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.Â
- 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...
Marie says
Sam! I have made these steaks, triple batch each time. I did the first one with the maple syrup/soy sauce marinade, the second with the sweet and smokey, and the third with the teriyaki one. And I used a group of 7-8 people as taste testers. They really liked them all but their favorite is the maple syrup one. One lady, upon my recommendation, bought a meat tenderizer tool and after rolling out each one, she beat them with the tool. They come out of the steamer very, very tender and not bready. After marinating them in the maple syrup marinade for 4 days, she sliced them into strips and used my Jamaican Jerk Seasoning recipe to pan fry them for fajitas. The fajitas were excellent! I have a family that are going all vegan and these steaks were a hit, even for a steak sandwich. I have also made my own bbq sauce recipe and marinaded them in that and basted with additional while frying. Sam, this seitan recipe is marvelous! I am going to try the "Lobster' next. :-)) Hugs, Marie
Laura G. says
I had nearly given up on making decent seitan. Until I found this recipe. It is the best I've ever had and SO easy to make! We grilled a couple tonight, I ate one and sliced the other one for fajitas on another night. Thank you for such a great recipe! By the way, my food processor did not mash up the lentils enough so next time I'll do that part by hand. It certainly didn't affect the amazing taste, though!
Char says
after trying a few of your recipes, this had me piqued, even though im not vegan. i went to bulk barn and got nutritional flakes, and i tried to buy vital wheat gluten, but ended up with textured vegetable protein!! now i know its not the same thing, but im wondering if i can sub it? do u have recipes calling for vegetable protein? i really want to try these seitan steaks!
Celeste says
Unfortunately not the same. TVP is a soy product, and vital wheat gluten is the protein of wheat. They both behave different. You asked this question many months ago, so I’m not sure if you’re still interested.
Sonya Davidson says
You have so many wonderful recipes there is not enough time in my life to try them all lol. You truly are blessed! I want to ask if you have any soy curl recipes? I have tried them before but I am not so inventive and would like to try them as jerky. Also for those who are not happy with the rubbery texture try boiling the steaks for a good while keeping an eye on them as they will expand in size more than double. And when they are tender enough you can squeeze a little water out leaving some in for juicyness then grill. Its how I get around that rubberiness..
Nancy M says
haven't made home made wheat meat for years - this recipe is Out Of This World <3 You Rock Sam <3
Heather Machin says
I made this recipe, exactly as printed apart from subbing smoked paprika for the chili. It's really good. I cook my steaks like I used to, a fairly hot pan iron pan, no oil, press it down with a spatula to sizzle and caramelize. I'd make 6 servings from the 4 serving recipe in future as they're fairly generous. But sometimes bigger is better!
Julie Sharp says
Just tried these "steaks" for Shabbat dinner! I used my grill pan and they were smoky and fantastic! My omnivorous husband and I both loved them. I had doubled the recipe because it sounded so good! I am so glad I did! I plan to use some in other stew type recipes...beef bourguignon (I have been making The Smitten Kitchen's amazing Mushroom Bourguignon for years, but might try using this "beef" as a variation.), shepherd's pie, ginger beef...the possibilities are endless! Can't wait to try your chicken tender seitan recipe! So glad I found your site! Love your videos, too! What fun!
Richard Whiteside says
This was our first attempt at Seitan. It cooked really well and on the griddle it looked fantastic but most of the family did not like the rubbery texture.
I thought the overwhelming taste was wheat so smothered it in whole grain mustard to give it some flavour. I did eat it all but won’t be cooking it again. Thanks for the recipe it was easy to follow.
Helena says
I haven’t tried this seitan recipe but I have made gluten steaks in the past-I added a lot of black pepper & surprisingly, cardamom to the dry mix & boiled them once sliced, in vegan chicken stock. They were juicy, tender & quite good & the cardamom masked the wheat flavour. I do prefer to simmer the steaks in stock as the gluten takes up the flavour better. You just have to keep pushing them down as they sit on the top of the liquid!
Abel says
Hi! Your recipe is just great! Thanks!
I'm wondering if adding a little of beets would give it more meaty colour, but not sure.
Happy New Year.
Barb Yager says
I used leftover quinoa instead of the lentils. It worked in beautifully and added a nice dimension to the texture. Steamed them in the Instant Pot too. I always play with spices. Today I used a couple of teaspoons of Montreal Steak seasoning in the steaks and in the marinade. Came out great. Thank you Sam for such a great recipe. My husband Steve and I loved the steaks.
Sarah says
Thank you for this idea. I’m allergic to lentils but want to try the recipe. Did you replace with the same amount of quinoa?
louisa says
using quinoa instead of lentils is a great idea! What else would you recommend? I have a peanut and lentil allergy.
