Tired of expensive meat alternatives? Make this vegan seitan chicken completely from scratch at home with just a few pantry ingredients!
Questa ricetta è disponibile anche in italiano
Are you looking for a delicious and cruelty-free alternative to chicken? With this easy-to-follow recipe, you can create delicious seitan chicken dishes that will feel and look like the real deal and will keep you full and satisfied. From tacos to stir-fries, you can use this versatile ingredient to create a variety of flavourful dishes. So, what are you waiting for? Get cooking and start creating delicious seitan chicken dishes today!
What is seitan?
Seitan is a high-protein, low-fat, plant-based meat substitute that is perfect for those looking to reduce their meat consumption.
The main ingredient of seitan is gluten. You can find it in its powered version (vital wheat gluten) in most health shops or online, or you can obtain it starting from humble flour (high protein content is recommended), with the WTF method (wash the flour) which I explain in detail in this recipe for vegan duck wraps.
How to Make Delicious Seitan Chicken Dishes with this Easy-to-Follow Recipe!
You can use seitan chicken in stir-fries, salads, sandwiches, wraps, tacos, and more. You can also use it as a substitute for chicken in any of your favourite recipes.
For a delicious and easy meal, use these seitan chicken pieces to enrich these gorgeous Longevity Noodles. All you have to do is heating up a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the seitan strips and cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside and then follow the recipe. Add the stir fried chicken before the noodles and there you have it!
Alternatively you can make these easy Seitan Nuggets, KFC Style with chunks of this vegan chicken, or roast it wrapped in rice paper as shown in this recipe for vegan chicken drumsticks.
They are also very good as a stew base, like this Vegan Guinness Stew in the Instant Pot or to make skewers, like these with puffed tofu. Just replace the tofu puffs with cubes or shreds of this seitan and enjoy!
I could keep going suggesting its uses for ages! There's no need to add how versatile and easy to use this basic vegan seitan chicken recipe is, so I'll leave it to you: free up your fantasy and creativity and pop a comment below on the ways you would use it to inspire myself and other readers!
How to make Seitan Chicken
Begin by combining the vital wheat, nutritional yeast, garlic, onion powder and herbs in a large bowl. Mix everything together until it’s well combined.
Next, add the vegetable broth to the dry ingredients and mix until it a dough. Knead the dough for about 15 minutes until it’s elastic. Once the dough is ready, form it into a log shape and wrap it in aluminium foil.
Place the seitan log in a steamer basket and steam it for about an hour/an hour and half. Once the seitan is cooked, remove it from the steamer and let it cool down completely. Once it’s cooled, unwrap the foil and slice the seitan into thin strips or shred it!
Cooking Methods
I find the STEAMING method to be the one that works best. To steam raw seitan you’ll need to wrap it first in parchment paper, then in foil, making sure to leave some room for expansion. So do not wrap it too tight, otherwise the texture would be too gummy!
I normally steam it in my Instant Pot, but I sometimes do it traditionally over the hob.
Over the hob method requires you to double the steaming time, which can be quite long based on how big your chunk of raw seitan is.
Another method to pre-cook seitan is OVEN baked.
This is a method that I use very rarely as it is harder to get the seitan right, and often you’d end up with hard and bread-like crust on the outside of the log.
To bake the seitan in the oven you will need to pre-heat your oven to 175°C (350°F).
Shape the dough into a log and wrap it in parchment+foil, then bake for about 45 minutes, flipping it over halfway through.
Last method is BOILING
When I first started making seitan this was the only method I used. Back in the days vital gluten wasn’t as largely available and when I could find it, it was super expensive. So I used the wash the flour method.
I used to leave the dough plain, so with any additions whatsoever, tightly wrapped in a white clean cloth, not washed with any detergent (later I used cheesecloth, which I found more practical), then boiled in a very umami-rich vegetable broth made with onions, carrots, celery, dried porcini mushrooms, kombu seaweed, salt and soy sauce.
Boiling would take from up to 2 hours, depending on the size of the log. 
Vegan Seitan Chicken Recipe
Instructions:
...for the broth...
10 g Chicken Stock Cube (Vegan)
1-2 slices Porcini Mushrooms (dry)
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
300 g Boiling Water
1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
...for the seitan...
150 g Vital Gluten (1 cup)
30 g Tapioca Starch (¼ cup)
7 g Nutritional Yeast
5 g Chicken Spice Mix
1 pinch Dry Sage
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
...extras...
Margarine (optional but recommended)
Method:
1. Make the broth in advance as it has to cool down to room temperature. Add the stock cube, the salt and the porcini mushroom slices to a pyrex bowl, then pour over boiling water. Mix well and allow to infuse. Once the broth has cooled, stir in the vinegar.
2. In a larger bowl or bread machine, mix together all the dry ingredients, then pour it half of the broth and start combining it well. Add the remaining broth, a bit at a time, until the dough has formed without being too wet.
3. Knead the dough for a good 15 minutes by hands or 10 minutes with a bread machine.
4. Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour. This is important to make it easier to work once the gluten has relaxed.
5. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts and roll each part into a sausage.
6. Braid* the dough and make sure to pinch well the ends so it stays together.
7. Place the braided seitan over a sheet of parchment paper.
8. Brush the surface with the margarine on both sides. This will make the seitan juicier and tender. For a lighter version you can skip this step.
9. Wrap it well with the paper, making sure not to wrap it too tight, then wrap again in enough foil to form two layers around the seitan.
10. Place the wrapped seitan into the steamer rack and cook for 1.5 hours. If using the instant pot or any pressure cooker, the cooking time will be 50 minutes.
11. Allow the chicken style seitan to cool down completely before using it in your favourite recipes.
Notes:
*I prefer braiding the seitan so that I can use it both shredded or cut into chunks. If you prefer having roast style seitan you can roll all the dough into a large log.
I like using apple cider vinegar to get rid of the rather bitter vital gluten aftertaste.
Instead of tapioca starch you can use other starches or pulses flours, like chickpeas, lentils or soya.
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