The Ultimate Seitan Roast
A vegan roast that you can actually carve! This seitan roast is smoky, tender and full of flavour. It’s the perfect addition to any roast or festive occasion.
I used to think seitan was so complex to make at home – turns out I was completely wrong. Seitan is so easy to make and it tastes delicious. This seitan roast is a fool proof recipe for creating a wonderful roast that meat eaters and non-meat eaters will both enjoy.
This seitan is glorious with all the traditional roast trimmings – roasties, yorkshires, gravy… If you’re looking for an all encompassing recipe to help you make an epic feast check out my Sunday Roast With All The Trimmings. It’s got everything you need to make a perfect roast to entertain friends or family. You can switch out the roast cauliflower centrepiece from the Sunday roast recipe for this seitan, it works excellently.
Yet, the best thing about this seitan recipe is that it gets better the next day. Did someone say vegan seitan and sandwiches! If I have any roast seitan from the meal the night before, I’ll slice seitan then fry it in a little oil to give it a wonderfully crispy exterior. Crispy seitan between bread with a little vegan mayo, stuffing and cranberry jelly it’s the closest thing to enlightenment you might find!
The Ultimate Seitan Roast
This meal is around 96% less polluting than the average UK meal.
Eating this recipe will save around 2.81 KG CO2e per person.
That’s equivalent to the emissions produced driving 23.22 KM in a modern car.
How do I calculate this?Ingredients
- 125 g Cooked Chickpeas
- 4 Cloves Garlic (peeled)
- 1 Medium Onion (peeled and halved)
- 3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 Teaspoon Liquid Smoke (you can use marmite if you don't have liquid smoke)
- 260 g Vital Wheat Gluten
- 45 g Nutritional Yeast
- 1 Teaspoon Fresh Sage (finely chopped)
- 1 Teaspoon Fresh Thyme (stems removed and finely chopped)
- 1 Teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin
- 340 ml Vegetable Stock
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f (fan oven).
- Combine the chickpeas, garlic, onion, soy sauce, liquid smoke and olive oil in a food processor. Whizz into an even paste.
- In a large mixing bowl combine all the dry ingredients: the wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, sage, thyme, paprika and cumin.
- Mix in the chickpea paste into the dry ingredients. Then pour over the vegetable stock and combine into a wet dough. Knead the dough in the bowl for 10 minutes until it becomes firmer and less wet.
- Roll the dough into a log about the thickness of a bunched fist. Wrap the log in grease proof baking paper and then tin foil. Place on a baking tray and put in the oven. Cook for 1 hour, turning the seitan onto the opposite side halfway through.
- Once baked remove the baking paper and foil. Use a sharp knife to slice into thick ovals. Serve with generous lashings of gravy.
19 Comments
Terry Donahue Cousins
October 16, 2021 at 2:24 pm
Just watched the Seitan Roast with stuffing video.
What a great looking recipe. Thanks for sharing (and for cooking low on the food chain). I cannot wait to try it.
One question: have you every tried baking the loaf with stuffing INSIDE?
Thanks, Terry
hugo
December 2, 2021 at 11:00 am
Haha thanks, I haven’t tried inside but that sounds delightful!
Melody Wood
December 19, 2023 at 6:01 pm
I thought the same thing Terry.
Hugo, you’re the first vegan chef I’ve subscribed to, even though I have several go-to favourites. Also, I can’t see the chestnut stuffing recipe. I’ve only seen it on the video.
Fingers crossed I find chestnuts tonight.
Thanks a lot Hugo.
Charlie
December 2, 2021 at 10:54 am
This recipe looks amazing! Is it possible to prepare this the day before cooking? Or is it best to cook it then reheat the next day?
hugo
December 2, 2021 at 10:55 am
Hey Charlie, it’s actually a bit better prepared in advance and reheated as the texture gets a bit firmer.
Liga
December 26, 2021 at 12:53 am
Did this roast for xmas dinner and wasn’t expecting much since I’ve very little experience in the seitan department but it was sooooooo good! I did leave out the sage as I’m not a fan but other than that followed the recipe. Thanks so much for sharing- will be making this more often from now on 😁
Gerard McCann
February 21, 2022 at 7:34 pm
Hi Hugo,
I look forward to making this… I’ve seen versions that use pinto beans, but never one that uses chickpeas. Have you ever used a stand mixer to knead the ‘dough’ ? Seems like that might make the process go faster, than kneading by hand for 8-10 minutes.
Thanks,
-Gerard
hugo
February 21, 2022 at 7:38 pm
Hi Gerard, I haven’t used a stand mixer for this recipe as I sadly don’t own one, although I would love to! I’m sure it would expedite the process. Let me know how it goes!
Gerard McCann
March 6, 2022 at 6:03 pm
Hi Hugo,
Well, the stand mixer wasn’t such a good idea. Unlike bread doughs, the dough hook cannot really knead this setian loaf, cause its a very wet dough.. I still ended up kneading it for 10 minutes… and it did turn out really good. This is Sunday dinner with stuffing and a gravy.
Thank you,
-Gerard
hugo
March 8, 2022 at 9:36 am
Ah, well thanks for being my tester! Glad it turned out nice.
Alix
March 31, 2022 at 6:10 am
Hey I’m wondering if it will turn out as good since I used 00 flour and am I ok freezing it?
hugo
April 2, 2022 at 5:47 pm
Hi Alix, 00 flour will work fine. I’m not sure about freezing as I’ve never tried myself, but I believe it should work ok.
Richard
January 25, 2023 at 7:03 am
Best seitan recipe I’ve used, thank you. I also used the seitan for goulash amongst other dishes. Light and fluffy. Great texture, full of flavour.
hugo
February 2, 2023 at 2:22 pm
Yum, this sounds delish in Goulash. Glad you enjoyed it Richard.
Clara Van Biesebroeck
March 19, 2023 at 10:48 pm
Amazing recipe. Followed it to the letter and it came out brilliantly!! First time I ever made anything like this. Thank you for this foolproof recipe.
adrian logue
April 8, 2023 at 6:41 pm
i made this for the kids which they loved though i did double the recipie as am a batch cooker for my sins also just used hand blender as have no food processer but still seemed fine
Melanie O Dowd Fr
October 5, 2023 at 2:04 pm
I have made many many seitan joints and none have been as good as your recipe, the texture is great although I did use cannelini beans instead and it actually has flavour, give yourself at pat on the back young man 👍👏👏👏👏👏❤️
John Michael Cannon
October 22, 2023 at 12:01 pm
Hi. I’ve just cooked this for the 1st time and oh my giddy aunt,it’s amazing !!
I’ve used several different recipes for a seitan roast but it is definitely the most delicious.
I may mix it up a bit and put some hot spices in for a bit of a kick ?
Even my wife , who normally doesn’t like seitan is hooked.
Thank you so much for this. That’s our Christmas main sorted.
craig wallace
December 1, 2023 at 6:44 am
Vegan almost 4 years now, Looking forward to some new Reciepes :)
Thank you for being you!