Vegan Steak Tips

I hava a lot of seitan recipes on the site. From vegan chicken breast to a whole array of vegan deli meats, but steak was not something I had never really prioritized. I was not a big steak eater way back when I ate meat, so it wasn’t of great importance for me to veganize. Until it was.

My oldest daughter however LOVED steak. Like she would have eaten it every day if would have let her when she was little.

Recently I mentioned that I was going to grill kabobs for dinner, and my oldest daughter asked if I could please try and make steak so she could have a vegan steak kabob. I was grilling that night so If I was going to make steak it needed to be smaller pieces because as I always preach to yall, SEITAN NEEDS TO REST!!!!

So the obvious solution was a vegan steak tip. I could make them that morning and we would be able to eat them that night. I still prefer my seitan rest a full day, but for smaller pieces like these, or the vegan chicken breast on my site that are thin, a good 8 hour rest will normally do.

I have watched all kinds of methods over the years for vital wheat gluten seitans and the washed flour methods for getting a “shreddier” meat texture, and decided to try and braid and twist this seitan dough to see if the texture would be more steak like. I think it was. Have I tried making without braiding then twisting to know the difference? No, no I have not. Probably because I actually think it’s fun to braid then twist it….sort of like adult play dough. Feel free to skip that part and let me know your outcome. As for me, I’ll stick with my method because the texture isn’t as smooth as the seitans I don’t do this with, and that was my goal.

Even if you have never made seitan in your life, I truly believe you can make these vegan steak tips. They mix up in like 10 minutes and bake in under 30. These vegan steak tips will keep in the fridge for a week or so, and can be frozen for up to 6 months. You can use these vegan steak tips in so many different recipes. For steak kabobs, fajitas, tacos, soups, stews, on pizza, in casseroles or quiche. Just about any recipe that calls for beef pieces, you could use these vegan steak tips.

My one suggestion is get a good steak seasoning blend. I have been using Kinder’s steak blend and swear this is one of the reasons these steak tips are so dang good! Any steak seasoning would do but this is the one that I have used for these tips, and now even use in my roast beef. I got mine at Costco but you can order it online as well. This is not an affiliate post, this is just the seasoning I bought and really like and am often asked for a link if I mention a seasoning or product I use. So there you go.

For the record my daughter was a fan of the vegan steak tips, and much to my surprise my 5 year old daughter ate more of them than anyone and asked for a second batch the next day which I gladly obliged in making,

So here is my 86eats steak recipe, a long time coming. If you wanted a full size steak I would follow the braid twist instructions then flatten that out into a disk like in my easy vegan chicken breast recipe. Then I would follow the cut and bake instructions in the chicken recipe, and I think you would get a pretty tasty full sized steak!

Either way, I think you will like this easy vegan steak! I did, even though it was never on my own radar. It will not be a staple recipe in my house!

TROUBLE SHOOTING THIS REICPE:

*I used high protein tofu in a vacuum sealed package and this what I strongly advise using. It is much firmer than regular firm tofu and has less moisture and a more chewy texture. If you opt to use regular firm tofu you will need to press it first and remove as much liquid as possible. You may need to adjust the amount of water in the recipet as well. Add the water last, adding just enough to accomplish a firm dough.

• *If you find your steak has A LOT OF LITTLE HOLES, and a more BREAD LIKE TEXTURE this can be caused from under kneading the dough, BUT more likely cooking the seitan at too high of a temperature, or for too long. Check your ovens temperature with an oven thermometer. Your oven may just be cooking hotter than it registers. Also gas and electric ovens tend to cook differently. If you do not have an oven thermometer you can reduce the heat in your oven by 25 degrees, and keep the seitan covered for the whole bake.

INGREDIENTS:

• 16 oz package of super firm tofu (the kind that is vacuum sealed not in a tray of water)

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten

• 3 tablespoons tapioca starch

• 2 tablespoons beet powder

• 1-2 tablespoons No Beef or Vegetable Better than bouillon
  (I add 2 because I like the nice beefy flavor it gives but if you feel that is too much salt you can add 1 or less if you like)

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce ( I use low sodium or you can use coconut aminos)

• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce

• 2 teaspoons each of garlic powder, black pepper, and onion powder

• 2-3 teaspoons of any steak seasoning bled you like ( plus more for coating before you bake)

• 2 teaspoons neutral flavored oil or water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.

2. Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit.

3. Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute, forming a kind of loaf with the dough.

4. Evenly divide the dough into three pieces. ( see above for pictures of these following steps) Take one piece at a time a using your hands roll the dough into a rope around 12 inches long. Repeat with remaining two pieces. Lay the pieces on clean surface (cutting board, a borrowed ABC place mate from your 5 year old, clean counter top, whatever you got) side by side, pinch the top ends together. Braid the pieces as tightly as you can. Now cut the braid in half an roll each half into ropes about 16-18 inches. Pinch the ropes together at the top and twist them together as tightly as you can.

5. Now that you have one twisted rope, roll it back and forth on a smooth surface to sort of press it together. Cut the rope into 1 to 1 and 1/2 inch chunks. Press the chunks in the middle using your thumb kind of flattening them a bit. Braiding then twisting the dough give these beef tips a more beef life texture than just rolling out a smooth dough and cutting it. However you CAN just take the dough and roll it out into one long smooth 16 inch or so inch rope and cut it into chunks without the braid and twist. I just believe this is giving the shreddy texture. I have not tried without the braid and twist and if you try and find the texture beefy, by all means let me know and I will stand corrected!!

6. Lay a piece of parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet. Sprinkle the parchment in a steak blend seasoning. Lay the steak tips on the tray, give them a spray or brush with a little oil then roll them around in the seasoning. Take one or two large pieces of foil and cover the pan tightly with the foil.

7. Place the baking tray on the middle oven rack. Bake the beef tips for 15 minutes covered. Carefully remove the pan and from the oven and flip the steak tips using tongs. Replace the foil and bake for another 15 or so minutes depending on your oven and how hot it cooks. (read trouble shooting tips above about oven temp and oven thermometers)

8 .Remove the vegan steak tips from the oven and allow to cool at room temp. Once they have cooled place the baking sheet in there fridge or you can transfer the vegan steak tips to a storage container. Allow the vegan steak tips to cool for AT LEAST 5 HOURS. Seitan MUST rest for the texture to develop. It will seem soft or spongy before you let it rest. I prefer a full day rest but because these pieces are fairly small, a 6-8 hour rest will work. You can freeze the vegan steak tips for up to 6 months in an airtight container or freezer bag once I has cooled.

9. Use vegan steak tips in any recipe calling for steak or beef tips. Fajitas, tacos, kabobs, sandwiches , beef stroganoff, soups or stews, pizza topping , whatever!

If you like this recipe, then try these:

vegan chicken cordon bleu

vegan flank steak

vegan maple breakfast ham

Vegan Pork Chops

Truth be told I was never a big fan of pork chops growing up. I never really ate them until marrying my husband and being given a recipe by his aunt for a dish they called stuffed pork chops, which my husband loved.

This said, pork chops were never really on my make a vegan version to do list until recently. Like many recipes on the blog, this one came about when I was asked by a Facebook friend named Peter if had a pork chop recipe.

I thought it should be simple enough and why not give it a go. I had not thought about those stuffed pork chops in nearly 20 years but instantly I knew what I wanted to try and make with these vegan pork chops if they did work.

This seitan is easy and straightforward. If you have made my vegan ham, then this recipe is really similar with a few changes and I used my easy vegan chicken breast method for shaping and baking up these vegan pork chops.

They will keep in the fridge for about a week and can be frozen for up to a month for easy meal prepping.

You can dredge these vegan pork chops in flour and quickly pan fry to reheat. You can bake them, or simmer them in a sauce after they have rested. Use them any way you would use a non vegan pork chop!

And thanks again to Peter for inspiring me to make something I would have probably never made otherwise!!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 block super firm tofu, 14-16 oz

• 1 and 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten

• 1/4 cup diced white onion

• 1/4 cup blueberry or grape jelly

• 2 tablespoons stone ground mustard

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 1/4 cup tapioca starch or corn starch

• 1-2 teaspoons minced garlic

• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 teaspoon coriander

• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1/8 teaspoon allspice

• 1 teaspoon salt if you think it needs more (the bouillon adds a bit of salt as is)

• 1 tablespoon Garlic or Vegetable Better Than Bouillon (I used garlic)

• 2 teaspoons liquid smoke

TROUBLE SHOOTING THIS REICPE:

*I used high protein tofu in a vacuum sealed package and this what I strongly advise using. It is much firmer than regular firm tofu and has less moisture and a more chewy texture. If you opt to use regular firm tofu you will need to press it first and remove as much liquid as possible. *If you find your turkey has A LOT OF LITTLE HOLES, and a more BREAD LIKE TEXTURE this can be caused from under kneading the dough, BUT more likely cooking the seitan at too high of a temperature, or for too long. Check your ovens temperature with an oven thermometer. Your oven may just be cooking hotter than it registers. Also gas and electric ovens tend to cook differently. If you do not have an oven thermometer you can reduce the heat in your oven by 25 degrees.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Add the onion to the food processor with the regular metal blade and let it mince up a few seconds. Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor . Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.

2. Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit. If the dough seems too sticky, add a few more tablespoons of VWG.

3. Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute, forming a kind of oval, flattened out shaped with the dough. Cut the dough into 8 triangles. Using your hands, form the triangles into a pork chop shapes.

4. Line a baking sheet in parchment paper or foil, spray with oil. Evenly space out the seitan pork chop pieces making sure they are not touching. They will expand as they bake. Spray the tops with oil and give them a sprinkle with any seasoning you like. Tightly cover the entire pan in foil, tucking the edges tightly around the edges of the pan. We want the seitan to steam inside the pan. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 30 minutes covered the whole time.

5. Remove from oven and let the seitan cool at room temp them transfer to the fridge for about 6 hours to rest. I often bake the seitan the night before I wish to fry it. But you could also bake it in the morning and it would be fine to fry by dinner. Seitan requires a nice long rest to firm up and achieve a more meaty texture. The longer you can let it rest, the better!

6. Once the vegan pork chops have rested, you can use them in whatever pork chop recipe you like. You can reheat them by baking, or pan frying until heated though as well.

7. They will keep in the fridge for a week or freezer for 6 months.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Dry Rubbed Brisket

Easy Vegan Chicken Breast

Vegan Corned Beef

10 Minute Vegan Chicken (Seitan)

So if you have ever visited my blog before you probably already know I make a lot of seitan. Like a LOT. You name the meat and you will likely find a vegan version on the site. Including chicken.

I have recipes for easy chicken breast, chicken with crispy skin, fried chicken, buffalo chicken…..you get it.

But the truth is seitan takes time, because most seitan needs a nice long bake or simmer, and then it needs a very long fridge nap to firm up and turn from doughy, to convincingly meaty.

That is just the science of seitan.

So the recently I decided too late in the day I wanted chicken for dinner and didn’t have any in my freezer. I obviously could have deiced on something else for dinner but instead I started thinking there must be a way to make some vegan chicken a little faster.

Baking seitan and allowing it to steam covered in foil is my favorite cooking method. It’s quick and pretty fail proof. I also have a few recipes where I simmer it, but it is always larger pieces and it takes a good bit of time, and requires at least an 8 hour rest.

I though what if I quick simmered small chunks of vegan chicken to use in pastas, casseroles, salads, nuggets and such. I remembered seeming a lot of people make some tiktok skillet fried seitan that seemed really fast and easy ( I don’t tiktok) I don’t always need a full big vegan chicken breast, so small pieces would work for a lot of recipes, simmer up super fast, and the rest time would be minimal.

Simmered seitan holds some liquid. I mean you are cooking spongy dough in liquid, so it is naturally going to be more moist and a little softer in my experience than baked/steamed seitan. For me that is normally not the texture I am going for, but in this case it works fine. The pieces are small so cook super fast and firm up enough to slice up and use really quickly. I sliced up my test batch and heated it in a skillet with some seasoning to use on top of pasta and the whole family gave it a thumbs up!

Is this now my go to vegan chicken recipe? It depends on what I need to make chicken for, or how much time I have to cook and wait for it to rest. But if you are in hurry, don’t want to mess with shaping and baking up my easy vegan chicken breast, and just need small pieces of chicken to add to a recipe, this 10 minute vegan chicken may become your new go to!

Think pasta, casseroles, diced for chicken salad, soups, fajitas, on top of salads, or even breaded up and fried as a nugget. This 10 minute vegan seitan has a ton of delicious uses, It mixes in minutes, cooks in 10, and the rest time is hands down quicker than any other seitan I have made to date!! All of these things make this recipe and winner in my book!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 block super firm tofu (16 oz) the kind that is vacuum sealed in not much water

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten

• 2 -3 teaspoons No Chicken Better Than Bouillon, or any vegan chicken flavored bouillon powder or seasoning

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1-2 teaspoons onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon sage

• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary

• 2 teaspoons liquid smoke

• 2 tablespoons tapioca or corn starch

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 2 tablespoon neutral flavored oil

• 1/2 to 3/4 cups water

• 1 teaspoons salt

SIMMERING LIQUID:

• 2-3 cups water or broth

• 1-2 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon ( no chicken, or vegetable) or similar bouillon paste or powder

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor with the regular metal blade. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.

2. Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit. If you dough seems a bit too dry, you can add another few tablespoons of water, just don’t add too much more!

3. Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute, and begin to flatten the dough into about a 3/4 to 1 inch thick rectangle. ( I use my cutting mat as a guide and try to just press it out to the size of the mat.) Cut the dough into about 1 inch cubed pieces ( refer to pictures.

