Stuffed Seitan Turkey

How to make a Seitan Turkey with a crispy skin that is full of stuffing! This vegan turkey is the perfect alternative for the holidays that will help you keep your traditions- no matter your values!

This seitan turkey is an updated recipe from lasts years Seitan Turkey– the main difference here is this recipe makes it possible to stuff your vegan turkey. And the way that it’s done adds even more flavor to the overall seitan.

The texture is meaty, delicious, juicy, and will be the star of your holiday spread. You will never go back to a premade vegan holiday roast after trying this!

How to Make a Vegan Turkey From Bread Flour

Here is a quick overview of what to expect when making this vegan turkey. This recipe has you wash the flour, a process where you make a dough ball using bread flour, and then you knead the dough under water to remove the starch. This leaves you with pure gluten, or wheats protein.

From there you will season the gluten and wrap it around an apple. You will wrap the gluten around the apple, then wrap rice paper around the gluten, and do another layer of gluten over it.
Then stuff it inside of a stock sock and simmer it until nice and firm. Let it rest in the fridge overnight or until you are ready to roast it.

The day you are ready to serve your seitan turkey you will cut out the apple and then stuff it with your favorite stuffing. Then you season your exterior with a bast and roast it in the oven.

Why Seitan from Washed Bread Flour is Better Than Seitan Made from Vital Wheat Gluten

The reason why I recommend this method over using Vital Wheat Gluten is because you will have better flavor, better texture, and overall the end result is far superior using this method.

It is very easy to have a rubbery tough texture that is almost squeaky with vital wheat gluten, it also has a distinctive smell and flavor.
The process of creating vital wheat gluten in manufacturing causes the amnio acids to go rancid, which creates that off smell and taste. Sure, some chefs are able to mask that flavor.

But do you want to? Do you want to consume food that has rancid oils in the wheat germ and the amnio acids?

Bread flour on the other hand is easy to obtain fresh and consistently offers a neutral flavor that is perfect for seitan. The texture is another game changer when it comes to making seitan this method- you get lovely shreds that are very meat like.

How to Wash the Flour

I have multiple videos on how to wash the flour on Tiktock, the playlist “don’t mess up your Seitan” is one I recommend for beginners.

First make sure that you have really kneaded your dough so it is strong and elastic. If this is your first time making seitan from flour try to stick to a high protein bread flour. While you can make seitan from all purpose flour, I advise against it until you have successfully made it with bread flour first as it is more challenging to work with. The same applies to whole wheat flour.

Some grocery stores will sell very strong bread flour in addition to regular bread flour- the main difference between the two is the very strong bread flour will have a higher protein ration. This is ideal for seitan because we are extracting that pure wheat protein.

Now that you have worked your dough you have the option to let it soak in salt water overnight. I like to include this option because it helps ensure that your dough has had the time to develop the gluten. You cannot over work or over knead your dough, but it is a common mistake I see where the dough has not had enough time to develop or it wasn’t kneaded enough.

When you are ready to wash the flour, or remove the starch from the gluten in your dough, you will want two large bowls. One bowl to save your wheat starch, another to wash your dough in. This is a messy process so wear an apron.

Cover your dough ball in cold water and gently knead it. You can use your hand to squeeze the dough and you will see starch will seep out. You are going to do this until the dough becomes webby, and the water will become thick with starch. If the dough starts to fall apart use your hands to squish it back together.

If it is unmanageable (likely from you not kneading it enough or letting it rest long enough before washing it! Or you aren’t using a bread flour), cover the dough in salt.
Be generous with your salt, up to a 1/3 cup of salt and let it rest in the fridge.
The salt and the cold helps strengthen your gluten so it is easier to handle. Don’t worry about your end result tasting salty, it will wash off!

If you use salt while washing the flour it will go faster but your wheat starch will retain that saltiness. Which isn’t ideal if you are saving that wheat starch for pancakes, so that is something to keep in mind.

Wash the gluten until there are no smooth bits in the dough, those smooth bits are pockets of starch. If you leave too much starch in your gluten your result will be tender, and even doughy.

A good rule of thumb is to wash it until when you dip it in water, no more starch comes out. Another way to check is after you wash the gluten, let it rest in a bowl. Water will separate from the gluten and if it wasn’t washed enough you will notice starch will also leak from the gluten. If that’s the cause, give it another rinse!

Washing the flour can take as little as 10 minutes to do or up to 40 minutes, it really depends on your flour, water temperature, how long you kneaded it or let it rest, and your technique.

It is common issue to under wash your gluten, but rare that you will over wash it.

Shaping your Stuffable Seitan Turkey

Look at my video on how to shape the seitan. But essentially you are wrapping half the gluten around an apple while coating it in the flavorful sauce, wrapping it in rice paper, then wrapping the over half of the gluten around all of that.

The apple is there to create a cavity for the vegan turkey so you can stuff it. It also doubles as another way to flavor your seitan.

This is what gives your seitan turkey a crispy skin while keeping the center nice and moist. The rice paper dissolves in with the butter and creates a ‘fat like’ layer which is very similar to an actual roasted turkey skin.
Using a stock sock helps keep the seitan’s shape and it also helps create the exterior texture for the skin. After it simmers the skin can be delicate, so be gentle while handling it.

The next day you will cut out the apple and then stuff your seitan turkey with your favorite stuffing.
You will also create a baste for your turkey and roast it in the oven. Then it’s ready to serve!