This is a review of the Vivera Krokante Kipschnitzel (Crispy Chicken Schnitzel), as being sold by several supermarkets here in the Netherlands and several other European countries. Vivera is a Dutch company, making plant-based products, mostly vegan and vegetarian substitutes for meat.
Presentation and ingredients
I like the design of the Vivera packaging, because it's easy to see which products are vegan (blue colour) and which are vegetarian (yellow colour). The product itself looks just like the meat version. It usually costs around 2,59 euros for 2 schnitzels of 100 grams each.
The crust is made of cornflakes. The inside is something that's similar to chicken, made of mostly soy and wheat protein. It's very easy to make vegan products like this, because chicken itself doesn't really have a very specific taste of its own. Especially with products like this (and chicken nuggets) the taste comes primarily from spices.
So, 57% of the product is soy and wheat protein and the other main ingredients are cornflakes, water and sunflower oil. Vitamine B12 and Iron is added, so that's good. The list of ingredients is short, especially compared to the vegan cordon bleu and satay schnitzel I reviewed earlier. The most important nutritional values per 100 grams are 7.3 grams of fat, 16.9 grams of carbohydrates and 12.4 grams of protein. Also, it has 1.4 grams of salt. I prefer a bit more protein, because more proteins makes you feel more saturated (so less chance on snacking right after dinner...). But overall I'm happy with the ingredients and the nutritional value.
Preparation and taste
I can basically copy and paste the information about how to prepare this product from my previous reviews. So just put it in a frying pan with oil and turn it from time to time. Again, it's much better if you use a good amount of oil in your frying pan. And remember, a healthy plant-based oil is good for your health 😉
It looks very delicious after frying. And the same turns out to be the case for the taste, which is really very good. It's very similar to the meat version. Actually, I don't see why you would want the meat version after eating this, because it's just as good and it's better for your health, the environment and animals. Make sure the oil in your frying pan is of high temperature when you put the schnitzels in your pan, because that will make the outside very crunchy. And that crunch adds a lot to the whole experience. It's a bit like the KFC crunch, but without the chicken and with the sustainability. And not the KFC herbs and spices of course.
Conclusion and points
I am a huge fan of this product, it's amazing how good the taste and crunch are. And I like the relatively short list of ingredients. Some vegan substitutes for meat are so heavily processed and have so many ingredients, I'm not sure if that's what you would really want as a vegan. Vivera did a very good job on developing this product. It's not only sold in the Netherlands, they are expending quickly to several other European countries.
Presentation: 5/5
Taste: 5/5
Would I buy it again: 5/5
