Tender, juicy and flavorful vegan steak! Perfectly spiced and looking remarkably like the ‘real thing’ these vegan seitan steaks are deliciously textured, super high in protein and heaps of fun to make.
Oh my gosh, can you actually believe the look of this vegan steak? It looks like a steak doesn’t it!
The last 10 days or so we’ve been in full vegan steak testing mode and I’ve been sending off photos to my sisters as I make this (practically my whole family is vegetarian) so that they can ooh and aaah in shock at how realistic it looks.
But here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter how realistic it looks, it’s NOT meat, it’s entirely vegan so there’s really no issue there.
I was inspired to make this recipe by a video that was made by the folks at Bosh featuring The Happy Pear and that I shared on my facebook page.
Well, a little debate immediately ensued whereby someone asked why a vegan would ever want to eat something that looked like a piece of meat. Well…. quite a few vegans had something to say about that because…well…it’s NOT meat. It’s just something tasty.
And when we can replicate some tastes and textures a little, without harming anyone, well why not? And then there’s the fact that the better we are at making tasty things, the more appealing a meat-free lifestyle becomes so it’s a win/win.
Truth be told though, while this vegan steak is totally delicious, it wouldn’t fool any meat eater. I haven’t eaten meat since 1999 and yet I know full well that this doesn’t taste like meat. It’s ‘meaty’ while being nothing like actual meat.
It tastes absolutely delicious though. And it has a chewy, ‘meaty’ texture, which is from the main ingredient, which is wheat gluten, commonly known as seitan.
We lived in Taiwan for a year in 2007/2008 and we used to often eat at Buddhist restaurants because they were strict vegetarian, and sometimes the mock meats you’d eat there would be so realistic, you really would be worried that it might actually be meat and would have to call someone over to confirm that it was really vegetarian. It was often made from mushrooms.
Vital Wheat Gluten
Getting hold of some wheat gluten wasn’t the easiest thing, and in the end I had to order it. You may have to order it too. I went to all the health food places that usually would sell ingredients like this and they were totally confused, they were like: ‘you WANT the gluten?’
And then we’d all have a laugh cos everything is gluten-free this and that and here we are coming in and asking them to give us the pure gluten!
If you do have to order it you can get it from Amazon, the full name is Vital Wheat Gluten. Or maybe you’ll have a larger selection in your health food store than we did and won’t have to order it.
It’s super high in protein, like super high (each vegan steak was 58g protein) since there is 75 grams of protein in 100 grams of wheat gluten.
Can You Make It Gluten-Free?
Unfortunately, no, this recipe is definitely not gluten-free and there are no adaptations for gluten-free either. This is definitely for the ‘yes I DO eat the gluten’ people.
Vital wheat gluten is really an essential component of this recipe and what creates the texture. If you are gluten-free, then you might like to try this gluten-free vegan steak from Gourmandelle, or try our portobello steaks or tofu steaks.
How To Make Vegan Steak
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Making it is super easy, but there are several steps involved.
- First you add canned chickpeas, spices, tomato paste and vegetable stock to your food processor.
- Process it until well combined.
- Move that into a mixing bowl and then add the vital wheat gluten. Mix it in with a spoon and then get in there with your hands and knead it for around 2 minutes.
- Once you finish kneading you flatten it out by smashing/bashing it a little (not too much, this also counts as kneading) and then cut it into 4 steaks.
- You can bash those a bit to flatten as well. A potato masher works well for smashing/bashing purposes.
- Then wrap the steaks in foil and steam them in a steamer basket over some boiling water for 20 minutes.
- Then unwrap them and soak them in marinade sauce for a minute or two before you fry them up!
Fry Them Up
We tested frying them on one of those lined grill pans and while that does cause them to have those pretty grill lines, I found that it wasn’t worth it in terms of the extra time taken.
If you fry them in a regular frying pan, it is super quick! Brush extra marinade sauce on every time you flip them and within a few minutes, they are charred and caramelized and utterly delicious.
The Best Spices
The spices used in these vegan steaks really complements the sort of ‘meaty’ flavoring. We used soy sauce, cumin, paprika, liquid smoke and ground coriander, to name a few. And the marinade sauce is made with soy sauce, paprika, brown sugar, tomato paste and liquid smoke.
The result is really vegan steak perfection! They are massively filling too. I served myself a plate with one of these steaks and a few sides. I ate one of the steaks and couldn’t eat any of the sides I was so full!
Chef’s Top Tip: Don’t Knead Too Long
You knead the seitan like a pizza dough BUT you don’t want to knead it for too long. You have to be quite conservative with your kneading while at the same time kneading it just long enough to activate the gluten.