4. Add a few inches of water or broth to a deep skillet. I used about a cup and a half per batch. If using water, add a teaspoon or so of bouillon and whisk it in. Bring the liquid to a simmer. Begin adding vegan chicken pieces to the liquid by pressing the pieces out as flat as you can between your fingers before adding to the pan. You will probably only be able to fit half the batch in the pan at a time. Allow the pieces to simmer for 5 minutes per side. Remove from the liquid using tongs kind of shaking off excess liquid from the the piece over the pan, and place the vegan chicken on a metal cooling rack on top of a parchment or paper towel lined baking sheet. Add more liquid and bouillon to the pan if needed and repeat with remaining vegan chicken pieces.

5. Place the vegan chicken on the cooling rack uncovered in the fridge for about three hours. It does need to rest to get a firmer texture and the longer it rests the better it will be. But for this recipe a 3 hour rest gets it firm enough to slice and use however you like.

6. Store in airtight container after the rest in the fridge for up to a week or freeze for up to 6 months.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Chicken Philly

Vegan Dill Chicken Salad

Vegan Chicken Nuggets

vegan flank steak

Vegan Maple Breakfast Ham

I was recently asked on Facebook by someone named Mike if I had a recipe for a loaf of seitan bacon.

I seems Mike had a product he liked that was simply, best I could tell from the picture he shared and the description, a loaf of bacon like seitan. Nothing fancy like we see all the time these days. It did not remotely look like bacon, but had the flavor profile and was sliceable.

Mike had been looking for a recipe for a seitan bacon, and again best I can tell from our brief internet chat, kept finding recipes for fancy, realistic, vegan bacons. Mike just wanted the loaf he missed that he can no longer find.

So, I looked the ingredient list, it was pretty similar to most of my seitans, and figured I would give it a whirl and see if It was like the vegan bacon Mike was missing.

But really I kept thinking this was more like a Canadian bacon vs traditional bacon. Since it was going to be sliced from a loaf and round. I used to love Canadian bacon on an English muffin with egg and cheese as a kid. Essentially breakfast ham! So that is the direction I decided to go.

I already make a seitan glazed ham but it is intended to be sliced for sandwiches or served as a holiday vegan ham. Not really the cylindrical log of bacon Mike was referring too, but the base and many of the spices are similar.

And with that, I give you a simple seitan breakfast ham recipe. A vegan breakfast ham/bacon that can be sliced, fried up in a pan, and eaten with all of your favorite breakfast foods. No bells and whistles, no fancy 2 toned coloring to make it look like real bacon (Just so we are clear, I am fascinated by all of the amazing realistic looking vegan bacon recipes out there and think they are amazing, this is just not what we are aiming for in this recipe) Just an easy, anyone can makes this, maple laced, salty, vegan breakfast meat that maybe Mike will like?!?! And if not, I tried Mike, I really did!

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So if you have made seitan a million times, or never made it once in you life, this recipe is for you. It is easy, but tasty. Sometimes no matter your skill level, there is no need to over complicate a thing. And I tell you what, your breakfast sandwiches will be a whole lot tastier with this vegan breakfast ham! I am sure I will also find a lot of other uses for it, but for now I am focusing on ham, egg and cheese sandwiches for days to come.

Thanks for the challenge Mike, and y’all feel free to shoot me a message if there is a recipe you miss or think I should try to make. I like a challenge.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 block super firm tofu, 14-16 oz

• 2 cups Vital Wheat Gluten

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 1/4 cup maple syrup

• 2 tablespoons tapioca starch or corn starch

• 1 tablespoon white sugar

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 teaspoon coriander

• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1/8 teaspoon allspice

• 1 teaspoon salt if you think it needs more (the bouillon and soy add a bit of salt as is)

• 2 tablespoons Garlic or Vegetable Better Than Bouillon (I used garlic)

• 2-3 teaspoons liquid smoke

• 1 tablespoon coconut aminos or soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons water if need (add last)

COATING:

• A few tablespoons maple syrup

• Salt

  TROUBLE SHOOTING THIS REICPE:

  *I used high protein tofu in a vacuum sealed package and this what I strongly advise using. It is much firmer than regular firm tofu and has less moisture and a more chewy texture. If you opt to use regular firm tofu you will need to press it first and remove as much liquid as possible. You may need to adjust the amount of water in the recipet as well. Add the water last, adding just enough to accomplish a firm dough.

  • *If you find your vegan breakfast ham has A LOT OF LITTLE HOLES, and a more BREAD LIKE TEXTURE this can be caused from under kneading the dough, BUT more likely cooking the seitan at too high of a temperature, or for too long. Check your ovens temperature with an oven thermometer. Your oven may just be cooking hotter than it registers. Also gas and electric ovens tend to cook differently. If you do not have an oven thermometer you can reduce the heat in your oven by 25 degrees, and keep the seitan covered for 50 minutes and open for 10.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor with the regular metal blade. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.

2. Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit. If you dough seems a bit too dry, you can add another few tablespoons of water, just don’t add too much more! This dough came out stickier than the turkey because of the addition of more wet ingredients, and I did not have to add ANY water to mine. If your dough seems too sticky, then add 2 more tablespoons of starch.

3. Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute. Divide the dough into 2 equal piece. Form each piece into a smooth 8ish inch log. To get the dough nice and smooth roll the dough back and forth on a smooth cutting mat using the heals of your hands. You may have to pinch any seams you see and roll them out smooth.

4. Take four pieces of aluminum foil about 3x bigger than the loaf of dough, and lay it out flat. Coat a piece of the foil in spray oil or wipe it down with any oil you have. Brush the loaf with a tablespoon or so of maple syrup. Sprinkle salt ( this depends on your salt preference, but I maybe did a little under a teaspoon per loaf) onto the foil and roll the sticky loaf in the salt. Lay the foil out and place the loaf at one end and roll the loaf up tightly in the foil. If the foil is super wrinkled those wrinkles will transfer to your dough as it bakes, just a heads up. Pinch and twist the ends of the foil to tightly seal the loaf. Now use a second piece of foil and wrap the dough again so this foil has nice long ends where you twist ( refer to picture.) You are trying to create sort of arms with the second piece of foil to hammock the loaf over a pot. Repeat process with second loaf.

5. Using a dutch oven, roasting pan, or any deep pot or pan that is oven safe, suspend the loaves over the pan using the foil arms to keep them from touching the bottom. (again refer to picture above if this is confusing.) You want the loaves to bake suspended vs sitting on a pan to maintain their shape. If you baked them directly on a pan they tend to get a flat bottom and often the bottom can brown or harden depending on what kind of pan you are using. This method just keeps them nice and round. If you don’t care that they are perfectly round then you can certainly bake them directly on a pan.

6. Bake the loaves for one hour, sealed in the foil.

7. Remove finished “ham” and let cool at room temp in the foil. I leave mine just the way they are and put the pot with the suspend vegan breakfast hams still wrapped right in the fridge to allow them to rest. The breakfast ham MUST REST AT LEAST 8 HOURS. This ensures the texture we are trying to achieve. A firm, sliceable, breakfast meat. If you do not let it rest, it will seem under done, gummy, and just not that great. You have gotta let seitan have a nice long fridge nap if you want that meaty texture!

8. Once the “ham” has been in the fridge 8 hours per over night, you can remove it and slice it to serve. It should at this point be firm enough to slice using a mandolin or a sharp knife. Store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 10 days. I suggest pan frying slices of this vegan breakfast ham with a little spray of oil. I makes one delicious ham, vegan egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich!

Vegan Buffalo Turkey

Vegan Dry Rubbed Brisket

Vegan Gyro Meat

vegan flank steak

Vegan BBQ Lil Smokies

I don’t know about you, but I am assuming if you found this recipe, you likely grew up on Lil Smokies too.

We used them for crockpot BBQ cocktail wieners or pigs in a blanket pretty often at my house. I actually can’t remember a holiday get together, or cookout without a crockpot of BBQ Lil Smokies sitting on the counter. They are nostalgic for me.

If you don’t know what a Lil Smokies is, it is simply a brand of a tiny little sausage links in the US. I guess there are different brands of the same kind fo product, but Lit Smokies are what we grew up eating.

I have thought about making vegan Lil Smokies for years but just never got around to it until now. I make homemade vegan hotdogs often enough but wasn’t sure these would work since I did not plan on indiviulay wrapping up a gazzilion lit franks to steam. Who would want to do that.

So I decided to try baking them with the pan wrapped up in foil vs the franks themselves.

Well yall, it worked!! I did add pictures of the batch I cooked on a lower oven rack that got weird. I got a little careless forming that last batch, and in my oven they seem to have cooked hotter than those on the top rack. Keep this in mind. ALL OVENS COOK DIFFERENTLY, this always effects seitan and it comes down to trial and error sometimes. Often ovens are not cooking at their registered temp. So it is a good idea to get a oven thermometer to know what yours is doing, and avoid cooking your seitan or baked goods too hot. This is true with all seitan. Don’t let this discourage you, just keep this in mind.

After you get the Lil links mixed up, baked, and rested, the rest is easy peasy. Mix the bbq sauce up, toss it all into a crockpot or slow cooker, and bust out the party toothpicks! Potlucks, football watching, birthday parties, BBQs, whatever the occasion, you can now enjoy the tiny BBQ Lil Smokies you used to love! What a time to be alive, y’all!

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*Below is a picture of the perfect vegan Lil Smokies vs the ones that got weird. Same dough, baked on same brand of pan, same oven temp, at the same time. The ones on the left were just on a different oven rack and I did not take as much care forming them. Truly they seemed to just have baked hotter on that rack causing them to bake faster and the bottoms to brown. This tells me my bottom oven coil must cook hotter than my top and my oven in fact. ( not surprised) does not bake evenly. I added both to the sauce and you could not tell the difference once it did. So if yours come out looking weird, the should still taste good!

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INGREDIENTS:

For the Vegan Lil Smokies:

• 16 oz package of super firm tofu, the kind that is vacuum sealed in little water

• 1 and 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten

• 1/3 cup yellow onion

• 1/4 cup sauerkraut (just the cabbage, not the juice)

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 2 tablespoons tapioca or corn starch

• 3 tablespoons ketchup or tomato sauce

• 2 tablespoons neutral flavored oil

• 1 tablespoonNo Beef Better Than Bouillon, or vegan beef bouillon powder

• 2 teaspoons liquid smoke

• 1 teaspoons ground coriander

• 1 teaspoon dried mustard

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 1-2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

• a few tablespoons water if needed

For the Sauce:

• 1 bottle any bbq sauce you like

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 small onion finely diced

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1/4 cup ketchup

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

(You can easily half this recipe and use half a batch of the Vegan Lil Smokies)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

• Dice the onion. Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor with the regular metal blade along with the onion and sauerkraut. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu and onion are broken down.

• Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit. If you dough seems a bit too dry, you can add a few tablespoons of water, just don’t add too much more!

• Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute, forming a kind of rectangular shaped loaf with the dough.

• Evenly divide the dough into about 6 pieces.

• Take each piece and working them in your hands, one at a time, forming a dough rope. I like to roll between my hands and then lay the rope out on a clean counter top or cutting mat and continue rolling until each piece is around a 16 inch rope.

• Cut each rope into 8 equal sized pieces. Roll each piece in your hand to form a mini hotdog link shape, kind of pinching the ends to seal them. Try to get the dough as smooth as possible. I have pictured below the difference in taking your time to get the dough smooth, and the ones I rushed.

• Place all of the little smokies on 2 cookies sheets lined in parchment paper. Spray the smokies with some cooking oil and cover the pans tightly with foil. I wrap the foil around the pans and tuck it. You need the smokies to steam on the pan so make sure you have a nice seal around the edges with the foil.

• Place the pans in the oven and bake wrapped for 20 minutes. My smokies on the top rack of my oven came out perfectly. The ones on the rack below cooked too hot on the bottom. I suggest keep both pans on the top rack if they will fit, or swapping the pans mid bake so each batch bakes evenly.

• Carefully remove the vegan lil smokies from the oven and let them cool a minute on the pan. Transfer them to bowl and pop them in the fridge to rest for at least 4-5 hours. This rest is what gives you the correct texture for these vegan lil smokies. THEY MUST REST.

• Mix all of the sauce ingredients right in your crockpot or slow cooker and add the rested vegan Lil Smokies. I tuRned mine on high for 4 hours and switched it to warm. It will depend on your crockpot, but all you are really doing is heating the sauce for the sugar to melt and onions to soften, and heating the lit smokies through. After that has happened, just keep your crockpot/ slow cooker on warm. Alternatively, you can heat the sauce on the stove top in a pot. Add the smokies and let them heat through and transfer to a bowl to serve.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Kogo

Vegan Hotdogs

Vegan Casey’s Corner Slaw Carrot Dogs

Vegan Gyro Meat

Have you ever seen the Luke Bryan and Jimmy Fallon song about how to pronounce Gyro? Well I am linking it because its hilarious! Go watch it and giggle.

I grew up in Georgia and live in Florida now, and let me tell you, southerners seem to really struggle hard with how to pronounce gyro, and I have to assume that issue goes beyond the south.

Regardless of how you have been pronouncing gyro, or mispronouncing gyro all these years, we maybe can agree, if you ever had a gryo pre vegan, they were delicious!

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One of our favorite local restaurants is a place in Jacksonville Florida called Wafaa and Mikes. It is a Mediterranean restaurant attached to their family auto shop. And that alone probably tells you the food is amazing. Wafaa used to run the the restaurant and Mike ran the shop. Over the years other family members have taken the reigns, and now Wafaa’s son- in- law, Alabed, runs Wafaa’s. I could go on for days about this man’s genius. His food is delicious and so creative. And most importantly for us, he offers PLENTY of vegan options on the regular menu, and normally even creates a vegan special similar to the regular special they are offering. If you are ever in Jax you must go try this place. Seriously!!

