Kaofu Croutons (Chinese Wheat Gluten) – Vegan Chicharrones

Kaofu: the low-cost, high-protein vegan ingredient you’ve never heard of.

Kaofu (烤麸； kǎo fū) is a type of wheat gluten used in Chinese vegan, vegetarian, or Buddhist cuisine as a plant based protein alternative. It is made by leavening gluten and then baking or steaming. Kaofu can be found fresh (in the tofu section, but less common) or dehydrated at most Chinese grocery stores.

Kaofu has a spongy texture which soaks up sauce and marinades. You may have seen kaofu in braised dishes (红烧烤麸； 四喜烤麸；hong shao or sixi kaofu), or soaking up sauce in cold noodle dishes (凉皮; Iiang pi).

Did you know you can fry up kaofu for a totally different experience? I developed this method for preparing kaofu because I was not a fan of the spongey texture of kaofu but wanted to take advantage of this high protein, low cost, vegan ingredient. These kaofu croutons are one of the crunchiest things I have ever made. Once fried, the spongey gluten transforms into crunchy slices which rivals crackling or chicharrones. You can eat them by themselves as a snack, use as a crunchy topping for salads, or serve with soup. These go great with my spicy kabocha soup.

The best vegan chicharrones.

Fried kaofu is more crunchy than other vegan chicharrones (e.g. made from rice paper). The high protein content of kaofu gluten (69 grams per 100 grams) means it is a closer match for pork cracklings (61 grams per 100 grams), yielding a more authentic texture than rice paper, which due to low protein content will be more crisp rather than crunchy. Additionally, the spongey nature of kaofu means there are air pockets to take advantage of (think bubbly lamination), and when sliced and fried, yields a multi-layered crunch. I can say with confidence that kaofu are far superior to rice paper as an ingredient to make vegan chicharrones.

How to make croutons from kaofu.

Kaofu croutons are so easy to make: simply rehydrate the kaofu according to package instructions, slice approximately 1 cm thick, and fry until golden.

I used avocado oil because it has a high smoke point, but other oils work too. I have made kaofu croutons with olive oil with the same results. Leftover frying oil can be reused to make other dishes.

For added flavour, fry some sliced garlic in the oil before adding kaofu slices.

Flavoured oil will taste phenomenal, just beware of the smoke point and sputtering!