Vegan “Chicken” Piccata
This vegan chicken piccata is more healthful, but just as delicious as its animal based counterpart. Vegan butter, white wine, and capers make the meal. Please see my note below for timing advice if you plan to cook all three portions of this meal together. I prefer the tasty and affordable Oxford Landings sauvignon blanc in this recipe, but please feel free to use the wine of your choice.
Chicken was the primary meat I ate growing up. Of the many chicken recipes, piccata was probably my favorite.
Not only is piccata delicious, but it is quite simple. Butter and wine are the foundations of the sauce, and the chicken is coated with a basic salted flour breading. Finally, the combo is loaded up with capers — it doesn’t get much better than that.
As I have mentioned a number of times before, I refuse to “give up” any foods now that I am vegan. In fact, my palate and the sense of possibilities have only expanded. I am a broken record with those assertions at this point, but I don’t feel that it can be overstated.
I was pleased to discover that Gardein makes excellent and almost shockingly on-point vegan chicken. It is composed of soy and gluten protein — while not allergen friendly, the texture and flavor is an apt and comforting replacement for its animal counterpart. I am truly amazed by the plant based alternatives on the market, and I read about new impressive additions every day.
It’s clear both from a scientific and personal experience standpoint that a whole food, plant based diet is the most health-promoting of all the ways to eat. At this stage of my eating journey, I am highly attuned to my body’s response to each meal, and nothing can compare with the plant based meals devoid of processed foods and animal products.
However, I recognize how locked in many Americans are to our destructive dietary patterns. Switching from chicken, eggs, and cheese every day and burgers every week won’t seem realistic or even feasible to many of us. This is why it is incredibly important to me to present familiar meat and cheese based meals in vegan form, in order to provide my fellow eaters with approachable, progressive substitutions and paths for transitioning into more healthful living with ease.
I learned in “How Not to Die” by Doctor Michael Gregor that not only is chicken packed with salt, but with phosphate additives. Injecting chicken with phosphate adds water weight, increasing profitability as chicken is sold by the pound. However, this particular form of added phosphorous can be absorbed by the body at a rate of nearly 100 percent, placing a toxic load on the veins, kidneys, and heart. Not to mention chicken contains more aging toxins (aka — advanced glycation end products, or AGEs) when cooked than red meat, and its bacterial byproducts encourage the development of urinary tract infections.
Chicken, in many ways, is actually the most harmful meat to our health of all. I was surprised and alarmed to learn this, as white meat is often poised as a healthy alternative to red meat — a food of which the negative health consequences are becoming increasingly well known. To learn more about health impacts of chicken, I would recommend watching What the Heath on Netflix and reading “How Not to Die.”
While processed foods, like animal foods, are never ideal, the above threats are not present in Gardein’s vegan chicken alternative. The processed “chicken” is a much more healthful choice than the real thing for reasons beyond what I have touched on here, and making this switch is a huge step forward.
I hope you will try this recipe and love it as much as I do! As my family traditionally has done, I have included with the “chicken” an easy recipe for baked asparagus and mashed potatoes. Please leave me a rating and review if you make this dish — I would love to hear from you!
Vegan “Chicken” Piccata with Roasted Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes
Equipment
- Stockpot or large dutch oven
- Large baking sheet
- Medium skillet
Ingredients
For the mashed potatoes
- 5-6 medium or large yukon gold potatoes
- 3 tbsp Earth Balance vegan butter
- ¼ cup Ripple pea protein plant milk or plant milk of choice
For the asparagus
- 1 lb asparagus
- ½ lemon juiced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup shredded Violife vegan parm plus more for serving
For the "chicken"
- 10 oz package Gardein meatless chick'n strips thawed overnight in fridge
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- ¾ tsp season salt
- 3 tbsp Earth Balance vegan butter divided
- ½ cup Oxford Landings sauvignon blanc, divided or dry white wine of choice
- 2-3 tbsp capers
Instructions
To make potatoes
- Fill a stockpot or large dutch oven with water and bring to a boil. Salt generously until the water tastes as salty as the ocean. Add whole, unpeeled potatoes and parboil until they are tender when poked with a fork, about 30 mins.
- Carefully remove hot potatoes, drain water, and chop them into large chunks. Add them back to the pan along with 3 Tbsp vegan butter and ¼ cup plant milk. Mash until well combined.
To make asparagus
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Chop off fibrous ends of asparagus, and line the bunch on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and distribute ¼ cup shredded Violife parm on top. Bake for 10 minutes. Top with minced garlic, juice of ½ lemon, and additional Violife parm if desired.
To make chicken
- Transfer Gardein chick'n from freezer to fridge the evening before you plan to cook, allowing it to thaw.
- Open the bag and add flour and season salt. Seal, and shake the bag gently in a few different directions to evenly coat the pieces.
- Preheat a skillet on medium. Once hot, add 2 Tbsp of butter, and allow to melt completely. Add the chicken pieces and distribute evenly across the pan. Let them cook undisturbed in the butter for about 3 minutes to allow light browning on one side. Mix the pieces and allow them to keep cooking until the pan is almost dry.
- Add ¼ cup of wine and allow liquid to reduce by almost half, about 2 mins. Lower heat slightly and add remaining ¼ cup of wine and remaining 1 Tbsp of butter. Allow to simmer undisturbed until butter melts. Give it a mix and add 2 or 3 Tbsp of capers, and cook for a minute more. Remove from heat and serve!