Chicken of the Woods: A Beginner-Friendly Mushroom to Hunt and Cook

The first time I saw a chicken of the woods, the massive mushroom was frilling the base of a dying oak tree. It was a hot summer day in Cape Town. I had never seen one and was nervous about diving in. I emailed pictures to a foraging friend in the United States. She called her friend Sam Thayer, the wild foods author. Identity confirmed. Back we went and collected some orange-and-white fans. That night, as my husband, my father, and I feasted, my mother abstained, with a look on her face that said plainly: Somebody has to drive you to hospital.

Chicken of the woods is a hugely rewarding mushroom to find and eat. Here’s how to identify this easy mushroom for beginners and what to make with it once you have carried your treasure home.

Photography by Marie Viljoen.

Thirteen years and many “chickens” later, the anxiety I felt then seems silly. What else could it have been? Chicken of the woods has no toxic lookalikes. This electric-hued mushroom is unmistakeable. But a self-preserving seam of fear runs through all of us when faced with a possible (last?) supper of wild mushrooms.

Chickens are ubiquitous across North America and other temperate parts of the world. Saprobic and parasitic tree pathogens, they fruit from mycelium in dying or dead hardwoods. They are polypores, with tiny, sponge-like pores beneath their caps, not gills.

The Laetiporus genus to which chickens belong is still being parsed at a genetic level by researchers, which has resulted in name changes, reclassifications, and the differentiation of subspecies. Collectively, they are edible.

Laetiporus sulphureus has vivid yellow pores underneath its cap, so it is commonly known as sulfur shelf (although I think of it as yellow chicken). The mushroom’s fan-like layers grow on upright or fallen tree trunks or large branches, but not on the ground. They cause heart rot in a tree.

L. cincinnatus (white chicken) has white pores, and causes butt or root rot on oaks. Unlike its shelving yellow cousin, it can seem to grow on the ground away from a tree, but is actually fruiting from the roots.

While they are often associated with late summer and early fall, chickens also fruit in late spring and early summer, in a warm spell after rain.

In my culinary opinion, the choicest chicken of the woods is one that has barely hatched. So to speak. Plump and rounded, the mushrooms resemble milk buns more than fungi. These tender young nubbins are very moist and juicy.

More mature mushrooms are tender only at their growing edges, and drier and tough where they attach to their tree.

Chicken of the Woods Lookalikes

Edible black-staining polypore (Meripilus sumstinei) does just that: Its torn flesh stains dark. It often grows as a rosette and its caps can be brown or very pale, resembling an old, faded chicken of the woods.

Berkeley’s polypore (Bondarzewia berkeleyi) is a white to beige, rosette-forming mushroom, edible when tender, and can grow very large. It’s like a chicken on steroids, but pale.

Dyer’s polypore (Phaeolus schweinitzii) is parasitic on conifer roots. It grows in flattened, velvety rosette, on the ground, from tree roots. It is considered inedible due to its very tough texture. It more closely resembles the other poultry: hen of the woods, an edible fall mushroom.

Delectably edible hen of the woods (Grifola frondosa, or maitake) appears in fall at the base of trees, usually oak.

Chicken Caution

• When in doubt, be chicken.
• To err on the side of caution,  avoid mushrooms growing on eucalyptus trees and conifers. Anecdotal evidence suggests they may cause serious nausea. This may pertain to species like L. gilbertsonii on the West Coast, and in other Mediterranean climates, to L. huroniensis, respectively.
• Cook any mushroom thoroughly, since all (including store-bought) contain chitin, which is hard to digest, raw, and can cause stomach upset.
• If you take MAOI-inhibitors, avoid chicken of the woods as you would other tyramine derivative-containing foods. Please do more research about this yourself.

In terms of flavor, chicken of the woods are mild but distinct, and not unlike…chicken. They absorb other flavors very effectively, lending themselves to wide improvisation and many cooking techniques. Tender mushrooms make wonderful chowders, toppings for steamed eggs, pizzas and breads, and vegan stand-ins for fried chicken fillets. Drier, mature chickens are good additions to dirty rice and refried rice, pie-fillings, sauces (like bolognese, just substitute mushrooms), slow-cooked braises, and casserole type dishes.

Very young chicken nubs can be cooked entire, but slice or chop larger specimens before cooking, trimming off the toughest part (near where they attach to the tree). If they are tough, cook them low and slow, with plenty of flavorful liquid, be it broth, cream, or a sauce.

Here are some of the ways I like to eat them, and a recipe for crispy chicken (of the woods):

Spicy Sesame Chicken of the Woods

Serves 4 as an appetizer

Like Kentucky fried chicken, but…not. I serve these crisp, aromatic treats with a dip of aioli. Sesame flour, made from quickly ground seeds, adds a warm, nutty flavor to the crust, and spicebush adds a citrus note to the paprika and ample black pepper. Summer’s fennel flowers are a delicious optional extra. Use your preferred oil—I like avocado for its high smoke point.

• 1 lb young and tender chicken of the woods, washed and torn into 4 – 6 inch strips
• 6 cups buttermilk
• 1 ½ cups sesame seeds*
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 Tablespoons paprika
• 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon spicebush*
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup avocado oil
• 6 fennel flower umbels

* Yupik sesame seeds are $8.07 for 2.2lbs; spicebush from Intergration Acres is $5 for 1 oz

Pour the buttermilk over the mushrooms in a bowl and turn them until they are coated. Cover, and marinate in the fridge for 24 hours (and up to 48).

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Grind the sesame seeds in batches in a spice grinder until fairly fine. Toss in a bowl with the flour and the seasonings and then transfer this crust to a shallow dish, for dredging.

Generously oil two sheet pans. Dip the buttermilk-y pieces of mushroom in the dredge, making sure both sides are coated. Lay the pieces on the tray, not touching one another. Slide into the hot oven and roast for 25 minutes. Remove, and turn the chickens carefully. Roast for another 20 minutes, or until golden.

Before serving sprinkle the fennel flowers across the crisp strips.