The crunch is the whole point, and the double-dip is how you get it: a soak in tangy, hot-sauce-spiked plant 'buttermilk', a roll in heavily seasoned flour, then back through both again. The coating goes shaggy and craggy, and it fries up just like the shop-bought bucket stuff.
Ingredients
servings
For 4 servings.
- 4 plain vegan chicken-style fillets (uncoated; thaw if frozen and pat dry)
- 200ml unsweetened soya milk
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp hot sauce (check it's vegan)
- 150g plain flour
- 30g cornflour
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper (more if you like it hot)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- about 500ml vegetable or sunflower oil (for shallow frying)
- 4 burger buns (check they're vegan)
- 4 tbsp vegan mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp sriracha (or other chilli sauce)
- to serve iceberg lettuce and sliced pickles
Scaled amounts are rounded. Cooking times usually stay the same, but a bigger batch may need a bigger pan or an extra few minutes.
Method
- Mix the soya milk, lemon juice and hot sauce in a shallow bowl and leave for 5 minutes to thicken slightly. This is your plant 'buttermilk'.
- In a second bowl, mix the flour, cornflour, spices, salt and pepper. Drizzle in 2 tbsp of the buttermilk and rub it through with your fingers to make little clumps — these become the crunchy bits.
- Dip each fillet in the buttermilk, then press into the flour, then back into the buttermilk and into the flour again, pressing firmly so the coating sticks. Rest on a rack for 5 minutes.
- Heat about 2cm of oil in a deep, heavy frying pan to 175–180°C (a cube of bread should brown in about 30 seconds). Never leave hot oil unattended.
- Fry the fillets two at a time for 3–4 minutes each side until deep golden and crisp and piping hot all the way through. Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.
- Mix the mayonnaise and sriracha. Toast the buns, spread with the spicy mayo, and build with lettuce, a fillet and pickles.
Good to know
- Air fryer option: spray the coated fillets well with oil and cook at 200°C for 12–15 minutes, turning halfway, until crisp and piping hot.
- A kitchen thermometer takes the guesswork out of shallow frying — too cool and the coating goes greasy, too hot and it burns before the middle heats through.
Check every label: stocks, sauces, breads and pastries sometimes contain milk, egg or fish. Cook until piping hot all the way through.