I say all of this because I want the world to know about Wafaa and Mike’s, but also it is because of them that I ever made vegan gyro meat to begin with.

Several years ago we were chatting, and Alabed asked if I could create a meat for a vegan Mediterranean taco special he was going to be running. Side note, Mediterranean taco special is hands down my favorite special he does. So I said of course, and attempted to make a vegan gyro meat. This was early on when I had really only made some basic seitans and my vegan brisket was one of the few seitan recipes on my site.

Over all for an early seitan creation, the gyro meat was good, and then I never made another.

Why?!?! I don’t know really. I loved gyros before going vegan, but I also love a good falafel, or vegan grape leaves, or a hummus wrap, so when I do eat Mediterranean I am not usually pining for a gyro….until recently when out of nowhere I was?1?!?! Who knows why or what spurred it, but I suddenly really really needed a giant vegan gyro with EXTRA tzatziki. So I decided to give gyro meat another go.

This time I did things a bit differently. I didn’t want to just use my go to tofu vital wheat gluten base. This meat needs more texture since traditional gyro meat is beef and lamb combined. So I decided to also toss in some jackfruit for hopefully more texture. Beyond that I kept it pretty basic with traditional gyro spices, did my regular foil wrap bake, but this time added a simmer before the bake to get some extra flavor in there…..and once again you have a pretty beginner level, easy peasy, delicious seitan recipe.

This gryo meat will keep in the fridge in an air tight container for 10 days or can be frozen for up to 6 months. I often slice up my seitans and freeze half for later. Toss the seitan on the counter to thaw, and weeknight dinner just got that much easier.

Also I love to encourage anyone who has never tried their hand at setian to just TRY IT. Most of my seitan recipes and so simple and pretty forgiving. Be sure to read my troubleshooting notes below the ingredients list to see easily solvable, common issue with any seitan. It will save you some heartache down the road.

So, there you go, a simple way to make vegan gyro meat, and a song to help you pronounce it correctly. All in one blog post. Thats what I am here for y’all. And don’t forget to go see Alabed at Wafaa and Mike’s in Jax if you are ever in town. Best hummus, falafel, chickpea tacos, and unsweet tea you will ever have. EVER!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups vital wheat gluten

• 20 oz can jackfruit in brine ( not in syrup)

• 8 oz (half block) super firm/high protein tofu (the kind in the vacuum sealed package with little liquid)

• 1/4 cup corn or tapioca starch

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 1-2 tablespoons no beef or vegetable Better than Bouillon, or similar bouillon paste or powder

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 2 teaspoons vegan Worcestershire sauce

• 1 tablespoon neutral flavored oil, like canola or grapeseed ( can use water if oil free)

• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

• 1 tablespoon dried parsley

• 2 tablespoons dried marjoram

• 1-2 tablespoons dried or fresh rosemary

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 2-3 teaspoons garlic powder

• 3 teaspoons celery salt

• 2 teaspoons black pepper

SIMMERING LIQUID:

• 4 cups water

• 1 tablespoon Better than Bouillon

• 2 teaspoons garlic powder

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 2 teaspoons dried parsley

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons corn or tapioca starch whisked in a 1/4 cup of water.

DRY RUB:

• 1-2 teaspoons marjoram

• 2 teaspoons onion salt

• 1-2 teaspoons rosemary

• 1 teaspoon each black pepper and salt

• a few teaspoons of oil or spray oil

TROUBLE SHOOTING THIS RECIPE:

*I used high protein tofu in a vacuum sealed package and this what I strongly advise using. It is much firmer than regular firm tofu and has less moisture and a more chewy texture. If you opt to use regular firm tofu you will need to press it first and remove as much liquid as possible. You may need to adjust the amount of water in the recipet as well. Add the water last, adding just enough to accomplish a firm dough.

*If you do not like foil, you can wrap this seitan in parchment then foil. The foil then won’t touch the food and you can reuse it several times, limiting foil waste. It does need a tight wrap and to steam in the oven inside the foil.

*I do NOT hava a GLUTEN FREE suggestion for this recipe. It is a vital wheat gluten based recipe and I do not have a suitable replacement for the VWG.

*If you find your turkey has A LOT OF LITTLE HOLES, and a more BREAD LIKE TEXTURE this can be caused from under kneading the dough, BUT more likely cooking the seitan at too high of a temperature, or for too long. Check your oven’s temperature with an oven thermometer. Your oven may just be cooking hotter than it registers. Also gas and electric ovens tend to cook differently. If you do not have an oven thermometer you can reduce the heat in your oven by 25 degrees, and keep the seitan covered for 60 minutes and open for 10-15.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Begin by adding the drained jackfruit to a food processor with the regular blade and blend until minced up a bit. (This is all the bits of jackfruit! Everything in the can besides the liquid!)

2. Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.

3. Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. You just need to mix until the dough has come together. Just a minute or so.

4. Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute. Cut dough in half, forming TWO kind of oval shaped loaves with the dough. It is hard to get one giant loaf to cook through with the recipe. Trust me, I tried.

5. Fill a large pot or dutch oven with 4 cups of water and all of the simmering spices BUT NOT THE STARCH. Bring the liquid to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Add the 2 seitan loaves to the liquid. Allow the seitan to simmer 15 minutes then flip. NOW ADD THE STARCH slurry and allow the loaves to simmer another 20 minutes. Thickening the liquid forms a kind of gravy that will coat the seitan in the seasoning before baking. Preheat oven to 350 degrees while the seitan simmers.

6. Take 2 pieces of aluminum for about 3x bigger than the loaf of dough, and lay them out flat. Coat the foil in spray oil or wipe it down with any oil you have. Sprinkle half of coating seasoning in the center of one piece of foil. Place the loaf on the seasoning and roll it around using some tongs. Repeat with the other loaf. The goal is to fully coat the loaf in the seasoning!

7. Place the loaves back in the center of the pieces of foil and fold up the sides, pinching at the top to seal them up, then twist the ends to fully seal the foil.

8. Place on a baking sheet and put in the oven on the middle rack. Bake sealed for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes carefully open up the foil, and continue baking for another 30 minutes. (bake times vary depending on oven, if holes are present in loaf after slicing, look at troubleshooting notes above.)

9. Remove finished gyro meat and let cool at room temp. Seal the foil back up and place back in the fridge over nigh or at least 8 hourst to rest. You can also let it rest unwrapped on a wire cooling rack. This step is important to get the texture we are trying achieve. If you try and serve it before it rests it will not be nearly as firm. LET IT REST…THE SEITAN MUST REST!!!!! (if you choose not to let it rest, don’t come round leaving sassy comments about the texture being off, you have warned)

10. Once the gyro meat has been in the fridge over night, you can remove it and slice it to serve. It should at this point be firm enough to slice using a mandolin or a sharp knife. Store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 10 days.

11. Serve with pita, tzatziki, lettuce, tomato, mint, cucumbers or however you like. You can heat sliced gyro meat in a lightly oil pan for a few minutes before making a wrap If you like
    

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Deli Sliced Turkey

Easy Vegan Chicken Breast

Vegan Dry Rubbed Brisket

86eats vegan gyro

Vegan Breakfast All Day Burger

We have a popular burger chain here that we like to frequent because they offer a vegan burger.

Just one vegan burger with your run of the mill vegan toppings. I mean I guess I am thankful they have an option at all.

BUT, this doesn’t mean I don’t gaze at the menu longingly, wishing that I could order one of their other delicious sounding burgers and it be vegan too.

Especially their “breakfast all day burger.” I mean they had me at maple syrup and hash browns on a burger.

So, I finally decide there wasn’t any reason I couldn’t just make this masterpiece at home. And so I did.

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For starters I was out of hash browns, but am never, NEVER, out of tater tots, and since tater tots are just little baby hash brown nuggets, they would work just fine.

Next I use JUST EGG. I you don’t have have this product where you live you could use tofu egg scramble but fry it, of just add it scrambled.

You can buy any store-bought cheese you like or try your hand at making you own. Trust me when I tell you homemade vegan cheese is actually pretty easy and cheaper than store-bought. But I also respect the convenience of just buying it already made. But if you are feeling extra and wanna try making your own, we have over 40 easy cheese recipes right here on the 86eats site!!

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If you are weirded out by adding maple syrup to the burger, DON’T BE!! Seriously it is one of the best parts of the whole thing. Like, the more the better! Mixed with the ketchup, it is really just magical.

So yall, that is my vegan version of the breakfast all day burger. Perfect for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. If you are one the fence about this burger, just try it, I promise it is amazing!! Maple dipped burger amazing!

And hats off to the genius that decide to make a breakfast burger to begin with. Whoever you are, I think I think I might love you.

INGREDIENTS:

This recipe makes 4 burgers

• 4 vegan burger patties. Homemade or We used Beyond Burgers for this recipe.

• 4 slices vegan cheddar, Homemade or Store-bought

• 4 vegan hamburger buns

• 1/2 bottle of Just Egg, or you can use tofu scramble

• 1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

• 4 hash browns or 20 tater tots

• 8 teaspoons maple syrup (or more If you extra like maple syrup)

• ketchup

• Kala Namak salt (this salt smells and taste like eggs)

• 2 teaspoons vegan butter

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INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cook hash browns or tater tots in the oven or air fryer according to cooking instructions.

2. Begin by heating a large skillet over medium heat. Add the butter and allow it to melt. Add the sliced onion and cook until the onion is soft and translucent. Remove onions from the pan and set aside.

3. Spray the same pan generously with some cooking oil or add a little more vegan butter. Pour 4 puddles of the just egg in the pan, about 2-3 tablespoons each. Fry the Just Eggs a few minutes per side until cooke through. Sprinkle each fried egg LIGHTLY with a little Kala Namak salt. A little goes a long way. If you have not tried to fry Just Egg before, it helps to make sure the pan is nice and oiled, this helps the egg not stick and flip easier. I use a small, sharp edged spatula to help scrape the sides mine before flipping. Set eggs aside.

4. Grill or pan fry the vegan burgers. I like to brush extra maple syrup on the burgers while they grill. I also like to put my buns to the grill right before the burgers are done. I add the cheese to the meat before it is done grilling to help melt it.

5. Brush each bun with a few teaspoons for maple syrup. Add some ketchup, the hash browns or tater tots. ( if using tater tots just use a fork and gently press each one down into the bun to help flatten them out a bit, this is what I used) the burger patty, and top with the grilled onion to serve.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan French Fry Corn Dogs

Vegan Cheese Burger Egg Rolls

Vegan Chicken Cordon Bleu

Truth be told, I never really ate Chicken Cordon Blue before I was vegan.

I don’t know why? I mean it was certainly something my parents never made, so maybe that’s why.

My husband on the other hand adored it, and ordered it often if we ever went somewhere and it was an option. I don’t know why I didn’t jump on the band wagon back then, but I didn’t.

So recently I decided I would give it a go since I had just baked up a vegan deli glazed ham and we still have a little left over. This ham is so super easy and if you haven’t tried making it yet, I highly recommend it. It is one of my favorite seitan recipes on our site! You can also use something like Lifelight smart bacon. But if you make the ham then USE IT!! It is so good!

I also make a really easy and very convincing vegan chicken breast. I normally make a batch or 2 each week for meal prep, because it is so quick and easy, and it keeps for a week in the fridge or months in freezer. For this recipe you do need to make a fresh batch of the chicken because you actually have to stuff the chicken seitan when it is still in its dough form.

For the cheese I used our all purpose cheese sauce, and I literally use it for almost any recipes that requires a gooey cheese. I make a ton of sliceable, shreddable vegan cheeses BUT this sauce is still my go to because it is so good, so easy, and most people have the ingredients in their pantry already! For this recipe you have to let the sauce cook until its good and thick and gooey! This just makes it easier to get it into the vegan chicken breast without it all oozing out! I say to make a half batch for the recipe, but if you make a full batch you can use it to make all kinds of things later in the week. Pizza, quesadillas, grilled cheese, nachos, lasagna, all kinds of things!

It might seem like this vegan Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe has a lot of steps, or too many ingredients, and you are not wrong, but also you are. If you have recently bake a vegan ham, or use pre-made vegan ham or bacon it is really easy! I really think once you make the cheese sauce it will become a staple in you fridge once you discover all the different ways you can use it! Because I already had the ham, this recipe did not take me any longer to make than regular vegan fried chicken! For us the cheese and ham are already staples in our house, making this recipe relatively quick and unfussy. So I guess it just depends on what you keep on hand.

But I will also say that if you do not already have a vegan ham laying around or a batch of cheese sauce made up, it is worth the effort to make both just to make this reicpe!! You will have lots of leftover ham that you eat on sandwiches, or freeze for later, and again the cheese sauce is so versatile and can be used in a ton of recipes!

I know not all Chicken Cordon Bleu comes with a sauce on it, but I am a fan of sauce. So I decided to use some reserved cheese to make a creamy sauce with a zesty kick from the dijon mustard. Again, you can skip this step but y’all, its soooo good. I might be my favorite part of the whole reicpe! So again I say just try it!!

So there you go, my versions of Vegan Chicken Cordon Bleu from a former non fan. Easier than you might think and now I have to wonder why I never ate it more when we were not vegan, because it is delicious! I hate to tell my husband he was right, but…….

