‘Chicken’ Seitan

I spent a long weekend eating only vegan food while I was in Oregon a couple of weeks ago, and I felt really healthy from it, and want to have a more plant-based diet moving forward (good for my health, the environment, and the animals!). One of the restaurants I went to was a Vegan BBQ joint, and all the mock meat options were really inspiring! So I decided to try my hand at making my own seitan, and scoured the internet for a good recipe, and came across this one here. The only change I made was substituting the white vinegar for white wine vinegar, but I’m looking forward to playing around with the base flavor profile in future recipes (I’m thinking apple cider vinegar with liquid smoke and paprika as a base to make some mock pork!). All credit for this recipe goes to Tania of Who Needs Salad?, just recreating here for my own convenience, and halved the recipe.

For my first attempt, I ended up chopping this up and skewering it with peppers, onions, and pineapple to throw on the grill with a pineapple teriyaki glaze. Even my carnivore friends ate it all!

Ingredients (makes 4 servings):

• 1/2 cup vegetable stock (I use Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base, so 1/2 tsp of that mixed with 1/2 cup of water)
• 1/8 cup soy sauce
• 1/8 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 tbs tahini
• 1 tbs white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp ground sage
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 7/8 cup vital wheat gluten
• 5 cups vegetable stock (or 5 tsp Better Than Bouillon mixed with 5 cups of water)

In a large pot, bring the 5 cups of vegetable stock to a boil.

In a large bowl, mix together the 1/2 cup of veggie stock, soy sauce, tahini, vinegar, yeast flakes, onion powder, garlic powder, sage and salt.

After this has been mixed till blended, stir in the vital wheat gluten, and mix until it starts to thicken and turn doughy. Kneed the dough for about 5 minutes. Break into two pieces, and form into little logs.

Add the logs to the boiling pot of stock, then reduce to a simmer and cook for about 40 minutes. Remove pot from heat then let cool in the stock for an additional 10 minutes. Do not discard the liquid! 

You can chop it, shred it, crumble it, or slice it. Store it in the reduced stock for up to a week, then eat it straight or cook it in whatever recipe you’d like!