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.
AMit Adukia says
Wowwww… My Lord …. that was such a cool & real looking meat steak. But its a plant based meat steak… what we vegetarians love all about it… and the recipe what has been shared with such detail that is so impressive…
Wish to see u guys someday in person and wanna have vegan dishes made by you on the spot …
I was wondering if u guys have opened a vegan restaurant, if yes pls share the address.
Have a great day both of you ..
Alison Andrews says
Thank you! So glad you like it. Haha, no plans for a restaurant, we’re too busy blogging. 🙂
ArtR says
We have family members that are on Gluten free diets. What would you recommend to replace the vital wheat gluten?
Alison Andrews says
Hi there, unfortunately there is no replacement for the gluten in this recipe, but there are other vegan steak recipes online that are gluten free (made completely differently). 🙂
ArtR says
After cutting them into four pieces, can you make burgers out of them?
Alison Andrews says
You could make a vegan steak burger, sure! You’d still need to cook them up the same way though. Check out our vegan burger recipe as well though. 🙂
Vicky Glen says
Thank you for this recipe, we love it! The steak is full of flavor and the texture is just perfect. The tips provided really help in achieving the best texture.
Alison Andrews says
Yay! So happy to hear that Vicky! Thanks for the wonderful review. 🙂
Granny says
HI, I want to try making this, I want to know more about the texture. My husband hates chewy texture, is it a softish chewy or one of those chew for five minute textures?
Alison Andrews says
It really depends on how well you knead it. If you knead it for too short a time it will be too soft, and too long a time it will be too chewy. We do go into a bit of detail on the post about how long to knead it. If you do it right the texture is really perfect, it has ‘chew’ but not too much at all.
Jill Smolkin says
Hi, so excited to try this out!!
I’m a newbie to wheat gluten so sorry for the stupid question, can I use regular flour as a substitute?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Jill, not a stupid question at all, but no it has to be vital wheat gluten, it’s quite different to flour as it’s just pure gluten powder. It has a very unique texture that can’t be replicated with regular flour. All the best! 🙂
Linda says
I made this and true to form I over did it. Despite this it was delicious if a little chewy, lol. One thing I’d like to ask. Once steamed it didn’t smell cooked, as in I could still smell the flour. Should it have been like that or did I do something wrong?
Alison Andrews says
So glad it was still delicious! Hmmm, I’m not sure, as long as it steams the full 20 minutes, so the water is boiling before you put the steamer basket on so it gets the full benefit of the 20 minutes of steaming then it will be good to go. 🙂
Dottie says
I love the texture of these. It is exquisite to find a vegan food with such a high protein level that doesn’t use soy as the main ingredient. It wants to be perfect.
The sodium is way too high (and you can taste it—ick). It needs modification to be a truly amazing recipe.
My other gripe is one that probably cannot be remedied. This is very messy and involved to make and a lot of work for one meal (this is coming from someone who usually makes her own baguettes and pizza dough every week). I have made it twice and it took over an hour both times.
However, if the sodium could be reduced, I feel it is worth the effort. It is fabulous these are freezable. I would probably make several batches ahead of time and pre-freeze for later.
With modification to lower the sodium content (IMO – it needs to be down by two-thirds to half to become healthy and tasty—perhaps find some other sauce than soy), I would give the recipe up to 4 stars. The prep work cannot be helped, but given how amazing the texture comes out (and the taste will be perfect after lowering the soy sauce/sodium content) and how much protein and fiber this yields, it could be well worth the work.
Christopher says
Haven’t tried this out yet, but it looks interesting. Can I substitute the soy sauce for both the steaks and the marinade with another sauce?.
Alison Andrews says
I guess it depends on what you want to swap it for, but definitely go ahead and experiment. 🙂
Joshua Miller says
BLOWN AWAY! This was my third attempt making seitan, but my first with this recipe. This recipe actually has FLAVOR, unlike the other two I followed. I now have hope that I will be able to create amazing seitan dishes, the major difference was creating the flavor/wet mix (by far the most generous amounts here) and then combining that with the vital wheat gluten. I still cannot believe it.
Another difference was the cook time, I had done one hour simmering in water with other recipes, and this only is 20 minutes steamed. I believe the cook/steam time contributes to the excellent tender texture here.
I already look forward to making more, with some adjustments, I did feel my outcome was a tad too salty, will use lower sodium broth/stock and a tad less garlic powder next time.
Thank you so much for putting this up, what a find.
Alison Andrews says
So happy to hear this Joshua! Thanks so much for posting and the wonderful rating! 🙂
Leigh says
Thanks for this great looking recipe! Would also be so helpful if these posts had a link at the top to jump right to the recipe, because, no offense, but these posts are always very, very long.
Leigh says
My bad, you do have a jump link, thank you!
Alison Andrews says
Glad you found it! 🙂
Theresa Dressler says
Made these tonight. My daughter and her boyfriend said they were good. Despite the fact I didn’t watch them carefully enough on the grill. The marinade carmelized very fast. Next time I’ll be more careful!
Abby says
Really enjoyed this dish – super easy and very tasty! Thanks for being my gateway into glutinous wheat flour! I’m a believer!
Alison Andrews says
Hahaha, so happy to hear that Abby! Thanks for the awesome rating! 🙂
Eric Fouquet says
WOW !!!
The best vegan steak i ever eat .
Try it and you’ll adopt this recipe …
Alison Andrews says
Fantastic! Thanks so much Eric! 🙂
Jill N Hups says
These sound yummy and I plan to make a few for my vegan family members this weekend; however, I have a question: Can these be smoked or do they need to be steamed?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Jill, I don’t have any experience with smoking things, so I’m not sure how it would compare. If you google ‘smoked seitan’ there are recipes that come up but they’re quite different so I’m not at all sure how it might or might not work out here.
Glenn Arnold says
I made these steaks for dinner this past weekend and my wife and I were KNOCKED! OUT! The flavor, and the “chew” was on point. The recipe is excellent, and thank you for sharing it. I steamed all 4 of the steaks on Saturday night. We ate one each and were “fully satisfied”! The following night I reheated just one steak, steaming it for 15 minutes. I sliced it into razor thin strips and it was enough for two delicious steak sandwiches. We liked the sandwiches so much we made them again using the last brisket from the batch. So one batch from this recipe fed two adults for three nights! And it takes almost no time to prep. It was such a hit I had to share the pics and the link to the recipe with my friends on Facebook. One question I have… Unless I’m reading it wrong, is the sodium amount correct at 1868mg per single serving on the nutritional chart? I’m hoping it’s a typo and there is supposed to be a decimal point in there somewhere… ????
Alison Andrews says
Hi Glenn! I’m thrilled to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much for sharing! The sodium is that high haha, but you can reduce it if you use a low sodium soy sauce and vegetable stock. Usually those are high sodium items which is why it comes out high in that respect.