This one is for all my friends with food allergies. These vegan nuggets are made with a base of chickpeas and then use oat flour for a crispy outer coating. They are easy to make, only have 9 ingredients and I promise you will love them.
I have made a few vegan nuggets recipes over my food blogging years! One is made made with frozen tofu and seitan. There is also a great recipe for fried popcorn chick’n in my cookbook. So, why not add another recipe to the collection? I wanted these nuggets to be allergy friendly and relatively easy to make. Most of the ingredients in this recipe are seasonings/spices and are things you probably already have in your pantry. These are great for enjoying on their own but also in wraps, salads, bowls – tons of possibilities! I also think these could be a lot of fun for the Super Bowl.
Chickpeas
I love chickpeas. They are inexpensive, great source of plant-based protein, fiber, have lots of nutrients, and just all around a great little legume. All that you have to do is blend the chickpeas up with a few seasonings and then it will hold its shape to be made into a nugget! It is pretty cool, if you ask me. I really wanted to keep this recipe simple so it is nice to not have to do very much to the chickpeas. Canned chickpeas work best for this and they are inexepensive.
Oat Flour
Do you know it is actually really easy to make homemade oat flour? All you need are rolled oats and a blender! I wanted to make this recipe gluten free just because I know I have a lot of people looking for gluten free recipes and the oats seemed like they would make a perfect outer crust on these. My favorite is the one from Bob’s Red Mill, but there are a lot of brands who make gluten free oats. I do want to put the disclaimer out there some oats may be cross contaminated with wheat, so if you are completely gluten-free or celiac definitely make sure to buy the ones that are designated as gluten free. To make the oat flour just blend the oats are until they are finely milled like a white flour.
Air Frying or Baking
It should be no surprise to you by now that I love my air fryer. We have obviously done very many air fryer recipes on this blog. However, I did want to try baking these to see what happened. Good news, they come out great baked as well! I personally do prefer the air fried version but if you don’t have any air fryer, baking will be great. The only method I didn’t try was some sort of frying, so if you do and it works let us all know in a comment!
Poultry Seasoning
It should be no surprise to you by now that I love my air fryer. We have obviously done very many air fryer recipes on this blog. However, I did want to try baking these to see what happened. Good news, they come out great baked as well! I personally do prefer the air fried version but if you don’t have any air fryer, baking will be great. The only method I didn’t try was some sort of frying, so if you do and it works let us all know in a comment!
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Vegan Nuggets [Soy, Gluten, Nut Free]
Ingredients
Oat Flour
- 1 cup [96g] rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon [5g] garlic powder
- ½ tablespoon [2g] nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon [3g] salt
- 1 teaspoon [5g] paprika
- 1 teaspoon [5g] onion powder
Chickpea Nuggets
- 1 [15.5 ounce/439g] can chickpeas
- ½ teaspoon [5g] garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon [1g] salt
- ¼ teaspoon [1g] poultry seasoning
Other
- Spray Oil
Instructions
- Add oats to a blender. Blend for about 1 minute until it is a fine powder, resembling regular all-purpose flour. Add the oat flour to a plate and then add the seasonings. Mix together and set aside.
- Open a can of chickpeas and drain the bring (aquafaba) in a medium bowl. Reserve this as we will be using it later.
- In the same blender add the drained chickpeas and seasonings, blend for about 1 minute until the chickpeas are completely broken down and smooth. The texture will be like a thick hummus.
- Scoop about 1 heaping tablespoon (15-20g) of the blended chickpeas out. Form into a nugget shape. Place in the aquafaba, then place in the oat flour, then back in the aquafaba, and back in the oat flour one final time for a double coating. Place on a dish and repeat until all nuggets are made. I made 12 from this recipe.
- Spray one side of the nuggets generously with spray oil. Place in air fryer basket, sprayed side down and then spray the other side. Air fry at 400°F (204°C) for 11 to 13 minutes, until golden and crispy. The nuggets will be much firmer as well. **To bake see notes.
- Remove the nuggets and if desired you can spray with oil one more time just to give them a bit more of a “deep-fried” look. Enjoy with your favorite dipping sauce.
Video
Notes
- To bake: spray with oil, place in oven at 425F (218C) for 20 minutes, then flip, spray side that was facing down with spray oil and bake for 5 more minutes.
- Will last in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- If you don’t care about these being gluten free you can use regular all purpose flour.
- I personally like spray oil because it makes it easier to coat and evenly distribute the oil.
- My preferred blender
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If you enjoyed this recipe please be sure to leave a comment or review, it is so helpful for the blog. Thank you!
Quick, easy, and delicious! I make these at least twice a week.
yay! I am so happy to hear that Moriah! thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment and review means a lot 🙂
Loved the recipe, can I freeze them before cooking them?
