Quorn, even more than most of the nuggets on this list, is a near perfect poultry doppelganger. For one thing, it’s not made from plant-based protein, and for another, Quorn has been perfecting its “chicken” for over 50 years.
Quorn ChiQin is made from mycoproteins, which are extracted from the stringy, root-like parts of common funguses (like mushrooms) which grow underground. These magical mycoproteins were discovered in the mid-’60s by British movie mogul/flour baron J. Arthur Rank, who challenged his company’s scientists to find a new use for his extra wheat. The game-changing fungus, Fusarium Venenatum, was discovered in a compost heap; when spores were mixed with wheat and allowed to do their thing in fermenters, they created an edible, protein-packed, and relatively flavorless “meat.”
Quorn’s mycoprotein miracle was approved for sale in 1985, and since then it’s mostly been a niche product well-known in the health food community. But now that the general public has developed a ravenous appetite for faux meat, it is finally time for Quorn to emerge from the shadows and blow us away with a cruelty-free “chicken” that puts all others to shame.
Every Quorn product I’ve tasted—including the nuggets, of course—has been outstanding, and so uncanny that when I served Quorn’s breaded nuggets, cutlets, and wings to my kids, they fully believed they were chicken. If you’re getting serious about going vegetarian but worry that your love of fried chicken products will doom you to failure, Quorn’s got you covered.
Score: 11/10
Average retail price: $4.99
Ingredients: Wheat Flour, Mycoprotein (34%), Water, Egg White, Wheat Starch, Canola Oil, Contains 2% Or Less Of Milk Proteins, Sugar, Textured Wheat Protein (Wheat Protein, Wheat Flour), Sage, Potato Dextrin, Onion Powder, Yeast Extract, Guar Gum, Wheat Gluten, Pectin, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Modified Corn Starch, Calcium Acetate, Pea Fiber, Yeast, Dextrose, Pepper, Turbinado Sugar.
