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This vegan Vietnamese fried chicken comes packing some crackly yuba skin, juicy star anise-simmered seitan inside, and (of course) gets served with the typical Vietnamese fragrant red rice. But then it gets coated with sweet, sour, and spicy (and 300% fish-free) nước chấm and topped with chili slices and hella herbs. I mean, come on already!
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The big deal with traditional cơm gà xối mỡ is contrast. Crunchy (but thin and non-battered) exterior. Savory, gently sweet interior. Warm fluffed-up tomato rice that soaks up flavor like the cloth seats of my car which have soaked up gallons of spilled Yerba maté over the years.
Another Vietnamese cuisine, my vegan cơm gà xối mỡ, keeps all that logic intact and swaps in star anise and cinnamon simmered seitan wrapped in yuba so you still get that layered bite and golden crackly crunch. Serve it with a large bowl of vegan pho, mi quang noodles, or goi cuon spring rolls and you are set for a life of vegan Vietnamese cooking bliss.
Let's get those chickens in a frying pan spending their day wearing sunglasses and rocking out to some chicken boogie music (I expect it sounds a lot like the "bossa nova" demo song on a Casio Keyboard), and fry up some wheat meat instead!
Jump to:
🥰 Why you'll adore this vegan Vietnamese chicken recipe
🔥 Legit Street Food Crunch: Who needs fast food chicken wings when wrapping the seitan in yuba creates a layered exterior that fries mega-golden brown and crisp without relying on batter frying or breadcrumbs.
✊ Vegan AF: Just like the rest of my vegan Vietnamese food recipes, this one delivers full fried chicken satisfaction without any breasts or fish sauce getting dragged into it.
⏱️ Impressive Without Losing Your Mind: This looks like a whole production but each step stays very manageable. While the rice steams, you're simmering, wrapping, frying, and suddenly it's done and you can eat it surrounded by thousands of your best chicken friends who all wish they could give you a high five for not eating them.
🌿 Herb Balance Built In: The cucumbers, basil, cilantro, and mint cut through the richness so the whole meal still is fresh and easy to digest.
✅ Tested and Actually Works: Like all of my vegan recipes, this one was perfected with feedback from hundreds of recipe testers from all around the world.
🙌 Learn to make restaurant-quality Vietnamese food
This guide to my most popular vegan Vietnamese recipes is 100% FREE, & you'll love the actual heck out of it 🥰
🍗 Ingredients for vegan cơm gà xối mỡ
Jasmine Rice
Jasmine rice cooks up fluffy with a lightly floral aroma that makes it the ideal choice for the classic annatto rice that's usually served with Vietnamese-style chicken. Pretty much any white rice will swap out effortlessly in this recipe, or you can increase the water and cooking time a little if you want to use brown rice instead.
Or if the red rice in this recipe doesn't sound fun to you, get creative and serve the seitan up with Vietnamese sticky rice, coconut jasmine rice, Thai basil fried rice, sinangag, or tom yum fried rice instead.
Annatto Powder
Annatto (which is sometimes called achiote when used in Filipino recipes like my pancit bihon) gives the rice its signature warm red-orange color and a mild earthy flavor. Annatto oil works well instead if you have some, or you can use a small pinch of paprika or Kashmiri red chili powder purely for color.
White Pepper
White pepper adds subtle heat without overpowering the aromatics. Black pepper works if that's all you have on hand, but doesn't have quite the same smokey vibe. I keep some on hand at all times because it's essential in vegan Thai recipes like rau muống, vegetable okoy, and my vegan banh mi recipe, to name a few.
Seitan
Seitan provides a dense, protein-rich base that absorbs flavor exceptionally well. You can use any seitan you can get decent sized cutlets out of, but honestly, a lot of store-bought ones just aren't awesome. That's why I have put together a killer vegan chicken recipe, and offer a Seitan Masterclass you can watch to learn all the tricks for the best wheat meat ever.
Yuba Sheets
Yuba creates a layered exterior that fries up crisp and golden. Rice paper wrappers can work in a pinch, but yuba gives the most authentic yet vegan version texture. I use frozen yuba sheets, rather than the dried kind, which even after soaking have a tendency to tear and shatter.
