It finally happened. I've posted my first ever seitan recipe. And it isn't just any old seitan recipe either, I decided that if I was going to post a seitan recipe, it should be THE seitan recipe. It's go big or go home time, so I went all the way to the top of the seitan game, straight to a VEGAN SEITAN STEAK.
Yes, Vegan Seitan Steak! Mouth-watering, flavor packed, tender, chewy, juicy, flavourful, meat-like texture. You can BBQ, skillet, or pan fry. Then serve whole or slice and put on top of salad for a steak salad or in a vegan steak sandwich. So delicious and satisfying!
YES, THAT IS VEGAN!!!!! Caps lock on. So much excitement. Can't help it. Yes, I made this vegan steak from scratch in my kitchen, and you can too! I know, it's mind-blowing.
What is Seitan?
OK, let's talk about seitan. Unfortunately, in the vegan world, there are a lot of unappetizing named foods. Nutritional yeast, tempeh, quinoa, and then you have seitan. If I could re-brand some vegan foods I totally would, but what can you do?
Seitan (not satan 😈) is a chewy, protein-packed, meat-like food made from vital wheat gluten (another horrid name for a food).
Vital wheat gluten is a flour made by removing the starches from wheat, leaving behind just the gluten. Gluten is the main protein in wheat and it's also the part of wheat flour that makes dough stretchy and chewy, which is why it's difficult to make gluten-free baked goods that have that same bouncy, chewy texture.
So, vital wheat gluten can be used to make seitan which has this amazing, chewy, meat-like textured dish that wows. A lot of the vegan meat substitutes you see in grocery stores or in restaurants are often seitan. If you've ever had a vegan meat and asked: "are you sure this is vegan?" you were likely eating seitan.
Despite the weird name seitan can be pretty dang healthy too (assuming you don't deep fry it). One of my vegan seitan steaks contains: 295 calories, 42g protein, 22g carbohydrates, 4g fat, 5g fiber, 27.7% iron. Pretty cool right?
Ok but now, let's get to the real meat of the matter (tee hee), DOES IT TASTE GOOD?
The answer: silly rabbit, surely you know I would never post a recipe on my blog that isn't (in my opinion) straight up delicious. It took a LOT of experimenting, but I finally nailed the texture and flavours to be incredibly mouth-watering scrumptious. This vegan seitan steak has the perfect chew, is juicy, a little smoky, umami, satisfyingly yum for each and every bite.
How To Make Vegan Seitan Steaks:
Add all of the vegan seitan steak ingredients to a food processor and pulse to combine, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed until everything is well mixed. Alternatively, if you do not have a food processor you can first mash the cooked lentils with a fork or potato masher, then add everything together in a large bowl and mix well.
Now you know I'm not a fan of hard to find ingredients, but for this recipe, vital wheat gluten is crucial and it's worth the search. If you're lucky, your local grocery store may carry vital wheat gluten, but if not you will be able to find it in a health food store or here on Amazon.
Once mixed, it will look something like this.
Turn the mixture out onto a clean work surface and begin to knead it together. It may be a bit crumbly at first, but keep kneading it for a few minutes until it comes together into a tight ball.
Cut the ball into 4 sections, then use a rolling pin to roll out each section into ½" thick steaks. The dough will be very tough and stretchy, but just keep working at it until you get your desired steak shapes.
Add several inches of water to a large pot with a steamer basket and bring to a boil. Put the steaks in the steamer basket and cover with a lid. It's ok if they are overlapping a bit. Steam for 25 minutes, flipping the steaks halfway through so they steam evenly. They will double in size.
Steaming the seitan first, cooks the dough through, and makes it juicy and tender. In my experimenting, I also tried boiling and baking the seitan, but steaming it was by far the best method for the ideal texture for a vegan steak.
In a large ziplock bag or air-tight container, mix together all of the marinade ingredients. The oil won't really combine, but that's fine. Remove the steaks from the steamer and coat in the marinade. Let marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes before cooking, or for as long as several days when kept in the fridge.
I love that I can make these in advance and let them hang out, ready to be grilled up when I desire. They also freeze well pretty well. Just pop the steaks in the marinade and freeze the entire thing, marinade and all. I have found that after frozen and thawed the steaks might suck up more of the marinade so you might want to whip up extra marinade for brushing on when cooking.
How To Cook Vegan Seitan Steaks:
Bon Appetegan!
Sam Turnbull
Vegan Seitan Steak
Ingredients
For the vegan seitan steaks:
- 1 ½ cups vital wheat gluten
- 1 cup cooked lentils (I used canned)
- 6 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon liquid smoke
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
For the vegan seitan steak marinade:
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup or agave
Instructions
To make the vegan seitan steaks:
- Add all of the vegan seitan steak ingredients to a food processor and pulse to combine, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed until everything is well mixed. Alternatively, if you do not have a food processor you can first mash the cooked lentils with a fork or potato masher, then add everything together in a large bowl and mix well.
- Turn the mixture out onto a clean work surface and begin to knead it together. It may be a bit crumbly at first, but keep kneading it for a few minutes until it comes together into a tight ball. Do not over-knead the dough, the more you knead it, the tougher the steaks will be, so knead it just until it comes together. Cut the ball into 4 sections, then use a rolling pin to roll out each section into ½" thick steaks. The dough will be very tough and stretchy, but just keep working at it until you get your desired steak shapes.