I found about 2 minutes to be just perfect, but it’s more about the feel than the time. It will go from sticky and soft to firm and when you stretch it, it will sort of snap back.
The reason you don’t want to knead it for too long is that the longer you knead, the tougher the texture will be.
On one of our recipe tests, Jaye took over the kneading and he thought it was supposed to be for 4 minutes, well lets just say our jaws got such a workout, we ended up cutting those vegan steaks into very thin strips (it was kinda like jerky!) and then putting it on sandwiches. It was still good, but not juicy and tender like you want a delicious vegan steak to be.
If you knead it for an even shorter time than we did here you get a texture that is so tender that it doesn’t really work for a vegan steak, but works well for different things like seitan strips if you want to use this for something else.
We adapted this recipe to make some soft and delicious seitan strips and then put those into a vegan shawarma, so if you’re looking for different ways to use this steak recipe then that’s a great option too.
Through my experimenting (and our experience of the super tough steak from too much kneading), I found a great article about working with seitan. The best tip I got was about kneading for less time if you want a more tender result, but there are loads of other great tips about spices and flavorings too, so check that out if you want to read more about wheat meat, it’s called: How To Make Perfect Seitan.
Serving Suggestions
I couldn’t resist making a mushroom sauce for this, it’s totally not necessary, they have all the flavor and deliciousness that is required, but c’mon with some mushroom sauce? That’s next level!
So the mushroom sauce I made was from our tofu burger recipe. If you’re inspired to make a sauce as well, I can highly recommend it. It’s a perfect match. Our vegan peppercorn sauce would be delicious with this as well.
And if you’re thinking of what to serve with your vegan steak, well, a classic baked potato with vegan sour cream and salad always make great sides. Some vegan mashed potatoes would also be great, and if you want a vegan gravy with it, that would be amazing too. Baked potato fries or a vegan potato salad or some vegan coleslaw on the side would also be really delicious.
Make Ahead, Storing and Freezing
Make Ahead: If you want to make them in advance, you can make them up to the point that they’ve just finished steaming, then unwrap them and store them in a sealed container in the fridge for 3-4 days and then marinate and fry them up when you’re ready.
Alternatively, you can place them in the marinade sauce, and then let them marinate for 1-2 days in the fridge and then fry them up when you’re ready.
Storing: Leftovers keep very well in the fridge for 5-7 days. We were making vegan steak sandwiches for the next couple of days after making these because like I said, they are super filling, but leftovers are not an issue since they are delicious over the next few days.
Freezing: If you would like to freeze them, then freeze them in the marinade sauce before you fry them up. Then thaw in the fridge and fry up as usual. If they suck up more of the marinade sauce while doing this, leaving you without much left to brush on while frying, then make up some more of the sauce.
More Vegan ‘Meat’ Recipes
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Steak
Ingredients
For the Vegan Steaks:
- ¾ cup Canned Chickpeas (Drained) (123g)
- ¼ cup Nutritional Yeast (15g)
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- ¼ tsp Cumin
- ¼ tsp Ground Coriander
- ½ tsp Oregano
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- ½ cup Tomato Paste (130g)
- 1 tsp Paprika
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- ¼ tsp Liquid Smoke
- ½ cup Vegetable Stock (120ml)
- 1 ¾ cups Vital Wheat Gluten (263g)
For the Marinade:
- ¼ cup Soy Sauce (60ml)
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 2 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
- ⅛ tsp Liquid Smoke
For Frying:
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil or other oil
For Serving (Optional):
- Baked Potatoes
- Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Instructions
- Add the chickpeas, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, coriander powder, oregano, soy sauce, tomato paste, paprika, black pepper, dijon mustard, liquid smoke and vegetable stock to the food processor and process until well mixed.
- Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the vital wheat gluten. Stir in with a spoon briefly and then get in there with your hands, mixing it into a dough. Knead the dough for around 2 minutes, you want it to go from sticky and soft to firm and stretchy, so that when you pull it, it snaps back into place. See our full post for lots more info on kneading. Make sure you don’t over-knead it because that will cause your steaks to become very tough.
- As soon as you have a firm, stretchy texture, flatten it out and cut it into 4 roughly equal sized steaks. Use a potato masher to bash the steaks down a bit to flatten, but don’t do this too much as it counts as kneading, and you don’t want to overdo it.
- Wrap the steaks individually in tinfoil and then steam them for 20 minutes. Don’t wrap them too tight as they will expand while steaming. You can steam them in a steamer basket over a pot of boiling water, or in any steamer that you have.