Vegan Nước Chấm
Follow my vegan nước chấm recipe to glaze the fried chicken with. Otherwise a couple other fun options to explore are Thai sweet chili sauce, or Korean bbq sauce.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯 Variations
Vegan Korean Fried Chicken
Vegan Korean fried chicken has a more traditional battered outside and gets coated with a sticky, spicy-sweet sauce after frying.In addition to my recipe on the blog, I also have a Vegan Korean Fried Chicken Workshop you can watch to cook it along with me.
Regular Vegan Fried Chicken
My vegan fried chicken is brined with pickle juice and is crazy crunchy outside, while remaining tender AF inside.
50+ of my own family's fave recipes. Carefully concocted to win over even your most anti-vegan friends.
📖 How to make Vegan Vietnamese Fried Chicken
If you're here for instant gratification, the recipe card is waiting patiently like a good citizen. If you want the full director's cut with timing, texture, and fewer "huh?" moments like someone cooking for the first time, keep reading, chum.
Start By Making The Rice:
Step One
Condoleezza Rice:
Rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs clear, then drain thoroughly.
Step Two
Annattoni Braxton:
Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. After 90 seconds, once the oil is hot, add the annatto powder and drained rice and stir-fry for about 2 minutes to release the annatto's color and evenly coat the grains.
Step Three
Boil George:
Stir in the tomato paste, garlic, tamari, sugar, and water, then bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat.
Step Four
Sim Simmer, Who's Got The Keys To My Bimmer:
Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 15-17 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. Remove from the heat and let rest, covered, for 10 minutes, then fluff gently before serving.
Now, Let's Make The Vegan Chicken!
Step Five
Toast Malone:
In a dry pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, toast the star anise, cinnamon sticks, ginger, and white pepper for about 2 minutes until fragrant.
Step Six
Let the Word of Anise Dwell in You Richly:
Add the vegetable stock, sugar, and salt, then bring to a simmer over high heat.
Add the seitan pieces, reduce to low heat, and simmer for 20 minutes, turning the seitan once halfway through.
Remove from the heat and let the seitan cool in the liquid for 15 minutes. Remove the seitan and pat dry, discard the aromatics, and reserve the liquid.
Step Seven
Never Gonna Give Yuba Up:
Soak the yuba sheets in the remaining warm stock until pliable, then gently separate into manageable pieces.
Step Eight
Seitanic Panic:
Wrap each piece of seitan tightly in yuba, trimming excess as needed, and press firmly to adhere.
Step Nine
Fry Hard With a Vengeance:
Heat the oil in a wide, heavy-bottomed pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
After 2 minutes, once the oil is hot, add the wrapped seitan in a single layer without crowding and fry for 3 minutes per side, turning carefully, until evenly golden and crisp.
✅ While you could fry in a frying pan, I prefer a Dutch oven, as the high sides prevent a lot of mess from splattering oil, and I am lazy and hate having a mess to deal with.
✅ You can alternatively air-fry the chicken brushed first with a little bit of oil, or sprayed with cooking spray.
Step Ten
Sauceanova:
Transfer the fried seitan to a wire rack to drain and cool slightly. Once cool to the touch, toss the chicken pieces with vegan nước chấm in a bowl, or brush it on with a basting brush.
Step Eleven
Plate 67-5309:
Serve the sauce-coated chicken with the tomato rice, cucumber slices (or full on Vietnamese cucumber salad instead), cut cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, and sliced chilies.
💡Serving Ideas
Skip the plain cucumber slices and serve this with a full-on Vietnamese cucumber salad or Vietnamese green mango salad instead.
If you want a little extra comfort without eating beyond your caloric deficit, banh trang cuon keeps things fresh and handsy, and a small bowl of vegan bun rieu or vegan pho on the side turns this into a proper Vietnamese-style spread that doesn't feel random at all.
👉Top tips
- Dry the Seitan Thoroughly: Pat the simmered seitan completely dry before wrapping it in yuba. If there's a ton of surface moisture, it will turn into steam during frying and prevent the exterior from crisping nicely.
- Use a Dutch Oven for Frying: The tall sides help contain oil splatter and keep your stovetop from looking like a horrific crime scene of oily creatures.
