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Making seitan at home is so much easier, cheaper, and more delicious than buying storebought, and this is my favorite way to do it! This base recipe can be made into shredded seitan, a loaf, strips, nuggets, or bites. This “faux chicken” will become a go-to for anyone who eats meatless meals, whether you’re vegetarian or vegan… or not!
What Makes This Recipe So Good
- Homemade seitan is a lot easier to make that you might think! It’s also a lot cheaper than store-bought, and tastes so much better. You’ll need less than 10 ingredients to make this delicious meat substitute.
- It’s super versatile and can be used in many different vegetarian and vegan dishes as the main protein source. We have many recipes from vegan chili, seitan fried “chicken”, grilled seitan with BBQ sauce, to vegan “corned beef”. As a great substitute to meat, you can grill it, pan fry it, or even add it to fried rice or tacos in place of chicken. The possibilities are truly endless!
- It’s such a great meatless protein to meal prep! Perfect to have on hand for a busy week to put quick meals together, it stores beautifully in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Chef’s Tips
- Steaming the seitan is a crucial part of this recipe! Before using it in any recipes, whether you shred it, grill it, pan fry it or use it any other way you’d like, the seitan needs to be steamed and cooled. Steaming it first will ensure it gets the very best tender texture.
- The seitan dough is made out of gluten which will create a sticky mixture with stringy strips, almost just like a bread dough. If you use a food processor, you won’t need to knead the dough by hand. If you don’t have a food processor, you can mix all the ingredients in a bowl, combine them well, then transfer the dough to a work surface previously dusted with vital wheat. Knead the dough by hand, exactly as you would do a bread or crust dough for 1 to 2 minutes top. If you knead it for too long, the seitan could become a little tough.
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Recipe By: Cheryl Malik
5 from 1 vote
How To Make Seitan (Shredded, Strips, Nuggets, or Loaf!)
Prep 10 minutes minutes
Cook 30 minutes minutes
Rest 20 minutes minutes
Total 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes
This easy and delicious seitan recipe can be made into a loaf, strips, nuggets or bites or used shredded.
6 servings
Equipment
Food processor with dough attachment
Spatula
foil
pot with steamer basket and lid
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 ½ cups vital wheat gluten
- 1 ½ cups chickpea flour
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt more or less to taste
Instructions
Set food processor with dough attachment. Add all ingredients to food processor and blitz for about 10 seconds to combine. With spatula, scrape down sides, then blitz again for about 1 minute or until sticky mixture forms with long stringy texture, almost like elastic. See Notes
Let dough rest for 10 minutes, then blitz again for about 15 seconds only. Add to work surface dusted with vital wheat protein, then cut dough into 4 equal pieces.
For Loaf
Place dough in center of 4×12-inch piece of foil, fold short sides of foil over loaf securely but keeping folds loose allowing dough to expand.
Place loaf in steamer basket in pot, cover, and steam for 30 minutes. Once cooked, carefully remove loaf from steamer, and allow dough to cool down to touch before chilling in fridge.
For Strips
Follow instructions for loaf, then slice cooled loaf into strips of preferred size.
For Shredded
Follow instructions for loaf, then shred cooled loaf by hand by pulling shreds of preferred size.
For Bites/Nuggets
Tear off bite sizes of dough, then place in steamer basket in pot in 1 single layer. Cover pot, and steam for 10 minutes. Once time is up, remove steamer basket immediately from pot, let seitan bites cool slightly for a couple of minutes, then separate bites if pieces of dough have expanded and started touching. Not that seitan bites will expand when steaming, but shouldn't be hard to pull apart from each other once cooled.
Store seitan loaf, strips, shreds or bites in fridge sealed in plastic bad or airtight container for up to 2 weeks. You can also freeze seitan by adding it to freezer-safe container, letting out as much air as possible.
- The stringy texture is gluten and what makes seitan taste meat-like, so continue processing mixture til you see it. You can also hand knead dough just like bread by transferring to flat work surface dusted with vital wheat gluten, and kneading dough back and forth with hands for a 1 to 2 minutes.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Serving Size: 1servingCalories: 280calProtein: 30gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 651mgPotassium: 327mgTotal Carbs: 23gFiber: 4gSugar: 4gNet Carbs: 19gVitamin A: 137IUVitamin C: 0.1mgCalcium: 58mgIron: 3mg
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Cheryl Malik
In addition to being a certified health coach, certified yoga instructor, and mom of 3, Cheryl is also the recipe developer, editor-in-chief, food photographer, and passionate foodie behind 40 Aprons. Having spent the last 10+ years as a food blogger, she's become known for her flavorful recipes, detailed instructions, gorgeous photography, and down-to-earth approach to food and cooking in general.
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This is the absolute best seitan recipe I have ever made – and I have made many over the years! Now this is the only one I use! It also make a tried and true gift for my vegan and vegetarian friends, I have found. Thank you!
Reply
So glad you love this seitan! Thanks for the lovely review, Lauretta. 🙂
Reply
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Meet Cheryl
Passionate foodie, certified health coach, serial entrepreneur, and mom of 3.
I've been developing and sharing delicious, approachable recipes on 40 Aprons for more than a decade. My goal is simple: take the chore out of mealtime by creating recipes that anyone can cook and that never skimp on flavor.
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