Dee Sicklesteel says
I heard about this while listening to The Sculpted Vegan's podcast this morning and had to google it. Love that I had all the ingredients in my kitchen already (cuz I subbed black beans for lentils). Great recipe!! Really happy with how these turned out! Next time I'm going to add a bit of horseradish to the recipe. 🙂
Dee Sicklesteel says
I read all the comments, and did as that one person suggested, whizzing the beans and liquids in a blender before adding to the dry ingredients.
Linda says
I was just thinking I would do this next time, the lentils didn't combine well before the dough got stiff. Still turned out great, just now finished making them!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful, so happy you enjoyed Dee!!!
Erik Volk says
Great recipe! Mine came out just a little dry but such great consistency and was better with some the marinade poursed on it! I am going to have the remaining two steaks served with mushroom gravy and I think they will be awesome. Delicious. I have tried making seitan many different ways including baking, steaming and boiling but never had it some out with this consistency. So many things I can use this recipe for! Kind of bored with the same seitan consistency of my other recipes, this is great With the lentils, it must be super high in protein!
Sophie says
This was my first time making seitan so I was a little nervous to see how it would turn out. This recipe is a winner! Easy to make and delicious. I will definitely make it again. I made it into 6 pieces instead of 4, which I recommend. The smaller portions were still plenty.
Paul Ollett says
This is a great recipe, very satisfying. What about seitan beer sticks? Would be great for kids lunches! Thank for the steak recipe and your time 🙂
Krista Williams says
I found this seitan was too soft for me. It didn't have the chewy, dense texture I was hoping for.
I'll be going back to your chicken tender recipe instead. Maybe using tofu in the recipe makes it more chewy?
Nita says
I've made this at least 6 times now, and each time I've done something slightly different in the prep process, because I don't have a food processor. I think I've hit upon the perfect alternate process, and BONUS--it was BY FAR the easiest clean up to date.
Because my Blendtec just broke, I had to find another way to pulverize the lentils (I have had 2 batches that I didn't pre-blend the lentils enough, and they kept falling out of the dough).
So I added the lentils and all of the liquids to a "smoothie jar" and blended until smooth.
Then, I mixed all of the dry ingredients together in the bowl of my stand mixer. I stirred the liquid into the dry mixture by hand, adding a few tsp of water to the jar to swish out the thicker liquid left behind. When it came together, I used the dough hook on the stand mixer to knead for about 3-4 minutes.
*Clean up note-there was hardly ANY seitan or vital wheat gluten left behind to gum up my cleaning cloths!*
From there, followed the regular instructions. I usually make about 8 patties out of this recipe instead of the 4 steaks, just because I like to have smaller portions, and add a little red wine to the marinade. SO DARN GOOD!
Thank you, Sam!
Sam Turnbull says
Perfect! And thanks for the tips 🙂
Dee Sicklesteel says
This comment was really helpful! I used black beans instead of lentils, and whizzed them all up with the liquids in the blender before adding to the dry in the stand mixer. Love the results!
Sierra says
Mine turned out extremely tough and chewy. It was inedible. I don't know what could have went wrong. I followed the recipe EXACTLY. I'm so bummed because the combination of ingredients smelled so good and I can tell the flavor would have been nice if I could get the texture to work. Obviously by all the other comments, this recipe has worked great for others. Any advice? Can I reduce the amount of wheat gluten so it's not so chewy? Maybe I didn't knead it long enough? How long do you need to knead? lol Thanks.
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Sierra, the more you knead the tougher and chewier it will get. You only should knead it until it comes together. Hope that helps!
Sierra says
Thanks! I’m gonna give it another try!
Ina says
I have made the mistake of over kneading seitan, so I know how tough it can get!
Ren says
Your seitan recipes are the best! I used this one in a pepper steak stir fry recipe and it was the bomb.
Sam Turnbull says
Woohoo! So happy you love my seitan recipes, Ren 🙂
Marie says
One more thing Sam. I used the vital wheat gluten from Country Life Natural Foods instead of three others I have tried. I definitely know the one from Country Life gave a more tender consistency and I will stick with that one. And the flavor was better.
Stephanie A Mayberry says
Do you have a link to that? I looked on their website and can't find it.
Marie Judd says
Hi Stefanie, sorry for the late reply. Here is their website for Country Life: https://www.clnf.org/
Go to FLOUR and it is the gluten flour, 75% protein. I just bought 2 more 5# bags. This is excellent gluten. Their source is excellent!
betty says
hallo, i love this recipe so much!!! i've a lot of lentil flour, do you think i could try to use it instead of whole lentils? in this case how much flour? maybe even some more liquid? thanks 🙂
ClydeTheApplianceGuy says
Made the steaks. Dinner the other night was fantastic! I grilled tons of mushrooms to put on top and ate it with steak fries that I also grilled. I have been buying and sometimes making my own seitan for many years