INGREDIENTS:

• I cup thinly sliced vegan deli ham. or 8 sliced Lightlife Smart Bacon

• 1/2 batch all purpose vegan cheese sauce (1/4 cup for chicken, 1/2 cup for sauce)

• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard

• 1/3 cup vegan sour cream or plain unsweetened yogurt

• 1/3 cup unsweetened plant milk

• 3/4 cups all purpose flour

• 3/4 cups vegan panko bread crumbs

• 1/4 cup corn or tapioca starch

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 1 teaspoon of any all purpose sesoinng you like

• Oil for frying

CHICKEN BREAST:

• 1 block super firm tofu (16 oz) the kind that is vacuum sealed in not much water

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten

• 2 -3 teaspoons No Chicken Better Than Bouillon, or any vegan chicken flavored bouillon powder or seasoning

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1-2 teaspoons onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon sage

• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary

• 2 teaspoons liquid smoke

• 2 tablespoons tapioca or corn starch

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 2 tablespoon neural flavored oil

• 1/2 to 3/4 cups water

• 1 teaspoons salt

CREAMY DIJON MUSTARD SAUCE:

• 1/2 cup of prepared all purpose cheese sauce

• 1 cup unsweetened plant milk

• 1-2 teaspoon dijon mustard

• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Prepare cheese sauce according to instructions. You want the sauce pretty thick so allow it too cook until it is thick and kind of stretchy. Allow it to cool while you prepare the chicken.

2. You can use our 86eats deli ham recipe or you can use a premade vegan ham or bacon. If you want to use our ham recipe it will have to be made ahead of time and allowed to rest.

3. For The Chicken: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor with the regular metal blade. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.

4. Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit. If you dough seems a bit too dry, you can add another few tablespoons of water, just don’t add too much more! I start at 1/2 cup and work from there.

5. Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute, forming a kind of oval, flattened out shaped with the dough. Cut the dough into 8 triangles. Using your hands, form the triangles into a chicken breast shape.

6. Flatten out the chicken breast shapes to about a half inch thick. You are going to stuff and fold the pieces in half so make sure you have formed them big enough and flat enough to accomplish this.

7. Take about a tablespoon of the cooled cheese sauce and spread it in the middle of the chicken breast but leave and edge of seitan dough untouched by the cheese ( the dough won’t stick together if it gets wet with the cheese.) Lay a few thin pieces of vegan ham on the cheese and fold the breast in half. Pinch the edges to make sure the vegan chicken breast is perfectly sealed. You don’t want any cheese oozing out while baking.

8. Place the stuffed chicken breast on a parchment lined baking sheet. Spray the tops with some cooking oil and tightly cover the entire pan with foil. If you don’t want the foil touching your food, lay another piece of parchment paper on top of the breast before covering in foil.

9. Let the chicken breast bake covered for 30 minutes.

10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Pop the chicken in the fridge and let it rest for at least 4 hours. This rest time is important for the texture to develop.

1. To Coat The Chicken: In a medim bowl mix 1/3 cup plant milk, 1/3 cup sour cream or yogurt, and 1 teaspoon dijon mustard. In another bowl mix the flour, starch, bread crumbs, salt, onion powder, and all purpose seasoning.

2. Dip the chicken breast first in the wet mixture then the dry. Make sure the pieces are coated well and entirely.

3. Place a wire cooling rack on top of paper towel lined cookie sheet and place it next to the stove.

4. Heat a deep skillet with several inches of any neutral oil you prefer for frying. I like peanut or grapeseed oil. Get the oil good and hot (350 degrees if you have a kitchen thermometer, if you don’t you can put a chop stick in the pan touching the bottom. If little bubbles form around the tip of the chop stick then the oil is ready.) Fry a few pieces at a time, just for a few minutes per side or until the chicken breast begin to brown and are crispy. Place on cooling rack for a few minutes after they are done to allow excess oil to drip off. You can alternatively use an air fryer. Just fry at 375, giving them a mist with oil. You will need to flip the mid fry and probably fry them for about 10 minutes depending on how many you have in there. Just check on them and when they are brown and crispy they are done.

5. Prepare the sauce by whisking 1/2 cup of cheese in a sauce pan with the 1 cup of plant milk, dijon and spices. Heat on medium heat whisking continuously until the cheese sauce thins back out and the sauce is smooth. It will be lumpy and kind of weird at first, but just keep whisking and it will come together. You can add less or more dijon mustard depending on preference.

6. Serve the vegan Chicken Cordon Bleu with the creamy dijon sauce on the side or drizzled on top.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Chicken and Waffles

Vegan Chicken Nuggets

Vegan Chicken Parm Sandwihc

Vegan Corned Beef

So I have been making vegan deli meats for a while now.

The one goal has always been making the best vegan sandwich I can get my hands on!

I could live off of sandwiches. They have everything! Bread ( bread is my love language) veggies, delicious vegan deli meat, and in my case, vegan mayo. Almost ever sandwich needs mayo or some mayo based spread, but that is just a matter opinion.

I also get asked regularly if I have a recipe for “fill in the blank.” So far I have covered turkey, ham, roast beef, brisket, pastrami, salami, and pepperoni. All the meats I missed after going vegan, and all the meats I wanted on a perfect vegan sandwich.

A reuben is by far my all time hands down favorite sandwich. And I don’t discriminate. Before I was vegan I had a favorite reuben variation from all my favorite restaurants. From an original corned beef reuben to a turkey reuben, and even the most untraditional BBQ brisket with slaw reuben. I even make reuben latkes every year for Hanukkah.

I mean you can make a reuben with lots of different meats, and I just kept making mine with my vegan pastrami recipe, but one would argue the correct, traditional way is to make one with corned beef. And recently someone asked if I had a corned beef recipe. And I did not. Even with my fierce love of a reuben, I had just not delved into the world of corned beef making.

So I decided it was high time! And that is just what I did.

Making homemade seitan, especially deli meat is much easier than most people think, and if you have made any of my other deli meats recipes, you were probably surprised just how quick and easy it actually is.

If I were going to rate the other deli meats on my site as “beginner level’ then I might would rate this corned beef “intermediate.” Not as quick and easy, but truly to get a corned beef you are going to have to take a few extra steps.

Regular corned beef needs to hang out in a pickling brine for a time, hence the whole “corned” part of the name. It is also suppose to be sort of fall apart tender. This gave me some challenge as most of my deli meats are super firm so you can slice them nice and thin.

So for starters I needed a nice tender, and flavorful seitan, but I needed it to be able to slice thinly as well. So I opted to simmer the seitan in a pickling spice liquid and then wrap and bake it to steam. I really wanted all that flavor from the spice blend to sink in and simmering seemed like the answer. Baking it in the foil helped to firm it up and give it that nice outter coating.

This deli meat is not harder to make than the others on my site, but making the spice blend, and allowing it to simmer before the bake does take more time.

Outside of using this vegan corned beef to make the perfect reuben, it will also work great in you St Patty’s day corned beef and cabbage recipes. After you have allowed it to rest and firm up (NO, you may not skip this step) you can reheat it however you like. And now all the other vegans missing corned beef and cabbage will be green with envy….(bad St Patty’s day joke, I know)

Really, if you are on the fence with this recipe, it really is not too much harder than any of my other deli meats. It does take a little more time and effort, it may not end up on your weekly vegan meat making rotation, but I will be so worth it when you do make it! I promise.

And really yall, keep the seitan requests a comin’. I mean it only took me a year to get around to tackling this one but really, I do consider all the requests I get, and when I find the time and inspiration I am willing to try and tackle just about anything yall throw at me. Just don’t throw an actual deli meat at me, that would just be weird.

INGREDIENTS:

• 16 oz package of super firm tofu, the kind in a vacuum sealed package

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten

• 1/3 cup diced raw beet, peeled

• 1 teaspoons No Beef Better than Bouillon

• 1/4 cup corn starch or tapioca starch

• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce or coconut aminos

• 1 tablespoon oil ( I used grape seed)

• 2 teaspoons liquid smoke

• 2 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 2 teaspoons ground coriander

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 2 teaspoons powdered mustard

• 1 teaspoon each salt and black pepper

Pickling Spice :

You will need to use a spice grinder, coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle for this

• 2 star of anise

• 2 teaspoons juniper berries

• 2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds

• 2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds

• 2-3 teaspoons black pepper

• 2 teaspoons all spice

• 1/4 teaspoons ground clove, or 3 whole cloves

• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon cardamom

• 2 teaspoons dried dill

• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon coriander

• 2 whole bay leaves

Simmering Liquid:

• 4 cups water

• 1 heaping teaspoons No Beef Better Than Bouillon

• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard

• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

• All of the pickling spice

• 2 teaspoons corn starch or tapioca starch

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Add the peeled and cubed beet to the food processor. Let it run for a minute and get the beet good and broken down.

2. Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor along with the beet. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.

3. Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit. If the dough seems too dry, you can add water, just a teaspoon at a time until the dough comes together. I added NO water to my dough. The other liquid ingredients and the beet added enough moisture to mine.

4. Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute, forming a kind of oval shaped loaf with the dough.

5. Add all of the spices to a spice grinder, or clean coffee grinder. Grind into a powder. I even dump in my already ground spices just to help mix it all up together. If using a mortar and pestle then just grind up the whole spices and mix them with the ground. I tend to have a decent selection of ground spices in my pantry at all times. I only added whole spices that I coudln’t find already ground. Use ground if you have it already.

6. In a large pot or dutch oven, add all of the simmering liquid ingredients EXCEPT for the starch. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat.

7. Add the beef seitan to the liquid. Simmer with a lid for 25 minutes. Remove the lid for the remainder or the simmer, turning the seitan a few times as it cooks. After 45 minutes the liquid should be reduced by more than half.

8. Take a piece of foil at least double the size of your seitan and spray it with some oil. Using tongs and a spatula, transfer the vegan corned beef to the foil.

9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

10. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of starch into the boiling liquid and whisk well. Scrape any bits of stuck seitan off the bottom of the pot into the mixture. Once it has thickened to a gravy consistency, spoon a few nice spoonfuls over the seitan and brush it on with a pastry brush. Flip the seitan and do the same on the other side. You won’t use all of the gravy you made.

11. Tightly wrap the foil around the vegan corned beef and repeat with another large piece of foil giving it a nice tight double wrap.

12. Bake for 40 minutes. Carefully open up the foil and allow to bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool at room temperature for at least half an hour. Transfer to the fridge either wrapped back in the foil or you can drop it in a gallon freezer bag or some Tupperware. Allow the vegan corned beef to rest in the fridge over night or AT LEAST 6 HOURS. Seitan MUST REST to achieve the texture we are looking for. Trust me here. Let it rest.

13. After the vegan corned beef has rested, you can slice it and store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a 10 days or freeze for up to 6 months. You can reheat the full roast by slicing it thick and heating in the oven at 350 covered in foil so it does not dry out or reheat it in a pan or even the crock pot if cooking in a broth with cabbage and other veggies.

TROUBLE SHOOTING THIS REICPE:

*I used high protein tofu in a vacuum sealed package and this what I strongly advise using. It is much firmer than regular firm tofu and has less moisture and a more chewy texture. If you opt to use regular firm tofu you will need to press it first and remove as much liquid as possible. You may need to adjust the amount of water in the recipet as well. Add the water last, adding just enough to accomplish a firm dough.

• *If you find your turkey has A LOT OF LITTLE HOLES, and a more BREAD LIKE TEXTURE this can be caused from under kneading the dough, BUT more likely cooking the seitan at too high of a temperature, or for too long. Check your ovens temperature with an oven thermometer. Your oven may just be cooking hotter than it registers. Also gas and electric ovens tend to cook differently. If you do not have an oven thermometer you can reduce the heat in your oven by 25 degrees, and keep the seitan covered for 50 minutes and open for 10.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Deli Glazed Ham

Vegan Deli Sliced Turkey

Vegan Roast Beef

vegan flank steak

Vegan Chicken Fries (seitan fries)

My kids have missed out on a lot of foods their friends regularly eat. The joys of being raised vegan.

I don’t regret any decisions we have made regarding our kids diets, but I do often feel a little guilty that they don’t have the slightest clue about so many odd culture foods that most teenagers are eating their weight in.

Like Burger King’s Chicken Fries.

Two of our 4 kids already have one foot out the door headed to college, and are driving. What they eat when they are out with friends or at college is their decision. As they have gotten older we have allowed them make decisions regarding their diets. I mean you have to let them grown up and think for themselves. What they eat at this point is up to them (when they are out and about on their own, with their own money) We can only hope that most of what we taught them sticks…you know go out into the world, make good choices, don’t eat real chicken fries, please!!!

That all said, I do try and recreate the foods they see and wish they could eat so they don’t feel totally deprived. I mean they are homeschooled and vegan often causing the to feel like the odd man out, but its not like we are raising them on lettuce, green juice and air. I like to fry things.

Again I am 100% aware that nobody “NEEDS” chicken fries in their lives, but my kids were very curious recently when we went through the Burger King drive thru on a road trip to visit their Grandparents.

I mean really, I find it genius. I LOVE fries. Like LOOOOVE them. And I am pretty into a vegan chicken nuggets, too. So turning vegan chicken into a crunchy, little dippable, stick of fried goodness was super appealing to me.

So I deiced as soon as we got home I was making some vegan chicken fries. This way my kids would feel like they were getting a weird drive thru junk food like everyone else, but I can sleep at night knowing it is a much healthier alternative (minus the whole deep fried part) and hopefully it’s things like vegan chicken fries that will help them continue on this diet path when they are on their own, knowing you can veganize just about any food you want!

---

Y’all, they were a hit with everyone in the house. Including the 4 year old who currently lives off blueberries and edamame pretty exclusively these days. She LOVED them, and at this point her loving anything new is a huge triumph!

Can you air fry these you may ask? Sure you can! I actually popped a batch into my air fryer as I was pan frying a batch for comparison. I actually air fry my vegan chicken pretty often. It is obviously healthier and normally faster. This time was the exception to that rule. They did NOT fry faster in the air fryer! I had finished 2 batches in my frying pan and the ones in my air fryer were still not really golden and crispy.

