The day has finally come… Today’s the day I actually share my seitan steak recipe! After months (a year 👀) of experiments and testing, I can finally stop the teasing.

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If you just got here and you’re wondering “what in the world is seitan??” Refer to my blog post here: https://autumnsvegankitchen.com/2018/12/02/seitan-appreciation-post/

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Making seitan is a multi-step process. First we form the dough, then we cook it in a steamer, then marinade. Lastly we cook it 1 more time in the oven or on a grill and we have wonderful seitan steaks!

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Ingredients:

Dry mix-

1 1/2 Cups vital wheat gluten

2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 Teaspoon Onion Powder

1 Teaspoon Paprika (smoked paprika is great!)

1 Teaspoon Chili Powder

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Wet mix-

1 Can of Kidney beans, or red beans

1/3 Cup Vegetable broth

2 Tablespoons Vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Teaspoons Liquid Smoke

*optional: 8 drops red food coloring

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1/4 Cup Barbecue sauce (for marinade)

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Steps:

PART 1 Forming the dough-

1. Drain can of beans and rinse with cold water.

2. To a blender, add the rinsed beans and remaining wet ingredients. Blend until smooth.

3. To a medium sized mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.

4. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients with a spatula and mix *just* enough to wet/combine all the vital wheat gluten. Gently knead for just a minute to bring the dough together. You’ll notice it quickly forms gluten strands and will become elastic.

5. Cut the seitan doughball into 4 parts and flatten into a steak shape, about 1/2 inch thick. Keep in mind that when we steam the seitan, it will absorb some water and may even double in size. Place your seitan steaks in the fridge to let the gluten rest while we prepare the next step.

Part two, Steaming-

1. Fill your steamer with water, and bring it to a boil over medium heat. If the steamer is too hot, the seitan will over-absorb water and turn soft and mushy.

2. Place your seitan steaks in the steamer and steam for 45 minutes, flipping halfway through at around 20 minutes.

3. After the 45 minutes is up, turn off the burner and allow the seitan to stay in the steamer for 10-20 minutes to cool down and finish cooking.

4. Pull your seitan steaks out of the steamer. It’s safe to eat at this point, but we have a few more steps to make this the perfect “steak”

5. Cover the steak in bbq sauce or marinade onto your seitan and place in an air tight container. You can leave it on the counter for up to a few hours to marinade, or up to a few days in the fridge.

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Part three, grilling/ cooking–

Method one, Oven instructions:

1. Once you’re ready for your steak, preheat the oven to 375° F and line a baking tray with either aluminum foil, a good coating of cooking oil, or a silicone baking mat.

2. Place your seitan steaks on the lined tray, and bake for 25-30 minutes. For that wonderful glazed look, take your steaks out of the oven every 5-10 minutes, flip the steaks and brush on more barbecue sauce.

Method two, Grilling Instructions:

1. Heat your grill over medium- high heat. Place your marinaded seitan steaks on the grill. Cook and coat with barbecue sauce until it’s as charred as you prefer.

The inside cooked when it was steamed, so there’s no need to worry about getting sick from under-cooking it. Just cook it long enough for the seitan to be hot.

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Notes/Observations:

-You can leave the uncooked, raw seitan in the fridge for up to 5 days before you steam them, or up to 6 months in the freezer. (Some say the texture gets better when you freeze it!)

-You can leave the steamed seitan in the fridge with or without marinade for up to 5 days.

-This recipe can also be used to make burgers! Just shape the dough into a party and steam. After steaming the seitan can be grilled for burgers!

-This recipe can also be used to make beef strips, or really anything you’d use beef for. The instructions are the same, just form the dough into steaks, steam, cut into strips, and use for whatever you like!

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Photos:

The photo above is from my very first attempt making this recipe over one year ago. As you can see, there are little bits of the beans visible. This is avoided if you blend the beans well. I sometimes also like to sieve the bean mixture before adding it to the dry ingredients.

Below is the uncooked dough:

This is the texture that you want the dough.

This recipe can also be made into burgers! Just press the dough into a burger shape before you steam and grill.

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Autumn ❤️

Follow me on Instagram, @autumn.the.vegan