Seitan has been a surprisingly wonderful thing to play with after I found a soy allergy. I had previously tried to use tofu and tempeh for various faux meat products but for some reason my throat kept getting super scratchy and swollen (hm, I wonder why?). I’m not going to lie, the first few Seitan attempts were a total failure. I’m hoping that now that I have quite a few seitan boules under my belt, that I’ll be able to help with some common mistakes.

My recipe is adapted from The Vegetarian Times.

Homemade Seitan

• 2 cups vital wheat gluten
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Paste
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 cup water

Combine all ingredients together in a bowl and mix. If the mixture is too dry, add up to one more teaspoon soy sauce, and then add more water. The key to seitan is kneading the dough by hand. A dough hook does not shape the dough into a tight boule, so I recommend using your hands. The texture will not turn out correctly and it will fall apart. Knead until you have a very firm dense boule. If you wish to create two boules, cut in half and then knead and shape them again.

In a large pot, add an additional 2 teaspoons of Better than Bouillon vegetable paste and a small amount of water. Whisk the Better than Bouillon until it is incorporated into the water. Place the boule (or boules) into the shallow water and add more water until they are covered. Simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes, flipping the boule at 15 minutes. The boule will expand slightly as it cooks and takes in the broth, this is why it is important to flavour the water. Sometimes I will also add a couple cloves of garlic or half an onion. If the boule is larger, it will require additional time to cook.

Allow the boule to cool. At this point, you have a base recipe of seitan and can do multiple things with it! It is extremely easy to change for various other uses.

Veggie Roast (great for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc!)

After the boule has cooled, cut into small rounds. Add a pinch of salt, pepper, and paprika. Rub seasoning into each round. In a shallow pan, melt your favourite Vegan Butter (I love Earth Balance’s soy free vegan butter!) and sauté until golden on each side.

Create a sauce for your roast – I like to use a tomato based gravy or a traditional brown gravy. I have also done a sweet honey glaze for Easter to mimic a honey baked ham. Heat oven to 375. Coat each round in sauce and reserve the extra sauce or gravy for serving time. Allow to bake for 15-20 minutes.

BBQ Ribs:

In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup paprika, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Cut water in recipe in half, and add 1/4 cup of your favourite barbecue sauce into the seitan mixture and a tablespoon or two of honey. Put two teaspoons of seasoning mixture into seitan dough. Add additional water as necessary.

Cut seitan into strips and use wooden dowels or skewers to push through the strips and act as the ‘bones’. Boil for 20-3o minutes in broth. Allow to cool and then coat in the leftover barbecue rub and brush additional sauce over the strips. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes, brushing additional barbecue sauce every 5-10 minutes, and flipping halfway through

Fried Chicken

Add 1 teaspoon of sage and an additional teaspoon of McCormick’s Montreal Seasoning to the seitan mixture.

You can create chicken pieces by either chopping up the boule after it has been fully kneaded or by ripping pieces off before fully kneading it into a boule. Boil the pieces in the broth for 10-15 minutes and allow to cool.

Coat the pieces with additional McCormick’s Montreal seasoning and paprika, then roll them in cornstarch or arrowroot powder. Fry pieces halfway, until the starch has started to lighten in colour but not fully golden. Work in batches, cooking all pieces halfway, and then start with the first half fried pieces and fry a second time until the coating is golden.

You can toss the fried ‘chicken’ in your favourite sauce and enjoy! These are also great with rice and black beans.

Seitan General Tips:

Help! My Seitan fell apart when I boiled it!

This is likely due to not kneading it long enough or kneading with a dough hook. When you knead the dough, you are activating the already highly active gluten network. We need to make sure they are all interconnected and hold each other well.

My seitan is still very dark in the middle after boiling and cutting it. Is something wrong?

The seitan will turn lighter as it cooks (and perhaps a bit golden on the spot it rests on the pan while boiling). If the middle is dark, it hasn’t been boiled long enough. You can continue to cut it into rounds and boil each piece for a couple minutes to finish it off, or you can put the entire boule back into the water and boil longer.

Why do you cook the seitan so many times?

I enjoy the texture that the seitan gets after it has been cooked two-three times. The boiling leaves a highly chewy seitan that has a texture similar to fat. In order to tighten the seitan, a second cook is, in my opinion, necessary. Feel free to cut off a small piece after boiling and try it!

 

Please ask any further questions in the comments and I will try to help! 🙂