- While the steaks are steaming, prepare your marinade sauce by adding all the ingredients to a bowl and whisking them together. Let it sit for a little while and then whisk again. You want it to be nice and smooth and it can take a couple of minutes for the brown sugar to dissolve properly.
- After steaming for 20 minutes, unwrap the steaks from their tinfoil and place into a square dish. Pour over the marinade sauce and use a brush to make sure the steaks are properly covered. Turn them over in the sauce a few times.
- Heat a pan with a little olive oil (or other oil, 1 Tbsp is fine) and then fry the steaks (I found they all fitted into the same pan) flipping them regularly and brushing more marinade sauce on them every time you flip them, until they are nicely browned and caramelized.
- Serve with a side salad, baked potatoes with vegan sour cream, and if you like sauces with your steaks, then a creamy mushroom sauce goes wonderfully with this!
Video
Notes
- I really recommend you weigh out the wheat gluten for accuracy. I couldn’t find a ‘standard’ measure for a cup of wheat gluten, so just weighed it out and this is what I came to. But for accuracy, it would be best to weigh it.
- These steaks keep very well in the fridge for 5-7 days and leftovers can be sliced up and used for vegan steak sandwiches.
- If you want to make these in advance, you can make them up to the stage where they have finished steaming, and then unwrap them and place them in a sealed container for 3-4 days until you’re ready to marinade them and fry them up. You can also place them in the marinade sauce and then leave them for a day or two in the fridge soaking in the marinade and then fry them up when you’re ready. If they’re already in the marinade sauce then a couple of days is fine, if you want to keep them a little longer (3-4 days) then don’t put them in the marinade, just steam them, unwrap them and put them in a sealed container and only soak them in marinade when you’re ready to make them.
- Nutritional information is for 1 vegan steak (of 4) without mushroom sauce.
- Recipe adapted from Bosh with The Happy Pear.
Tim Ellis says
Funny, it seems others over kneaded and got theirs too tough. Mine was flavored very well, but the texture was way too soft and did not have the seitan texture I am used to. I over-mixed mine all together in the food processor before I saw why you recommend hand mixing the gluten and was worried it would be too tough, but it was the opposite problem. I did knead it by hand as well, but ours was doughy and too soft. I even tried steaming it more after we had tried it and it is still too gushy.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Tim, if you make it again, I would definitely recommend doing it by hand, you will get a feel for it and when it’s the right amount of kneading. But even if you don’t knead it for long ‘enough’ to be perfect for steak it still shouldn’t be doughy. We did a recipe for seitan strips which is an adaptation of this recipe and even kneading it for much less time, it just created a softer texture but was not doughy and it shouldn’t be doughy ever. So I think by hand is super important.
Linda says
Hi. Your recipe looks wonderful and I would love to make it, but it calls for a 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast, and I don’t like the smell nor taste of it. Could you give me some suggestions of what I might replace it with? Thanks.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Linda, you can leave it out. It’s a flavor component but I don’t think there will be a huge impact if you leave it out either.
Donna says
I would love to try this recipe but prefer not to cook with aluminum. Do the steaks have to be wrapped in foil for steaming?
Alison Andrews says
I haven’t tried anything else and they do need to be wrapped to stop them absorbing too much water from the steaming process. I think if you read the other comments, there might be others who have tried different options.
Lee says
I tried the recipe and loved it. I used Dr. Brags Liquid amino in place of the soy sauce. I did not like using foil for steaming and used BPA free plastic. My question. Instead of steaming in a steamer, can I wrap it in the plastic and steam in vegetable broth? Please what do you think?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Lee, glad you enjoyed the recipe! I’m not sure about steaming them like that, I haven’t tested it any other way than in a regular steamer. All the best! 🙂
Daria Vallario says
I honestly thought this was going to be a colossal fail. My initial bean mixture wasn’t as smooth as in the video. And when I went to knead it, it felt like it had too many dry ingredients. All I can say is I will definitely repeat, tweak those things, because this had the MOST delicious flavor and texture! Fantastic!! The only thing I did was sprinkle some Montreal steak seasoning over it before pan frying it. Nothing about it failed, it’s the best seitan recipe I have found. And easy!
Alison Andrews says
Fantastic Daria! So pleased it was a success. Thanks so much for the awesome review. 🙂
Susan says
We made the steaks tonight and love the flavor but they were very chewy. How can we prevent that?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Susan, that definitely sounds like you kneaded it too much, we have notes about the kneading in the body of the post, it’s important to knead it ‘just right’ which can take a bit of practice, but if it’s chewy it was kneaded for too long.
Hanna says
Hello
I am a faithful reader of your blog and I would like to thank you for all these recipes. I have never been disappointed after trying a recipe.
