If you’re new to plant-based proteins and are wanting something a bit heartier and substantial than my fan-favourite tofu steaks, then you should try this super easy seitan steak recipe.
What is seitan?
Seitan is a centuries-old method of using the protein in wheat flour, aka gluten (yes, the thing celiacs are extremely allergic to). Seitan is an extremely versatile form of plant-based protein that can be sliced, formed into nuggets, cooked as shreds, minced, or wrapped around a stick for a delicious street food. The term “seitan” originates from Japanese, but there are variations of wheat meat all across the world, but especially in Asia.
I grew up eating seitan without realizing it at temple! It can be chewy, dense, spongey, tender, firm, and juicy, depending on the preparation. You can wash the starch out of flour to make seitan or use commercially-washed vital wheat gluten, which is the pure gluten flour.
Over the years I’ve made so many different versions of seitan, ranging from minimal effort to maximum effort. After many years of trial and error, I’ve started to stick to minimal effort using a food processor, thanks to Lacey from Avocado and Ales. She used a dough attachment in her food processor to make her seitan, but I just went ahead and used the regular blades.
Lacey’s method of seitan makes chickwheat, where you pressure cook the whipped seitan and the amount of processing has aligned all the gluten strands into the same direction. But like I said, these seitan steaks are minimum effort. Besides, I’ve destroyed my last food processor from making too much seitan, so I’m trying not to destroy this one too.
How to make seitan
There are a multitude of ways of making seitan: you could steam it, simmer it, even bake in a broth bath! But my favourite way for easy seitan steaks is the fry-simmer-fry method. You get a fairly even cooking and a nice “steak-like” appearance with the seitan.
I also find it much easier to gauge how “done” the seitan is when I can flip it and poke it, whereas it’s not as easy to do that when you steam or simmer. Steaming seitan produces my favourite interior texture of seitan, but the outside is no longer uniform in size or shape unless you use foil. While there are ways to recycle foil, I’d rather just avoid it and use this method instead.
The Fry Simmer Fry method is exactly what it sounds like: first you sear the seitan steaks on both sides to get the general shape you want. Then simmer to cook the inside with a concentrated broth. Then, fry again to create a nice texture on the outside.
The key to this easy seitan steak is to let it rest overnight after cooking. You could eat it fresh from the pan, but the texture is soft and almost spongey. It could be appealing as a tender-off-the-bone kinda ribs texture, but if you want it to have more bite like steak, let it rest. Ideally in the fridge overnight, but 4-6 hours will also be enough.
Additional Recipe Notes:
- Red wine vinegar: The acid in this recipe helps tamp the particular flavour that vital wheat gluten can impart on seitan. Washed flour seitan doesn’t have the same ~stank~ that wheat flour seitan does, so it doesn’t need it. Do not skip the acid. You can use apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, white vinegar, whichever. I find balsamic and red wine vinegar are commonly used in beef-style recipes, and lends especially well to a seitan steak.
- Various sizes of steaks: This recipe makes about 450 g total of seitan. You can divide that into nuggets (twenty 22.5 g pieces), smaller steaks (so six 75 g pieces) or larger ones (or four 112.5 g sized ones). I have included cooking times in the recipe, but the only difference is the simmering time.
- Sauces: I’ve mostly just reduced the simmering broth into almost a gravy for these steaks, but you can add your favourite BBQ sauce, teriyaki sauce, even Vietnamese style kho seasoning for this. This is an extremely versatile protein.
Easy Vegan Seitan Steaks
Equipment
- food processor
- heavy bottomed skillet I used a cast iron one
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 200 g vital wheat gluten flour
- 30 g chickpea flour
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp paprika
Wet Ingredients
- 160 ml water
- 1 tsp concentrated bouillon paste or mushroom broth powder
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
To fry
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
To Simmer
- 250 mL water for simmering
- 1 tbsp mushroom broth powder or you can just use 1 cup of vegetable broth for simmering
Instructions
To make the seitan dough
- In a bowl, combine wheat gluten flour, chickpea flour, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika together to make the dry mix.200 g vital wheat gluten flour, 30 g chickpea flour, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp paprika
- In a measuring cup (or pour-able vessel) combine water, concentrated bouillon paste/mushroom broth powder, soy sauce, vegetable oil, and red wine vinegar and mix to combine to make the wet mix.160 ml water, 1 tsp concentrated bouillon paste or mushroom broth powder, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp vegetable oil, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- In a food processor, add the dry and wet ingredients and process for about 2-3 minutes until it comes together as a shaggy dough. The longer you process, the denser/firmer the seitan will be. Once processed, let sit for about 5 minutes. Your dough should be around 450 g total.
Fry Simmer Fry method
- In a large, heavy bottomed skillet, preheat to medium heat and then add 3 tbsp of vegetable oil.3 tbsp vegetable oil
- Meanwhile, shape your dough into your desired shapes (you could do 4-6 slabs for "steak" or about 20 pieces for more of a nugget shape).
- Add them to the pan and cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side until seared (golden brown).
- In a measuring cup, combine water and mushroom broth powder (or broth paste, or just 1 cup vegetable broth total) and mix to dissolve the powder/paste you're using. Pour that over the seitan and then cover immediately with a lid. The liquid may submerse the seitan, but mine usually only goes up halfway up the steak slabs.
- Bring the liquid to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Simmer for about 25 minutes for 6 steak slabs, 35 mins for 4 steak slabs, 25 min for 20ish nuggets). I like to flip the seitan halfway through or partway through just to evenly cook but that's just my preference.1 tbsp mushroom broth powder, 250 mL water
- After simmering for 25-35 minutes, remove the lid. You can remove the liquid and then fry again to crisp up the edges OR you can simmer and add a cornstarch slurry (about 1-2 tsp should be plenty) to make a bit of a gravy.
- For best results, store the seitan with a bit of liquid for moisture in the fridge overnight (or at least 4 hours). This allows the gluten to relax and firm up again. You can eat it freshly cooked (especially the nuggets), but they have a much softer texture at this point and is not suitable for slicing.
Nutrition
Lisa says
Can’t wait to try making this. The steaks look so succulent. :)
Bao Vu says
Do you pour both the powder and wet ingredients into the bowl of the food processor (without pre-mixing them outside the food processor) or do you mix the dry and wet ingredients in a bowl first into a sticky doughy mass then put that doughy mass into the bowl of the food processor?
I am concerned that if the dry and wet ingredients are not pre-mixed, the dry ingredients and wet ingredients may fly all over inside the food processor bowl, or not all of them are combined into a doughy mass.
Lisa Le says
I do dry then wet straight into the food processor bowl, but honestly it all gets so sticky that once the ingredients get incorporated everything collects together in the end
AK says
Have you tried any substitutions for chickpea flour? Or if you think there’s anything that may work well? TIA!
Lisa Le says
Pea flour works well! You could also blend in a few tablespoons of beans?