As I grew up in Hong Kong, fish and seafood were highlighted in almost every meal. I had a serious seafood craving when I first got into the vegetarian/vegan diet. As a result, I always search for alternative recipes for my seafood craving.
I have created a vegan calamari which is made from the oyster mushrooms coated in batter and seasoned with salt, black pepper, garlic and paprika (for extra spice). It is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. It’s ideal for an appetiser, beer pairing or party food.
Why not share this recipe with your meat eater or pescetarian friends, see if they’re impressed?
Shred the oyster mushrooms by hand into a mixing bowl and gently mix with salt, black pepper, paprika powder and minced garlic.
Combine the almond milk, flour and salt in a small bowl, mix well and set aside.
Place 6 tbsp of flour onto a plate.
Arrange your worktop so you have all ingredient lined up in the right order, mushrooms, batter then flour.
Pour about 3cm of vegetable oil into a saucepan and heat on high.
Insert a wooden spoon into the oil. When you see the oil bubble around the spoon it is fully heated. Then turn the heat down to medium ready for deep frying.
Take a piece of oyster mushroom, dip it into the batter and coat with flour, Put it gently into the boiling oil.
Do not pour them all in at one go as they will stick together. Slowly fry 4-5 pieces at a time.
When you see they’ve turned a nice golden colour, they are ready. Place them on to oil absorbing paper or kitchen towel for removing the excess oil.
This vegan calamari recipe only requires a few simple ingredients and takes less than 30 minutes to prepare. You can serve it with freshly squeezed lime juice, ketchup, vegan mayonnaise or Thai sweet chilli sauce. It is light, crispy and absolutely yummmmmmmmy!!
This recipe was created for Veahero, a cool new (free!) meal planning platform for vegans and vegetarians.
If you have followed and made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment and take a picture, tagging it with #k33_kitchen and share it on Instagram! I’d be very excited to see what you come up with. Cheers, hope you enjoy my recipes!
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 2
Prep.: 5 mins | Cook: 15 mins
Ingredients:Mushroom
Liquid mixture
Coating
Vegetable oil for frying
Hello! My name is Kee. I’m an illustrator, graphic designer, music lover, gym freak, mountain hiker, vegan cook and wine drinker based in London.
For me, food is not just the indulgence of taste-buds; it is a way to connect people together, a way of feeling, of touching, of loving and of sharing. It creates a moment, a memory and a togetherness with someone you care for or an experience just for yourself. I want to create delicious plant-based dishes that everyone can experience and enjoy together, whether vegan, vegetarian or meat eater. Seeing people’s joy when eating just gives me butterflies and so here I am. Welcome to K33 Kitchen! <3 <3
I made this last night but without shredding the mushrooms – I just cut any big ones in half. Makes it much easier to dip in the batter. I also added some Chinese 5 spice to the seasoning and used garlic powder instead of minced garlic – and probably doubled or tripled the amounts of all spices – and put it into a container with the mushrooms, put a lid on it, and shook it heaps to coat the mushrooms. The end result was SO GOOD!!!!! Really really tasty and great texture. The batter was perfect on it. I just… Read more »
Love this. Really tasty, a great way to cook our home grown mushrooms.
Thank you Jess 🙂
I’m new at cooking in general. But I tried this out as part of my vegetarian journey, and it turned out superb 🤩 Thank you for sharing this beautiful dish.
Great, glad you like it, mushrooms are amazing for vegan or vegetarian!!! 🙂
Didn’t love this recipe – I got one batch in to frying, and had to pivot to a different method. The only seasoning is directly on the mushrooms, and it’s very hard for any of it to stick so most just lands in the bottom of the bowl. I added some sesame oil for this which helped somewhat. I also found the batter to be pretty bad, as it was tasteless without seasoning and very dense in texture. I ended up redoing the batter, using half flour and half corn starch, and adding garlic powder, s & p, and chili… Read more »
Thanks for the comment
Just made this and it’s really nice. I’ve shared this page with my friends because one of them is vegan and always trying to find new recipes. Thanks 🙂
Hello Gabby,
If you like this recipe, you may also want to check out my KFC style “chicken” as well, it makes from oyster mushroom as well, and it is a next-level upgrade from this recipe. I hope your friend enjoys this recipe as well <3<3
Can these be air fried ??
Hello Andrea,
I don’t have air fryer myself, but I would imagine the batter could create a mess, so I don’t think it could.
If you are brave enough to give it a try, could you let me know if that’s work?
I am currently working on a crispy popcorn “chicken” recipe, which should be oven and air fryer friendly. If you are interested, check back in a month time.
Hi, what[‘s the link to the popcorn chicken recipe? I can’t find it on the site.
Can you post the link for the popcorn “chicken” recipe? I enjoyed the vegan calamari recipe!
I’ve made this a couple times now. Thanks for the great recipe!
Thx Clare, glad you like the recipe 😀
Just made this! It turned out amazing. Thanks for the recipe!
<3<3
This looks interesting. I’ll give it a try this week.
Let me know how it goes! <3 <3