That is not to say its a bad choice for frying them. I was frying them at 400 and after 5 minutes they still were not done. I suggest giving them a spray of oil and turning them once or twice until they are golden brown if you choose to air fry them!

However you decide to fry them, I am pretty sure you, and maybe your whole family will love these vegan chicken fries. And If you do have kids, they can know the joy of weird American fast food creations without having to actually eat meat. And hopefully once they are adults, that will keep them on a vegan path. Fingers crossed!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 block super firm tofu (16 oz) the kind that is vacuum sealed in not much water

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten

• 2 -3 teaspoons No Chicken Better Than Bouillon, or any vegan chicken flavored bouillon powder or seasoning

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1-2 teaspoons onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon sage

• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary

• 2 teaspoons liquid smoke

• 2 tablespoons tapioca or corn starch

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 2 tablespoon neural flavored oil

• 1/2 to 3/4 cups water

• 1 teaspoons salt

*I used high protein tofu in a vacuum sealed package and this what I strongly advise using. It is much firmer than regular firm tofu and has less moisture and a more chewy texture. If you opt to use regular firm tofu you will need to press it first and remove as much liquid as possible. You may need to adjust the amount of water in the recipet as well. Add the water last, adding just enough to accomplish a firm dough but pliable dough.

THE COATING:

• 1/2 cup vegan sour cream or unsweetened plain vegan yogurt

• 1 1/4 cup unsweetened plant milk

• 1/2 cup corn or tapioca starch

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

• 2 cups panko bread crumbs (make sure they are vegan, many are. not, I use Trader Joes)

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 2 teaspoons of your favorite all purpose seasoning (I use Cavenders all purpose greek)

• Oil for frying (I use grapeseed oil)

CHICKEN INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor with the regular metal blade. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.

2. Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit. If you dough seems a bit too dry, you can add another few tablespoons of water, just don’t add too much more! I start at 1/2 cup and work from there.

3. Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute. Begin pressing the dough out flat into a rectangle shape. Place the rectangle on a pieces of parchment paper around 12x16 inches. I like to spray the top with a little oil and place a piece of parchment paper on top, using my hands I press the dough out and then take a rolling pin and roll it out until I have a 12x16ish inch rectangle. This just helps the dough not stick on your hands and helps you get it pressed out more easily. (see pictures below for the process)

4. Using the parchment paper pick up the dough rectangle and transfer it to a large cookie sheet. Sprinkle the top with any all purpose seasoning you like. Cover the pan tightly and completely with aluminum foil creating a seal. The goal is to let the seitan steam inside the foil.

5. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool at room temperature for about half an hour then transfer to the fridge and allow the seitan to rest for 3-4 hours. This seitan is really thin so a 3-4 rest is normally enough for it to cool down and firm up! You must, MUST let the seitan rest! If you don’t, the texture will not be as firm as it needs to be!

   ** If your seitan has little holes in it and looks like bread, it is pretty likely your oven is cooking hotter than it is registering. You can get an oven thermometer to check this or you can reduce the oven temp by 25 degrees the next you bake it.

FRYING INSTUCITONS:

1. Once the dough has rested and has firmed up, remove from the fridge, and place on a cutting board. Begin at one end of the rectangle and cut 1/8 inch strips all the way across. Next, cut each strip in half. The goal is to cut the dough the size of a long fry.

2. In a medium sized mixing bowl whisk the plant milk with the sour cream or yogurt. In another mixing bowl, combine the flour, starch, panko and seasoning.

3. First dip the fry into the wet mixture, then into the flour mixture, pressing the dry mix into the seitan to make sure it’s well coated.

4. Heat several inches of a neutral flavored oil in a deep skillet. Bring the oil to 350 degrees. If you do not have a thermometer you can place a chop stick into the oil touching the bottom the pan. If little bubbles form around the tip of the chop stick then the oil Is ready.

5. Place a wire cooling rack on top of a paper towel lined baking sheet near the stove.

6. Add some of the coated fries to the oil in batches. Use some metal tongs to help straighten out the strips, and making sure not to over crowd the pan! These vegan chicken fries cook up REALLY fast and only need a minute or two per side! They are done once they are golden brown and crisp. Place finished fries on the cooling rack to allow excess oil to drip off while you fry the remaining vegan chicken fries.

7. Serve with your favorite dip on the side.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Cheeseburger Egg Rolls

Easy Vegan Chicken Breast

Vegan Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

Vegan Boneless Buffalo Wings (seitan wings)

I have always been a fan of all things buffalo.

Pre-vegan and pre-vegetarian, boneless wings were my go to when we went out to eat.

I love, love, loved boneless buffalo wings with a big side of ranch dressing.

Over the years I have made different vegan variations of wings using an easy basic seitan recipe, and often crispy tofu.

None of the variations have been bad, but none have been and tasty as this version.

A while back I kind of perfected an easy vital wheat gluten/tofu chicken. By perfected, I just mean its perfect for me. You may disagree or have a recipe you like better, but this one is so super quick and easy, the texture is spot on, and the flavor is well, chicken like. So to me that is the perfect seitan chicken.

I has already used the recipe to make my kids fun shaped nuggets but hadn’t made wings with it yet.

I am often on autopilot so I had just kept making crispy tofu wings and never really thought to use the seitan chicken in its place, until recently.

Man am I a dummy sometime.

These vegan boneless wings are SOOOOOO FLIPPING GOOD!!!!!

I have given instructions for oil frying and air frying. Depending on the day and my mood, determines how I cook mine. Sometimes I pan fry them oil to free up my air fryer for French fries. Other times I don’t want to deal with the mess of the oil so forgo the fries and just make the wings in my air fryer.

If you choose to air fry them you will need to at least give them a spray of oil so they don’t stick to the fryer. If they stick the coating will rip off and nobody wants a naked wing..am I right?!?!

People often as if my oil fried recipes can be made in the air fryer so I just decided to try and give instructions for both methods.

No matter how you choose to fry these vegan buffalo wings, both methods will yield a super crispy, dippable, delicious wing! And really that was all I was ever looking in a vegan boneless wing.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten

• 1 block super firm tofu (16 oz) the kind that is vacuum sealed in not much water

• 2 -3 teaspoons No Chicken Better Than Bouillon, or any vegan chicken flavored bouillon powder or seasoning

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1-2 teaspoons onion powder

• 1 teaspoon all purpose greek seasoning or any all purpose seasoning you like

• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 2 teaspoons liquid smoke

• 2 tablespoons tapioca or corn starch

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 2 tablespoon neural flavored oil

• 1/2 to 3/4 cups water (you might not need much water at all. Add a little at a time just until the dough comes together and is smooth)

• 1 teaspoons salt

COATING:

• 1 cup all purpose flour

• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

• 1/2 cup tapioca or corn starch

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup vegan yogurt or sour cream

• 1 cup unsweetened plant milk

• 1 and 1/2 cups vegan buffalo sauce (we used Franks) plus 2 teaspoons vegan butter

• Oil if you are choosing the pan fry method

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

1. Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor with the regular metal blade. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.

2. Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit. If you dough seems a bit too dry, you can add another few tablespoons of water, just don’t add too much more! I start at 1/2 cup and work from there.

3. Once dough has come together, transfer to a clean counter top or cutting board. Press the dough out to a large 1/4 inch thick circle. Divide the circle into 4 pieces. Divide each of the 4 pieces into 8 pieces. You will get 32 nice sized vegan wings from the dough.

4. Shape the seitan pieces into a nugget shape. Just any ol blob like nugget shape will do. Don’t think too much about it!

5. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread the vegan wings out on the 2 pans and give them a spray or brush with some oil. Tightly cover each pan with foil. You need to make sure the pan is all sealed up so the seitan can steam inside will baking.

6. Bake the vegan wings for 25 minuets. Remove from oven and allow to cool some at room temperature before transferring to the fridge to rest for AT LEAST 3 HOURS. Seitan needs to rest for the texture to improve. Trust me, let those wings rest y’all!

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. To coat wings, whisk the vegan sour cream or yogurt with 1 cup of plant milk in a medium sized bowl.

2. In another medium sized bowl, whisk the flour, starch, panko, and seasoning.

3. Begin by dipping the wings one at a time in the wet mixture then pressing them into the flour mixture making sure all sides are well coated.

4. Once all of the vegan wings are coated you can pan fry them in oil or air fry them.

5. Air frying instructions: To air fry, place the wings in the air fryer basket. Depending on the size of your fryer, you will need to work in batches. Place a single layer of wings on the tray and give them a spray with oil so the coating doesn’t stick. Fry at 375 for 5-10 minutes (this just depends on how big your fryer is, and how many wings you crammed in there). I always open up my fryer a few times and give it a shake to make sure nothing is sticking. They are done once the coating is crispy and begging to brown.

6. Pan frying instructions: Add a couple of inches of a neutral flavored oil that is good for frying to a medium sized high sided skillet. I use a cast iron. Heat the oil over medium heat until it is good and hot. You can tell if the oil is ready by poking a chop stick or wooden skewer into the oil and touching the bottom of the pan. If little bubbles form around the chop stick the oil is ready. Line a baking sheet with paper towels and place a wire cooling rack on top. Fry the wings in batches for several minutes on each side until crispy and browned. Place the nuggets on the wire cooling rack to allow the excess oil to drip off.

7. Fill a microwave safe bowl the wing sauce and butter. Microwave for 2 minutes or until the butter has melted and the sauce is warm.

8. Toss the wings in the sauce and serve with vegan ranch or blue cheese dressing and celery.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

Vegan Tofu Wings

Vegan Buffalo Mac and Cheese

vegan flank steak

Vegan Big Beef and Cheddar Sandwich (Vegan Roast Beef)

What is an Arby’s big beef and cheddar you might ask? ( you would ask if you have no clue what Arby’s is or have never eaten there pre-vegan.) Well its a thinly sliced, warm roast beef sandwich, with cheddar cheese sauce, on an onion bun from Arby’s fast food restaurant ! And it my friends was DELICIOUS! The big beef and cheddar is more pricey than an original roast beef and most often did not fit into my high school, stolen change, budget.

When I was in high school, you could get 5 classic Arby’s roast beef sandwiches for $5. My friend Jessica and I would raid my step sisters giant jar of change for $5 so we could split 5 roast beef sandwiches between us. And let me tell you, we both could EASILY pound 2 and half classic roast beefs in one sitting, no problem. Not that I would advise anyone do that now that I am a grown up and realized nobody “needs” 2 and half sandwiches of any kind at one time.

My kids have never had real roast beef let alone an Arby’s roast beef sandwich or Arby’s sauce. My southern family would say, “bless their little hearts!” So recently when someone made and posted the 86eats roast beef to mimic an Arby’s big beef and cheddar, I realized how crazy it was that I had not done that yet and shared it with my own kids.

So, I already had a solid vegan roast beef recipe, and my good friend Mike has just loaned me a deli slicer, and I also have a solid vegan cheddar cheese sauce recipe, so all I need was to veganize the Arby’s sauce and an onion roll! Easy enough, y’all.

For the sauce, I just googled all the other copy cat Arby’s sauces, married a few together and used vegan ingredients. For the bun, I used our no rise hamburger bun recipe and changed up a few things to get a super tasty onion roll!

These buns are the quickest yeast buns ever, so easy to make and pretty much fail proof. I loved onion rolls as as kid, and often made my turkey sandwiches on one, so now that I have an easy vegan version, and the best vegan deli turkey lunch meat recipe, I am making these vegan onion rolls ALL THE TIME!

Heads up if you need to have the famous fries with your vegan big beef and cheddar, most chain grocery stores sell them in the freezer section! The actual Arby’s brand curly fries!! And they crisp up great in my air fryer!

Oh and if you were a fan of the famous Jamocha shake, I added my recipe at the bottom of this page. Quick, easy and worthy or dipping your fries right in there!

So without further ado, I present to you the 86eats vegan version of an Arby’s Big Beef and Cheddar!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 batch Vegan Deli Sliced Roast Beef (you will need to make this a day ahead so the seitan can adequately rest)

• 1 batch homemade onion rolls, or vegan store bought onion rolls,

• Arby’s sauce, homemade or from Arby’s (its vegan)

Vegan Cheddar Cheese Sauce:

• 1/2 cup cashews or sunflower seeds, covered in water and microwave 3 minutes

• 1 and 1/4 cup water (in addition to the water used to microwave the nuts)

• 2 tablespoons tapioca starch

• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

• 1 teaspoons turmeric

• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika

• 2 tablespoons sauerkraut without the juice (you can sub with 2 teaspoons light miso and a dash or apple cider vinegar)

• 1 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Prepare the vegan deli roast beef according to instructions. You will need to make it either in the morning if you wish to slice it in the evening or the day before. It requires at least a 6 hour rest in the fridge in order for it to firm up enough to slice thinly. You can slice the vegan roast beef with a super sharp knife or with an electric deli slicer for extra thin, Arby’s worthy slices.

2. Prepare the onion rolls according to the instructions. These onion rolls are a quick yeast roll, meaning they do not require a rise time. So start to finish they are done in about an hour. Or use any vegan store-bought bun you prefer.

3. You can make homemade Arby’s sauce or if you have some sauce packets laying around, use them, they are vegan.

4. Prepare the cheese sauce by adding the microwaved and drained nuts or seeds to high speed blende or food processor, along with the remaining ingredients. Blend until COMPLETELY SMOOTH! You don’t want any bits of nuts or seeds left.

5. Pour the cheese mixture into a medium size sauce pan and cook over medium heat stirring continuously until the cheese has thickens to a thin pudding consistency. If the sauce gets too thick you whisk in some extra water and thin it back out! You can easily reheat this sauce in a pan, agin adding a little water to help thin it back out. I normally have a batch of this in my fridge for nachos, tacos, sandwiches or dip for fries.

