I watch The Edgy Veg’s recipe videos for vegan junk food every week but don’t often take time to make them. In this review, I try her Popeye’s Bonafide Chicken, an adaptation of her Buttermilk Biscuits, and Pulled Pork Tacos; all VEGAN of course! Confused? Keep reading!
As with all my reviews, this video reflects my personal opinion. If you have a different opinion, that’s totally cool! We all have different tastes and that’s OK. 🙂
The Edgy Veg’s Chick’n and Biscuits & Jackfruit Tacos Video Review
Vegan Buttermilk Biscuits
For the buttermilk biscuits, I followed her recipe up until it was time to put in the Earth Balance. I was out of EB so I used some chilled coconut oil. Also, because of some of the feedback in the comments, I decided to cut the fat into the flour mixture instead of melting and mixing it in.
You see, I have never had a real Southern-style biscuit before and didn’t really know what it was supposed to be like. But these turned out to look a lot like the ones I’ve seen on Pinterest, so I’ll call it a success.
They tasted good; flaky, soft and the top was just a little crusty. Because I used regular coconut oil, they did have a coconut-y flavour. I’m sure you could do the same thing with refined coconut oil to eliminate that flavour if unwanted. If you want to make the biscuits like I did here, I have the adapted recipe below.
Click here for the original recipe video for Buttery Buttermilk Biscuits by The Edgy Veg.
These went with the Popeyes Bonafide vegan chicken.
Popeyes Bonafide Vegan Chicken
Again, I didnt know what they were supposed to taste like. And since I didn’t know if I was going to like it, I decided to make a half batch.
This started with the liquid part for the seitan. Which was all Frank’s Hot Sauce. As I was measuring the Frank’s, I lost my nerve and replaced a quarter of the amount with chicken-style vegetable broth. When I had the liquid part all smooth, I threw together the dry ingredients. And then the wet and the dry together to make a bright orange seitan dough. These little nuggets were gently boiled for an hour, drained and cooled. Dredge in a flour mixture, dunk in egg replacer, and back in the seasoned flour.
I didn’t film the frying part as last time, when I reviewed Mayim’s Vegan Table and made vegan donuts, I burned myself good. Trying to wrangle a tripod and camera while deep frying is not a very safe thing.
These turned out turned out nice and crispy on the outside. And inside, they were super juicy.
Does it taste like chicken. No, according to my omni boyfriend. And it’s a no from me as well. But they did taste delicious. Just like buffalo chicken sauce, spicy, and vinegary, and delicious. If you like seitan, you’ll enjoy this. Super yummy especially sandwiched in a split biscuit.
This was quite a bit of work and a lot of fat and salt so I’d save this one for the rare occasion but I will definitely make it again. I REGRET making only a half batch. I should have DOUBLED it because you can freeze these too. Just let them cool after frying, put on a single layer baking sheet and freeze. Once solid, transfer to a freezer bag or container. Bake them like regular nuggets when you’re ready to have them again!
Click here for The Edgy Veg’s Popeye’s Bonafide Chick’n Video Recipe.
Jackfruit Tacos
Now I need to preface this part by saying that I don’t love the flavour of green jackfruit. Ripe jackfruit tastes like Juicy Fruit chewing gum. Green, unripe jackfruit has the hint of that Juicy Fruit flavour mixed with the slightly swampy flavour of water chestnuts (nothing like regular chestnuts). I also hate the flavour of water chestnuts. Many people say both green jackfruit and water chestnuts don’t have any flavour of their own; my taste buds disagree. I think that’s the reason why so many people love the vegan jackfruit “pulled pork” thing. Unfortunately, I have tried many of these recipes and can still taste the jackfruit underneath it all. A taste that I don’t like. This review was going to be my last ditch effort to like green jackfruit.
I drained the jackfruit and marinated the pieces. They sat overnight in the fridge, then I sauteed them with onions and other stuff as in the recipe. It certainly has the look of pulled pork.
For this recipe, there was also a mango salsa recipe and lime crema which is like the sour cream topping for our tacos.
Taking a bite all together, this tastes really nice. The mango salsa with cilantro tastes nice and fresh and I would probably make it again for other dishes too.
The lime creama was a wee bit too apple cider vinegary for me. Next time I’ll use half the amount for my tastes. But other than that, the texture was really good for a vegan sour cream.
For the jackfruit pulled pork, does it taste like pulled pork? I would have to say no. Not at all. And my omni boyfriend agreed.
I really think the spices and onions would be really good with lentils or mushrooms or something else but they aren’t strong enough to cover the taste of the jackfruit. To me, even green jackfruit has a distinct fruity aroma that is obvious and just doesn’t seem suited to this dish.
So overall, I loved all the recipes except for now I know I just don’t like jackfruit in savory dishes. It’s good thing to know these things about yourself. If you enjoy other savory jackfruit recipes, you’ll probably enjoy this one too. Click here for The Edgy Veg’s video recipe for Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos.
If you’ve tried any recipes from The Edgy Veg, please let me know which ones were your favourites so I can try them too. There are lots that I still want to try from her channel. Please go over and subscribe to her channel if for some reason, you’re not already subscribed and please tell her I sent you!
Printable Recipe for Vegan Buttermilk Biscuits
Vegan buttermilk biscuits? Yup. These soft, flaky biscuits are easy to make with just a few basic ingredients and look just like the original. This recipe was adapted from The Edgy Veg; cutting in the solid fat instead of melting it in for a more height and layers that can be easily pulled apart. I changed up this recipe from The Edgy Veg because I was out of Earth Balance. Also, based on some comments on her video page, I decided to go with the chilled fat cut into flour method. I went with a gentle mixing method as that's how I make scones; a bread product that seems to be the Canadian version of Southern-style biscuits. I have never made or tried genuine Southern Biscuits before so I can't say if they taste authentic, but I can say that they taste great and are really flakey and soft on the inside. They're a bit crispy and crunchy on the edges. I also cut the sugar and salt from her original recipe in half as I tend to find certain American foods too sweet or salty. Please feel free to increase these amounts if you prefer sweeter or saltier. If you use virgin coconut oil like I did, they will taste coconut-y. Use refined coconut oil if you want a neutral flavour. I haven't tried other solid fats but generally, you should be able to use vegetable shortening as well. I haven't tried it with this recipe, but generally, you can use any plant-based milk like soy, hemp or cashew milk to make "vegan buttermilk." Nutritional Information automatically calculated by a plugin and may not be correct.
Southern-style Vegan Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
Solid Fat
Vegan "Buttermilk"
Instructions
Notes
Changes from The Edgy Veg version
Coconut oil tips
Vegan Buttermilk tips
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10
Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 143Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 301mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 1gSugar: 0gProtein: 3g
Nice review 😀 I haven’t watched much from the edgy vedge, but I think I might try that seitan 🙂
Can I substitute the flour for Bob’s 1-1 gluten free flour? Thanks!
Are you commenting on the right post? This recipe doesn’t use gf flour…
It says “2 cups all-purpose flour” as the first ingredient.
Yes you’re right. Back in 2018, I read this comment as asking whether she could use regular flour instead of gf flour but now I see she must’ve meant the other way around. Either way, I don’t know if gf flour will work; never tested it for this recipe.