Vegan “Chicken”
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Vegan “Chicken” is seitan based, perfectly flavored and surprisingly easy to make. Chewy, meaty and perfect for grilling, frying or using anywhere you would chicken! Only 9 ingredients & 1 bowl.
This vegan chicken is made from vital wheat gluten aka seitan. Seitan is a vegan meat substitute that is nothing like tofu. It’s chewy, meaty, high in protein and very versatile. It can be flavored in a variety of ways, and this particular recipe mimics chicken.
While you can sometimes find seitan to buy at the store, it can be very expensive. Plus, homemade tastes much better and is so easy to make! Check out my Vegan Pepperoni for another seitan recipe.
Grill it, sauté it in a little vegan butter, add a splash of fresh lemon juice, or slice and use in stir fries, curries and more!
How to make it
- Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl: vital wheat gluten, flour, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika and salt. Stir.
- Pour in the broth (either vegan chicken flavor or vegetable is fine) and olive oil (2 tbs).
- Stir well until it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, and knead for just a minute, not too long, until it comes together. Break into 6 pieces and press gently into circles or similar shapes.
- Wrap each piece in foil. Place them all in a steamer basket and steam for 30 minutes.
- Remove them from the foil. Now you can fry, grill or slice and eat!
How long will it keep?
It will stay fresh in the refrigerator for about 1 week, and the cooked pieces can also be frozen for 3 months.
Recipes to use vegan chicken in
- Vegan Pot Pie – in place of the store bought vegan chicken
- Vegan Buffalo Chicken Dip – in place of the artichokes, chopped small
- Vegan Sour Cream Enchiladas – add in, or instead of cauliflower
- Vegan Tikka Masala
- Vegan Butter Chicken
- Kung Pao Tofu – use chicken instead of tofu
Vegan Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups vegan chikn flavored broth or vegetable broth*
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the vital wheat gluten, flour, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika and salt. Stir to combine.
- To the bowl with the dry ingredients, pour in the broth and oil. Stir well until the mixture starts to pull away from the bowl.
- Transfer to a lightly floured surface, and knead with your hands for just a minute until it comes together, not too much. It will still be quite messy, not a smooth dough.
- Break into 6 pieces and press gently into circles, or "chicken" shapes. They can all be different and they don't have to be perfect, just try to make them similar sizes so they cook evenly.
- Wrap each piece in foil. Place all 6 pieces in a steamer basket with water on the bottom and steam for 30 minutes.
- Remove carefully from the foil. Now you can either pan fry them in a little vegan butter or oil, grill them, or slice and use anywhere you would like. Enjoy!
Notes
- Makes about 1.5 pounds of seitan "chicken".
- It will keep for about a week in the refrigerator, and can be frozen for longer. Simply thaw completely before using.
- If needed, you can leave out the olive oil.
- This "chicken" can be grilled, sautéed in a little oil or vegan butter, or sliced and used in a variety of recipes such as stir fries, soups, vegan pot pie and more!
Nutrition
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122 Comments on “Vegan “Chicken””
Hi! Is this cooked and safe to eat once it’s steamed? Or does it need to be stir fried or baked after? Thanks!
Once it’s steamed, it’s cooked through and can be eaten.
Thank you! Made this last night and it was the easiest seitan recipe I’ve tried. Also my kids actually liked it because it wasn’t as chewy as other recipes. Thanks!
Excellent! I’ve made other seitan chickens before and this one is by far the easiest! It has a great texture. I think it’s probably best with a heavier sauce or in a stir fry but it feels quite versatile as well. I made a basic dry fajita seasoning to coat this in and then I lightly browned it on a skillet and put it on tostadas. I also had it sliced with some mixed greens, roasted brussels sprouts and olives with a soy ginger dressing and that was fantastic too. A new go to recipe. Thanks, Nora!
At first I didn’t think much of the result, but found that I did want to come back to it.
I do recommend more seasoning though. My first impression was that it was kind of bland
I’ve made this recipe quite a few times and just love your recipe especially because I’m always looking for alternatives to soy. However recently I discovered I have a wheat sensitivity so I’d like to omit the all purpose flour in this recipe. Could I possibly substitute it for rice or coconut flour instead?
Hi Christina. I’m glad you like the recipe! I do believe you can replace the flour with chickpea flour, many other recipes with seitan do this. Enjoy!
I’ve used chickpea flour instead of all purpose and it works well!
I have made this probably 30 times or more (no joke). It is my GO TO chick’n recipe and I LOVE it. I add a little bit more smoked paprika because I love the smoky flavor. I leave out the salt because I put a lot of the Better than Bouillon base in the broth (I use mostly the vegan chicken and a bit of vegan roasted garlic base). I finally had to sit down and write this review because I wanted to thank you for a wonderful, easy, tasty recipe that I can make by memory at this point LOL! So, thank you!!!!
OMG! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review and comments! I am so thrilled that you are loving the vegan chicken!
Someone said they don’t use foil in there comment. I just wanted to add a few suggestions for wrapping these. I make alot of tamales and this mixture sounds similar to using and steaming masa. I use corn husks, banana leaf (which is sold at any Mexican store) or even heat resistant plastic. Keep in mind though while steaming in the husks or banana leaf it will take on the flavor of the wrapping you choose. For those who have never had Banana leaf it will add a sweet flavor.
Thanks for the tips!
I didn’t use foil, just sprayed oil between layers in my steaming basket (the bottom of the basket fit 4, so I sprayed the top of them and then layered on the others). I did flip halfway through.
Pretty straight forward, and pretty good. I too thought it was a little too bland so I doubled the spices next go. This is still a fantastic recipe and gives you a good idea of how to start messing around on your own.