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Meal prep is so much easier with this Vegan Chicken in the fridge! This high-protein, homemade seitan recipe is juicy, succulent, and surprisingly easy to make. If you've never had seitan before, it's a chewy, meaty vegan chicken substitute that tastes way better than anything store-bought. Make a batch ahead of time and keep it in the fridge or freezer for quick, satisfying meals all week.
FEATURED COMMENT:
This is the BEST seitan I've ever had and I make this recipe frequently. I freeze the tenders in packs of two and make a different marinade for each pack. - Saraswati ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
After the popularity of my Vegan Seitan Steak, which ended up starting a love of making seitan, I got a lot of requests for a seitan version of a vegan chicken recipe. Well, ask and you shall receive. I introduce to you my Vegan Chicken! ...And yes, it does taste like chicken. Ba dum dum tsk!
What is Seitan?
Seitan (pronounced say-tan) is a high-protein, meat-like food made from vital wheat gluten, the protein-rich part of wheat. When mixed with liquid and cooked, it becomes chewy, firm, and savory, making it one of the best vegan meat alternatives out there.
It's been used for centuries in Asian cuisines and is sometimes called wheat meat or mock duck. In this recipe, we turn it into juicy, tender vegan chicken you can use in everything from stir-fries to sandwiches to sheet pan dinners.
Bonus: It's budget-friendly, freezer-friendly, protein-packed and WAY more delicious than most store-bought options.
Why You'll Love This Vegan Chicken Recipe
Store-bought vegan chicken is often rubbery, bland, or packed with additives, and it's pricey. This homemade version is juicy, tender, packed with flavor, and budget-friendly.
- Juicy and succulent. No dry spongey seitan here! I've balanced the ingredients and flavors in this vegan chicken recipe so it turned out tender and delicious.
- Easy to make. Just 8 ingredients, and most of the work is hands off. I love batch cooking this and stocking my freezer full of plant-based chicken!
- Great for meal prep. This recipe can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the fridge for several days, or in the freezer so you can have vegan chicken on hand whenever you like.
- Perfect swap for any chicken recipe. Once steamed and cooled, you can swap this into any of your favorite chicken recipes. My favorite way to enjoy it? Marinate the tenders overnight, then pan-fry until golden. Chef's kiss.
- A wholesome alternative. 1 batch makes 6 cutlets and each one contains 156 calories, 8g carbohydrates, 26g protein, and 2g fat.
Ingredients:
- Vital wheat gluten: Vital wheat gluten is wheat flour with most of the starch removed (leaving behind almost pure wheat protein)! It is an ancient process, and this wheat protein is what makes seitan have that meaty texture. Unfortunately, there is no substitute. And that means this recipe cannot be made gluten-free. For a vegan gluten-free chicken-inspired recipe try my Baked Tofu Bites.
- Soft or silken tofu: This gives the seitan a juicy, tender texture. Be sure to measure carefully and use the right tofu type, firm or extra-firm will make the seitan too dense.
- Seasonings: Nutritional yeast, onion powder, vegetable broth powder or bouillon, garlic powder, and salt make it taste like chicken. (Do I need to change the name of my blog now?)
How To Make Vegan Chicken
- Combine: Add all of the ingredients to a food processor.
- Process: Turn on the food processor and mix the dough until it forms a ball.
- Shape: Turn the dough out onto a surface lightly floured with vital wheat gluten. Divide into 6 pieces and shape each into an oval.
- Steam: Add the vegan chicken to a greased steamer basket set over simmering water. Cover and steam for 25 minutes, flipping halfway through the cooking time.
- Cool. Allow the vegan chicken to cool to room temperature, then chill in the refrigerate for an hour before using; if you'd like, you can chill it in a marinade for extra flavor. (Check out my recipes for 12 Seitan or Tofu Marinades for endless flavor combos!)
- Cook. The world is your oyster! Use this vegan chicken any way you'd use chicken breast. In these photos, I fried them in a bit of vegan butter, and seasoned with salt, black pepper, parsley, and a squeeze of lemon. This makes the outside crispy and the inside stays tender and juicy.
Tips for Perfect Seitan Chicken
- No food processor? Use a bowl. It takes a little more work, but it's still easy! Just the ingredients to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until the dough forms a ball.
- Make any shape you like. You can shape the seitan into small bites or nuggets, make the seitan into a big slab to slice and pan-fry, whatever! Just keep in mind that shapes that are thicker will take more time to steam.
- Cook in batches if needed. Seitan expands while steaming, so leave space in the basket or cook in batches.
- Make them extra chicken-y. You can mix poultry seasoning into the seitan mixture and/or use a vegan chicken bouillon instead of vegetable. (Poultry seasoning doesn't actually contain any poultry, it just has herbs and spices often used with chicken!)
