Whether you want to make this meat substitute yourself at home, or use a ready-made version, this guide will give you all the information you need to start cooking with seitan. With many of us cutting seitan recipes on our meat consumption, meat replica products such as seitan have seen a rise in popularity. Most are bought ready-made, but with a little time and effort, you can make seitan yourself at home.
Seitan, sometimes called wheat meat, is a wheat-based meat alternative, often used in place of chicken. It has a mild taste and a dense, sometimes chewy texture. Seitan is high in protein and some nutrients. It contains gluten so is not suitable for coeliacs or people suffering from gluten intolerance. The vital ingredient in seitan is wheat gluten. Wheat is made up of starches, bran and gluten, when wheat is ground to flour, the starch and bran can be removed, leaving behind the gluten. Once the ingredients have been combined, the seitan can be cooked and eaten or kneaded to develop a meat-like stringy texture, making it popular with people wanting to replicate meat products in their cooking.
Tip into a bowl and add the wheat gluten and pea protein or protein powder. Once the dough has come together, give it a really good knead, stretching and tearing for 10-15 mins. It will be ready once the dough feels springy. Pour the vegetable stock into a pan. Flatten out the seitan to a thickness of 1cm and chop into chicken breast sized chunks. Simmer these in the stock for 20 mins, covered with a lid, then allow to cool in the stock.
Ideally, do this the day before and leave to chill in the fridge. The seitan chunks can also be frozen if you wish. When you’re ready to use the seitan in a recipe, pat it dry with kitchen paper then chop or tear into smaller pieces before cooking, if you like. Add it to pasta dishes, curries, wraps or try one of these recipes.
Seitan’s neutral flavour makes it the perfect vehicle for bold flavours. This easy family meal is great for using up veg from the fridge. The chewy texture of seitan contrasts well with a crispy crunchy crust in this recipe. Try making a large version for a crispy seitan burger or smaller nuggets for dunking in your favourite sauce. Our Kentucky fried seitan is ideal party food. What’s your favourite way to cook seitan? This website is published by Immediate Media Company Limited under licence from BBC Studios Distribution.
This homemade seitan recipe using gluten flour provides an easy and inexpensive route to a great DIY plant-based protein. Make sure to see the step-by-step at the end of this post, and a link to a roundup of delicious vegan recipes using seitan. Store-bought seitan can be quite good, or it can be shoe-leather tough, to use a non-vegan metaphor. And while it’s not ridiculously pricey, it isn’t as much of a protein bargain as beans, or even tofu. That changes when you make it at home. Then, by all means, experiment as much as you’d like.