The best vegan chicken nuggets. Fry sauce. The end.
Vegan potato chip crusted chicken nuggets are perfect. I tested out a lot of vegan chicken nugget bases, and was not going to rest until I found the best recipe. These nuggets are chickpea and vital wheat gluten based. They are firm but not too firm, moist but not too moist, they taste amazing, they are sooooo easy, they have the most amazing salty chip coating, they are everything. They will not fall apart, they get so lovely and crunchy on the outside even though they are just baked.
Did I mention, these vegan potato chip crusted chicken nuggets are everything? So let’s talk about the dipping sauce. My wacky brain works a bit differently, and when I considered what the best sauce for these vegan nuggets would be, I realized dipping potato chip crusted chicken nuggets into fry sauce is literally the greatest idea ever.
Now, you can totally dip these in ketchup, or BBQ sauce, or whatever you want, but this sauce is really quick to whip up, and you shan’t regret it.
This recipe makes a lot of nuggets, so you can feed a family with this one. If I only want to make half the batch, I will just save half the dough for later. It can just be wrapped up and it keeps well in the fridge for a while. Then just shape the nuggets when you are ready to bake them.
I don’t think anything can top these chickpea chicken nuggets with fry sauce. My kid loves them and so does everyone else!
Vegan Potato Chip Crusted Chicken Nuggets with Fry Sauce
Ingredients
Potato Chip Crusted Nuggets
- 1 15oz. Can Chickpeas, drained
- 1 Tbsp. Olive oil
- 1/4 C. Vegetable broth
- 2 Tbsp. Soy sauce
- 2/3 C. Vital wheat gluten
- 3/4 C. Panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 tsp. Poultry seasoning
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1/4 tsp. Black pepper
For the Crust
- 2 C. Potato chips, crushed fine
- 1/2 C. Vegetable broth
Vegan Fry Sauce
- 1/2 C. Vegan mayo
- 2 Tbsp. Ketchup
- 2 tsp. Pickle juice
- 1/4 tsp. Paprika
- 1/4 tsp. Garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Now, in a large mixing bowl, add the drained can of chickpeas. Mash them with a fork or potato masher until there are no whole chickpeas left.
- Now add in the olive oil, veggie broth and soy sauce. Stir to combine with the mashed chickpeas.
- Now add in the vital wheat gluten, panko, and seasonings. Stir to combine, then when it starts to get doughy and hard to stir, begin to knead it with your hands.
- Now sprinkle some vital wheat gluten on to a surface you can knead on, turn the dough out onto the surface and knead for about 3 minutes until the mixture gets firm and stringy.
- Next, coat the nuggets, crush potato chips, I like to put them in a ziploc bag and smash them with a rolling pin or cup. You will need about 1 1/2- 2 cups of potato chip crumbs. Pour them into a bowl.
- Then add the 1/2 cup of veggie broth to another bowl.
- Spray a baking sheet with non stick spray, then take about 1-1 1/2 tablespoons of the chickpea dough, roll into a ball, then flatten into a nugget shape.
- Next, dip the nugget into the veggie broth, then press down into the potato chips. If you are having a hard time getting them to stick, just press down hard, and you can reshape the nugget a bit when you are done.
- Repeat with all the dough, then place them each on the baking sheet. Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes, flipping them halfway through.
- While the nuggets are baking , make the sauce, Just whisk everything together in a mixing bowl, taste and adjust seasonings, then set aside.
- When the nuggets are done, serve immediately with the sauce.
Are you from utah? I don’t see dry sauce too often outside this area. Haha
Haha. Nope, I grew up in Florida, I just really love fry sauce!
Can you use plain tortilla chips instead, or does it need that flavor and oil?
I think tortilla chips would work out and be delicious too!
I guess while converting to German measurements something got lost. At least I ended up with a super-dry dough. I tried to fixed it, but I’m not sure if the texture was the right one at the end 😀 But the nuggets tasted really good though!.
For the crust I replaced the veggy brooth with a mixture of egg replacer, soy sauce, veggy brooth and poultry seasoning. Also I tossed the nuggets in flour first, then in the egg mixture and finally in the potato chips.
Will definitely try this recipe again, but have to adjust it to make it work with our ingredients 😀 The sauce was also really tasty, although I spiced it up with some Sriracha.
These look great! Have you tried freezing them? If they freeze well, these would be great to have on hand.
I have not tried freezing them, but I definitely think they would freeze well. Then you can just toss them in the oven when you are ready!
These look delicious! For the fry sauce, when you say pickle juice, do you mean from dill pickles or sweet pickles?
I usually use dill pickle juice, but it would work with whatever type of pickles you like the best!
Ok, thank you!
These are AMAZING! I made them to take to a Super Bowl party and luckily I made a triple batch of the dough, because my boys wolfed down the first batch out of the oven. So unbelievably delicious!
AND they were so easy…so I have a friend that will randomly order chicken nuggets for us all when we are having a girls night out…I am going to make her a batch of heart-shaped nuggets. Hopefully I will remember to post a picture.
I would love to see a picture! That sounds AMAZING!
Agreed!!!! I think these are the best vegan food I’ve ever made!!!! They are at least in the top ten things I’ve made and I’ve been vegan for 15 years!!!!! I’ve made a lot of food!!!!
When is your cookbook coming out?????
These things are insanely good!!!!
Super easy and the best vegan “meat” I’ve ever made myself! I’ve preordered your cookbook here in Germany and can’t wait to get it! All of your recipes so far have been hits, thank you so much for sharing them with us!
Is there a substitute for vital wheat gluten? My son is celiac but these sound good, can I use oats?