How to Cook Soy Curls

Soy Curls are one of my favorite Vegan Protein! They are cheap and easy to make, and super versatile to boot!

I have been making recipes with Soy Curl Beef and Soy Curl Chicken for a few years now. Over time, I’ve refined my recipes and techniques. I’ve also heard from some folks have had problems with them, whether that be taste or texture.

So I thought I’d put together this little blog post to go over some tips for cooking with Soy Curls! You can also check out all my Soy Curl Recipes too! And if you’re a visually learner (I know I am!) then you can also watch this video where I go over everything in this blog post.

handy dandy video here!

what are soy curls?

While Soy Curls are a specific product, the concept behind them is not new. It’s essentially just dehydrated soy, that’s it! TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) is a similar product, and there are variations of it around the world. Sometimes they are called Soya Chunks too.

The ones I use are made by Butler Foods. You can get it directly from them or on Amazon. But I suggest getting them direct from Butler Foods as it’s way cheaper. This post isn’t sponsored by the way, I just love Soy Curls!

how to Prep Soy Curls for Cooking

Whether you are making some Soy Curl Chicken or Soy Curl Beef, you’re going to rehydrate the soy curls in either water or broth. I haven’t noticed a huge difference in taste or texture whether I use hot or cold water / broth, I typically use room temp water and it will rehydrate in 10 – 15 minutes.

Next, you’ll want to drain and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. this is crucial to avoid soggy Soy Curls.

Another step you can take to dry out the Soy Curls, is to toast them in a dry frying pan for 5 – 10 minutes. You can always eat one to test out the texture, or if you see some browning, that is a good sign they are good to go.

Now depending on what recipe you are making, you will either want to make a marinade or a reduction broth. For the Soy Curl Chicken, I like to make a marinade.

Then we’ll pour over the marinade and toss to coat.

You can either cook them right away, or store them in the fridge and cook up as much as you need throughout the week.

When you do cook them, do so over medium heat. Don’t crowd the pan. Let them sit undisturbed for 3 – 4 minutes and flip. You should get some nice browning.

Taste and adjust for seasoning. Your Soy Curl Chicken is ready to eat! Enjoy as you wish! You can use it in just about any application you would use regular chicken!

How to Make Soy Curls BEEFY

To make these beefy, we will take a slightly different approach to the chicken.

For the Soy Curl Beef I hydrate them in water, drain and squeeze them, toast them in a pan, and then reduce them down in a beefy marinade. I find that this is the way to go for a deeper flavor and color.

Even though there’s no fat in the beefy marinade, I do like to cook these in a bit of oil to get some nice color on them. And I often marinade them like in my Chipotle Quesadilla recipe!

tips for cooking soy curls

• Rehydrate the soy curls for about 10 minutes. I have found that using cold, warm or hot water doesn’t make a noticeable difference.
• Using broth will infuse a light amount of flavor into the soy curls. This is good for something milder in flavor like my Soy Curl Chicken. However for something like a Soy Curl Beef, I find that reducing them down in broth will render them even more flavorful.
• No matter what you hydrate them in, you’ll want to SQUEEZE out as much of that liquid as possible.
• You can also further dry them out by toasting them in a dry pan to cook out even more of the moisture. This should help remove the aftertaste as well as any mushiness. It should yield a chewy soy curl that’s still juicy.

Storage & Freezer instructions

If you want to make it in bulk to use over the week, you can double or even triple the recipe. A single recipe will give you about 1 1/2 pounds of vegan chicken or beef.

I like to marinade them in the fridge, and then cook some as I need it. You can also cook the whole batch, save the leftovers and then quickly reheat them for an even faster meal!

Store any leftovers in the fridge and eat within 3 – 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. If freezing, let them cool down completely before adding to a freezer safe container.

You can even flash freeze them on a baking sheet for a couple hours before adding to a container if you want to be sure to avoid any moisture getting trapped and frozen in the container.