The air fryer is a glorious piece of machinery. I am continually in awe over how crispy every thing gets with so little-to-no oil! This recipe is crazy easy and it is so crispy you will swear it was battered and deep fried. But NOPE! This is a perfect healthy alternative to traditional calamari.
In order to transform your Oyster Mushrooms into Calamari, you will first need 2 cups of Oyster mushrooms, which is the equivalent of approximately 1 package of oyster mushrooms from the grocery store. Now, this is where you have a few options. The mushrooms will give you a very comparable texture to octopus, but if you want your “calamari” to also have more a fishy taste I recommend either marinading or cooking with crushed nori sheets or a tsp of kelp powder. Both with accomplish the “fishy” taste. Do not go overboard with the kelp powder. A little will go a very long way. If you want to marinade ahead of time place your mushrooms in a bowl with either 1 nori sheet (I tear the sheet up into 4-6 pieces), 1/2 cup of water and 2 tbsp of oil. Alternatively, you can also marinate with the water, oil, and 1 tsp of kelp powder. Allow to marinade for at least 2 hours. Again this is an optional addition to the recipe if you want to add the fish-like flavor.
Once done marinating (or not at all! If you choose to opt out of that first step), pat the mushrooms dry with a paper towel or clean kitchen towel. Spray your mushrooms with a neutral oil or olive oil (or lightly coat with oil). Once the mushroom is wet with oil, evenly coat the mushroom in tempura mixed with your spices. Set aside and repeat these steps with the rest of your mushrooms.
Depending on the size of your air fryer, you may have to bake your “calamari” in batches. Preheat your air fryer to 400 F. Once preheated, fill your air fryer basket with your coated mushrooms. You do not want to over crowd your air fryer but it is ok if the mushrooms slightly overlap each other. I like to give the coated mushrooms another spritz of oil before closing the air fryer to begin baking them.
I have found that for my larger air fryer, 14 minutes is perfect. This timing may vary depending on the size of your air fryer. Half way through, pull the air fryer basket out and shake. If I see some pieces that are still white with the flour mixture, I spritz some additional oil to wet those areas so they can crisp up in the air fryer with the rest of the mushrooms. While 14 minutes works well for me, I also recommend checking every few minutes after about the 8 minute mark, until your “calamari” reaches your preferred level of crispiness.
Your vegan calamari will be ready to enjoy immediately! Enjoy!
Air Fryer Fried Vegan “Calamari” with Oyster Mushrooms
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Oyster Mushrooms 1 Pack of Oyster mushrooms should yield 2 cups
- 1 tbsp oil I used a few spritz's of spray olive oil to coat
- 1 Cup Tempura Flour Coating or 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 pinch Salt and Pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat air fryer to 400F
- In a mixing bowl, combine tempura coating and spices
- Coat mushrooms with oil (NOTE: If you want to be completely oil free you can just wet the mushrooms with water but the mushrooms may not come out as crispy as they would with oil)
- one by one, cover the oiled mushrooms with tempura flour coating until completely coated with flour. Set aside and repeat process with the rest of the mushrooms
- Once air fryer is done preheating, spray some oil into the air fryer pan (if you don’t have oil spray or don’t want to add oil, skip this step). Add the coated mushrooms to your air fryer basket in one layer. NOTE: depending on the size of your air fryer, you may need to do air fry in batches
- Set air fryer to 14 minutes at 400 F. Shake halfway through to make sure it is cooking evenly. At halfway mark if you see any flour-y pieces, I spritz them with alittle more oil. Check on these every few minutes for the remaining time until they reach desired crispiness. For me, that was at 14 minutes total air fry time
