Are you ready to carve up some amazing vegan steaks?? This seitan steak is super tender, a little chewy, and a whole lotta tasty!! You won't need a knife to cut this vegan seitan, but if you have guests who like to use all their utensils, these don't just fall apart either!
These vegan steaks are absolutely delicious smothered in vegan gravy and a generous side of fresh cranberry relish and served up for Thanksgiving or a special holiday meal! Everyone loves them, vegans and omnivores alike!!
By the way, if you want to see more holiday inspiration, check out my favorite vegan holiday recipes!
Another favorite way to serve these is with a side of roasted stuffed Portobello mushrooms. So good together!
What are vegan steaks made of?
Vegan meat alternatives are often made with a soy or gluten base - sometimes both! This vegan steak is made primarily with vital wheat gluten. (Sorry, no gluten-free options for this recipe.) Thus the terms 'gluten steak' and 'seitan steak' are often used interchangeably.
Are vegan seitan steaks hard to make?
There are a few steps involved to make these vegan steaks, but after you've made them once, I'm sure you'll say they're super easy! A bit more planning is required than most recipes on this blog, but totally worth it!
The best part is that these seitan steaks can be mostly (or completely) made ahead of time, so if you are using them for a holiday meal, a lot of prep (and stress) can be taken care of ahead of time. 😉
How to make vegan steaks:
The first step to make these amazing vegan steaks is to put all of your ingredients (minus the gluten flour!) into a blender.
Blend until smooth and then pour the liquid mixture over the gluten flour in a med size bowl.
Mix well. You want to do this rapidly; initially with a strong spoon and then maybe your hands. Knead/mix for a minute or two. (Over-kneading will toughen the gluten steaks.)
Your gluten steak dough should look something like this:
Take the gluten dough out of the bowl and shape it into a long roll by rolling the dough back and forth on the counter (think play-dough snake kinda rolling 😉 ). The diameter of your seitan roll will ultimately decide the size of your gluten steaks. The diameter of my seitan roll is generally around 1 ½ to 2 inches. (Once you cut and boil these they grow like crazy so the end result is several times larger!)
Now you wrap your seitan roll in plastic and place it overnight in the fridge. (If you're in a hurry you can leave it in the freezer for an hour, but I prefer the fridge method for an easier consistency to work with. Both end up tasting the same.)
Next make the broth in a large lidded stock pot. The lid is probably the most essential part because these babies need to simmer quietly with the lid ON! It's ok to peek, just put the lid back on.
Slice your seitan roll into ¼ - ½ inch thick steaks - yeah, they are a little sticky at this point.
Carefully!!! drop them gently (one by one) into the boiling broth (Please do NOT burn yourself, ok?).
Return to a boil and then simmer in a large stock pot on low for 1 ½ hours. (with the lid ON!) At this point you are probably looking at these things like what happened??!!! How did they grow so big? I know. It's super fun!
Have an electric pressure cooker or instant pot?
Just cook these seitan steaks in the same amount of broth for 35 minutes on the manual 'high pressure setting'.
Now you are ready to bread your seitan steaks, and pan fry them with a little oil on both sides until lightly browned.
Expert cooking tip:
(If you aren't going to serve these vegan steaks the same day, let everything just cool in the pot for a while and then stick the pot and all into the fridge for a day (or even two) until you are ready to bread and brown them.)
Perfectly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, these vegan steaks are completely irresistible!
How do you eat Vegan Seitan Steaks?
Gluten steaks don't have to be eaten as a main course dish!! IF you have any left-overs you can:
- chop them up in vegan mushroom stroganoff or for a vegan tater tot casserole
- serve them over white bean butternut squash mash
- or over vegan mac and cheese
- as the protein with stir fried bean sprouts
- with roasted Brussels sprouts with balsamic maple dressing, drizzling that dressing over the whole plate
- with a side of red rice salad
- shred them in chili
- dice them in pot pie
- flavor to use as taco meat
- add veggies and make fajitas
Can you freeze Vegan Steaks?
These vegan steaks can be frozen before or after breading and will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week or several months in the freezer. To keep them from sticking together, a reader suggested freezing spread out on a tray and placing in a bag or container together after freezing! Thaw them out as needed!
If you're looking for a great vegan side dish to serve with these amazing Vegan Steaks, check out my yummy Easy Cheesy Baked Vegan Cauliflower, or if you're looking for other great vegan meat substitutes, you might also love my spicy Epic Vegan Jerky or this delish Smoky Mushroom-Oat Burger!!
