I regularly meal prep a big batch of seitan for the week (chicken, ham, etc.) but could just never get the texture to be like the ones at restaurants. These are confirmed house made.
I’ve tried dozens of different recipes but it just was never the same. How do they get it so fibrous yet soft and just slightly springy and not gummy or rubbery at all? Any recos for recipes or methods please let me know! 😊
by neelrad
17 Comments
Here for the answers
I get a seitan cheesesteak from this pizza place nearby about once a week. I would be so grateful to learn their process.
There’s a cookbook called Wicked Healthy, by Chad Sarno et al. It recreates the seitan from the Chicago Diner (my favorite restaurant in the world). I don’t know the ethics of copying the recipe, but I would highly recommend grabbing a copy.
I think the texture is attained by baking it wrapped tightly in aluminum foil and letting it cool like that.
It has to have something to do with pea protein. Every commercial seitan I’ve had that has been great has had pea protein as one of the ingredients (Beyond products, Shicken from the UK, etc). And I’ve never seen this available on grocery shelves as an ingredient, so I don’t know how to test this theory.
Time, kneading, knotting and cooking.
When you make the seitan, give time to the gluten to fully develop.
Knead it , leave it 20’, and knead it again (repeat x3)
Knot it, to make “fibers” , and cook slow pace with broth and with lid , until the broth is absorbed/evaporated .
Until here, it’s only to make the “base”
After that, you can cook the seitan with your favourite sauce.
People often compliments my seitan , but maybe is only to be polite 😂. I hope this help you
As someone else said pea protein helps the texture. Another thing is the food processor. I mix wet ingredients, add nooch and pea protein, blend that up, then add vital wheat gluten and pulse to incorporate until crumbly. Then process it on low for 5 minutes, taking breaks if the processor is struggling. Mine only goes for 1 minute max so I just do that 5x leaving 20-30 secs between. I cut up the dough, twist it, fold it, wrap in cheesecloth, simmer 15 min in broth then low boil 45 minutes.
I have noticed that the more you knead the more rubbery the seitan is. I would suggest trying to knead as little as possible.
I really like skye Micheal’s recipes. For his ribs you add a shredded onion and tofu and it adds a really nice texture. If you smoke the ribs I am telling you it is 95% of the way there to beer ribs.
Pea protien works great, but also, so does chickpea flour or even just firm beans. I have made Seitan with Maricopa beans for ham, kidney beans for beef, and chickpeas for turkey. I put them in the food processor with the wet ingredients. Adding beans and legumes helps the texture and also adds additional nutrition and flavor. I’ve also used recipes with firm tofu for a similar result.
I make Seitan often. I agree with those who say to kneed, let rest, stretch, and cook slowly. I’ve had great results cooking in an insta-pot as well. After I cook it, I let it cool and sit in the fridge overnight. Then I cut it or slice with a slicer for deli sandwich slices.
It’s very cost-effective to make your own Seitan.
I make this once a week:
[https://www.marystestkitchen.com/chickwheat-the-incredible-shreddable-seitan/](https://www.marystestkitchen.com/chickwheat-the-incredible-shreddable-seitan/)
It’s really tasty and the texture is great. Definitely restaurant quality.
You need to knead the dough a lot. I knead, stretch, twist, knead, and keep doing that for at least 5 minutes, then I let the dough rest for a while before braising it. The protein strings can’t form properly without stretching and kneading the dough.
https://schoolnightvegan.com/home/vegan-chicken/
This one does a good job of getting that shreddy texture
I felt like I was going crazy trying to make seitan – all the advice you find online is so contradictory (am I supposed to knead it more or less??) and I felt like no one was putting out tutorials for restaurant quality seitan the way you can find for most foods
“Fake Meat: Real Food for Vegan Appetites” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz changed everything for me. I’ve tried other books in this thread and honestly none of them are up to par with this one. Her chick’n recipe is the best I’ve ever had, and I can make it at home for three times less than tofurky/daring/gardein. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Sometimes I do find she suggests too much liquid and most of the time when she says to use water, I use broth. If you get it, I suggest only making one quantity of the recipes the first time you make them so you can get used to it and make any tweaks
https://seitansociety.com
I made it from the washed flour method for the first time. I followed this guys instructions on YouTube. I have to say, it is the BEST seitan I have ever had!!! Definitely was a bit of work but SO worth it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yY2YN6krVtk&pp=ygUTd2FzaGVkIGZsb3VyIHNlaXRhbg%3D%3D
Miyoko recently put out a recipe on her channel, but I haven’t had time yet to try it out:
https://youtu.be/6WLs3jqImz0?si=Qy_qX88QzzP9DNhw
I’ve found a way that works very well for the fibrous texture that kicks so much ass.
Food processor for 30 seconds, rest, do it again. It gets super stringy, so you stretch it way out into a rope, then tie the rope into knots. Then wrap it very tight and steam it.