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A bowl of crumbled ground beef made from seitan.

Vegan Ground Beef

This ground beef substitute has a meaty texture, a savory flavor, and a hearty helping of protein. Use it in any recipe that calls for raw or cooked ground beef!
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Rest 10 minutes
Total: 55 minutes
Yield:6 servings

Equipment

  • 2-cup measuring cup or larger
  • whisk
  • stand mixer bowl or large mixing bowl
  • Silicone spatula
  • stand mixer with dough hook, see Notes for alternative
  • Cutting board
  • chef's knife
  • 4 aluminum foil sheets
  • Saucepan with lid, large enough for steamer basket
  • Steamer basket
  • Tongs
  • Food processor

Ingredients

To Make the Seitan Ground Beef

  • 1 ½ cups vegetable broth 1 teaspoon broth removed
  • 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
  • 4 tablespoons grated fresh garlic
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
  • ¼ cup chickpea flour
  • 1 ½ cups vital wheat gluten
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • ½ teaspoon dried herb blend of choice any combination of dried basil, oregano, and thyme
  • 1 teaspoon salt more or less to taste

To Steam the Seitan Ground Beef

  • water
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce or coconut aminos, optional
  • 1 teaspoon smashed garlic optional

Instructions

To Make the Seitan Ground Beef

  • Add 1 ½ cups vegetable broth, 1 teaspoon liquid smoke, 4 tablespoons grated fresh garlic, and 2 tablespoons olive oil to measuring cup. Whisk vigorously until ingredients are fully incorporated. Set measuring cup aside.
  • Add ¼ cup chickpea flour, 1 ½ cups vital wheat gluten, ¼ cup nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon dried herb blend of choice, and 1 teaspoon salt to stand mixer bowl. Mix ingredients together with hands or silicone spatula until well incorporated.
  • Push dry ingredients to sides of bowl, creating well in center of dry ingredient mixture. Carefully pour wet ingredients into well.
  • Stir all ingredients together with silicone spatula until fully combined. When combined, dough will begin to pull away from sides of bowl.
  • Secure bowl under stand mixer with dough hook attachment. Knead prepared dough on medium speed 1 to 3 minutes or until mixture becomes sticky and develops long, stringy texture resembling elastic.
  • Once stringy texture develops, turn off stand mixer and let dough rest 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, knead dough on medium speed 30 seconds more.
  • Transfer dough to cutting board. Cut dough into 4 equally-sized pieces, then place each piece of dough in center of one sheet of aluminum foil.
  • Loosely wrap each piece of seitan dough in aluminum foil, leaving enough space for seitan dough to expand slightly during steaming. Set wrapped seitan aside to rest 5 minutes.

To Steam and Crumble the Seitan Ground Beef

  • Add 1 inch of water to saucepan. If desired, stir in 1 teaspoon soy sauce and 1 teaspoon smashed garlic. Fit saucepan with steamer basket, making sure top of water does not touch bottom of steamer basket.
  • Heat saucepan over high heat until water begins to boil. Once boiling, place foil-wrapped seitan in steamer basket and cover saucepan with lid.
  • Steam seitan 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, use tongs to carefully remove steamed seitan from steamer basket and set aside. Let seitan cool to room temperature.
  • Once seitan has cooled, unwrap and discard foil. Tear seitan into smaller pieces and add pieces to food processor.
  • Pulse seitan in food processor just until all seitan is ground into small pieces. Be careful not to over-grind seitan.
  • Use seitan crumbles immediately as you would cooked or raw ground beef. Alternately, transfer crumbled seitan to airtight container and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

Notes

  • Stand Mixer: If you don't have (or don't want to drag out and/or clean) a stand mixer, you can knead the dough by hand instead. Transfer the dough to a flat surface lightly dusted with vital wheat gluten and knead the dough like bread until the long, stringy texture develops. Let it rest 10 minutes, then knead it again for 1-2 minutes.
  • Vegetable Broth: Remove 1 teaspoon of vegetable broth from the 1 ½ cups before adding the other wet ingredients. That teaspoon will be replaced with 1 teaspoon liquid smoke. If you don't use the liquid smoke, use the full 1 ½ cups of broth.
  • Coconut Aminos: To keep this recipe soy-free, use coconut aminos to steam the seitan instead of soy sauce.
  • Storage: Refrigerate ground seitan in an airtight container up to 7 days. Freeze ground seitan in an airtight container (or food-safe sealable freezer bag) up to 6 months.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1serving | Calories: 191kcal | Protein: 25g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 639mg | Potassium: 142mg | Total Carbs: 11g | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Net Carbs: 9g | Vitamin A: 296IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 59mg | Iron: 2mg
Recipe By:Cheryl Malik