The Vegan 6pc Lemon Pepper Mild. Double fried, dry coated in lemon pepper, shake some off on the fries. Toss in classic Chicago style Mild Sauce. Voila.

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The Vegan 6pc Lemon Pepper Mild.

“With all the fries you can give me, I tear them bitches off” - Freddie Gibbs, “Harold’s” (2014)

This recipe requires you buy some vegan drumsticks from the frozen section at your local Asian supermarket. If you want, you can do this with seitan or oyster mushrooms as well.***

I bought frozen fries too because I didn’t feel like hand-cutting russets. You’re more than welcome in hand-cutting your fries, in fact they’ll be way better.

To start, defrost the wing things. Then toss your fries in the oven according to the package.

Now you’re going to get your frying setup in place.

What you’ll need:

vegan drumsticks (or oyster mushrooms/seitan)
all purpose flour
cornmeal
chickpea flour (optional)
corn flakes (optional)
canola oil (or comparable)
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
lemon pepper
oat milk
apple cider vinegar

In a large bowl, add about a cup and a half of flour. Then add a 1/4 cup of corn meal if you’ve got it. Then add an 1/4 cup of chickpea flour if you have that too. Crush up some corn flakes and throw those in there too and give everything a mix. Add a teaspoon of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. Toss a little lemon pepper in there too, why not.

In another bowl, add oat milk and a generous splash of apple cider vinegar. This is going to function as your buttermilk.

Grab a pot and throw it on the stove top. Fill it 1/3 the way up with canola oil. Bring the temp up to 325°.

While your oil is heating up, it’s time to dredge and coat your wings. One by one, throw them in the flour and coat thoroughly. Then shake off excess, dredge in the buttermilk and shake off the excess again. Toss in the flour a second time and set aside. Repeat until you’re out of wings. This yields more than 6pc but I was eating while I cooked. R&D, you know.

These weren't as flaky as I wanted but still very crunchy.

Now that your oil is popping off, gently add one of the wings in there and give it a stir so it doesn't stick to the walls of the pot. Add two more. You don’t wanna overcrowd the pot.

There’s one in there. It’s not easy doing all of this by myself, leave me alone!

Cook for a few minutes until golden brown. Right around 4 minutes. After that, put the wings on a wire rack to drip and continue until they’re all done.

Now that you have a bunch of wings on a wire rack, bring the temp of the oil up to about 375°. Because they're going back in for a second swim. You don’t have to recoat them in flour, just toss em in a few at a time.

Cook the wings out for another 3 minutes (in batches of three or so) and then put back on the wire rack to dry.

Now it’s time to bring it all home.

What you’ll need:

bbq sauce
ketchup
hot sauce
lemon pepper

In another bowl, add your wings. If they’re a little moist still, that’s perfect. Generously season with lemon pepper and give them a nice toss. Also moving past the fact I used the word ‘moist.’

In another bowl…or ramekin or something, add 2 parts bbq sauce to 1 part ketchup. Then add a nice dosing of hot sauce to your liking. It’s like a cocktail. Give that a stir and there’s your mild sauce. Adjust to your liking. Take your new sauce and lay it all over the wings and toss. You’re going to want to eat these quick.

Assuming you made fries too, stick them in another bowl, coat generously with lemon pepper.

Add them to a plate, load six wings atop the fries and add more sauce.

***Now you can absolutely do these with oyster mushrooms if you don’t have access to the drumsticks. Go about the process the same way as listed above but watch your cook times. It may take a little less time to fry the mushrooms up so be aware.

If you go the seitan route, I don’t have a recipe for seitan strips just yet. You could use tofu if you wanted to here as well but oyster mushrooms will probably be your best bet outside of the drumsticks.