How to Use This Vegan Chicken
Think of this like your plant-based chicken breast, you can marinate it, grill it, fry it, roast it, or slice it into your favorite recipes. Try it in stir-fries, sandwiches, tacos, salads, pasta dishes, or even breaded as vegan nuggets. I personally love it pan-fried with one of these marinades (my favorite is the sweet & smoky), or chopped up in my Vegan Chicken Caesar Salad.
How to Store
- Refrigerator: Refrigerate this vegan chicken in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: To freeze the seitan, let it cool completely and then transfer it an airtight freezer bag or container. If you'd like, you can freeze it in a marinade.
More Vegan Chicken Recipes You Might Like:
- Buttermilk Fried Oyster Mushrooms
- The Quickest and Easiest Seitan Recipe (Vegan Chicken)
- Vegan Chicken (Washed Flour Seitan)
- Vegan Chicken Wings
- Vegan Orange Chicken
If you try this vegan chicken recipe, let us know by leaving a comment, rating it, and don't forget to tag @itdoesnttastelikechicken on Instagram.
Bon appetegan!
Sam Turnbull.
(click stars to vote)
Vegan Chicken (Seitan)
This homemade Vegan Chicken is juicy, flavorful and easy to make. It's a meal prep staple you can use in so many different ways!
Servings:
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Ingredients
For the vegan seitan tenders:
- 1 ½ cups vital wheat gluten, plus more for dusting
- 1 block (10.6oz/ 300g) soft or silken tofu, (1 ¼ cups)
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons vegetable broth powder, vegetable instant stock mix powder, or 1 vegetable bouillon cube
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Add the vital wheat gluten, tofu, water, nutritional yeast, onion powder, vegetable broth powder, garlic powder, and salt to a food processor and pulse to combine until everything is well mixed and the dough forms a ball. *Alternatively, if you do not have a food processor in a large bowl mash the tofu using a potato masher until smooth. Add the water, nutritional yeast, onion powder, vegetable broth powder, garlic powder, and salt and mix. Lastly, mix in the vital wheat gluten to form a dough.
- Lightly dust a clean work surfaces with a bit of the vital wheat gluten. Turn the dough ball onto the surface and lightly dust the top with a little more vital wheat gluten. The dough will be soft and very sticky so this will help it from sticking to your hands. Do not knead the dough, kneading it will make it tough. Cut the dough ball into 6 pieces and use the tips of your fingers to press each piece of dough into an oval shape about 5" x 6".
- Add several inches of water to a large pot with a steamer basket and bring to a gentle simmer. Lightly grease the steamer basket and lay the tenders in the basket. If the tenders need to overlap each other, spray the tenders with a bit of oil to stop them from sticking together. Cover and steam at a gentle simmer for 25 minutes, flipping halfway through or until the seitan's internal temperature reaches at least 160°F (71°C) when tested with an instant-read thermometer. If the temperature goes higher, that's perfectly fine-you can't really oversteam seitan.
- Once steamed, remove the tenders and let cool. Cover or put in an airtight container and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour, or for up to 3 - 4 days. You can either chill the tenders without any additional seasoning, or you could toss the tenders in your favourite marinade. The tenders shrink and firm up a bit when chilled and this results in the best texture.
- Once chilled, the tenders are fully cooked and edible, but you can now treat them as you would raw chicken -season and cook them as you desire. The cooking time can be short as they only need to be heated through but prepare them any way that you might prepare a chicken breast. Pan fry or grill them, bread or crust them, slice them for salad, pasta, or stirfry, cut them into nuggets, add them to burritos, tacos, or sandwiches. The options are endless!* Learn my secret tricks to making perfect seitan in my free masterclass. Click here to learn more and register.
Notes
Shape of tenders: if the end appearance of the tenders is important to you, make sure to allow lots of room around each tender to expand. You may want to steam the tenders in batches as when they overlap each other they can sometimes end up as weird shapes. This won't matter if you plan on slicing them, but you can consider it if you plan to serve the tenders whole.
Oil-free: for oil-free you can skip greasing the steamer basket and tenders. The tenders will expand and stick together when steaming and may tear when you try to separate them, but the end result will still be equally delicious. 🙂
Freezing: to freeze the tenders, let them cool completely before freezing. Freeze in an airtight freezer bag or container. You can freeze them plain or in the marinade of your choice.
Vital wheat gluten is essential to this recipe, and there is no substitute. Therefore this recipe cannot be made gluten-free. For a vegan gluten-free chicken inspired recipe try my Baked Tofu Bites recipe.
Steaming tips: you need to steam the seitan tenders before using them. I recommend getting a steamer pot if you plan to make seitan often, or you can use a DIY method if you do not have a steamer.
