This is my easy seitan meal prep that I bake every Sunday to make creating meals throughout the week seamless.
Seitan is notorious for having a tough and rubbery texture when not prepared correctly. This texture happens because the proteins strands often bind very strongly, and the key to preventing this is having ingredients to interrupt the binding. My go to interrupter is nutritional yeast, as it also makes this stuff taste great, coupled with a bit of vinegar to soften the texture. Different interrupters and different cooking styles are how one creates different seitan textures.
PROTEIN!!!! As a decently active person, I rely on high protein to recover well. Luckily this meal prep comes out to roughly 190 grams of protein total or about 31 grams per serving. It makes it incredibly easy to hit protein goals when coupled with other high protein meal preps, like tofu or TVP.
How To Use
After making a giant sheet of seitan, cut it up however you like. Usually I don’t have the patience to get a cutting board, so I just tear it up into bite-sized pieces. Then store in the refrigerator, and zapping in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Usually I’ll through this on top of some rice and microwaved frozen veggies, with a quick peanut butter sauce.
Crucial Ingredients
The 30-Minute Foolproof Seitan
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Hydrate the BaseWhisk (2 cups) Vital Wheat Gluten, (1/4 cup) Nutritional Yeast, and your optional spices (1 tsp Garlic Powder and 1 tsp Onion Powder) together in a large mixing bowl. In a separate measuring cup, combine (1 3/4 cups) Water or broth, (3 tbsp) Soy Sauce,(1 tbsp) Apple Cider Vinegar, and (2 tbsp) Olive or Vegetable Oil. Pour the wet mixture directly into the dry ingredients.
- The Quick KneadStir the combined ingredients with a fork until a solid, wet dough ball forms and cleans the sides of the bowl. Vigorously knead the dough with your hands inside the bowl for exactly 2 minutes to stretch and align the protein strands.
- The Rest PhaseLeave the dough ball untouched on the counter for 5 minutes.. Pure wheat gluten is highly elastic; resting allows the protein network to relax, making it pliable enough to shape.
- The Sheet Pan PressPreheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Heavily grease a rimmed baking sheet with cooking oil or spray. Place the rested dough ball in the center of the pan. Using the heels of your hands, smash, press, and pull the dough outward until it forms an even sheet roughly ½ inch thick.
- The Bake and FlipPlace the pan in the oven and bake for 12 minutes. Remove the pan, carefully slide a large spatula underneath, and flip the entire sheet of seitan over. Return it to the oven and bake for an additional 12 minutes. The seitan is finished when the surface is matte, slightly browned, and feels firm to the touch.