The unofficial title of this post should be “an ode to fried chicken”. Fried chicken was one of my first food loves. It was one of those things my mom never made, but every once and a while we’d get wings or broasted chicken from this tiny place in my home town and it was such a treat! This post however, is based on one of Andrew’s mom’s recipes, Wendy’s Chicken Sandwich’s. Yes, you read that right, Andrew’s mom would make Wendy’s chicken sandwich copy cat’s for dinner, and obviously, that’s brilliant, so we decided to try to recreate it.
I have to confess, I was never much for the traditional fast food restaurants, I’ve always been a shameless Taco Bell girl. But, Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwiches were an exception to that. The flavor of the batter is the perfect amount of spicy, and it’s just a great late night snack when you get out of work. But I never thought of trying to recreate them, or any fried chicken-esque recipe at home because to be honest, deep frying intimidated me A LOT. So if you’re the same, I’m here to walk you through it, because it is so worth figuring it out, trust me.
Enough about chicken, let’s talk about this sandwich because you’re not here for chicken love poems, you’re here because you either don’t eat meat or are trying to eat less. So let’s talk instead about cauliflower.
Cauliflower is one of the most amazing and versatile vegetables out there, and on this sandwich, is truly the perfect chicken substitute. You won’t even close to miss the chicken. The fried cauliflower is crisp and flavorful on the outside and tender, juicy and meaty on the inside.
I mean, we took one bite of this sandwich and our brains practically exploded from joy and shock and how delicious it was. You can jazz up the condiments and toppings a little but to be honest, the first time we made these we just did mayo and lettuce and it was perfect. You don’t need much, the cauliflower and the batter does all the work. The batter creates a beautiful smoky flavor on the cauliflower with just a hint of spice that is subtle but perfect.
Now, you can bake these in the oven if you’d rather go the healthier route, See the notes for how to do that, it’s basically like doing baked cauliflower wings. But, deep frying is really worth it here. You don’t need a huge kitchen with a built in Paula Dean style deep fryer to pull this off. All you need is a deep, heavy bottomed pot, and vegetable oil.
Essentially, you just fill the oil in the bottom high enough that the cauliflower steaks will be covered in oil and you heat it up. The oil is ready to fry when it starts to sizzle, basically, if you flick water into and it splashes it back at you, it’s ready to go. You can also break off a small piece of cauliflower as a tester and drop it in, if it floats and starts to sizzle and cooks quickly, you’re ready baby. Or you can use a thermometer and get the oil to 350 degrees if you’re fancy and scientific.
Guys, you’re ready, I believe in you, it’s time to accomplish those meatless fried chicken dreams you did not know you had. Get cooking.
Lots of Love,
Jackie & Andrew
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Spicy Fried Cauliflower Sandwiches
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 2 sandwiches 1x
- Category: Sandwich, Lunch, Dinner
- Cuisine: American, Fast Food, Vegan
Description
This meatless version of a Wendy’s Chicken Sandwich will knock your socks off! The batter is crispy with a bold, spicy flavor and the cauliflower is soft and meaty in the middle.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup non-dairy milk
- 4 tbs hot sauce
- 1 tbs cayenne pepper
- 1 tbs smoked paprika
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- frying oil
- Toppings (optional)
- buns
- lettuce
- tomato
- mayo
- hot sauce
Instructions
- Cut the head of the cauliflower in half and then cut a 1 inch slice steak out of each of the two halves. You’ll want to cut from the center to get the biggest piece possible and allow it to stay in tact. The back pieces of each half may fall off after that, you just need the steak for the sandwich and can save the florets for later! Meanwhile, fill a large, deep pot about 1 inch deep with vegetable oil and heat the oil over medium high heat.
- In a large bowl, whisk the non-dairy milk, hot sauce, flour, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder until combined into a thick, creamy batter.
- Test whether the oil is ready for frying by sprinkling water droplets into the oil If it sizzles and pops, it’s ready to fry. Or if you have a thermometer, you want it to be 350 degrees. Take one cauliflower steak and dunk it into the batter, flipping both sides until it is fully coated. Drop the steak into the hot oil and fry for about two minutes on each side. The breading will get brown and crunchy on the outside and the cauliflower will begin to soften up. Remove from oil and place on a paper towel to get off some of the oil. Repeat this process with the second steak.
- Assemble the sandwiches by spreading mayo, ranch, mustard or other condiments of your choice on the bun and adding lettuce tomato and other toppings!
- If you have leftover florets, make little popcorn cauliflower nuggets by double battering them and placing them in the oil for about two minutes. Serve them with a side of ranch dressing, yum!
Notes
*You can also bake these by lining a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping it halfway through.
