Sage and Onion Homemade Seitan Roast
No, that’s not a typo – seitan is an actual thing. It’s very well-known in certain circles (that makes it sound like being vegan is an exclusive club or something, but you know what I mean), but I’d say seitan is still fairly unheard of amongst the general population. If you’re not familiar, seitan is a meaty substance made from gluten, and it works really well to recreate dishes that usually contain meat – hence, a homemade seitan roast!
I must admit, I’ve had a bag of vital wheat gluten sat in my cupboard for a few months now, untouched. I bought it online (it’s hard to find in normal supermarkets, but you can pick it up on Amazon UK here or Amazon US here) with a plan to make homemade seitan, but found myself rather intimidated by the prospect. To be fair, ‘vital wheat gluten’ barely even sounds like real food… so, in the cupboard it sat.
However, I had a bit of fresh sage leftover from my recent buttery tortellini recipe, and my thought process went a little like this:
Fresh sage –> sage and onion stuffing –> roast dinners! –> I should make something for a vegetarian roast dinner –> oh god, I’m going to have to face my fear and try making seitan.
In the end, this homemade seitan roast was actually much easier to make than I expected it to be! I swear every homemade seitan recipe I’ve ever looked at in the past has been super long, with dozens of steps, and that always put me off. But, in true Becca fashion, I cut a few corners and still ended up with a perfectly delicious seitan roast. I’ll definitely be experimenting more with seitan, but for now I’m pretty happy with this recipe!
The recipe is loosely based around this one from Post Punk Kitchen. I nabbed the trick of adding beans to the seitan for a nicer texture. I don’t have much to compare it to… but it was nice! Since the vital wheat gluten has basically zero flavour on its own, it’s also really (really!) important to add plenty of flavour to your seitan, as well as salt! Don’t skimp on the salt. Add a reasonable amount, then add another pinch. The end result is a meaty, chewy roast with a crispy crust and that lovely sage and onion flavour throughout.
Serve your homemade seitan roast with some potatoes and veggies, not forgetting lashings of gravy, and you’re all set for a perfect vegan Sunday lunch.
Sage and Onion Homemade Seitan Roast
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Print Pin Comment(if you suffer from allergies, please double check all ingredients before eating)
Ingredients
- 400 g tin cannellini beans, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- Small bunch fresh sage
- 1 medium onion, peeled and cut into a few chunks
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 215 g vital wheat gluten (~ 1 1/2 cups)
- 250 ml vegetable stock (~ 1 cup) – not low-sodium
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Oil for greasing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F).
- Add the drained cannellini beans to a food processor, along with the garlic, sage, and onion. Blitz to form a chunky paste.
- In a large bowl, combine the bean mixture with the dried oregano, vital wheat gluten, vegetable stock, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well to form a dough (don’t be worried if it doesn’t look too appetising at this stage!).
- Knead the dough for a few minutes – this will help avoid a tough seitan.
- Lightly grease a large piece of kitchen foil, and add the seitan dough. Shape to form a rough sausage, then roll tightly in the foil, and scrunch the ends.
- Place the foil-wrapped seitan roast on a baking tray (make sure to pick it up from underneath so you don’t tear the foil), and roast for around 1 hour 20 minutes, until firm.
- Peel back the foil, and slice the seitan roast with a serrated knife. Serve warm.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
I’d never heard of this before but it sounds intriguing, love reading about ingredients and recipes I haven’t tried before. I love anything sage and oniony too!
I wouldn’t mind trying this out myself. Looks so delicious x
My son is a huge fan of stuffing so these flavours would really make his day! H x
I’ve wanted to make seitan for SO long! I have a bag of vital wheat gluten in the cupboard waiting to see action and you have inspired me to give it a go, thank you!
Haha it sounds like a lot of us have that same lonely bag of gluten that’s never been touched! Hope you enjoy :)
This looks so easy! I tried making seitan once….the recipe involved boiling the dough in stock…extremely long-winded altogether and l ended up with rubber into the bargain! I’m sure l used a recipe from Isa as well.
I recently threw away my seriously ancient vital wheat gluten (which l bought in Holt in Norfolk, UK) during a long-overdue clear-out ….
I might try boiling seitan at some point, but I thought roasting was probably easier to begin with! :)
I have to read this when I am hungry, this looks amazing! Sounds so nice x
I love seitan – I’ve even made it in my bread machine! I’ve never added beans to it though, so I’ll be giving that a go.
Ooh what a great idea to make it in a bread machine! Does that do all the kneading for you?
Yep! It doesn’t come out as nice as when you make it yourself but handy if you’re feeling lazy!
Which is quite often tbh ;)
Oh my goodness can I come round to yours for dinner this looks absolutely amazing! x
WOW! THANK YOU! Seriously – caps deservered there. I’ve been wanting to make seitan for ages now, but not been brave enough to try, and also not sure where to get vital wheat gluten from. So a) if I’m gonna give seitan a go, it’s got to be from a blogger I trust, so WIN and b) there’s a handy link for me to UK Amazon!
*bows*
I feel a roast dinner coming on this weekend… (you can bet, for a change, it will be blazing hot and BBQ weather instead and foil my seitan-plans!)
Yay! Thank you! I really hope you like it. I’m definitely going to play around with it more, I really enjoyed it :) Just make sure you knead the dough for a few minutes to make sure it doesn’t end up tough! Let me know how you get on.
You’ve sold me with the addition of beans…since we eat so many and have used them in loaves and patties, the combo w the gluten doesn’t seem so exotic (if that makes sense) I’m sure nutritional yeast could add some flavor, too. Nice job, sharing!
Thanks Lydia! I think seitan is going to be one of those things that becomes a staple for me, it was so easy to make – not sure why I put it off for so long :)