Vegan “Chicken” Piccata

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve shared a recipe, but this is a new favorite in our household!!! We have had a bountiful supply of lemons lying around lately. Also, Kalpana at Surreyfarms has been sharing a plethora of lemon recipes that have been making my mouth water!!! I thought I’d try my hand at recreating a vegan chicken piccata. How in the heck do you do that?! I wasn’t sure if this was going to turn out… I used a regular chicken piccata recipe and modified it to work. I held my breath as we took our first bite, and it was phenomenal. DJ is a meat eater, but he LOVED this. He said we need to make it a staple. So when life gives you lemons, maybe try this out?!

Ingredients:

  • 5 medium size zucchinis, spiralized. If you need an AWESOME spiralizer, try this one here.
  • 4 large packages of tempeh (I used organic 3 grain from Trader Joe’s).
  • sea salt
  • freshly ground pepper
  • onion powder
  • garlic powder
  • all purpose flour (I used Bob Mill’s)
  • Olive Oil Spray- I love Pam’s EVOO spray!
  • 3 TBSP Vegan butter of choice
  • 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup vegetable stock
  • 1/4 cup brined capers, rinsed

Directions:

  1. Spiralize your zucchini into a large bowl!
  2. Spray zucchini with olive oil spray, then transfer to large sauté pan. Sprinkle with a dash of sea salt, ground pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Cook on medium heat, covered until noodles are soft and most of the water is evaporated from the noodles- about 10 minutes. (Turn down heat if they start caramelizing- zucchini burns pretty easily!)
  3. Transfer back to bowl.

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4. Cut tempeh lengthwise in half.

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5. Spray both sides of tempeh with spray, sea salt, and pepper.

6. “Dredge” in all purpose flour (although it’s more like just lightly cover each side with flour- tempeh crumbles pretty easily, so be gentle with um!)

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7. In the same large pan on medium heat add 3 TBSP of butter and spray pan with EVOO spray.

8. Transfer the tempeh to the pan when butter starts to sizzle and cook until browned on each side, about four minutes each side (maybe a little longer depending how quick your pan cooks, turn up heat if cooking too slow).

9. Once browned on each side, transfer to plate.

10. In the same pan, add lemon juice, stock, and capers. Bring to a light boil.

11. Add Tempeh back to the pan and simmer each side for about three minutes each. Add olive oil as needed and before flipping.

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12. Serve over zucchini noodles

13. Enjoy!!!

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It really did taste like chicken….

xo <3

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