- Add several inches of water to a large pot with a steamer basket and bring to a boil. Put the steaks in the steamer basket and cover with a lid. It's ok if they are overlapping a bit. Steam for 25 minutes, flipping the steaks halfway through so they steam evenly. They will double in size.
- In a large ziplock bag or air-tight container, mix together all of the marinade ingredients. The oil won't really combine, but that's fine. Remove the steaks from the steamer and coat in the marinade. Let marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes before cooking, or for as long as several days when kept in the fridge.
To serve the vegan seitan steaks:
- When you are ready to enjoy the vegan steaks, heat a frying pan, grill pan, or barbecue. When hot, fry or grill the steaks a couple of minutes on each side until grill marks form. Brush the steaks with leftover marinade while cooking to keep them juicy, and also right before serving. Serve however you desire. I like mine served with a potato and some greens. I also enjoy mine sliced and put on salad. So many possibilities!
Notes
Nutrition
More vegan seitan recipes you might enjoy...
Meryl says
Could this recipe be cooked as a roast instead of steaks?
The texture and flavour of the steaks are perfect, each and every time I have make them.
Vern Gran says
Awesome recipe!...I added some vegan Worcestershire sauce to the marinade and it turned out fantastic. A definite keeper 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful! So happy you loved it! 🙂
Kipp Smith says
This recipe is excellent! I also added 1/4 cup TVP to give more texture.only kneaded about a minute. Added steak butter too when served. Kudos!
Tracey says
Fantastic!!! Easy, tasty, great texture, and our whole family enjoyed it. Looking forward to making it again and using it for a “beef” stirfry. Your recipes are consistently excellent. 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you love my recipes Tracey!! 🙂
Hazel Buxton says
Sam your vegan meats are the best and this one didnt disappoint either, although mine was maybe a bit to soft but still delicious had it with my first go at garden vegtable which included potatoes, courgettes, cabbages & peas so good. I'm away to make sweet potato treats for my vegan dogs nie. Keep it up you are the best.
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you loved it! To make it tougher try kneading it a bit more. Enjoy!
Lesley says
What colour of lentils did you use?
Sam Turnbull says
It doesn't matter, any lentil will work, but the ones I used were brown. Enjoy!
Annie Hill says
Hi Sam
This is a winner. And a typical ENORMOUS North American steak! I haven't eaten dead animal since the 90s, so to be fair, I doubt I can remember what steak is like to eat. However, occasionally I don't want my food in a sauce, or all mixed up with other ingredients: I want 3 or 4 discrete piles on my plate. I followed your recipe (using smoked paprika instead of liquid smoke and leaving out any sweetener) and cooked the steak on the trivet in my pressure cooker for 5 minutes. Fried it in olive oil and served it with chips (french fries), Brussels sprouts and Dijon mustard. It was truly excellent. And I made 1/4 recipe, which worked.
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed it!
Cyndi says
Love this recipe but each time there is way too much gluten flour and not enough liquid. Always have to add twice as much water. Thinking it does not need as much gluten flour?
Marie says
Hope this helps - Gluten settles a lot in the bag. I use a wire whisk and stir my gluten before measuring. My steaks come out perfectly every time.
tom says
Hi Sam, loving the recipe... can't wait to make it 🙂
I'm planning on making a big batch. How long can these be kept in the freezer?
Thanks
Sam Turnbull says
I'd say about 6 months in the freezer. Enjoy! 🙂
Darina says
Wow this is so good!! The texture is perfect, great recipe!!
Nicole says
I made this and I loved it! My boyfriend on the other hand didn’t. He didn’t like the marinade. What else could I marinate it in?
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Nicole, here is a list of 12 seitan marinades 🙂
Genie says
I can't tell you how many times I've made these over the last like 4 years?! They are the very best! I even use this recipe when I am planning to make Philly cheese steaks or fajitas. My whole family loves these steaks and I haven't disliked a recipe of yours yet. Thanks so much for doing what you do 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Aww that's so wonderful!! So happy you love them Genie 🙂
Tim says
I just made some for the second time cause some turned out quite hard and breadlike the first time I tried the recipe.
I used an microwave steamer to steam them, maybe it just was too much heat or smth, I dont know.
This time some of them puffed up and completly turned into bread, does anyone have an idea why? Fortunatly I didn't use the whole batch, so I wrapped the rest in aluminium foil and steamed them that way - problem solved, they were tender and juicy.
Those were amazing, an easy way to do some mealprep and get my protein intake!
Anya says
Sam, this recipe is marvelous. I usually have problems with seitan steaks not cooking all the way through so I just tried this recipe and I divided the dough into 6 pieces, steamed, and pan fried them. They are so juicy even my meat loving co-worker loved it (I first gave her a small piece to try and she asked for a bigger piece!). This one is going to be a keeper!
Sam Turnbull says
That's wonderful Anya! If you happen to have a cooking thermometer, seitan needs to reach at least 160F internally, then you know it's cooked through 🙂
Christal says
We live this recipe and have made it many times but this time it came out too soft but it was still good. Any idea what would make it too soft?
Sam Turnbull says
Kneading it less will make it soft, and kneading it longer will make it tough. I also find that when you cook it to finish it, it can change the texture. My favorite way is to pan fry but baking it can sometimes make it softer. Hope that helps!
Joe says
Also if you don’t steam it long enough the seitan will have a yucky squishy texture. Just put it back in the steamer and you’ll be good to go.