- Use Enough Oil for Even Frying: Make sure the oil reaches at least halfway up the wrapped seitan. Shallow oil causes uneven browning and forces constant turning.
- Rest Before Serving: Let the fried seitan rest on a rack for a few minutes after frying to drip off excess oil. Part of the reason I prefer a wire rack to a paper towel-lined plate is that air can get to the seitan all around. This prevents the yuba on the bottom from steaming and getting soggy as the chicken pieces cool.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Simmering infuses the seitan with spice and seasoning all the way through. Frying alone would only season the outside and leave the interior bland, which is dumb and will make you get mad and pick up your neighbor's Toyota Yaris and throw it in a swamp. I would truly hate to see that happen to his/her sensible commuter car.
You can, but the texture will be different. Spring roll wrappers or thin tofu skins can work, though I find rice paper gets really bubbly as it cooks, and has the tendency to stick to other piece as it fries.
❄️ refrigerating
Once cooled, store the fried seitan and rice in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
🧊 freezing
Freeze the fried seitan and rice separately in freezer-safe airtight containers for up to 3 months. For best texture, freeze the fried pieces in a single layer, and once they are solid, transferring them to a freezer bag.
⏳ thawing
Thaw overnight in the refrigerator until fully defrosted. Avoid thawing at room temperature, as this softens the coating unevenly.
🔥 stovetop reheating
Reheat the fried seitan in a lightly oiled pan over medium heat, turning gently until warmed through and crisp again. Warm the rice separately with a small splash of water and a lid.
⚡️ oven reheating
Reheat the fried seitan on a baking sheet in an oven at 375°F (190°C) for 7-8 minutes until warmed through and the exterior crisps back up. Cover the rice loosely with foil and heat alongside it so it warms evenly without drying out.
✌️You'll also love these vegan Vietnamese recipes:
Learn to make your fave Vietnamese street food bangers in this super-fun cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Vegan Vietnamese Fried Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
For the Tomato Rice:
- 2 cups jasmine rice
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon annatto powder
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons garlic minced
- 4 teaspoons tamari
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 ½ cups water
For the Fried Chicken:
- 2 whole star anise
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 teaspoons ginger grated
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 8 seitan pieces breast or wing size
- 2 large sheets Yuba
- ½ cup canola oil vegetable oil, or sunflower oil
To Serve:
- ¼ cup vegan nước chấm
- Cucumber slices
- Cherry tomatoes cut in half
- Thai basil leaves
- Cilantro leaves
- Mint leaves
Instructions
For the Rice:
- Rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs clear, then drain thoroughly.
- Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. After 90 seconds when the oil is hot, add the annatto powder and drained rice and stir-fry it in the hot oil for about 2 minutes to release the annatto's color and thoroughly coat the rice grains in the hot oil.
- Stir in the tomato paste, garlic, tamari, sugar, and the water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Cover, reduce to low heat, and cook for 15-17 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. Remove from the heat and let rest, covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff gently before serving.
For the Fried Chicken:
- In a dry pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, toast the star anise, cinnamon sticks, ginger, and white pepper for about 2 minutes until fragrant.
- Add the vegetable stock, sugar, and salt. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Add the seitan pieces then reduce to low heat and simmer for 20 minutes, turning the seitan once halfway through. Remove from the heat and let the seitan cool in the liquid for 15 minutes. Remove the seitan and pat dry. Discard the aromatics and reserve the liquid.
- Soak the yuba sheets in the remaining warm stock until pliable, then gently separate into manageable pieces. Wrap each piece of seitan tightly in yuba, trimming excess as needed, and press lightly to adhere.
- Heat oil in a wide, heavy-bottomed pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. After 2 minutes, when the oil is hot, add the wrapped seitan in a single layer without crowding. Fry for 3 minutes per side, turning carefully, until the exterior is evenly golden and crisp. Transfer to a wire rack to drain and cool slightly.
- Once cool to the touch, place the chicken piece in a bowl and toss it with the vegan nước chấm
- Serve the fried seitan with the tomato rice, cucumber slices, fresh herbs, and sliced chilies.
Notes
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Kara Quinn says
Delicious!!! It was very intimidating but with the detailed instructions, I did it. The only thing is all of the ingredients I had to purchase because they are not typical ingredients sitting around.