I’ve had a few requests for vegan chicken ala king over the years, and well, I kind of procrastinated. Chicken ala king is one of those dishes that I never ate growing up, so I had no idea what it’s supposed to taste like! I looked up a few recipes and couldn’t really wrap my head around it. I’ll be frank: it didn’t sound very good. But I’ve had this problem with other vegan dishes. I felt like I was flying blind when I created my vegan meatloaf and vegan chicken pot pie, and they both turned out delicious! I recently posted a call for some recipe requests on my Facebook page, and multiple people asked for vegan ala king, so I decided it was time. I’m so glad I did! This dish was absolutely scrumptious!
What You’ll Need
Raw cashews. This is what we’ll be making our creamy vegan ala king sauce from. Make sure they’re raw and not roasted — roasted cashews will make your sauce taste like cashew butter! You’ll also need to soak your cashews in water for a bit before cooking.Vegetable broth. I used Better Than Bouillon in seasoned vegetable flavor.Vegan butter. You should be able to find this near the regular butter at your supermarket. Look for brands like Earth Balance and Miyoko’s.Mushrooms. The recipe calls for button mushrooms, but cremini can be substituted if needed.Onion. This isn’t an ingredient you always find in chicken ala king, but I included it for maximum flavor.Seitan. You can use store-bought or homemade seitan. If you make my homemade seitan, use the chicken flavor. You’ll need a whole batch!Garlic. And this is an ingredient that you almost never find in chicken ala king, but again: flavor!Dry sherry. You can leave this out if you prefer to cook without alcohol.Frozen peas. Thaw them out before adding them to your stew.Pimentos. Look for these in jars near the roasted red peppers.Salt & pepper.Pasta, rice, toast, or biscuits. Serve your stew over one of these!
How to Make Vegan Chicken ala King
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you’d prefer to skip right to the recipe!
Place your raw cashews in a blender or food processor with about half of your broth. Blend everything until smooth and creamy. This can take a few minutes, particularly if you’re not using a high-powered blending device. Be patient!
Melt some vegan butter in a skillet and add sliced mushrooms. Make sure you don’t crowd them in the skillet — mushrooms need space in order to brown properly. Let them cook for a few minutes on each side and resist the temptation to stir them while they cook.Remove the mushrooms from the skillet and transfer them to a plate when they’re done cooking.
Melt some more butter in the skillet, then add diced onion. Cook it until it begins to soften up. Give it a stir from time to time to prevent it from burning.Add chopped seitan and cook it with the onion for a few minutes, until it begins to brown.Add the garlic and cook it with the onion and seitan for about a minute, then return the mushrooms to the skillet and pour in the sherry. Bring it to a simmer and let it cook until it’s almost gone.Now add the remaining broth, bring it to as simmer, and let everything cook for about 10 minutes.
Finally, stir in the peas, pimentos, and cashew sauce. Bring everything back up to a simmer, then take the skillet off of the burner.
Season your stew with some salt and pepper.
Serve your vegan chicken ala king over rice, pasta, toast, or vegan biscuits.
Leftovers & Storage
This dish keeps well and makes for great leftovers! Store them in a sealed container in the fridge for about 3 days or in the freezer for 3 months.
More Vegan “Chicken” Recipes
Vegan Chicken FajitasVegan Chicken Pot PieVegan Chicken Noodle SoupVegan Butter ChickenVegan Chicken & Dumplings
