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Addicting fried oyster mushrooms! Seasoned crispy outer crust with a tender meaty texture inside. Serve as an appetizer at your party or game day event; or even as part of a main course as it makes a great meat substitute for fried chicken!
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If you never had fried oyster mushrooms, once you do you will be hooked! I cooked these for my dad while watching the game and my dad ate the entire bowl only leaving me with 3 pieces (hey I still love the guy!) Yes they are that good!
Addicting fried oyster mushrooms! Makes a great meat substitute for fried chicken!
Why Fry These Mushrooms?
You don’t have to fry them at all you can saute them and add them to any dish calling for mushrooms. I occasionally fry these mushrooms because they have a very meaty and tender texture reminding you of fried chicken so it’s makes a more natural meat substitute than using a mock meat vegan product. The are so delicious that even if you are not vegan you will find yourself craving these. I recommend using a cast iron or deep fryer for this like my stand by FryDaddy Electric Deep Fryer. Now I don’t own an air fryer at the moment and I cannot make any guarantee that it will work but you are more than free to try it out and see for yourself! (NOTE: In the comment section someone mentioned they used this recipe in their air fryer and it worked out fine so feel free to test it out for yourself!)
Why this recipe works?
- Oyster Mushrooms: As mentioned above oyster mushroom texture is what makes this fried mushroom recipe delicious. Sure you can use any mushroom for frying but then you won’t get that same satisfying texture as you would with these mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms are readily available and easily found at your local Asian market. Oyster mushrooms also contain good levels of zinc, folic acid, and niacin.
- Spelt Flour: Spelt flour works really well with this recipe. This works with chickpea flour too but with chickpea flour you get a more crisper thicker coating when fried and a lighter color (think of Popyees chicken texture). With Spelt flour you get a crispy but thinner coating when fried an a rich dark brown color (think of my former favorite KFC). Spelt is not a gluten free flour so it is not recommended if you have Celiac Disease. (Use chickpea flour instead).
- Multiple Uses! Craving a Po boy sandwich? Use these Fried Oyster Mushrooms. Miss fried chicken? Use these Fried Oyster Mushrooms. What a meatless finger food to go with your French fries? Use these Fried Oyster Mushrooms! You get the drift!
How to Make this Fun Finger Food! (READ FULL RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR FULL INSTRUCTIONS)
The key to frying these mushrooms is having both a wet and dry batter. My dad tried to do it on his own with just the dry batter and it didn’t turn out to good (poor guy he didn’t know lol). First you make your wet batter by adding your flour, seasonings and water to a bowl and mix well until completely combined.
Next in a separate bowl make your dry batter by adding more flour and seasonings to a bowl and mix well until seasonings are fully incorporated into the flour.
The you dip your mushrooms in your wet flour batter FIRST ONLY ONCE and then you coat them in your dry batter SECOND ONLY ONCE. Immediately add them to a hot oiled pan or deep fryer making sure not to over crowd them. Because this is not animal flesh, there will be no need to fry for more than 3 minutes until golden brown.
Vegan With Curves Star Ingredient
Spelt in general is often something highly used in the alkaline vegan community. One cup of spelt flour has 11 grams of protein! Read Spelt Flour Builds Strong Bones & Aids Circulation for full knowledge of the benefits of spelt flour.
How to make this Waste/Weight Release (Weight Loss) Friendly?
Well to fried food isn’t something you think of when trying to release weight. However there is a way to occasionally enjoy these without completely going off you your goals.
- Serve this over a salad instead of with French fries or a part of traditional starched filled fried chicken dinner
- Don’t fry them! These mushrooms are great in stir fries simply sauté’ as you would regular mushrooms!
- If you want them breaded you can try baking them with panko crumbs (I have not tried this myself but will in the future and report back to you how the have turned out!)
Curve builders, even though this recipe is high in calories, fried food is nothing something that is healthy that should be eaten daily. But it’s nice to have as treat every blue moon. Enjoy!
