syrup
- 1 Cup Corn, fresh or canned
Crispy Hot "Honey" Soy Curls
- 2 Cups Soy curls, I used Butler's(soaked/drained according to pkg. directions*
- 1/3 Cup Corn starch
- A few pinches of salt and pepper
- 1/4 Cup Vegetable oil
- 1/2 Cup Hot sauce, I used Franks
- 1/4 Cup Vegan butter, melted (I used Earth Balance)
- 3 Tablespoons Agave syrup
Instructions
- First, make the coleslaw, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the vegan mayo, vinegar, agave and a few pinches of salt and pepper.
- Now add the shredded cabbage and carrots to the bowl, toss to combine and then put in the fridge while you make the rest. This is a very lightly dressed slaw(that's what I like) but you can add a bit more mayo if you prefer.
- Now make the cornbread. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees(F).
- In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Then stir in the cornmeal, sugar and salt. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flax and water and set aside to thicken for 2-3 minutes. This creates the egg replacer.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the non-dairy milk, vegetable oil and agave.
- Once the flax meal has thickened, add that to the bowl with the wet ingredients and whisk to combine.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until fully combined. Then fold in the corn.
- Pour into a 9x13 inch baking dish that is lined with parchment paper or sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick or knife can be stuck in the center and comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.
- While the cornbread is baking, make the soy curls. Once the soy curls have been soaked and drained, I like to squeeze as much water out of them as I can. Then add them to a large mixing bowl.
- While they are still wet, sprinkle the corn starch and a few pinches of salt and pepper over the soy curls. Toss to coat the soy curls completely in the corn starch.
- Heat the vegetable oil on medium high in a non-stick skillet.
- Add the soy curls and fry them until they are brown and crispy, reducing heat as needed. This may take 5-6 minutes.
- While the soy curls cook, in a medium sized bowl, whisk together the hot sauce, agave and melted vegan butter.
- Once the soy curls are nice and crispy, pour about half of the hot "honey" sauce over the soy curls in the pan. Reduce heat to low, and toss to coat the soy curls.
- Add a little bit of sauce at a time until it has the sauciness you want. I like to save a little to pour on top of my meal. Sauté in the sauce for just 1-2 minutes. Turn off heat.
- Serve some hot "honey" soy curls with some coleslaw and cornbread!
Notes
*This measurement is for dried soy curls, there will be way more than 2 cups once they have been soaked!
The nutrition information is calculated automatically and not guaranteed. If you want to reduce the calories of the meal only have one piece of cornbread, these calculations are for two pieces each.
Nutrition
Calories: 708kcal | Carbohydrates: 97g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 37g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1261mg | Potassium: 591mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 40g | Vitamin A: 4207IU | Vitamin C: 31mg | Calcium: 274mg | Iron: 6mg
I don’t like anything hot & Spicy so thinking of substitung something else for the hot sauce. Any ideas/ suggestions??
Barbecue sauce would be fantastic! Maybe make the cornbread less sweet since bbq is typically sweeter.
Thank you so much for this recipe. This was my first time trying soy curls and the recipe was bomb! The sauce was incredible and it makes me want to put it on everything!
You could try a teriyaki sauce for more of an Asian flair?
Oh my, this looks incredible! I always enjoy your wonderful recipes and appreciate your creativity! Thank you!!
This vegan recipe is so easy to make and I’m impressed by the rich taste it has. Your website really helped me stay vegan especially the easy recipes. Thank you for making me green!
Everything about this meal was amazing! The cornbread is probably the best I’ve ever had and I’ve been dreaming about these soy curls!
I am loving this recipe. The technique of coating the soy curls in corn starch to crisp them made these taste incredible and the texture was the closest I have gotten to chicken. Everything in this meal is delicious. This is definitely something I will make again.
So delicious and simple-I made it tonight and can’t wait for leftovers tomorrow!
Thanks so much for this recipe, I love soy curls and just bought a big box and was looking for new things to do with them and this recipe was perfect. I have never fried curls before and they turned out great with that little bit of cornstarch. I appreciated that the slaw was not overdressed when combined with the saucy curls and the cornbread was the perfect side, it was easy to make and the addition of corn (I just used frozen) has convinced me that this is the only way to make cornbread going forward.
I hadn’t been super fond of soy curls before, but with your method: WOW. Thank you, it makes all the difference. I think I will always coat them in corn starch and fry them from now on. (And the sauce was sooo good too!)
This was absolutely delicious!! The cornbread was amazing and the sauce for the soy curls was divine!
This meal was a big hit! I did substitute half of the Franks with BBQ sauce because we are wimps, and that had just the right amount of heat for us. I also made the pickled collard greens from the southern Reuben recipe in your cookbook and that went great with this! Thanks for another great recipe!
I made the Crispy Hot & Spicy Soy Curls and they were amazing and then I made them again, this time using the Air Fryer instead of the skillet and I must say they are fantastic…the air fryer made them soooooo crispy that they don’t even soften in the sauce. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe..I know I will be making these over and over and over again!
I can’t believe I’m just finding this! This is the best thing I’ve eaten in a long time. Thank you so much — now I know what I’m doing with the bulk box of Butler soy curls I have in the freezer.
Hi Lauren! First – love, love, love your recipes!
Just made this for the first time yesterday and decided to do the soy curls in the air fryer. They turned out a bit dry, perhaps I went too long or too hot. Have you tried preparing them this way? Any suggestions for better results next time?
Thank you – keep the good eats coming!
This recipe was 10/10 fantastic. The cornbread is the best I’ve ever made, the texture light and springy. I read the comments before making and opted to air fry the curls which turned out very nice. 400 degrees for around 8 minutes but you could take it down to 380.
Thanks so much for the recipe!
A+. Would eat this again and again!
Loved this recipe!! So delicious and the perfect balance of sweet and spicy! Thank you!!
While I loved the crispy hot ‘honey’ soy curls, the real star of the show for me was the coleslaw. The best I’ve had vegan or non!
Oh muh guh!! This was so good!!! I don’t usually make multiple items meals during the week but this is going on repeat! Getting a bit of every item in each bite turn a this from great to unbelievable 🤩