6. I like to slice and microwave the vegan roast beef wrapped in some wax paper to warm it through for about 30 seconds. I also like to heat the bun, not toast it, steam it to warm through.

7. Add heated vegan roast beef, along with cheese sauce, and Arby’s sauce to the buns to serve.

8. Serve with Arby’s brand curly fries and a homemade vegan Jamocha shake to complete your veganized Arby’s experience! Y’all have to know I did not go to all this trouble without making that shake and sharing the recipe!! Cause I love you all that much ;)

BONUS REICPE (VEGAN JAMOCAH SHAKE)

• Blend 3 cups vegan chocolate ice cream with 1 cup cold, strong coffee, and 1 cup plant milk! It’s that easy and sooooo good!!!

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

Vegan Fish Fillet Sandwich

Vegan Dry Rubbed Brisket

Vegan Cranberry Stuffed Turkey Roast

Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday. Hands down.

I love everything about it. The family and friends, the weather, and alllllllll of the food.

I have made many seitan roast over the years for the holidays. Some stuffed, some not, some with crispy skin, some without. But never yet had I made a vegan holiday roast that was stuffed with crispy skin.

I have no idea why not, but I knew this year it was exactly what we needed and what I was going to make. A vegan stuffed turkey roast with crispy skin!

And trust me, making your own vegan holiday roast is probably WAY easier than you may think. Making seitan is actually pretty easy and super affordable!

You can stuff a seitan roast with just about anything, but one of my favorite foods in the whole word is cranberry sauce.

I can not imagine a holiday meal without a side of whole cranberry sauce, so that is what I deiced I would use in my vegan turkey stuffing this year.

I started with some stale, few day old sourdough slices, added some onion, almonds, herbs, and to make things simple, whole cranberry sauce from a can. There is no shame in using canned cranberry sauce, especially when you can not find fresh cranberries.

In October, in Florida (when I was testing this recipe) there were no fresh cranberries to be found. If it is cranberry season when you are making this, then I have a super easy recipe for some fresh homemade cranberry sauce! By all means do whichever you like or is readily available at the time.

Adding a crispy skin to your seitan breast is as easy as soaking a few sheets of rice paper and draping them over before you bake. They make such a nice thin, convincing skin on you vegan turkey and are so easy to work with! You can skip the skin part if you don’t have any rice paper or just are not into that. If you do, just mist the dough with some oil and sprinkle with your favorite seasoning before wrapping in foil and baking. The method for baking otherwise would remain the same as if you were adding the skin!

If you can not have tofu or are soy free you can check out another easy vegan turkey breast with jackfruit on our site. You could easily make that seitan recipe and stuff it with this stuffing, or make it as is and not stuff it!

There are so many other vegan meat options that would suit any holiday dinner on our website if this one does not appeal to you. Just check the meat substitute category for lots of options or even our Fall and Winter Holiday Menu E-Book. It is a full holiday meal menu start to finish! A main dish, side, deserts, and even cocktaisl. It is also loaded with video content to help you along while you are cooking!

Just know that you don’t have to settle on an overpriced, not very tasty, store bought roast this holiday season. You can make your own, super affordable, vegan stuffed turkey holiday roast right at home, and it is actually pretty easy to do! Don’t let seitan making intimidate you because it is actually really, really, easy to make!

So go, stuff a vegan turkey roast, and have the very best homemade holiday season!

Happy Holidays, Y’all!1

INGREDIENTS:

• 16oz block super firm tofu (the kind that is vacuum sealed in little water)

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten

• 1/2-3/4 cups water

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 2 tablespoons neutral flavored oil ( you can replace with water if you are oil free)

• 2 tablespoons tapioca starch or corn starch

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder

• 1/2 teaspoon sage

• 1 teaspoon rosemary

• 1 tablespoon No Chicken Better Than Bouillon

• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke

• 1 teaspoon salt optional if you feel like the bouillon is not salty enough

STUFFING:

• 1 can whole cranberry sauce

• 3 large slices stale bread (I used sour dough)

• 1/3 cup sliced almonds or any chopped nut your prefer.

• 1 small yellow onion finely diced

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic

• 1-2 teaspoons No Chicken Better Than Bouillon

• 2 teaspoons dried sage

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 1-2 teaspoons dried thyme

• 1-2 teaspoons dried rosemary

Rice Paper Skin:

• 2 tablespoons white wine (or water if you don’t want to use wine)

• 3 tablespoons water

• 2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence or you can use a mix of rosemary, thyme and some sage.

• 1 teaspoon Vegetable Better than Bouillon

• 3 sheets rice paper

*I used high protein tofu in a vacuum sealed package and this what I strongly advise using. It is much firmer than regular firm tofu and has less moisture and a more chewy texture. If you opt to use regular firm tofu you will need to press it first and remove as much liquid as possible. You may need to adjust the amount of water in the recipet as well. Add the water last, adding just enough to accomplish a firm dough.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. The Stuffing: Take the stale bread and place it in a food processor or blender and bread it down to a crumb.

2. Finely dice the onion and give it a sauté in a pan with a little oil. Cook until translucent. Add it along with the bread crumbs, all of the seasoning, and the full can of cranberry sauce to a medium size bowl, and mix well. You can taste the filling after you mix it up and add more seasoning if you feel like you need it. Set aside.

3. The Turkey Breast: Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor with the regular metal blade. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.

4. Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit. If you dough seems a bit too dry, you can add another few tablespoons of water, just don’t add too much more! I start at 1/2 cup and work from there.

5. If you do not have a food processor you can break down the tofu in a blender, then mix the remaining ingredient together by hand in a bowl. You will have knead the dough very well by hand on a clean surface for several minutes.

6. Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute, forming a large rectangle shaped the dough (see above picture.)

7. Scoop the stuffing into the center of the dough and spread it out in an even layer leaving an inch or so border around the edge of the rectangle untouched by the filling. It is important to not let the stuffing touch that outside edge of dough! Wet dough does not like to stick together and tends to rip!! If you fill like you have too much stuffing then take a bit out. This will vary deepening on the size of bread slices you used You don’t want to overstuff the roast.

8. Fold up the longer sides over the filling, then begin rolling the vegan turkey roast from one of the short ends as tightly as you can while keeping the filling from all squishing out! Once the roast is all rolled up, use your fingers to pinch and smooth out the ends and the underside seam. Just be careful not to rip any holes in the dough while pinching it!

9. Take a piece of aluminum foil about 3 times the size of your roast. Spray or brush it well with some oil.

10. Add all of the ingredients for the rice paper skin, except the rice paper, to a shallow dish or pie pan and whisk. Place one sheet of rice paper into the liquid and let it sit there until it becomes completely soft. This takes several minutes. Gently lift the rice paper from the dish and place it in the middle of the foil repeat with a second piece of rice paper and kind of overlap it a bit on the first piece. Place the “turkey” roast on top of the paper and fold the edges of the rice paper up around the roast. Continue with the other 2 pieces of rice paper just the same as the first, draping each one over the top of the roast and tucking or pressing the edges of the paper around the roast. The paper should be very soft and sticky, and cling well to the roast.

11. Spray the top of the vegan turkey, and all over the rice paper with some oil or you can brush it. This step is needed to help prevent the rice paper from sticking to the foil.

12. Fold up the foil around the roast making a nice tight pouch Place the pouch on a cookie sheet and into the oven on the middle rack.

13. Allow the vegan turkey roast to bake wrapped in the foil for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes CAREFULLY open up the foil. The rice paper may have stuck a little, just gently pull the foil back. If it sticking a lot you can spray a little oil into the foil pouch as you are pulling it back and tends to help it pull away. Some rips in the skin is ok, it won’t really be noticeable! Just smooth it back down with a spoon in any spots it ripped. Allow the vegan turkey roast to bake an additional 30 minutes unwrapped.

14. Remove the roast from the oven and let cool a bit at room temperature. Loosly recover the roast and place into the fridge to rest for AT LEAST 6 HOURS. THE BREAST MUST REST!!! Seitan requires a rest to firm up and get that meat like texture we are trying to accomplish. If you do not allow the breast to rest you will likely not be pleased with the texture!

15. After you have allowed the vegan turkey roast to REST, you can reheat it in the oven at 350 degrees. Place the roast on a baking sheet with a piece of foil lightly draped over the top. Let the roast heat for about 20 mintues or so to heat through. After about 20 minutes uncover the roast and brush the skin with some vegan butter. Let it bake for another 10 minutes or until the top is golden brown and crispy.

16. Slice to serve with your favorite side dishes and extra cranberry sauce!!

TROUBLE SHOOTING:

• If your turkey roast comes out looking bready once you slice it, and has little holes throughout it, you likely have an oven baking hotter than it is registering. You can get an over thermometer to check the temp, or knock the temp back 20 degrees the next time you bake it. You can also let it bake for 40 minutes wrapped up, and unwrapped for 20 minutes.

• You may have also not kneaded the dough long enough. Make sure you let it knead for a minute or two. The longer seitan knead the firmer it will be and we want a rather firm seitan for this recipe.

• If your roast forms a “skin bubble” that defates after you have let it rest, then you likely did not wrap the foil tightly enough. Make sure it is wrapped tightly!

• If the rice paper is sticking too badly to your foil you can first wrap the roast in parchment paper sprayed with oil then in the foil. I have always just wrapped it right in the foil but have had people claim this is their method and that it works well.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Vegan Cornbread Dressing with Jackfruit

Vegan Green Bean Casserole Cups

vegan flank steak

Vegan Salami

Many, many, many, months ago my friend Rosemary Kate sent me a text asking if I had made a vegan salami yet.

I had not. I had, however, thought about it, but had not tried it at that point. So I got right to work.

Guys, some things just don’t come that easily. Like you may try a recipe 5 times before it works out, or doesn’t.

In this case I think I made 5 or 6 salamis and was just not really satisfied with how it looked.

I mean I know looks are not what counts in life, but where food is concerned, they kind of do matter. And when you are trying to mimic a classic meat, you want people to look at it and say, “oh is that vegan salami”, so I just kept on trying.

After attempting to mimic the fat bits with white seitan and it always failing, I tired small tapioca pearls.

My daughter and I have been mulling over the idea of using tapioca when I saw a fellow recipe creator and Facebook friend, Aleksandra (go join her Facebook group Creative Vegan Cooking! You will find so much inspiration there, I promise) make a beautiful seitan with tapioca!! And our suspicions were confirmed about using tapioca as the fat bits! She is a genius. I knew that already, but this sealed the deal.

I only had small pearls on hand so I tried that at first. And at first, that seemed like it was going to work. But once the salami baked up, the pearls were lost! Sigh…attempt number 5, at least.

So you 100% NEED TO USE THE LARGE PEARLS. They do not get lost in the dough. I had to order mine online because I could not easily find them at a regular grocery store.

Now if you do not care about it actually looking like salami, you do not have to use the pearls at all!! The only single thing those pearls do is recreate the fat bits in a non vegan salami. That is it. The taste and texture will be the same without them.

I am just tenacious and stubborn to a fault and would not dare post a vegan salami until I felt like it at least somewhat resembled a traditional salami.

This vegan salami recipe is pretty quick (mixing and baking that is) and easy to make. It does take some time for those pearls to soak, so keep that in mind when you go to make this vegan meat. You will need to soak the tapioca for about 4 hours. You will also need to allow for the VERY IMPORTANT REST TIME. And I yell this because you 100% have to let this salami rest before you go slicing into it. The texture depends on it.

I say this so you understand you will make vegan salami today and probably not eat it until tomorrow! But that is ok, good things come to those who wait, and this vegan salami is worth the wait.

It is also worth the savings. Store bought vegan meats are not very cheap. But if you make your own at home it will be pennies to the dollar you spend on pre-made vegan meats! That is reason enough for me to make my own vegan deli meats at home. They are so affordable and easy to make, once you start, there will be no looking back! Promise!

So go, make some vegan salami and stack it high on a cracker with a nice slice of vegan cheese, or on your favorite sandwich! It really is delicious and so easy to make your own vegan salami right at home!

INGREDIENTS:

• 16 oz of super firm tofu (the kind in vacuum sealed package)

• 1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten

• 1/4 cup LARGE tapioca peals, plus hot water to soak them

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 1/4 cup tapioca or corn starch

• 1/3 cup diced cooked beet (buy in a jar or tin, or you can wrap in foil and bake at 400 degrees until tender. After it has baked the peel easily comes off)

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 1 tablespoons No Beef or Vegetable Better Than Bouillon. or some other vegan bouillon paste or powder

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic

• 2 teaspoons dried mustard

• 2 teaspoons sugar or monk fruit sweetener

• 1-2 teaspoons black pepper

• 1 teaspoon salt (optional)

• 2 tablespoons neutral flavored oil (you can also use water instead)

• 1-2 teaspoon liquid smoke

• 1-2 teaspoons dried red pepper flakes

• 1-2 tablespoons water if needed

*I use SUPER FIRM TOFU that is packaged in a sort of vacuum sealed wrapper. This tofu if much firmer than firm or extra firm and does not hold much water. Because of this you do not need to press this tofu AND it yields a much firmer seitan than regular or extra firm tofu. If you can only find firm or extra firm tofu then you will need to press it really well first, I suggest at least 30 minutes.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a medium sized bowl, add 1/4 cup of large tapioca pearls. Cover the pearls in HOT water. You can also add 1 teaspoon of bouillon if you like but don’t have to. Let the pearls soak for about 4 hours. Once they are done soaking, drain and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

3. Add the cooked beet to a food processor or high speed blender, and blend until the beet is well minced and broken down.

