Spicy Baked Vegan Popcorn Seitan Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What does simmering seitan do? ›

When you simmer seitan, it's a great opportunity to give your seitan more flavor, by making a strong and flavorful broth. As the seitan cooks, the cooking liquid will impart more flavor into your seitan.

Seitan is a plant-based meat substitute made from wheat gluten that mimics the flavor and texture of chicken. You can buy it in many health food supermarkets, or you can make it yourself. It's typically made out of vital wheat gluten, an ingredient that has a similar texture to flour but is mostly, well, gluten.

Creating seitan requires you to knead vital wheat gluten and water until it forms into a firm ball or loaf. Wheat flour or additional ingredients can be added to improve the texture; however, they're not always needed. After the dough has been formed into a ball, it is rinsed and boiled to wash away the starches.

Chickpea Flour – Very often you'll see this ingredient in addition to VWG in recipes. It works to not only help break up some of the gluten strands in your mix for a slightly softer texture, but also brings with it lots of Lysine, making your seitan a complete protein.

While seitan is a versatile plant-based protein, people with celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, or gluten allergy should avoid it. Premade seitan can also be high in sodium, so it's important to read the nutrition label if you monitor your sodium intake.

The answer is, yes! —as long it's part of a well-rounded diet. A 100g serving of seitan has about 141 calories and 25 grams of protein, making it comparable to the amount of protein in chicken or beef. Because the starches are removed from the wheat when seitan is made, it has very little fat and carbs.

However, while seitan is an excellent plant-based protein alternative, tofu is a complete protein (seitan lacks the amino acid lysine). Unseasoned tofu is typically lower in sodium than store-bought seitan, which can be processed with salt, sugar or other flavors added.

Seitan probably isn't popular because it is essentially concentrated gluten. There are a lot of people out there that stay away from gluten due to celiac disease and sensitivities to it. I'll have to give it a try. I'm not a vegetarian, but always up to try something new.

Because of its meaty texture, seitan can be used in a variety of dishes, from sandwiches and stir-fries to stews and soups. The best part is that making seitan at home is easy, and it's much cheaper than buying pre-made or store-bought seitan.

Why does seitan make me gassy? ›

There's some evidence in medical research that wheat gluten may increase the permeability of your intestines, leading to what some health authorities call "leaky gut syndrome." If you find you experience bloating, gassiness, or other digestive symptoms after eating seitan, you may want to avoid it next time.

Bread flour: 12–16% protein – Fine-grain, unbleached, white varieties are optimal for making seitan. Bread flour is designed to have higher amounts of gluten which is why just about any brand should be a safe bet, though some still may have more than others.

Boiling seitan makes it have a brainy spongey texture, frying seitan (without first steaming it) makes it rubbery and spongey, baking it makes it dry and rubbery. Steaming seitan, on the other hand, will yield the perfect meaty, juicy, chewy, yet tender seitan every single time.

Nutrition and Protein

Seitan is highest in calories and protein, as its main ingredient is vital wheat gluten, which has a similar nutritional profile to protein powder. Tempeh is high in protein, vitamins and minerals, but also low in sodium and carbs.

Tofu, tempeh and seitan are minimally processed foods that offer plenty of nutrients with little or no added fats or salts. Overall, it's the switch that's important. If you are replacing lentil stews and roasted chickpeas with ultra-processed plant-based burgers, that is the less nutritious choice.

Don't let it dry out – If you overcook seitan, it will become tough, chewy and dry, which is not what you want!

To steam the seitan steaks you'll only need a couple of inches of water in the bottom of a pot versus needing to fill a large pot with water. Plus, simmering requires additional soy sauce or salt to season the water. Steamed seitan stays more dense and doesn't absorb as much water.

You Need to Knead

If you want a less chewy and more tender seitan, knead it for a shorter period of time. Most recipes require kneading the dough for an average of 3 minutes, followed by a 10-minute rest period and then a bit more kneading.

Unwrap the seitan and place it in an airtight container. Pour in 2 ½ cups of vegetable broth and 2 teaspoons of tamari, then refrigerate the seitan overnight in the marinade. The next day, the seitan will be tender and juicy, perfect for use in various recipes!