Daring Plant Chicken Review
What looks like chicken, tastes like chicken, and can be transformed into anything chicken, AND beef, pork rillettes, and more? Daring Plant Chicken! I have been using this product for years, and bad me, I have not written a review. Daring Plant Chicken (the correct product name is Daring. Plant Chicken) has been and is my go-to product for a lot of applications and let’s discover why in this Daring Plant Chicken review.
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Faux Meat Evaluation
Visual
The pieces look like large pieces of pulled cooked chicken pieces in some kind of marinade. The pieces look tender and moist. Depending on the variation you buy, it might have a golden to reddish spicy-looking hue that looks appetizing. The pieces appear soft yet striated looking like thigh meat. At first blush, my mind goes to thigh meat (which used to be my favorite over tough white breast meat).
Tactile
The pieces feel like thigh meat. Soft, pliable, and you can pull the pieces into smaller, shredded pieces. They feel “fatty” although a serving has only 2 grams of fat. Just. Wow…..
Taste and Texture – uncooked
They taste somewhere from good to great just thawed out and eaten as a snack. My husband does that all the time. The “chew” is spot on – you feel like you are eating cooking animal muscle. The flavor profile is something that makes your brain want to eat more than one. Like M and M’s. I find that I can’t eat just one. I know. That sounds weird – but that is what a non-vegan person is looking for. A product that looks, feels, tastes, and chews like the real thing, and makes you want to eat more of whatever it is. The brain is tricked through visual imagery and the taste will take you over the top.
Think of our evolution. We searched for beautiful appealing food as a first blush that the food might give us energy. We might sniff it for the degree of ripeness or possible off flavors. Then we tasted “it”, didn’t get sick from it, made our brains feel the “wow” and off we went to forage and hunt for that goodness.
Cooking – how did they hold up?
Per the packaging: Preheat a skillet on medium-high for one minute. Add 1-2 TSBP of oil, add frozen product, and saute for 4-5 minutes until done or 165 degrees internal temperature. If thawed, cook until golden brown on both sides.
The packaging states, “Microwave not recommended.” I’m not sure why the instructions say a microwave is not recommended. I have sent a question to the company regarding this but, I find the product works great gently microwaved to thaw and then made into awesome chicken sandwiches with vegan mayonnaise, microgreens, and Herb de Provence sprinkles, a tomato – you get the picture. I place the product in a bowl, cover it with a paper towel, and microwave for one minute, find some dipping sauce, and I have a quick protein snack.
Taste and Texture:
If you look at the ingredients you might think this product might have an Indian or Asian spike of flavor (ginger, nutmeg, mace, cardamom) but the ingredient profile mix is perfect. The flavorists at Daring have nailed this taste – I’m sure that is why the product is so popular and they are expanding into more markets.
I have slowly oven-roasted this product into “porchetta”, cooked it as a gumbo, and braised it in a variety of cuisines. Expanding my culinary skills a bit, I have transformed it into a pork-ish rillette, pistachio “chicken” terrine, and more. The product absorbs flavors very well and the texture maintains itself. The nice thing about a soy protein product is that if you overcook it a bit, you can always have a little broth to rehydrate your dish. Sometimes that’s a good thing if you have made a little fond on the bottom of your pan and you want to add those luscious flavors back into your dish.
Since this posting is close to Mardi Gras season, I’m sharing my fast gumbo with you. Your guests will be amazed at how, with a little shelf stable roux, aromatics, packaged cooked rice, Daring. Plant Chicken and some spices, and you are ready for that Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday event!
Ingredients
Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Vegetable Oil, Salt, Natural Flavor, Paprika, Pepper, Ginger, Nutmeg, Mace, Cardamom.
My personal nutritional expectations for a faux-meat product:
Protein – > 12 grams per serving
Fat – < 9 grams per serving
Sodium – < 500 mgs per serving
Fiber – any fiber is a bonus
“Product weighs in at:
Protein – 14 grams per serving
Fat – 2 grams per serving
Sodium – 400 mgs
Fiber – 5 grams – bonus points!!!
CLICK HERE FOR CAJUN CHICK-N RECIPE:
Final Wrap Up
If Daring Plant Chicken is one of the best products on the market, and food technology continues to improve to meet population growth by 2050 and improve the climate by 2035, the next phase of faux meat products are going to be mindboggling. In the meantime, I highly recommend this product as a go-to faux meat chicken product for a variety of applications.
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
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