Thank you! Yes, you can make them and bread them, then freeze!
I just made these and while they don’t taste exactly like chicken nuggets.. they are fantastic!
I was hoping you could help me out. They came out a bit more powdery/floury than I would have liked. Any suggestions?
hi Tiffany, thank you so much for trying them and taking the time to leave a comment! You can hit them with a little spray oil once they are all done. You can also skip the double breading if you like, and you can try tapping them off a bit in between the double breading xo
These look amazing! Do you think I could freeze some, once they are already baked? Thank you!!
Hi Amy thank you so much! I didn’t try it should be okay. just freeze them on a sheet pan or something at first and then transfer into a container so they don’t freeze on top of each other!
Hi, Mine fell apart , very delicate. So I must of done something wrong. I did have a problem blending. In the recipe you say blend like humus? That’s impossible because there is no liquid. Admittedly, I added a half teaspoon of aquafaba to get it to blend more, maybe that was it? I also made ahead and put in the fridge, could that of been it? I let them come to room temp and air fried them. Still loved the taste and want to make again. Or, is the soft texture how they are supposed to be? Happy Holidays
Hi Kathryn, sorry to hear you had some issues. So, I am not sure what blender you are using but it could be partly due to the blender or also the chickpeas themselves. Some are harder than others making them not as easy to blend. I recommend using Goya if you can I find theirs blend well. Also, a high speed blender is important so it can really push down and break through the chickpeas. With putting them in the fridge that is fine but I wouldn’t have let them come to room temp I would’ve just done them straight from the fridge. They are a softer inside it isn’t like a tofu nugget of course but it should be able to hold it’s shape. I am glad you did the taste overall but I am sorry they fell apart.
I would say if you make them again if you don’t have a high speed blender like a vitamix, nutribullet, ninja etc to maybe use a food processor instead if you have one! If you do have one I would then suggest maybe trying a different brand of chickpeas and if you are in the US don’t use trader joes they’re chickpeas are super hard for some reason. let me know how the second time goes. hopefully, it will be a better!
These came out really good and I like that they are gluten free too. I made vegan chicken fil a sauce to dip them in. Thanks!
Hi Megan! yay I am so happy to hear that and yum love the addition of the dipping sauce!
I have been looking for healthy simple dinner recipes to add to my vegan toddlers’ dinner list- which currently consists of tofu cubes, frozen chik’n nuggets, pasta, and vegan Mac n cheese. We really need to expand our horizons over here. I was really hoping for a nugget without tofu to mix up their proteins- Thank you for this awesome recipe! It was a hit!
hi Kristin!! awww yay that makes me so so happy to hear! wooo so glad they enjoyed it. thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment/review it really means a lot. also, if you need or want any other ideas this recipe might be helpful! https://plantifullybasedblog.com/2021/07/31/high-protein-vegan-mac-and-cheese-soy-nut-and-gluten-free/
Awesome, I will try this, thank you so much!
you are welcome!
It was overall good I made for my vegan toddler hoping she will like them. Really simple to make but the double dipping made it come out dry and too floury definitley needs sauce with it or else its just not that tasty!
Hi thank you for this recipe! Do you think the texture would be firmer or more chicken-like if you use dry chickpeas that you soaked? Or even a mixture of dry soaked chickpeas and maybe lentils?
Hi the recipe isn’t supposed to be replicating chicken just a vegan nugget made from the chickpeas but feel free to play around and experiment how you like with it
What can I use instead of chickpeas?
hi Krystal, you can try using white beans but chickpeas are what this recipe is based on and it is the main ingredient so I wouldn’t suggest replacing them. I have plenty of other nugget recipes on here made from tofu or seitan that may be a better option! 🙂
thank you
These are delicious!! Instead of dipping into the flour mixture a 2nd time, I dipped in crushed cornflakes! Really love how crispy they were!
hi Sarah! yay so glad you enjoyed them thank you for making it and taking the time to leave a comment/review xo
Hello, came across your recipe and was excited to try it. My son has been eating a vegan diet for ten years or so. He usually buys vegan chicken nuggets out in restaurants. ( I also, on occasion, eat them in vegan restaurants). I made the recipe and he was excited to try it. He was kind..told me it does not taste or look anything like vegan chicken nuggets. Too much breading on the outside and too soft in the inside. I couldn’t resist. I tasted them and I agreed with him. The restaurant variety has too much salt and who knows what else. We are both gluten intolerant. So, we cannot just go and pick up a bag of commercially made vegan nuggets. (Gluten free). My search continues. Thank you for reading my comment..
Hi Debra, sorry to hear you and your son didn’t enjoy I appreciate your feedback. You may like this recipe better https://plantifullybasedblog.com/2021/05/08/air-fried-vegan-chickn-tenders/ and swap for gluten free all purpose flour