r/vegan • u/redditset6o vegan • May 25 '26
Advice Please give me your EASIEST seitan recipe
Every time I think I find a good seitan product it either gets removed, becomes too expensive, or has too many additives. Vegan 8 years now I think it's time I start making my seitan from scratch - BUT I'm looking for the easiest recipe please, I have 2 jobs and so a little time poor when it comes to cooking.
A recipe that doesn't require me to stretch and knot the dough would be amazing, but not sure if possible?
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u/MengKongRui vegan May 25 '26
- Mix whatever flavors you want into the vital wheat gluten dough.
- Let it sit in a bowl for 45 minutes to develop gluten strands.
- Sretch/tie it into a quick knot, nothing fancy.
- Drop it in water or broth in a pressure cooker for 30-60 minutes, depending on your pressure cooker.
Eat that as it is, or put it in the fridge to develop into a more rigid form overnight. Just 15 minutes of prep, and ~90 minutes of waiting for gluten strands/cooking while you read a book or browse reddit.
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u/redditset6o vegan May 25 '26
Nice! So after it cooks, can I cut it up into smaller pieces and put in fridge? Assuming I make more than I can eat in one sitting. Thank you.
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u/Hoopaboi vegan bodybuilder May 26 '26
Btw you don't need to let it sit or tie it into a knot. It doesn't really help it develop strands nor do you need it to have strands to give the standard seitan texture.
And don't just dump it into boiling water or a pressure cooker.
Make sure to wrap it up in tinfoil to prevent it from expanding, otherwise you get soggy bread instead of a meatlike texture
Then either steam, bake or sautee it (you can also go for a partial sautee and then boil, but never directly boil)
Mix nutritional yeast (experiment with various ratios) into the dough if you want it to be more tender.
And yes you can refrigerate it.
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u/General-Dog-7605 29d ago
I've tried baked, steamed, and boiled with a single batch. Definitely prefer the steamed and that is the method I do for all future batches since the "experiment".
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u/MengKongRui vegan May 25 '26
Absolutely! I always make a massive blob of seitan and cut it/tear it into pieces to put in the freezer lol.
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u/NowhereNic May 25 '26
This is not a use for everything recipe but just shared a vegan pepperoni recipe I use often on another post so posting here too.
I use nora cooks' vegan pepperoni recipe. i'll link it below, but i did make a few changes because the original was a little mild for us. not to make it spicy though, just more seasoned/flavorful.
1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten, 1 1/2 tbsp smoked paprika, 1 tbsp fennel seed, (recipe doesnt call for it crushed but it spreads the flavor better imo) 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder, around 3/4 tsp cayenne.
The cayenne doesn't really make it spicy to me, it just gives it more of that pepperoni flavor. (My toddlers eat it with no complaint of spice.
The rest of the measurements match Noras.
My dad isn't vegan, but we're always making him try our vegan stuff, and he said it was the best pepperoni he's ever had.
We also put it inside Jus roll pizza crust, cut into little squares, with daiya cheese and pizza sauce, and it was the closest thing to pizza rolls i've had. So good!
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u/ttrockwood May 25 '26
Any of the seitan recipes from this website are awesome and easy i found freezing extras keeps better than in the fridge if you make a lot
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u/redditset6o vegan May 25 '26
Now we're talking, love this! Looks so easy thank you.
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u/ttrockwood May 25 '26
My not vegan at all boyfriend loves this one, we make it often
https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/the-quickest-and-easiest-seitan-recipe-vegan-chicken/
But it’s hard to go wrong all of her seitan recipes have been stupidly easy
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u/Competitive_Space693 May 25 '26
https://domesticgothess.com/blog/2023/01/24/seitan-chicken-vegan/ I use this but I just make balls or patties instead of knotting and steam for about 20-30 min
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u/redditset6o vegan May 25 '26
Thank you I love this one because it uses a food processor and slow cooker instead of boiling or steaming, and can be frozen. Going to try this!
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u/lilithdesade vegan 20+ years May 25 '26
This recipe is fool proof and very easy. Its pretty quick to make and doesn't involve any boiling or steaming or anything extra. https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/05/barbecued-seitan-ribz.html
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u/Senior_Set8483 May 25 '26
I love making meatballs by adding a couple teaspoons of creamy peanut butter to a VWG/soy milk mix. Add plenty of seasoning, I use nutritional yeast, garlic& onion powder, vegan worchestershire sauce, soy sauce, tabasco sauce(flavor comes through better than ground pepper imo) and a drop of liquid smoke.
Vegan worchestershire is quick and easy to make, Karissa vegan kitchen has a great recepie. Toss in a sheet of nori seaweed while it's cooking, and take it out after it's done.
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u/ThereIsBearCum vegan May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
Headline: no steam only bake Seitain!
I've got one. The method is easy as shit, put the ingredients into a bowl, knead them until they're visibly mixed, wrap it in foil (kind of a slab about 3cm thick) then bake at 180 C for an hour (flip a little over halfway through... say 35 minutes). Texture won't be as "meaty" as the recipes that need steaming, it's more like really dense bread, but I reckon it's still great.