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Tell me how it turned out for you! Was it a hit or miss? Tell me about it. Leave a comment below, rate it, and PIN IT! Also tag a photo @_VeganWithCurves and hashtag #VeganWithCurves on Instagram so I can see it!
Fried Oyster Mushrooms
Ingredients
Wet Batter
- 1 cup spelt flour
- 1 cup water more or less
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Dry Batter
- 1 cup spelt flour
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
For Frying
- 32 ounce vegetable oil more or less for frying
- 1 package oyster mushrooms found in Asian stores, about a pound
- additional sea salt
- dried parsley optional
Instructions
- Grab your cast iron or FryDaddy Electric Deep Fryer (or whatever type of deep fryer you are using) and pour in oil. (DO NOT PLUG UP YET)
- Take your oyster mushrooms out the package and place in a colander. Pull apart to desired size and rinse well.
- Start making your wet batter. Place 1 cup of spelt flour in a large mixing bowl along with garlic powder, onion powder, and sea salt. Add in water and mixed. Batter should be the right consistency to coat mushrooms; not to thick and not to runny. Set aside.
- Grab a bowl 1 cup of spelt flour, garlic powder, and onion powder and mix until fully combined. Set aside. NOTE: You could use a large Ziploc bag for this to easily add your mushrooms and shake to get an even coat of the dry batter on the mushrooms.
- Next coat each oyster mushroom in the wet batter ONCE and place it in the the bowl and evenly coat with the dry batter ONCE. Do that for all pieces. NOTE: Using a Ziploc bag simply close the bag and shake vigorous until all mushroom are fully coated in dry batter. DO NOT GO BACK IN FORTH BETWEEN THE WET AND DRY BATTER TO PREVENT OVER BREADING IT WILL NOT TASTE WELL!
- Plug up your Fry Daddy Electric Deep Fryer and allow oil to get hot. (Or if using a cast iron heat oil in your iron until hot). Carefully place mushrooms in oil allowing mushrooms to fry for about 2 to 3 minutes until evenly browned. With your fry basket remove done mushrooms from oil and place on plate cover with a paper towel. Sprinkle with additional sea salt and dried parsley (opt) NOTE: Make sure your oil is hot and DO NOT overcrowd your mushrooms in the deep fryer or cast iron. If you need, divide mushrooms in half to cook a handful at a time.
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauces, on top of a salad, or along with your favorite sides for dinner!
Video
Notes
- Feel free to use any flour of choice. I have tested this with only Spelt Flour an Chickpea Flour (a gluten free option) and the both work excellent for this recipe!
- I have never tried this in an Air Fryer (I currently do not own one) but it could work. Try it and let me know!
- You can try this with other mushrooms although I URGE you to use oyster. The texture of these mushrooms are unlike any other. You will not be disappointed!
- DO NOT OVER BATTER!! Dip once in the wet batter and once in the dry batter and immediately fry. I can't stress this enough. If you keep going back and forth between wet and dry batter multiple times you will end up with a overly breaded mushroom that will NOT be good at all.
Nutrition
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Tried this! Loved it!! Great substitute for fried chicken! I’m new to the vegan/alkaline community and these fried mushrooms satisfied my craving. I used spelt flour, Cajun seasoning, garlic powder and salt. Fried in grape seed oil. Delicious!!
Awesome!!!! Glad you enjoyed!
I was really craving fried oyster mushrooms tonight and found your recipe. I made the batter with sprouted spelt flour and fried them in grapeseed oil. They turned out great!
Awesome!!!! So glad it worked it out!
Just made them and I am speechless. What in the chicken fried heaven? This was YUMMY! Can’t wait for hubby to get home so he can try this. He found the recipe and wow! So glad he did!
I laughed at “what in the chicken fried heaven” !! 😂😂😂 That is so awesome to hear!!!
Gina Marie, I had magic happen in my kitchen on a friday night when I found Oyster mushrooms at my local Vons in SoCal! It was music in my mouth!!! Your’s was the first pin I got when I searched ” vegan oyster mushroom recipes ” on pinterest and OMG! What a delight! I will make again if ever this little Vons gets oyster mushrooms in stock again!!! LOVE !!!
