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Home Blog Dietary Concern Vegan

How To Make Seitan (Shredded, Strips, Nuggets, or Loaf!)

Cheryl Malik
Cheryl Malik Posted: 12/20/22 Updated: 04/11/23
5
/5
2 Comments
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V Vegan VG Vegetarian

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Making seitan at home is so much easier, cheaper, and more delicious than buying storebought, and this is my favorite way to do it! This base recipe can be made into shredded seitan, a loaf, strips, nuggets, or bites. This “faux chicken” will become a go-to for anyone who eats meatless meals, whether you’re vegetarian or vegan… or not!

Overhead view of 4 different types of seitan on a marble countertop.

What Makes This Recipe So Good

  • Homemade seitan is a lot easier to make that you might think! It’s also a lot cheaper than store-bought, and tastes so much better. You’ll need less than 10 ingredients to make this delicious meat substitute.
  • It’s super versatile and can be used in many different vegetarian and vegan dishes as the main protein source. We have many recipes from vegan chili, seitan fried “chicken”, grilled seitan with BBQ sauce, to vegan “corned beef”. As a great substitute to meat, you can grill it, pan fry it, or even add it to fried rice or tacos in place of chicken. The possibilities are truly endless!
  • It’s such a great meatless protein to meal prep! Perfect to have on hand for a busy week to put quick meals together, it stores beautifully in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

More Delicious Meatless Recipes

Crispy Baked Tofu

Tempeh Bacon

Chickpea Salad Sandwich

BBQ Jackfruit Sandwiches

Chef’s Tips

  • Steaming the seitan is a crucial part of this recipe! Before using it in any recipes, whether you shred it, grill it, pan fry it or use it any other way you’d like, the seitan needs to be steamed and cooled. Steaming it first will ensure it gets the very best tender texture.
  • The seitan dough is made out of gluten which will create a sticky mixture with stringy strips, almost just like a bread dough. If you use a food processor, you won’t need to knead the dough by hand. If you don’t have a food processor, you can mix all the ingredients in a bowl, combine them well, then transfer the dough to a work surface previously dusted with vital wheat. Knead the dough by hand, exactly as you would do a bread or crust dough for 1 to 2 minutes top. If you knead it for too long, the seitan could become a little tough.
Overhead view of a seitan loaf sliced into rounds.

More How To’s You Should Know

  • How to Boil Cabbage
  • 4 Ways to Cook Beets
  • How to Dice an Onion… the Easy Way!
  • Learn how To Roast Garlic
  • How To Boil Sweet Potatoes

Hey – you’ve made it this far, so now we’re basically best friends! If you make this recipe, I’d love for you to give it a quick review & star rating ★ below. Make sure you follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and Facebook, too!

Overhead view of 4 different types of seitan on a marble countertop.
5 from 1 vote

How To Make Seitan (Shredded, Strips, Nuggets, or Loaf!)

Prep:10 minutes minutes
Cook:30 minutes minutes
Rest:20 minutes minutes
Total:1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes
This easy and delicious seitan recipe can be made into a loaf, strips, nuggets or bites or used shredded.
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6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups vegetable broth
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
  • 1 ½ cups vital wheat gluten
  • 1 ½ cups chickpea flour
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt more or less to taste

Equipment

  • Food processor with dough attachment
  • Spatula
  • foil
  • pot with steamer basket and lid

Instructions 

  • Set food processor with dough attachment. Add all ingredients to food processor and blitz for about 10 seconds to combine. With spatula, scrape down sides, then blitz again for about 1 minute or until sticky mixture forms with long stringy texture, almost like elastic. See Notes
    Ingredients for seitan in a food processor bowl.
  • Let dough rest for 10 minutes, then blitz again for about 15 seconds only. Add to work surface dusted with vital wheat protein, then cut dough into 4 equal pieces.

For Loaf

  • Place dough in center of 4×12-inch piece of foil, fold short sides of foil over loaf securely but keeping folds loose allowing dough to expand.
    Seitan wrapped in aluminum foil.
  • Place loaf in steamer basket in pot, cover, and steam for 30 minutes. Once cooked, carefully remove loaf from steamer, and allow dough to cool down to touch before chilling in fridge.

For Strips

  • Follow instructions for loaf, then slice cooled loaf into strips of preferred size.

For Shredded

  • Follow instructions for loaf, then shred cooled loaf by hand by pulling shreds of preferred size.

For Bites/Nuggets

  • Tear off bite sizes of dough, then place in steamer basket in pot in 1 single layer. Cover pot, and steam for 10 minutes. Once time is up, remove steamer basket immediately from pot, let seitan bites cool slightly for a couple of minutes, then separate bites if pieces of dough have expanded and started touching. Not that seitan bites will expand when steaming, but shouldn't be hard to pull apart from each other once cooled.
  • Store seitan loaf, strips, shreds or bites in fridge sealed in plastic bad or airtight container for up to 2 weeks. You can also freeze seitan by adding it to freezer-safe container, letting out as much air as possible.

Notes

  • The stringy texture is gluten and what makes seitan taste meat-like, so continue processing mixture til you see it. You can also hand knead dough just like bread by transferring to flat work surface dusted with vital wheat gluten, and kneading dough back and forth with hands for a 1 to 2 minutes. 

Nutrition Information

Serving Size: 1serving, Calories: 280kcal, Protein: 30g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 651mg, Potassium: 327mg, Total Carbs: 23g, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 4g, Net Carbs: 19g, Vitamin A: 137IU, Vitamin C: 0.1mg, Calcium: 58mg, Iron: 3mg

Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.

 

Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.

 

To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.

© Author: Cheryl Malik

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Cheryl Malik

Meet Cheryl Malik

Cheryl Malik is the recipe developer, writer, and photographer behind the healthy, flavorful, family friendly recipes at 40 Aprons. She's been a blogger for 10+ years and is known for her delicious recipes and detailed recipe instructions. Cheryl is a mom of three who lives in Memphis, TN.

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  1. Lauretta says

    Posted on 5/25/23 at 3:58 pm

    This is the absolute best seitan recipe I have ever made – and I have made many over the years! Now this is the only one I use! It also make a tried and true gift for my vegan and vegetarian friends, I have found. Thank you!5 stars

    Reply
    • Jessica | 40 Aprons Team says

      Posted on 6/1/23 at 3:09 pm

      So glad you love this seitan! Thanks for the lovely review, Lauretta. 🙂

      Reply

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