Crispy and Crunchy heart-shaped vegan chicken nuggets that your kids will love! Made with whole food ingredients, they are gluten-free and delicious.
This post was created in partnership with Primal Kitchen Foods and may contain affiliate links.
Kid-Friendly Vegan Food
I know feeding kids can be a challenge in itself. They can be so picky sometimes, but what kid doesn’t like nuggets?? These nuggets can be baked, air-fried, or fried in avocado oil. All three versions are equally as delicious. We like to dip them in our favorite ketchup or in barbeque sauce.
With kids, I like to keep it simple and stick to what they like then introduce new foods. Some of our other favorite meals are potato flautas, vegan lasagna, bean sopes, sopa de fideo, and this veggie ragu.
Ingredient Notes
My kids aren’t vegan, so this recipe for vegan chicken nuggets needed to be good, and I mean really good for them to like them. It was important to me that they be gluten-free so they could be allergy-friendly.
- Tofu- I used extra-firm tofu which I froze the night before, defrosted, then pressed.
- Cassava flour- Made from the root of the cassava plant it is gluten, grain, and nut-free.
- Rice flour- Made from ground-up rice
- Nutritional Yeast- This is pretty vital for this recipe so I wouldn’t try to substitute it.
Serving & Storing
Serve these immediately after baking or frying to maintain crispiness. We like to serve them with fries, but you could also put these in a salad, toss them with buffalo sauce, or make a wrap. You can store the leftover nuggets in the fridge and the next day place them under your oven broiler, set to low until they crisp up again.
Healthy Ketchup
I don’t know what is that makes kids like ketchup so much (wait a minute of course I know, SUGAR!), but if they could put ketchup on everything they totally would. I’ve been looking for a good low sugar or sugar-free ketchup for a while and I finally found one that we love.
It’s the Primal Kitchen Organic Unsweetened Ketchup which is sweetened with balsamic vinegar. I’ve tried other sugar-free ketchup and either they taste like plain tomato paste or they are made with artificial sugars. This one has satisfied my kids’ picky palate, plus its keto certified, paleo, whole 30 approved, vegan, and gluten-free. If you want to try it, click on the link above and used the discount code DORAPRIMAL at checkout.
Heart-Shaped Vegan Chicken Nuggets
Ingredients
- 2 blocks (16 oz) Extra firm tofu
Marinade
- 4 tbsp. Soy sauce
- 4 tbsp. Avocado oil
- 1 ⅓ cup. Water
- 4 tbsp. Nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp. Garlic powder
- 2 tsp. Smoked paprika
Breading
- 1 ¼ cups Cassava flour
- ¼ cup Rice flour
- 1 tbsp. Smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp. Garlic powder
- 1 tsp. Onion powder
- 1 tsp. Salt
Milk Mixture
- 1 tbsp Cornstarch
- 1 cup Almond milk unsweetened
- 1 tsp Apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Freeze tofu in an unopened package overnight. Defrost and press for 30 min. Cut tofu block in half (see video) then each half into three slices. Cut out two heart shapes per slice. Save all the trimmings left over from cutting the tofu. (see note)
To make marinade
- In a large bowl combine the soy sauce, oil, water, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and smokes paprika. Mix well, and drop in hearts. Marinate for at least 30 min.
To make breading
- In a large bowl combine the cassava flour, rice flour, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. Mix to combine. Set aside.
To make milk mixture
- In a small bowl, combine cornstarch, almond milk, and apple cider vinegar. Mix to combine.
- Take three hearts at a time and drop them into the bowl with the milk mixture. Take the hearts out of the milk and place them in the bowl with the breading. Toss them with the flour several times until they are completely covered. Place on a sheet tray while you bread the other hearts.
- Once all the hearts are breaded set a large- deep sauté pan to medium-high heat. Add avocado oil. Once the oil is hot or at 350°F drop in the breaded hearts. Cook 1-2 minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove from oil and set on a sheet tray lined with paper towels. Let cool slightly and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Although dorastable.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates.
Hi Dora,
Looks like a great recipe! Could you sub the cassava or rice flour with coconut flour, quinoa flour or another GF flour? thanks!
I haven't tried those specific flours, but I think it would be easy to substitute with other GF flours.
We loved these! My (carnivore) husband especially keeps ranting about them, thank you. We made them with little bunny shaped cutters because our four year old is bunny obsessed, and we're thinking they could be good chicken patty sandwiches, too, if you used a circle shaped cutter. I'll probably use the scraps for tofu scramble tomorrow.
I should have said raving, not ranting! Oops!
I made this today for lunch and everyone LOVED these tofu nuggets! Our kids and my husband requested I make more for dinner. They’re easy to make and delicious! I sliced the tofu. I didn’t use a cookie cutter. I love the cookie cutter idea! Thank you for a delicious vegan gluten-free recipe! Patty @thesunkissedvegans
I'm so happy your kids liked them. I know sometimes kids can be picky.