Vegan Seitan Chicken (Chick'n)
Perfectly succulent meat-free chick'n made using tofu and beans. This recipe is worth the effort and makes lots of high-protein seitan chicken for curries, stir fries, burgers and more.
Servings: 10
Equipment
- Pressure cooker
- High-powered blender
Ingredients
- 300 g extra-firm tofu
- 400 g tin any white beans inc. liquid from tin such as haricot
- 150 g vital wheat gluten
- 150 ml cold water
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp white miso paste or MSG optional
- 1 1/2 tsp salt or 1 vegan chicken-style stock cube (such as Massel)
- 3 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
Instructions
- In a high-powered blender, combine the tofu, haricot beans in their liquid, miso paste (or msg), salt, nutritional yeast, oil and water until you have a smooth paste.
- Add the vital wheat gluten to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the tofu mixture and mix on a low speed until the two come together in the form of a dough.
- Switch the paddle attachment to a dough hook and mix on a medium/high speed for 10-12 minutes. Stay close by as the mixer may shuffle across the counter top as the dough is tough to work. You’ll also need to be very careful your mixer’s motor doesn’t burn out. This kneading of the dough is crucial in developing the gluten and proteins in the seitan and shouldn’t be skipped. The longer and harder you work it, the more fibrous and chicken-like the final product will be.
- Once your seitan has been kneaded long and hard, remove it from the mixer and cut it in half. Wrap each “loaf” very tightly in 3-4 layers of heavy-duty foil. You want it to be nice and compact inside to stop it expanding inside as this will promote sponginess rather than the shreddable texture we’re after. The multiple layers of foil will also stop water getting inside.
- Next, fill a pressure cooker with plenty of water (about 3/4 of the way full) and bring to a boil. Carefully drop your seitan into the cooker and put the lid on. Cook on a medium/high heat for 40 minutes. Once the time is up, switch off the heat and leave it to cool completely.
- Once cool, remove the seitan parcels from the cooker and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 48 hours.
- Unwrap and check out that amazing texture when you pull it apart. Your seitan is now ready to use in your favourite vegan chicken recipe.
Notes
- I wouldn’t recommend making this recipe by hand as your arms might threaten to fall off. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger would struggle, seriously. Having said this, you can create seitan kneading by hand - it will not however, have a shreddable, “pulled” quality and you’ll finish up with a spongy end product instead. It’ll still taste good but probably won’t fool your meat-eating friends.
- If freezing the seitan chick'n, keep it in an airtight container and use within 3 months.