The yummy gravy in the pictures is:
Another main dish you will love:
Please note, there is a video of this process in the recipe card below!!
If you’ve tried these Tender Vegan Steaks or any other recipe on my blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I LOVE hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious food!!!
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Super Tender Vegan Steaks
Ingredients
Vegan Steak Ingredients
- ¾ Cup Water
- ½ Cup Onion, about ½ med onion
- ¼ Cup Rolled Oats
- ¼ Cup Wheat Germ
- ¼ tsp Sea Salt
- ½ Tbsp Chicken Seasoning, I use McKays, but other vegan bullion works as well
- ½ Tbsp Yeast Flakes
- ½ Tbsp Peanut Butter
- ½ Tbsp Braggs Liquid Aminos or Soy Sauce
- 1 ½ Cup Gluten Flour
Boiling Broth Ingredients
- 8 Cup Water
- ½ Cup Braggs Liquid Aminos or Soy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Onion powder
- 1 tsp Garlic powder
Breading Meal Ingredients
- ½ Cup White Flour
- ½ Cup Cornmeal
- ⅛ tsp Salt, or more to taste
- ¼ Cup Yeast Flakes
Instructions
Tender Steak Prep (Step 1)
- Blend all ingredients EXCEPT the Gluten Flour until smooth and then pour the liquid mixture over the gluten flour in a med size bowl.
- Mix rapidly together; initially with a strong spoon and then maybe your hands. Knead/mix for 1-2 minutes. (Over-kneading will toughen the gluten steaks.)
- Roll into long roll 1 ½ – 2 inches in diameter, wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator overnight or in freezer for an hour.
- When your seitan dough is chilled, prepare your broth and bring to a boil in a large lidded kettle:
Boiling Broth Instructions (Step 2)
- Slice steaks ¼-1/2 in thick. Drop into boiling broth and simmer on low for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 and ½ hours with pot lid on.(Alternatively cook in electric pressure cooker on high 'manual setting' for 35 minutes.)
- When done simmering, allow seitan steaks to cool a bit before trying to handle. Then bread and saute' or refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.
Breading and Sauté Instructions (Step 3)
- Mix Breading ingredients into a small bowl.
- Bread seitan steaks and sauté' both sides in several tablespoons of oil, until lightly browned on both sides.
- Serve right away or place in a large serving dish to rewarm in the oven later. Enjoy!
This is an amazing recipe!!! It was my first time to make gluten steaks and I was rather nervous but the recipe was super easy to follow. I am super excited about sharing it with friends for our Thanksgiving meal today. Thank you!
Hi Maria! So glad you loved these! Yes gluten steaks are pretty great and pretty versatile! I hope your friends liked them too. Thanks so much for letting me know you liked these 🙂
I make gluten "meat" fairly often and it is a delicious substitute. After steamed, just treat it as you would any regular meat (breaded, fried, baked, in sauce, chopped up and added to a bean soup, etc.). There are so many ways you can use it and it is a cinch to make.
Thanks for your comment! Love all the ways you like to use gluten!
So these had incredible flavor. I will definitely be making them again. However, I thought they were little on the mushy side? And very very juicy. Is there something I could do to change the texture a little?
Thanks for you comment! Glad you like the flavor. To make these gluten steaks a little firmer and more chewy, just add up to an extra 1/4 cup gluten flour. Different brands of gluten flour seem to act slightly differently so sometimes a little more is needed to get that delectable chew!
What is the best way to reheat these after being frozen?
First, let them thaw completely (say overnight in the fridge or on the counter for a few hours) then either bread and pan fry (if not breaded previously) or you can also place in a covered casserole dish and warm in the oven at about 350 for 15-20 minutes. Just be careful, they can get a bit crispy if overbaked! Hope that helps.
Made a double batch this weekend as a trial run for Thanksgiving. 5 stars!! Thank you for sharing your yummy recipe 🙂
Yeay! Glad you enjoyed them! Happy Thanksgiving!
I grew up on these steaks. Wonderful, wonderful. And there are a myriad of recipes out there. Just a quick note on freezing steaks. Put them single layer on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Once frozen remove to a container (freezer bag) and then when you want one you don't have to pry it away from another. (Good way to freeze berries, too, by the way.)
They look so good, can you tell me at what stage can you freeze them? After they are fried or before thank you.
You can do either. I usually just bread them all, eat as much as I can 😉 and then freeze the left-overs. Enjoy!