Vegan Chicken Florentine

This Vegan Chicken Florentine features soycurls simmered with fresh spinach in a creamy garlic cashew sauce to create a delicious and filling dish that tastes amazing on cauliflower steak, pasta, or as a sandwich filling! Plant-based,  and family-friendly. gluten-free. Options for nutfree and soy free

Vegan Chicken Florentine aka Soycurl Florentine is my new favorite dinner! Florentine sauce is a creamy spinach sauce that’s typically made with wine, cream and butter.

This is my vegan take on Florentine using soy curls instead of chicken. I also add some mushrooms to the sauce to up the umami. I wanted the creamy cashew sauce for my Vegan Chicken Florentine to be thick, super creamy, and very flavorful so we add a lot of herbs and garlic to round out the flavors.

Why you’ll love this Florentine

• its perfect comfort food
• it uses everyday pantry ingredients
• the creamy cheesy sauce with mushrooms and soycurls for vegan Chikin sub, is very versatile
• it is gluten-free and vegan
• Options for nutfree and soy free are in the notes section

More Soycurl Recipes:

• Vegan Chilli Chicken Soycurls
• Vegan Dragon Chicken Soycurls
• Sesame Shallot Soy Curl Stir Fry
• Korean BBQ Soy Curls Crunchwrap
• Vegan General Tso’s Soy Curls
• Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta with Garlic Soy curls
• Instant Pot Vegan Butter Chicken with Soy Curls & Chickpeas.

Ingredients:

• soy curls soaked in chicken flavor broth, then coated in seasoned cornstarch and panfried in oil
• the base for the creamy sauce are soaked raw cashews which are blended with miso
• garlic and onion are sauteed in vegan butter to get the sauce  started
• mushrooms – cremini are my first choice here
• I use mirin or ¼ cup of white wine to deglaze the pan. This adds a refreshing acidity and depth of flavor. You can use more broth as a substitute
• seasoning: I add dried parsley, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes for heat. and nutritional yeast for that savory note
• spinach: you can use fresh or frozen spinach or a mix of frozen and fresh baby spinach (5-6 oz)

Tips

• To make this without soy, use other vegan chicken of choice. You don’t need to soak those options in the stock, just toss them with the salt, pepper, and corn starch and crisp them a little bit then continue with the rest of the recipe. You may also not need to add any more stock to the sauce, depending on how much liquid they absorb. Use chickpea miso instead of white miso
• You can also make this with ingredients like tempeh or chickpeas. Then add more mushrooms to balance out the overall flavor and texture

How to make Vegan Soycurl Florentine:

Soak your soy curls in warmed chicken flavor stock for 15 minutes. You can use 4 ounces to make a really thick dish. As the soy curls absorb a lot of water, I prefer to use 3 ounces.

Once they have soaked, drain but do not dispose of the stock, reserve it for later. Press lightly while draining to remove excess moisture.

Then put it in a bowl and add the salt, black pepper and corn starch to the soy curls, mix well to coat and set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons of oil to the skillet. once hot add the soy curls and cook until the soy curls are golden on the edges. Then transfer them to a plate.

Make the sauce: blend the cashews, water and miso until they are very smooth. I usually blend it for 1 minute then let it sit for 5 minutes and blend again. Repeat this 2-3 times until the cashews are blended well.

Heat the vegan butter in the same large skillet. Once hot add the onion, garlic and cook until the onion are starting to turn golden. Add the mushrooms and mix in.

Cook for a 3-4 minutes, if they are starting to dry out add a splash of water. Once the mushrooms are starting to turn golden add the white wine or mirin, and mix in.

Then add blended cashews into the skillet and add the nutritional yeast, parsley, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes and mix in. Let the cashew cream come to a boil and starts to thicken.

Add the spinach and mix in. Taste and adjust salt and flavor. If the cream is thickening too much add in your reserved broth, ¼ cup at a time.

Add in the soy curls, mix in and bring to a good simmer. Soy curls will also absorb a lot of liquid and the cream might thicken a lot. use some of your reserved stock or some extra stock to thin it out to preferences and once it has simmered for a minute or two consistently, switch it off and take off the heat.

Garnish with pepper flakes and serve with  noodles/pasta, baked potato, grilled or seared cauliflower steak.

Storage

Refrigerate in a closed container for upto 3 days. Reheat with more stock as the sauce would have thickened

You can also make sandwiches with it. Once the sauce has thickened it makes great Open faced or grilled sandwiches. Or add it to a pita bread or wrap, options are endless.