4. Add the tofu (no need to press if using super firm) broken up into pieces into the food processor, or blender with the beet, and blend for a minute. You want to blend until the tofu iis good and broken down.

5. Food Processor Instructions: Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit. If you dough seems a bit too dry, you can add a tablespoons or of water, just don’t add too much more! You need a firm dough for this recipe.

6. Blender Instructions: If you are using blender then break down the beet and tofu in the blender and get it as smooth as you can. Add the tofu and beet mixture to a bowl with the remaining ingredients and mix by hand. You will have to get the dough as mixed as you can then turn it out onto a clean surface to knead the dough by hand unit it comes together. You alternatively could add the tofu and beet mixture and remaining ingredients to a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, and allow it to mix and knead that way.

7. Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute, forming a large rectangle shaped loaf with the dough. Try to stretch and flatten the dough out as much as you can.

8. Sprinkle and few tablespoons of the tapioca pearls evenly over the dough and press them in the best you can with your hands (they like to pop out of the springy dough.) Now fold the dough in half and sprinkle more pearls, pressing them in. fold again, adding more pearls, repeating this process until you can not fold the dough any more, and you are out of pearls ( as you fold pearls will spring out as mentioned above, its ok if you don’t get them all in there.)

9. Once you have gotten all of the pearls (or as many as you can) into the dough, cut it in half. Begin kneading one piece at time by hand until the dough comes back together and is somewhat smooth.

10. Shape each piece of dough into a 7 or 8 inch log. You will need to roll and pinch the dough to get it as smooth as you can. Adding the tapioca pearls makes getting the dough smooth a little more difficult than if you were making something like a pepperoni. But it will get smooth, I promise.

11. Take two pieces of aluminum foil about 3x bigger than each log of dough, and lay it out flat. Coat the foil in spray oil or wipe it down with any oil you have. Place a log of seitan at one of the long ends of the foil and begin rolling. Once you have it rolled up tightly in the foil, twist up the ends of the foil nice and tight (see picture) like foil arms.

12. Take a dutch oven, cast iron skillet, or even a baking dish, and use the foil ends to drape the salamis over the pot or pan. You want them suspended and not touching the bottom. If the salami is baked resting on a pan, the bottom tends to flatten a bit and brown while it bakes. This will help you keep a nice round shape without a water bath, and the bottom won’t brown!

13. Place the pot or pan in the oven on the middle rack, and let the vegan salamis bake wrapped for 1 hour.

14. Remove from the oven and allow to cool enough to open the foil. Allow to further cool at room temperature. Once cooled place in a zip lock bag or airtight container in the fridge.

15. Leave the vegan salami in the fridge to rest for at least 6 hours. I normally just leave mine to rest over night. The salami MUST REST! Seitan will firm up only after it has a nice long rest in the fridge! If you want a firm sliceable vegan salami then you have to let it rest, y’all!

16. Store rested vegan salami in the fridge for up to 10 days in an air tight container, or freeze for up to 6 months.

Trouble shooting issues with your vegan salami:

1. If your vegan salami seems too doughy after it has rested, then you may not have kneaded it long enough. The longer you knead seitan dough the tougher / firmer it will get. Make sure to let the dough knead a few minutes. Also make sure you wrap that foil nice and tight!!!

2. It also may be that your oven temp is off and is not the temperature it is registering. You can get an oven thermometer to check the real temp or next time just let it bake an extra 20 minutes.

3. If you seitan seems bread like, with little holes in it after it has rested, once you slice it, then your oven may be cooking hotter than it registers or you maybe have cooked it too long. Again, can get an oven thermometer and check the temp, or just knock back the temp 20 degrees or so then next time you bake it.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Deli Glazed Ham

Vegan Dry Rubbed Brisket

Vegan Deli Sliced Turkey

vegan flank steak

Vegan Carne Asada Queso Fries

My love for carbs is strong, especially french fries.

I would chose salty over sweet every time and a potato over most other foods always.

Offer me loaded cheese fries and its game on.

I recently saw a recipe for carne asada queso fries and quickly decided that was a recipe I was 100% going to veganize it.

I have never made carne asada pre vegan so I am not sure how it compares but the flavors in this recipe are delicious and I am a big fan of the vegan flank steak marinated in the mix of citrus, garlic, and cilantro. This marinated flank steak would be delicious in lots of things, from tacos, quadrilles, nachos, or even topping a salad.

I make serval different queso recipes, meaty queso, spicy queso, nut free queso, so if you are making these fries you don’t use the white queso I used in this recipe, you can check out all of queso recipes on the site and pick your fave. For this recipe I wanted a classic white queso with a little kick, so thats the one I made!

Fro the carne asada I had to create a vegan flank steak recipe that would easy enough for even a new vegan to make, and I wanted it to be fairly quick and fuss free. You will have to make the steak ahead of time and let it rest. So if you want these fries in your future, you will have to get the flank steak started early in the morning if you want to eat these fries later that night.

The flank steak bakes up quickly but requires at least a 4 hour rest. Once it has rested then you need to allow it to sit in the marinade for a few hours.

You only need half a batch of vegan flank steak for this recipe, so you can bake up a batch and freeze the other half for later. The vegan flank steak works great on its own for fajitas, tacos, nachos, sandwiches, whatever!! It so quick and easy to make and a staple I keep around now for recipes like these fries!

We topped our vegan carne asada fries with and easy homemade guacamole, tomatoes, sour cream, and extra cilantro.

I also used frozen fries for this recipe. I used to always make homemade fries but recently I have just started buying Trader Joes frozen fries and been plenty happy with them.

I give deep frying, air frying, and baking instructions for the fries. I personally have not deep fried a french fry since I bough an air fryer a few years ago. It is maybe my favorite kitchen appliance next to my vitamix! Game changer y’all!

So if you are a fan of cheesy loaded fries, these vegan carne asada fries might be a new loaded fry for you to try and love. I know I am now a BIG fan of these!

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 russet potatoes (for making homemade fries. You can also use frozen fries)

• 1/2 batch vegan queso

• 2 avocados

• juice from 1 lime

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• vegan sour cream, diced onion, dicd tomatoes (all optional)

• oil for frying, OR you can air fry or oven bake the fries

Vegan Carne Asada (Flank Steaks):

• 2 vegan flank steaks (1/2 recipe)

• 1 cup orange juice

• juice from 2 limes

• 1 tablespoon oil

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic

• 1 jalapeno, diced (optional)

• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, plus extra for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. To prepare the carne asada, fill a large zip lock bag or shallow baking dish with the ingredients listed above. The flank steak (that has been previously baked and rested) juice, herbs, and spices. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours but the longer the better.

2. If you are making homemade fries, wash and cut the potatoes into fries, leaving the skin on the potatoes (or use frozen fries) If you wish to deep fry the fries, heat a large skillet with several inches of oil over medium heat. Once the oil is nice and hot add the fries in batches (do not over crowd the pan) until they get nice crispy. Remove the fries placing them on a cooling rack that is sitting on a paper towel lined baking sheet, and continue with remaining potatoes. I typically double fry mine (if using fresh potatoes.) This means that after I have fried all the potatoes once, I repeat with the already fried fries to get them extra crispy. You can also air fry the fries by misting them with oil and placing them in the air fryer at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. You can also oven bake the fries at 400 on a cookie sheet being sure to turn them a few times as they bake. Bake until nice and crispy.

3. Make queso according to instructions. If it gets cold before you are ready to use it, you can reheat it in the pot and add a little more water to thin it back out. (it will thicken as it cools)

4. Heat a grill over medium/ high heat. Spray the grates with some oil to help avoid sticking. Remove the steaks from the marinade place on the hot grill for about 5 minutes per side, or until you get some nice grill marks and char on the steaks.

5. Once the steaks have cooled a bit, slice and cut into small bitesize cubes.

6. Scoop 2 avocados out of the peal and into a bowl. Mash with a fork. Sprinkle salt and add the juice from one lime. Mix it all up.

7. Top the fries with the vegan carne asada, queso, guac, vegan sour cream, diced tomatoes, onion, and extra cilantro to serve.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Philly Fries with Beer Cheese Sauce

Loaded Vegan Roasted Red Potatoes

Bbq Jackfruit Fries

vegan flank steak

Vegan Flank Steak

vegan flank steak

Often I find myself waning to make vegan versions of old steak recipes I used to love.

Things like steak fajitas, steak and cheese quesadillas, steak tacos, and even beef pot pies.

In order to recreate these classic recipes I needed to make an easy all purpose “steak” that could be used in a variety of ways.

I opted to try my hand at a vegan flank steak because that way I could form it thin so it would cook quickly, and the rest time would be fairly short.

If you have tried my recipe for vegan baked chicken breast, this recipe is sort of the same. A quick and easy seitan recipe that freezes well and can be used in a variety of recipes.

If this is your first go at seitan, trust me when I tell you this recipes is EASY. Like so easy. Mix the dough up, form into a steak shape, bake for half an hour, and let rest. So, So, So easy, y’all!

I used super firm tofu and I explain why below. Please read the notes concerning your tofu choice and also trust me when I tell you if you can find super firm, it is your best option!

As a new addition for flavor in this recipe is used store bought sofrito. You can find sofrito in the Hispanic grocery isle in your local grocery store, or google a recipe to make your own. If you are not familiar with sofrito, it is basically a blend of vegetable herbs and spices used to flavor various dishes. It’s so good in so many recipes and worth including as a fridge staple to add a quick and easy punch of flavor to lots of dishes.

Please read the label…this is another example of thinking something is vegan that may not be. I originally googled Goya brand and read it was vegan. I bought AND used this brand for a while without reading the tiny print on the label. Later I was told it is in fact not vegan and contains pork. To say I was upset is an understatement.

I also apologize for my first version of the recipe stating I used a brand that is in fact NOT vegan.

Otherwise this recipe is pretty straightforward, basic, and tasty.

Making your own seitan at home will save you so much money over buying frozen pre-made seitan. It is easier than most people think and actually pretty healthy .

Vital wheat gluten has a good amount of protein per serving, as much as lean chicken, and using the super firm higher protein tofu adds even more protein to this flank steak recipe. Seitan is low calorie as well. So unless you have a wheat intolerance, seitan makes a great protein source or vegans and vegetarians.

So go forth and make vegan flank steak without fuss or worry you will mess it up. You probably won’t. And then go and make all those steak dishes you may have been missing!

Did somebody say steak fajitas!!!

vegan flank steak

INGREDIENTS:

• 16 oz super firm tofu (the kind that is vacuum sealed not in a tray of water)

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 3 tablespoons sofrito, tomato cooking base (make sure the brand is vegan, I used Goya at first because the internet said their products are vegan, then learned they are NOT)

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 1/4 cup corn or tapioca starch

• 1 tablespoon No Beef, or Vegetable Better Than Bouillon

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 2 tablespoons nurtural flavored oil

• 1 -2 teaspoons liquid smoke

• any all purpose seasoning you like for coating

***I use SUPER FIRM tofu in this recipe. The kinds that is high protein and vacuum sealed in very little water. This makes a big difference in the texture of this flank steak vs using even extra firm tofu. If you opt to use extra firm tofu you will need to press the tofu very well before using, making sure to remove as much water as possible.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor with the regular metal blade. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.

2. Add all of the remaining ingredients (just not the all purpose seasoning for coating ) and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit.

3. Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute, Press the dough out into a large oval about 1/4 inch thick.

4. Cut the dough into 4 pieces and sort of shape them into a flank “steak” like shape. (see photo above)

5. Spray a cookie sheet with some oil or line it with aluminum foil and spray the foil. Place the “steaks” on the pan and spray the tops with some oil as well. Give them a generous sprinkle with whatever all purpose seasoning you like.

6. Cover the baking sheet tightly in another large piece of foil. We do this to allow the seitan to steam inside the pan and not dry out!

7. Place on a baking sheet in the oven on the middle rack. Bake sealed for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes carefully open up the foil, and continue baking for another 10 minutes.

8. Remove finished flank “steaks” and let cool at room temp. Seal the foil back up and place the “steaks” in the fridge to rest for at least 6 hours. This step is important to get the texture we are trying achieve. If you try and serve it before it rests it will not be nearly as firm.

9. You can slice and reheat the streaks in a pan to use for tacos, fajitas, sandwiches. You can grill the steaks or reheat it the oven covered with foil at 350 degrees.

10. The flank “steaks” can be refrigerated for up to 10 days and frozen for up to 6 months in air tight container or freezer zip lock bag.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Ham

Vegan Turkey Breast with Crispy Skin

Vegan Baked Chicken Breast

vegan flank steak

Vegan Spaghetti Squash Boats with Meatballs

Vegan Spaghetti Squash and Meatball Boats

At some point in my adult life I decided in my mind that I hated spaghetti squash.

I have no actual memory of ever actually eating a spaghetti squash or how it was prepared, I just decided I did not like them, and I would never cook one. Period.

Then recently I saw a spaghetti squash recipe in a magazine that looked amazing. Weird, I know…I hate spaghetti squash. This made me question myself and my stern stance on this noodle imposter squash.

So I decided I would buy a few and try to veganize the recipe I saw. I mean I am grown lady now and should be open to trying something again..right?!?!!? But the more I thought about that recipe, the more I knew my kids would 100% reject it ,and if I were going to try to sell the family on a squash as spaghetti, it better at least involve a vegan meatballs some vegan gooey cheese. Those are two things my family normally agrees on!

So I did just that. I made a batch of easy vegan meatballs, I used beyond meat but you can use any meatball you make. Seitan meatballs, lentil meatballs, or frozen meatballs. Whatever is easy and your preference.

I still want to try and veagnize the original recipe I saw, but a vegetable stuffed with more vegetables is gonna be a slow roll in this house. Baby steps, y’all.