WHOA!!!!!! Some culinary sorcery went down in my kitchen last night!!!!!! These were delicious! I didn’t deviate from the recipe at all and they came out perfect! Thank you so much for the recipe.
You’re so welcome!!!❤
I can’t believe how delicious these oyster mushrooms were. I used all purpose flour and Adobo seasoning and bottled buffalo hot wing sauce for a dip. Wonderful.
Thank you for sharing your recipe.
You are very welcome!
Yes thank you sooo much Tex girl here and I appreciate your recipe videos so much !!!!
Thank you for that feedback!!!
Can I make a bunch of these and freeze them so they’re ready to be fried whenever or will freezing change the texture of the mushrooms?
I have never tried that but it could possibly work.
So once you have finished battering them, place them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Then place the entire sheet in the freezer until semi-frozen and then toss in a freezer bag for later. Then fry them later straight from the freezer
Try this and let me know how it works!
Omg I just made these and they are gone as I’m typing this msg. My poor hubby is taking a nap. He missed out! They are or were deeeelish! Off to the market tomorrow…even tho all market shopping is done for the week! He will be happy! Thank You Gina!
Awesome! You are so welcome Nailah!!
Can i bake them? And if yes for how long. Thanks
You can try it that way I have never done it that way before. It probably won’t be as crispy.
Thanks for sharing! I tried your recipe for oyster mushrooms tonight and they were amazing. My daughters do not like mushrooms but my youngest decided to give it a try. She really enjoyed them. Thanks again!!
You are so welcome!!!
Girl !!!!!!!!!! Omg !!!!!! This recipe is so good. From my husband down to my 19 month old, it was a hit! Thank you for sharing !!!!! Satisfied!
You are so welcomed!!
I cooked oyster mushrooms for the first time yesterday and they were absolutely delicious. I used your recipe it was “perfecto!” Lol. I must say I will be cooking them more often. Thanks for sharing your recipe. PEACE!
Glad you enjoyed them! One of my FAVORITE recipes to make! Thank you for your comment!
I made these today and omg they were bomb!!
So glad you enjoyed them!
can you use this recipe in an air fryer?
I have personally never tried it in an air fryer (I don’t own one) but a reader in the comment section mentioned they used an air fryer and it worked out fine.
I used pre-packaged sliced portobello mushrooms and sliced onion rings with chickpea batter. I used your measurements lol. Came out perfectly in a black cast iron skillet, fried. Thank you!
AWESOME! Thank you for the feed back so glad you like them!
Can you use gluten free flour?
Yes! Chickpea flour is gluten free an fries very well
These mushrooms are delicious!!! Thank you so much!! I followed the recipe except I substituted safflower oil for the vegetable oil. I will definitely be making these mushrooms again!!
Yay!! So happy you enjoyed them!!!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I’m a New Orleans girl to my heart and I have been looking for a fried seafood substitute since I went vegan and yours is the first I felt confident enough to try. Wow! My non-vegan husband and sons are now hooked. I added a little mustard to the batter for a tang similar to oysters and now oyster mushroom poboys are the preferred option for everyone in my house. Thank you again!
That is wonderful!! I am so happy you and your family enjoyed it! This warms my heart thank you so much for the feed back!
I used the airfryer with this recipe and it was so amazing. It was brown and crispy – I even double battered it! Yum yum yum, thank you for sharing this recipe! I am so happy it’s gluten-free as well!!
You are so welcome!!! And thank you for the review!!!
Hi! I was about to ask if this recipe was compatible with an air fryer but then saw your comment. Did you alter the recipe besides double coating them? Did you spray a little bit of oil on them before putting them in the air fryer? Thanks in advance!
I just did this in the air fryer with no extra oil added and a single batter. SO good. I set it to 400 degrees and just kept adding time until they were crispy brown.