Easy seitan chicken recipe (2024)

Seitan is one of my favorite vegan proteins.

I love its toothsome texture, and the way it adds bite to tacos, burritos, and fajitas.

Sometimes people are confused as to why vegans eat things that taste like meat.

There are lots of reasons. But one is that it’s satisfying to eat foods with chewy textures, something you can really sink your teeth into.

It feels hearty & satiating to have that extra bite in tortilla soup or grilled skewers.

It’s delicious. And no chickens are harmed in the making of it. So why not?

Plus, seitan is packed with protein, which makes for a substantive lunch or dinner that helps you stay full for longer.

It’s easy to buy seitan at the grocery store. And I often do.

But it can also be fun & cost effective to make your own using this recipe for seitan chicken.

In this post:

Seitan (pronounced say-tan) is also known as wheat meat, because it emulates the flavors and textures of meat.

Seitan has been around in various forms since the 6th century in China, where it was popular with vegetarian Buddhist monks. The earliest written reference to it was in the year 535!

People are sometimes wary of seitan because it is unfamiliar to them. But the ingredients and process of making it aren’t a world away from bread.

It’s basically a dense, savory bread.

Where bread is light and fluffy, seitan is toothsome. It has bite. It’s also the “meat” of a meal.

When it was originally invented, making seitan involved taking regular flour, making dough, and rinsing it until you were left with the protein dense remnants.

But nowadays, you can make it much easier on yourself by using vital wheat gluten, a flour that is made with the main protein in wheat.

(If you have celiac or can’t tolerate wheat, this recipe obviously won’t work for you. I’d recommend Soy Curls or tofu recipes instead for your vegan meat needs.)

Vital wheat gluten: Vital wheat gluten is a high protein flour that is essential for this recipe.

It’s available in most natural grocery stores and online. You can find it by the other flours.

I usually buy Bob’s Red Mill, which is in a purple package. Or you can sometimes find vital wheat gluten in flour bulk bins.

Chickpea flour: It is also known as garbanzo flour, gram, or besan. Chickpea flour is made from just one ingredient – dried chickpeas.

Look for it with other flours at natural grocery stores, Indian grocery stores, or online.

Nutritional yeast: This inactive yeast adds umami flavor as well as bulk to the recipe. Look for it in natural grocery stores, Trader Joe’s, or online.

For more information about it, read this post titled, “What is nutritional yeast?”

Seasonings: Dried oregano, dried basil, paprika, onion powder, granulated garlic, salt, and pepper.

Bouillon: Better Than Bouillon no chicken base is my go-to for bouillon. It adds salt, richness, and great flavor.

Water + bouillon can be replaced with vegetable broth.

Tamari: This Japanese soy sauce adds salt & umami. It can be replaced with any soy sauce you like, coconut aminos, or Bragg’s liquid aminos.

Extra virgin olive oil: This can be replaced with regular olive oil.

Step by step instructions

Here’s how to make this recipe at a glance. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.

Combine the following dry ingredients in a mixing bowl:

• Vital wheat gluten
• Chickpea flour (also known as garbanzo bean flour)
• Nutritional yeast flakes
• Dried spices/seasonings: oregano, basil, paprika, onion powder, granulated garlic, salt & pepper

Create a well in the dry ingredients.

Then add the following:

• Water mixed with bouillon (or vegetable broth)
• Tamari
• Extra virgin olive oil

Use a spoon to combine.

Once it starts to become dough, use your hands to combine everything. Be sure to get any dry flour from the sides of the bowl.

Form the dough into a loaf.

It should feel moist to the touch. If it’s dry or flour-y at all, incorporate another Tablespoon or two of water.

(Some seitan recipes require a lot of kneading of the dough. But that isn’t necessary for this recipe. To keep the vegan chicken light and bouncy, not too much kneading is required.)

Moisten a tea towel or cheesecloth under water. Then wring it dry with your hands, so that it’s just damp.

Loosely wrap the dampened towel or cheesecloth around the loaf. You want it to have room to expand as it cooks.

Put a couple inches of water into a steamer pot with basket.

Bring it to a boil.

Put the wrapped loaf into the steamer basket & cover with a lid.

Steam for 40 minutes.

Carefully remove the wrapped seitan from the pot. It will be firm and bouncy to the touch. Let it cool.

It’s now ready to use.

You can use it right away. Or put it into a covered container in the refrigerator.

It will continue to firm as it cools.

Pro-tip: When slicing seitan, I recommend using a serrated or bread knife. Since it’s in the same general wheelhouse as bread, it slices easier with a serrated blade.

If you’re planning on using it for deli sandwiches, it slices thin especially easily right out of the steamer basket.

I use less pronounced spices in this seitan chicken, so that it can easily go into a variety of flavored dishes.

But if you’d like stronger Thanksgiving-style flavors, I’d recommend doing what I do in my vegan fried chicken recipe.

Replace the oregano, basil, and paprika with herbs de Provence, rosemary, marjoram, and thyme.

No.

If you’d rather not wrap the loaf in cloth before steaming, you can leave it off.

Would you rather make this seitan in an Instant Pot?

Here’s how to do it: Once the seitan dough is ready, put about ¾ cup of water into the bottom of the Instant Pot. To accommodate the metal prong in the center of the steamer basket, portion the dough into four even-sized pieces.

(You don’t need to wrap the dough. However, if you’re concerned about the dough sticking to the insert, you can lightly wrap each quarter in moistened cheesecloth or aluminum foil.)

Put the dough segments into the steamer basket, and close the pot. Cook 25 minutes on high pressure. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes before manually releasing the pressure.

(Thank you to loyal reader, Jeremy, for the details on how he makes this seitan recipe in the Instant Pot!)

Seitan chicken is a fully cooked product. It is ready to go right out of the steamer pot.

You can slice it or chop it, eat it plain, toss it with barbecue sauce, brown it, or fry it.

Serving ideas

• Chop it in a food processor with celery & mayo for a vegan chicken salad sandwich (shown above).
• Cover browned slices in a lemon white wine sauce for seitan piccata (shown below).
• Add it to vegan tortilla soup with a finish of crispy tortilla strips.
• Use it in vegan chicken noodle soup.
• Spear it onto vegan skewers for the grill with potato and mushrooms.
• Put it into a vegan pot pie with carrots, potato, and peas in a creamy cashew sauce.
• Marinate it & pile it into a Chicago Diner-style vegan reuben sandwich.
• Have it in a Rachel sandwich with coleslaw & Thousand Island dressing.
• Add it to a vegan chef salad with avocado.
• Enjoy it in a steaming bowl of vegan wild rice soup.

Keep leftover seitan in a covered container in the refrigerator. Pyrex is my go-to option.

It will keep for about a week in the fridge.

Absolutely!

Seitan freezes beautifully.

Put it into a freezer proof container or freezer bag. It will keep for 3 to 6 months in the freezer.

Then when you’re ready to use it, move it to the refrigerator to thaw.