Cleaning tips: vital wheat gluten is very sticky and can destroy dish brushes and cloths. So what I like to do is save old clothes, sheets, or towels that are too shabby to donate, and cut them into rags. I use these rags to clean up after preparing a seitan recipe and discard the rag once finished.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 serving (recipe makes 6 servings) | Calories: 159kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 0.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Sodium: 486mg | Potassium: 187mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 63mg | Iron: 2mg
⭐ Did You Make This Recipe?
I'd love if you left a rating and comment, it helps others find the recipe and makes my day! 💕
Erin says
I made these tonight and they are delicious and so easy to make. I’m so happy I found this site!
Sam Turnbull says
Aww that's so awesome! Thrilled you enjoyed, Erin and welcome 🙂
Jessica says
These are amazing and you are a GENIUS! Can I braise these? Like bake them in a coconut milk sauce?
Sam Turnbull says
Instead of simmering them for a long time in a sauce, I would recommend lightly frying them, removing them from the pan, making your sauce and adding them back in just before serving for the best texture. I find when they cook in hot sauce for a long time the texture can get a bit too soft. Hope that helps!
Andrea says
I made these seitan chicken tenders this weekend, marinated them in your Italian-style seitan marinade, then dipped them in cornstarch, soy milk, and seasoned breadcrumbs, then pan-fried them. So, so, good. My boyfriend is not a vegan (and loves his chicken!) and when asked what he thought, he said “it was surprisingly chicken-y, and arguably better than chicken because it didn’t have tough bits or weird textures you sometimes get with meat.” That is a win. Thought I’d share
Sam Turnbull says
Wow that's amazing, Andrea! Love that story 🙂
Alexa says
I used this recipe to make vegan chicken and waffles! The chicken turned out perfectly. Thanks, Sam for the thoughtfulness you put into each recipe!
Sam Turnbull says
You're most welcome, Alexa! Now I'm craving vegan chicken and waffles...
Lydia Herbert says
Hi Sam! You have going vegan fun with your great recipes. I have the most success when I take my recipes and make them vegan. Question... l I made the seitan tenders and I had to add way more water than your recipe called for. I kept adding until it formed a ball and went on from there. I live in Colorado and wondered about low humidity causing it to need more water, but I'm flummoxed! Everything else was fine, a little chewy which I think is the correct texture. Have you ever heard of this before? Thanks and keep sending the recipes...your vegan toast dunking sauce is the best!!!
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Lydia, I haven't head about that before, no. I don't know much about low humidity cooking, but it sounds like it was more likely an error in measuring. Difficult to know without being in the kitchen with you. Sorry I can't be more help!
Kim w says
I found that I had to add a bit more water. I'm in Texas and the air is very dry sometimes. I'm sure it has something to do with the humidity.
Natasha says
I made this yesterday for the 4th and they were so tasty! I chopped them up in chunks along with some veggies and made kabobs. They were a hit!
Sam Turnbull says
Oooh sounds delish! So happy you enjoyed them!
Amy says
Hey! Could you make them without onion powder? It appears I forgot it lol. Also would you crumb them as you would normally?
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Amy, you can skip the onion powder, but I would try amping up some of the other flavours to help replace it. I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean by crumb them...
Ken says
Tried these last night and stored in the fridge until today- tried cooking three ways to test out but every time the inside is still super gummy/doughy? Even from the fridge they’re floppy and can be ripped apart like dough. I’m wondering if I didn’t mix and incorporate well enough (used hands, no food processor) or maybe they were too crowded in the steam basket and didn’t fully “cook” i did the 25mins. I’m going to try again but any advice on maybe why they came out almost “under cooked”?
Thank you!! Appreciate it!
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Ken, it's difficult to know what's going on without being in the kitchen with you, but they should be pretty stiff once cooled in the fridge. So perhaps you are having problems mixing them or steaming them as you mentioned. Try watching the video in the post so you can see the texture everything should look like at every stage. Hopefully, that will help. Enjoy!
Margie says
I have made these before with great results. My question is . . . if I make a double batch but can only fit one batch in my steamer, will the other batch be ok just waiting (in or out of the fridge?) or should I made the seitan one batch at a time? I don't want it to get tough or too poofy in the meantime. Thx in advance.
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you love them Margie! I have made two batches in a row, letting the first batch steam while the others waited on the counter. They turned out just fine! Enjoy 🙂
Erin H. says
I swapped the tofu for chickpeas (tofu is not easily available where I live) and added a bit of white miso, I swear It tastes exactly like chiken!!!
