Vegan Buffalo Chicken Sandwich
This spicy vegan buffalo “chicken” sandwich is comfort food at it’s finest. Crispy fried tofu smothered in vegan buffalo sauce and topped with kale.
Ingredients
- 12 oz firm tofu (pressed)
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose seasoning
Coating
- ½ cup all-purpose flour or all purpose gluten free flour
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon all-purpose seasoning
- ½ cup plant-based milk
Vegan Buffalo Sauce
- ¼ cup vegan butter (melted)
- 1 garlic clove (minced)
- 3 tablespoon hot sauce
- ¼ teaspoon vinegar
Instructions
Preparing tofu
- Please refer to the section of the post, How to make tofu taste like chicken, to learn how to prepare tofu for the best texture.12 oz firm tofu
Vegan Buffalo Sauce
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine melted vegan butter, minced garlic, vinegar and hot sauce.1/4 cup vegan butter, 1 garlic clove, 1/4 teaspoon vinegar, 3 tablespoon hot sauce
Cashew Dressing
- Soak cashews for 15 minutes in boiling water. Or soak in lukewarm water at room temperature overnight.½ cup cashews
- Drain, rinse and add to a small blender cup. If you only have a large blender, such as a Vitamix, it may be difficult to blend such a small batch. You could double the recipe and store the extra dressing in the freezer for another time.
- Add the garlic, onion, lemon/lime juice and water then blend until smooth and creamy. Add to a large bowl and season to taste with salt and black pepper.2 garlic cloves, ½ shallot-sized onion, 1 tablespoon lemon/lime juice, Salt, Black pepper, 6 tablespoon water
- Optional step: Added some green za’atar seasoning. The added herbs give it a flavor similar to ranch dressing. You could instead add a mix of parsley and dill or omit the herbs altogether.1/2 teaspoon green za’atar seasoning
- Rinse the kale and remove the thick stems. Shake to remove excess water and add to the dressing. Toss with a spoon, fork or your hands for about 3 minutes to completely coat the kale.2 handfuls kale
Coating and frying tofu
- Slice the pressed block of tofu in half, creating 2 wide slabs. Season with 1 tsp of your favorite all-purpose seasoning. Try not to over-season the tofu at this point as there will be more layers of flavor to be added.1 teaspoon all-purpose seasoning
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch and ½ tsp all-purpose. In a separate bowl, add the plant-based milk.1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoon cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon all-purpose seasoning, 1/2 cup plant-based milk
- Using one hand, take one slice of tofu and coat evenly in the flour. Shake off the excess and add the tofu to the plant-based milk.
- Using the other hand, coat the tofu with milk then remove and add back to the dry flour mix.
- Repeat the coating process in the flour and milk, once more, ending with a dry flour coating. So there will be 3 coatings of flour and 2 coatings of milk. The triple coating of flour ensures a nice crispy crust on the tofu that won’t fall off while frying.
- Coat the other slice of tofu using the same steps.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Test the oil by adding a small rolled up ball of dough. If it’s too hot then the dough will darken within seconds. If it’s not hot enough then the dough will sink and there will be little to no bubbling of the oil around the dough.3 tablespoon oil for frying
- Once heated, add the coated tofu slices and cook until golden brown on each side. This should take about a minute for each side. Drain the tofu carefully and place on a plate.
- While still warm, gently coat the fried tofu slices in the buffalo sauce and place on the bottom halves of the buns. Top with kale and the top bun and serve immediately.2 vegan pretzel buns