As far as the squash goes, I don’t know why I thought I didn’t like it.?!?! Because once its covered in meatball laden sauce, and gooey vegan mozzarella, it is delicious, super filling, and a nice change from pasta! Not that I have anything against pasta, I mean I LOVE CARBS….but I need to get behind this being a healthier option.

I think these vegan spaghetti squash boats would work well for entertaining. As long as you use a gluten free meat substitute, these boats should be pretty allergy friendly ( you can make the cheese sauce with sunflower seeds instead of cashews, too,) healthy and delicious!!

Plus y’all, any food baked as a boat always just seems more fun! And if you thought you didn’t like spaghetti squash too, maybe this recipe can change your mind. It did mine!

Vegan Spaghetti Squash and Meatball Boats

This recipe will make enough for 2 large spaghetti squash or you can use I squash and have leftover marinara and cheese sauce. The cheese sauce can be refrigerated for up to one week and used on lots of things. The leftover pasta sauce could be refrigerated or frozen. 1 Squash typically serves 4.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1-2 large spagetti squash

• 1 pound vegan ground “beef” ( we used Beyond Beef)

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic

• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

• 1 teaspoons salt

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

• 1/4 cup vegan bread crumbs

• 1 tablespoon corn or tapioca starch, or one flax egg

• 1 batch Marinara sauce or use store-bought if you prefer

• 1/2 batch of easy vegan all purpose cheese sauce

Homemade Marinara Sauce:

• 1 yellow onion, diced

• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

• 1 (14.4 oz) can diced tomatoes

• 1/3 red wine (optional)

• 2 teaspoons crushed garlic

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1. Prepare the meatballs by mixing the vegan ground “meat” in a bowl with the starch, bread crumbs, garlic and ssteaonings. Using a small 1 inch scoop or a a small spoon, scoop out mixture and roll into small meatballs. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet and pop them in the oven to bake for about 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.

2. Carefully cut the spaghetti squash in half length wise (you will need a good knife as they can be kind of tough to cut.) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and turn the squash halves upside down on the pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes in the same oven as the meatballs.

3. If you are making homemade marinara sauce, add the onions and garlic to medium sized sauce pan with a teaspoons of oil over medium heat. Sauté the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add the tomatoes, wine, and seasoning and let simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally.

4. Once the meatballs are done, add them to the pot with the sauce and let them simmer a bit.

5. Once the squash is tender remove it from the oven and let it cool a bit. Once cool, scrape the seeds and stringy part off the top. Once they are cleaned up, use a fork and scrape the “spaghetti” strands loose.

6. Prepare the cheese sauce according to directions.

7. To make the spaghetti squash boats, leave the squash on the the pan you baked them on. Scoop some sauce and meatballs right into the squash. Top with some of the cheese sauce and pop the pan back in the oven until the cheese sauce is bubbling and beginning to brown.

8. To serve, you can cut each boat in half after it has cooled a bit. We consider 1/2 of a boat a serving. But you could also cut each boat into thirds if you are serving children.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Meatloaf Stuffed Peppers

Vegan Minestrone Soup with Meatballs

Vegan Chorizo Empanadas

Vegan Spaghetti Squash and Meatball Boats

Vegan Beer Battered Crispy Fish Sandwich

When I was in college I ate a lot of McDonald’s fish filet sandwiches.

I am not proud of this but, I was young, and broke, and loved that dang sandwich.

Once I was older and had more money, fish and chips, or a fried fish fillet sandwich was one of my go to orders on any menu that had it.

Then we went vegan and I missed fried fish, plain and simple.

And then one day I learned the magic a can of BANANA BLOSSOMS can yield, it was a game changer.

I probably had not had a fish sandwich or fried fish in over 5 years when I discovered this vegan secret.

The first step was finding the banana blossoms. Easy enough if you have an Asian market near by, but can also be easily ordered online, as well. (that said they are WAY cheaper at the Asian market than they are online)

I paid less than $2.50 a can for these blossoms. So between the “fish” fillets, buns, and toppings, you can feed 4-6 people for maybe around $10. You really can’t beat that!

For this recipe I also made a quick batch of vegan no rise hamburger buns. They are cheap and easy to make and are done start to finish in less than an hour!!

I used a beer batter for my fried vegan fish fillets, but you can use seltzer water if beer isn’t your thing. If it is your thing, then you are gonna extra love this sandwich!

These banana blossoms fry up fast and get extra crispy, perfect for this vegan fish sandwich, vegan fish and chips, or even vegan fish tacos.

The blossoms flake and full apart like fish, and with the help of some seaweed flakes and Old Bay for flavor, they make for the most convincing mock vegan fish!

So if you have yet to jump on the banana blossom bandwagon and have been missing some crispy fried fish or a crispy fish sandwich, this is your answer!

---

INGREDIENTS:

The Fish Filets:

• 2 cans banana blossoms in brine

• 2 tablespoons dulse flakes

• 1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon old bay seasoning (optional)

• 3 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 can (12 oz) cold beer, any beer is fine as long as it is not a dark thick beer

• oil for frying

Sandwich Makings:

• 4-5 buns, store bought or homemade No Rise Buns

• 4-6 slices vegan cheddar or vegan American cheese

• sliced dill pickles

• lettuce

Vegan Tartar Sauce:

• 1/2 cup vegan mayo

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

• 2 - 3 tablespoons diced dill pickles

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard

• salt and pepper to taste

• 2 teaspoons fresh dill

• optional: 1 - 2 teaspoons capers

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. If making homemade no rise hamburger buns for this recipes, do that first. They are pretty easy, and start to finish take less than an hour.

2. Drain cans of banana blossoms and carefully remove the blossoms, laying them out on a paper towel to remove some liquid. They can easily fall apart so be careful. I found that only a few blossoms in each can were fully in tact. I simply took all of the loose leaves from each can and stacked them back together to resemble full blossoms. I have only been able to find one brand of blossoms on Amazon. I am uncertain if this is an issue with all canned banana blossoms, but stacking the leaves back together worked just fine for me.

3. Transfer the blossoms to a shallow baking dish and sprinkle with the 2 teaspoons of dulce flakes and a dash of salt.

4. For the batter, whisk together the flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, old bay, and the entire can of cold beer in a medium sized bowl. The batter will be thick.

5. To make the tartar sauce, whisk all of the ingredients together in a medium sized bowl and set aside.

6. Heat a deep skillet with a few inches of oil over medium/ high heat.

7. While the oil is heating, begin carefully dipping the blossoms into the batter. For any blossoms that you had to reassemble, place them into the batter, and using a spoon, cover the top in batter. This will help keep the blossom in tact vs attempting to dip them. Carefully transfer the blossoms to the hot oil. TIP: if you are not sure if the oil is hot enough, place a chopstick into the oil, if tiny bubbles form around the chopstick, the oil is ready!

8. Fry each blossom for a minute or two on each side, or until they are golden brown. If they seem to be browning too quickly, reduce your heat a bit. Transfer the finished blossoms to a wire cooling rack that has been placed on top of a paper towel lined cookie sheet.

9. Build the sandwiches by spreading the vegan tarter sauce on both sides of the buns. Add a vegan fish fillet to each bun, along with some sliced pickles, a slice of cheese and some lettuce to serve.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Fish Tacos

Vegan Jackfruit Tuna Salad

Vegan Beer Battered Fried Fish

Homemade Vegan Chicken Nuggets

I have mentioned before I have a lot of kids.

I mean not a lot, just 4, but to some people that seems like shocking number.

To us it’s the perfect number!

That said, kids like kid food, no matter how mature their palates are because they have been forced to eat a multitude of fancy vegan things. I mean, I am in my kitchen all day creating recipes and they eat whatever I make, with few complaints…..well everyone except the 4 year old that is.

That said, sometime the kids, even our teenagers, just want a plate of dinosaur or Mickey Mouse shaped chicken nuggets. Who can blame them. Thats is just plain fun!

So I occurred to me the other day (again sometimes I am extra slow with these ideas) that I should make our kids some vegan chicken nuggets. EVERY time we are at Costco and my kids see the “fun shaped nuggets” the lament wishing those were vegan…I mumble in agreement, and keep on moving.

But last week at Costco when I paused when passing the “fun nuggets” and a light bulb when off. We can just make our OWN homemade vegan chicken nuggets in any shape we want.

If you have made the 86eats easy baked vegan chicken breast, then you know it is an easy seitan recipe to bake up. These nuggets are the same base recipe, just a reduced cook time, and a shorter rest time…cause they are tiny!! So it doesn't not take as long for them to firm up. I also kept this dough a little bit softer so it would press out more easily for cutting the shapes. You don’t want too firm of a dough here because you want it to stretch to a pretty big rectangle.

If you have never made seitan a day in your life, I promise this recipe is as simple as mixing up and baking a super easy cookie recipe. Really!! Seitan is just a dough, and we just cutting and baking this dough into shapes. Then easily coating and baking them up. You don’t even have to fry these in hot oil!!

We have whole box of cute little cookie cutters we hardly ever use so this seemed like the the PERFECT use! Micky mouse, dinosaurs, hearts, stars, flowers. Everyone gets a nugget shape they are into.

My husband and myself include. We are in our 40s but a delicious fun vegan chicken nugget is not lost on us.

No worries if you don’t have fun shaped cookie cutters. You can just use a knife and cut them into little pieces of regular shaped nuggets. Or use a small round cutter and make them into a circle. Any shape will work.

If you want to freeze these vegan chicken nuggets, since the recipe yields about a pound and half of nuggets, you can do a light bake or air fry with them, and freeze them for later use.

These nuggets are pretty convincingly chicken nuggety, super crispy, and delicious.

So if you or your kids have been craving or wanting some vegan nuggets in all the fun shape those “other guys” get to eat, just know its really easy to make them at home. And not only are they cute, they are pretty tasty. I ate enough of this batch to confirm I will be making them weekly, and freezing them for easy weeknight dinner or lunches!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 block super firm tofu (16 oz) the kind that is vacuum sealed in not much water

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten

• 2 -3 teaspoons No Chicken Better Than Bouillon, or any vegan chicken flavored bouillon powder or seasoning

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1-2 teaspoons onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon sage

• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary

• 2 teaspoons liquid smoke

• 2 tablespoons tapioca or corn starch

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 2 tablespoon neural flavored oil

• 1/2 to 3/4 cups water

• 1 teaspoons salt

THE COATING:

• 3 cups vegan bread crumbs ( I use vegan panko, but put them blender to make a finer crumb)

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour

• 1/2 cup tapioca or corn starch

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup vegan yogurt or sour cream

• 1/2 cup unsweetened plant milk

*I used high protein tofu in a vacuum sealed package and this what I strongly advise using. It is much firmer than regular firm tofu and has less moisture and a more chewy texture. If you opt to use regular firm tofu you will need to press it first and remove as much liquid as possible. You may need to adjust the amount of water in the recipet as well. Add the water last, adding just enough to accomplish a nicely formed dough.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor with the regular metal blade. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.

2. Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit. If you dough seems a bit too dry, you can add another few tablespoons of water, just don’t add too much more! I start at 1/2 cup and work from there. This dough needs to be soft enough to press out into about 12 inch by 8 inch rectangle..so a little softer than the turkey breast dough if you have made that before.

3. Once you have a smooth well formed dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute, forming a large rectangle, about 12 inches by 8 inches ( this is roughly the size of my cutting mat, so just press it out to roughly that size.

4. Using any cookie cutter shape you like, somewhere between one inch to two inches in size, begin cutting shapes from the dough. Repress out the scraps into another rectangle and continue until all of the dough has been used up.

5. Line a baking sheet in parchment paper or foil, spray with oil. Evenly space out the seitan chicken pieces making sure they are not touching. They will expand as they bake. Spray the tops with oil and give them a sprinkle with any seasoning you like. Tightly cover the entire pan in foil, tucking the edges tightly around the edges of the pan. We want the seitan to steam inside the pan. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

6. Remove the pans from the oven and remove the foil. Allow the vegan chicken nuggets to cool a bit then transfer the nuggets to a bowl or Tupperware container. Place the nuggets in the fridge for at least 3 hours to cool and rest. This rest time is important to get the vegan chicken nuggets to firm up and and have a texture similar to meat.

7. Once the nuggets have rested, prepare the coating but whisking the vegan yogurt or sour cream with the plant milk in a medium sized bowl or pie pan. In another bowl, add the 3 cups of bread crumbs, starch, flour, and seasoning. Store bought bread crumbs are mostly not vegan. They often have milk or eggs in them. I use vegan panko but pop them in my blender to get a fine crumb so it sticks better to the nuggets.

8. Start by dipping the vegan chicken nuggets first in the wet mixture ,then into the dry mixture, making sure to press the coating into both sides of the nuggets. You can either cook the nuggets in the oven or an air fryer.

9. AIR FRYING THE NUGGETS: Place nuggets in a single layer in the air fryer and give them a light mist with some spray oil. Cook at 375 degrees for about 10-12minutes. Checking them a few times, and cooking them just long enough to get them to your desired crispness. The cook time just depends on your air fryer and how crispy you like your nuggets.

10. OVEN BAKING INSTRUCTIONS: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place nuggets on a baking sheet that has either been sprayed with some cooking oil, or is lined in parchment paper ( they want to stick otherwise.) Give the tops another spray and bake for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes flip the nuggets using some tongs and bake another 5-10 minutes or until the nuggets are your desired crispness.

11. If you want to freeze these nuggets, I suggest a light bake. Just enough to lightly crispy the coating, then freeze them in an airtight container or zip lock freezer bag. Then when you are ready to reheat the nuggets, bake or air fry them as suggest above.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Popcorn Tofu

Vegan Southern Fried Chicken

Vegan Deli Sliced Turkey