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Hot Agave Chick’n Sandwich

© 2025 Wicked Foods Inc. All rights reserved.

Nope – it’s not really chicken! It’s that old faithful king oyster mushroom. For this recipe we break the mushroom apart (instead of slicing) to achieve an irregular strip, much like chicken tenders. They’re then battered and fried before being glazed with chilli-spiked agave syrup makes for a really tasty vegan chicken sandwich.

You can eat these bad boys on their own or packed inside my dream sandwich, filled with sliced gherkins and drizzled with a tangy, smoky house sauce. Best served with a cold beer and a big bunch of napkins!

  • Author: School Night Vegan
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For the Hot Agave

  • 190 mL water
  • 150 g agave syrup
  • 2–3 medium heat chillis

For the Chick’n Strips

  • 5 king oyster mushrooms

For the Batter

  • 140 mL soy milk
  • 1 t apple cider vinegar
  • 100 g plain white flour
  • 1 ½ t fine sea salt
  • ½ t ground black pepper
  • 2 t Old Bay seasoning
  • 1 t dried thyme
  • Vegetable oil for frying

For the House Sauce

  • 4–5 T vegan mayonnaise
  • 1 t sriracha
  • 1 T gherkin juice
  • ½ t liquid smoke

For Serving

  • 4 soft white bread buns
  • Sliced pickles/gherkins
  • 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • 1 T flaky sea salt

Instructions

To Make the Hot Agave

  1. In a medium saucepan, combine the water and agave. Slice each of the chillis in half length-ways and add to the saucepan. Place over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium/low and allow to simmer for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the mixture has reduced in volume by around ¾.
  2. Once reduced, remove from the heat and sieve out the chillis and any loose seeds. Allow the agave to cool completely to room temperature.

To Make the Chick’n Strips

  1. Remove the tops and bottoms of the king oyster mushrooms. Reserve for another recipe.
  2. Score a cross into the bottom of each mushroom stem and use it to pull the mushroom apart into four lengths. Repeat with all the mushrooms. Set aside.

To Make the Batter

  1. In a medium bowl mix together the soy milk and the apple cider vinegar. Set aside to thicken.
  2. In a second medium bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper, Oold Bbay seasoning and dried thyme. Set aside.
  3. Fill a medium, high-sided saucepan about 2-3 inches full with the vegetable oil. Place over a medium heat and, using a probe thermometer, bring the oil to around 170c. If you don’t have a probe thermometer, just test with a small amount of batter. If the batter sizzles immediately when it hits the oil, then you’re ready to fry.

To Fry

  1. Working with one strip at a time, coat the mushrooms in the flour mixture, followed by the soy milk mixture and back to the flour mixture. Once well coated, carefully place the mushroom into the hot oil. Fry the mushrooms in batches of no more than three.
  2. Once browned and crispy (around 3 minutes) remove the mushrooms from the oil using a spider or slotted spoon and place on a plate lined with kitchen towel. Repeat with all of the mushrooms.

To Make the House Sauce

  1. In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the House Sauce. Set aside.

To Serve

  1. While still hot, use a pastry brush to glaze each chick’n strip with the hot agave.
  2. Split open the bread rolls and spread a little house sauce on each side.
  3. Fill each bread roll with fried chick’n strips and sliced gherkins, before sprinkling with salt and fresh thyme.
  4. Top with a little more house sauce before serving.

Notes

There are a fair few steps to the process, so here’s a quick break down with pics to help you out.

Find it online: https://wickedkitchen.com/hot-agave-vegan-chicken-sandwich/

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