It was delicious, thanks 😀
Sam Turnbull says
Amazing! So happy you enjoyed 🙂
Leilane Donow says
Erin, did you use the same measurements for the chikpeas? How much miso did you use? I rather use chickpeas instead of tofu. TIA
Lonnie P says
HI
I am also curious about your measurement for the chickpea and miso as I always have those ingredients on hand , but have to plan ahead for the tofu. It would be good info to have
Thank you
Kelly says
Erin,
Did you use the same amount (300g) of chickpeas?
Sean H says
Hi Sam! I made these on the weekend and grilled them with the Veganomicon Pantry Barbecue Sauce on Saturday, a Moroccan harissa garlic barbecue sauce on Sunday and today your lemon mustard marinade, that's been marinading since Saturday.
My brother just said "You're so close! I would probably order these a second time in a restaurant!"
I've made your recipes before, and will continue. Your ideas are great & your YouTube videos are amazing.
Thank you for dozens of bang on vegan meals!
Sean
Sam Turnbull says
Aww that's so awesome!!! So thrilled you are enjoying everything so much, Sean 🙂
Sonia says
Can I sub extra-firm tofu for soft tofu? I'd really love to make this but all I have is extra-firm tofu.
P.S. my family loves your recipes. My family and I aren't vegans but I find your recipes are on-point when I want a meatless and tasty meal. Thank you!
Sam Turnbull says
I wouldn't recommend it for this recipe as the texture is key. So thrilled you are enjoying my recipes so much, Sonia 🙂
Maja says
Hey 🙂 Today was the 2nd time I made theese tenders. The first time I think I accidentally used too much gluten so they turned out a bit dense, but since I liked the taste I wanted to make them again.. they definitely turned out better this time and were really tasty but I've had the same problem steaming them both times.. they seemed kind of undercooked after only 25mins of steaming (they were still pretty light in color and kind of soft and bendy, not firm), so I steamed them longer, maybe about an hour in total..I assume that's the reason why I'm still not 100% happy with the texture.. Does "overcooking" affect the texure? I'd be pleased if you could tell me what should the texture exactly be like when they're done.. (I don't want to throw the whole batch away because they're undercooked..it happened once xd)
Thanks a lot 😉
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Maja, the tenders will be full cooked at 25 minutes and will be soft and bendy as you mentioned. They will tighten and firm up once chilled. Then you can pan fry them which will add the colour. Enjoy!
Lucy says
HOLY TOFU!!!! These are AMAZING!!! Perfect texture and neutral flavor for marinades! Thank you!
Lucy says
Me again—I noticed that the tenders I didn’t use and marinated for the next day were MUCH chewier and tough. How do I avoid this?
Thanks!
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Lucy, I would reccomend storing them in a marinade, even if it's just a splash of water so they don't dry out. Enjoy!
Sam Turnbull says
Yay!! SO thrilled you loved them so much, Lucy 🙂
Corinna says
What would be best way to bread this? Pre-vegan I would have used egg, and I worry milk would just soak in
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Corinna, you can use my breading method that I use on my Crispy Breaded Tofu Steak, Crispy Buffalo Cauliflower, Crispy Vegan Lemon Tofu, or Almond Rosemary Lemon Crusted Tofu for inspiration. 🙂
Kyleigh says
When using a bouillon cube it says to dissolve the cube un 2 cups water, but your recipe says 2 teaspoons vegetable stock. So use 2 teaspoons of the product of the cube and water?
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Kyleigh, use 2 teaspoons of the powder or the cube crumbled. Do not dissolve it in water. Using the powder directly really adds a great punch of flavour. Enjoy!
Luanna says
I am allergic to soy. Is there a substitute for the tofu that I could try?
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Luanna, I would recommend making my Vegan Seitan Steaks which don't use tofu. Enjoy!
Fenn says
I'm curious if using something jelly-like could work as a substitute, like mixing psyllium with a bit of chickpea flour.
Very new to vegan cooking and mostly just playing around with how certain food substitutes react.
Sophie says
I have been making seitan for years now and haven’t ever thought of this. Beautiful share, on my list for grilled chicken seitan.
Sam Turnbull says
I hope you love it!
Kaylynn says
I don't have a steamer, and was planning to use a pressure cooker to try my hand at these tenders. Do you have any suggestions on how long to steam these in a cooker similar to an Instant Pot? I'm hoping I can still acheive the desired texture with this method!
I read through many of the comments and didn't see any addressing this question, I'm sorry if you've answered it already!
Thanks!
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Kaylynn, I don't actually have a pressure cooker myself and have no experience with one so I can't recommend it for this recipe. You can always make a DIY steamer with one of these techniques. Enjoy!
Sofia says
Hi! Did you press the tofu at all?
Sam Turnbull says
No need! Just use it straight from the container.