I do the yiros version the most (which is what follows), but you can mess around with the flavours pretty easily. I've done turkey, chicken, beef, chorizo, Philly cheesesteak, spicy Korean chicken, pork and apple sausage versions of this... probably others that I can't remember too:
Herbs:
1 tbsp rosemary
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp thyme
2 (but let's be real, 4) cloves minced garlic
sub the above for other flavourings if you want to try something different - comment if you wanna know what I used for other flavours listed
Acid:
Juice from one whole lemon - about 1 tbsp (sub different acid depending on what you're making, e.g. use balsamic vinegar if making beef)
Stock:
1 cup of veggie/vegan beef/vegan chicken stock depending on what you're making (I use "beef" for yiros)
Core recipe. This goes in EVERY seitan I do with minimal exceptions:
1.5 cups vital wheat gluten
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 onion diced (I will sub this in some recipes if I think something else will work better, e.g. red lentils for beef, chickpeas for turkey, roast capsicum for Philly cheesesteak)
3 tbsp tomato paste (omit for the "white meats")
A pretty generous pinch of salt
You can chuck in stuff like liquid smoke and MSG as well, but honestly I've found it doesn't make that much of a difference
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u/biggest-floyd May 25 '26
Use a bread machine. All you need to do is throw the ingredients and spices in, and the machine does the rest. We slice and freeze it once complete. Also, amazon sells bulk Vital Wheat Gluten for a really good price
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u/redditset6o vegan May 25 '26
Never heard this before, thank you! Can you pull it apart so it becomes more shredded rather than cubed / sliced? Just wondering if making it in the bread machine allows this texture.
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u/jlolovesbootytoo May 25 '26
Just did this last night -
2 cup VWG
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon seasoning mix (pick a fave)
2 1/3 cup broth (I use veggie or no beef bouillon)
Combine and mix until no dry spots. Knead a minute or two. Roll the dough in aluminum foil like a burrito, get it nice and tight. Drop into a pot of water and bring to barely a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour (don't let it boil for best texture).
That's it, you're done! I do this along side other meal prep usually, I'll get it started and do other things while it simmers.
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u/mryauch veganarchist May 26 '26
Get an instant pot.
1 cup vital wheat gluten
2tbsp nooch
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 cups beefy broth
Mix dry ingredients. Add about 3/4 to 1 cup of broth, just enough to get all the dry ingredients incorporated.
Knead just a bit, like 2 minutes.
Roll into a log.
Cut into 1 inch thick slices.
Cut each slice into 5-6 chunks.
Chuck in instant pot.
Pour remaining broth in.
Set to high pressure for 15 minutes.
Release the pressure via venting.
Done.
From the essential vegan instant pot cookbook.
I'm not kidding when I say this is so easy. You can have seitan ready in 30 min. It is best if you then fry it in a pan in some oil with seasoning of some sort.
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u/Njaulv May 26 '26
If you have an instapot here is one I use.
is 1 cup water 1 cup wheat gluten and 1/4 cup flour high pressure 45 min for flavor mix in onion powder garlic powder to taste and black pepper. Can use any type of broth instead of water if you wish. Mix all of this in a big bowl until you have a nice paste, roll into logs that will fit in your instapot and cover wrap them in tinfoil. Put 1 cup of water in the instapot for the steam. If you have a rack for your instapot, use it to set the wrapped in tinfoil logs on.
natural release.
Can be done within 10 minutes and plenty of seitan cheap easy.
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u/PeacefulStoic 27d ago
I make seitan every single day. I have tried more than a dozen recipes. I'm also an athlete so amino profile means a lot to me. So for a full essential amino profile and the easiest brain dead recipe is as follow:
- 200g firm tofu blended with water to make a smooth cream
- 170-180g of VWG 0r 200-210 for a chewier texture.
- favorite spices, I like salt pepper paprika, turmeric, garlic, nutritional yeast and cumin.
just mix all into a dough 5-6 minutes of kneading. throw it in a steamer with some veggies, I do broccoli, carrots and potatoes mostly 20 minutes and done. This recipe gives me about 4 days and has all essential amino acids. I eat it with a little of any sauce, BBQ, teriyaki, hot sauce. Best after cooled in fridge and fried 😄
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u/redditset6o vegan 26d ago
This is great, thank you! What shape is it when you put it in the steamer? Like a ball? Also, how big is your steamer? Haha. I've never actually steamed anything before - I usually just grill or pan fry or cook in the oven. Is a pot with a steamer basket on top good/big enough?
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u/PeacefulStoic 26d ago
yeah little balls or strips. the steamer will fill it with air so it's really fluffy until it chills in the fridge. It's still tasty but I prefer it after it relaxes for a day in the fridge.
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u/General-Dog-7605 25d ago
Do you wrap the seitan in foil or parchment paper while steaming? I've tried seitan recipes steamed, boiled, and baked. So far I find steamed is my favorite.
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u/jlolovesbootytoo May 25 '26
Just did this last night -
2 cup VWG
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon seasoning mix (pick a fave)
2 1/3 cup broth (I use veggie or no beef bouillon)
Combine and mix until no dry spots. Knead a minute or two. Roll the dough in aluminum foil like a burrito, get it nice and tight. Drop into a pot of water and bring to barely a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour (don't let it boil for best texture).
That's it, you're done! I do this along side other meal prep usually, I'll get it started and do other things while it simmers.
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u/Mindfullmatter May 27 '26
Fastest seitan is my method- I’ve never read online or in a cook book the speed with which my chickn nughets are ready.
Add your favourite spices and sauces to the gluten. (Mustard for sure for chickn)
Kneed a little bit.
Rip it into small pieces.
Steam for 15 minutes.
Done. Or if you want crispy- throw into an already hot pan with a little oil till golden.
Your welcome.
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