The Mushroom That Tastes Like Fried Chicken

For vegans and all those who seldom eat meat, plant-based chicken is plentiful. At the grocery stores, many brands like Gardein and Boca carry vegan chicken products that fill the shelves in the freezer aisle to the brim. In fact, it was estimated that 160 million plant-based chicken wings were eaten during this past Super Bowl.

Though you can grab vegan fried chicken at the supermarket or at a restaurant, you can also make them yourself at home using oyster mushrooms or seitan. Not a fan of oyster mushrooms? Then you might want to seek out the wild fungus called Chicken of the Woods. As the name suggests, many mushroom foragers liken the taste of the mushroom to fried or cooked chicken. Also known as chicken fungus and chicken mushroom, its vibrant orange-yellow colors and unique shape make the mushroom atypical to the ones usually found in grocery stores and on your plate.

If you're looking to get your hands on Chicken of the Woods, you likely won't be able to find it at your local neighborhood grocery store. According to online marketplace Foraged, the mushroom is a hard-to-find ingredient, but farmers' markets and specialty food stores may carry the fungus. The website itself sells a growing kit for $18.95. Most Chicken of the Woods come at a hefty price; one vendor is selling a kit for $52 per pound on Amazon.

For a more affordable, even free, alternative, the chicken mushroom can be foraged in the wild. According to chef and cookbook author Alan Bergo, who runs Forager Chef, Chicken of the Woods grows on dead trees, stumps, and logs across woods in North America. Common trees the mushrooms grow on include eucalyptus, oak, poplar, willow, and locust trees. Chicken mushrooms are best harvested when they're young as that's when they're the most tender. To harvest them, simply cut them off with a sharp knife.

Chicken of the Woods can be swapped into any recipe that uses chicken or mushrooms. That means you can make vegan fried chicken (which is often made with oyster mushrooms) using Chicken of the Woods. According to Forager Chef, sometimes just the outer 1-2 inches of the mushroom are truly edible. However you cook them, make sure to cook the mushroom thoroughly for about 5-10 minutes. 

Just because the word chicken is in the name, doesn't mean you should limit how you use the mushroom. Chicken of the Woods can be added to nearly any dish. The mushroom is a popular substitute in Italian and Mediterranean cuisines. Try incorporating the mushroom into pasta or soup dishes, like these recipes for creamy mushroom risotto or Thai chicken curry. This shroom can add an extra punch of earthy, chicken flavor to those meals. If you're trying to store the mushroom for later use, Chicken of the Woods lasts up to a week in the fridge, but can be kept frozen for six months or more in the freezer.