I made these steaks tonight and it was a success again. my children liked (while they are often reluctant ..)
thanks again!
Hanna
Alison Andrews says
You’re so welcome Hanna, thanks so much for your lovely comment. 🙂
Findel says
I am wondering about the kneading – if it is like bread, there is a point where the dough suddenly relaxes and becomes light. Recently I made seitan and used the food processor to pound the dough. The gluten strands became very long, smooth and ‘meat’ like, not at all spongy – have made plenty of those too 🙂
The end result was so tender and juicy and delicious.
christophe caron says
Can I substitute the vital gluten by soy flour or any other gluten free alternatives?
Also, could you explain what the steaming process does to the steak?
Thanks so much looks so yummy
Alison Andrews says
Hi Christophe, I really don’t think this is a recipe that can adapt for gluten-free. However, there are other vegan steak recipes out there that are gluten-free, this one just doesn’t adapt for that. Steaming it does the bulk of the cooking so the wheat gluten is cooked through.
Carrie says
The flavour was perfect but it was sooo chewy. You mention it would be chewy if over knead. But I couldn’t get the ingredients to combine by hand. Ended up using kenwood with dough hook. Any advice welcome.
Alison Andrews says
I would try weighing the vital wheat gluten so you make sure you don’t accidentally use too much, that’s all I can think of as to why it might have been a bit too dry to combine by hand. Otherwise you can add in a touch more liquid (even just a spoonful of water) if that happens again. But definitely using your dough hook would have caused the over-kneading in a short space of time.
Steww says
This is far and away the simplest, fastest and most satisfying seitan recipes I’ve ever made. Thanks for all the hard work you put in so we can make such great food. I would totally have kneaded this for too long without your warning. Delish!
Alison Andrews says
So happy to hear that! Thanks a million for the great review. 🙂
AJ Gest says
Allison I made these tonight going to marinate overnight and serve tomorrow with a baker sweet potato and green salad for dinner. I am using an instant pot pressure cooker for steaming. Because of the higher temperatures I reduced the time to 15 minutes. I will let you know how the comes out. If it is good as your photos it should be a hit. Thanks for posting. AJ Denver Colorado.
Alison Andrews says
Hope it worked out great! 🙂
Kelly says
This looks amazing! I’m just wondering about the tomato paste.I have a tube from trader Joe’s that says 130g but doesn’t seem like enough for the 1/2c part? Help!
Thanks Kelly
Alison Andrews says
Hi Kelly, to be honest it’s probably fine, even if it was a small bit short, it shouldn’t make a big difference, as long as it’s close!
Eva says
I am planning to use your recipe in my Christmas dinner but need to know how much this recipe makes. One pound? I can’t wait to try, especially after reading all of the glowing reviews!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Eva, I don’t know at all, sorry! Did not weigh the final result. I would estimate each steak to be in the region of 200g though (7oz) but that is really an estimate.
Eva says
Oh my goodness! This is awesome!!My whole family (including children) loved it! I made a double batch. Yummy! Thank you!
Mark LaFountain says
THIS recipe and its accompanying photographs are a show stopper! I immediately ordered a new case of Wheat Gluten and I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks for the great work!
Alison Andrews says
Thanks so much Mark! Hope you’ll love the recipe. 🙂
Hugo says
This seitan is by far the best one I’ve ever made (and I’ve tried quite a few recipes)! The texture is amazing and it’s super tasty. No need for a sauce indeed but I’ll definitely try to make your mushroom sauce next time. Thank you so much for creating this recipe and sharing it with us!
Alison Andrews says
Thank you so much Hugo! Your wonderful review is hugely appreciated! 🙂
Rachel Savard says
Can i freeze the steak just after steaming stage. (Sorry for my english, I speak french )
Alison Andrews says
I think that would be fine! Let it thaw when you’re ready to make it and fry it up as usual. 🙂
Alocasia says
Made this last night. Delicious. 20 mins. wasn’t enough steaming time. The steaks were gummy at 20. Cannot wait to try this again.
Varie says
I think mine was the same as someone else who commented – 20 mins wasn’t enough in the steamer and it was gummy (I don’t think I overkneaded it because I was really careful not to). The flavour is really good though! Will definitely try again with more time in the steamer!
Alison Andrews says
Okay, thanks for sharing, I imagine there can be some variation with steamers so definitely see if leaving it in longer will make the difference. 🙂
Shirley Ticona says
Is it okay if I fry them after a week? They were in the refrigerator.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Shirley, I’m really not sure, depends on how they’re looking. If they’re looking good, maybe all is good. 🙂