BBQ Seitan Wings

This BBQ Seitan is made from scratch using bread flour. The result is similar to a large boneless wing or like a tender bbq chicken thigh. This recipe has you wash the flour, create a bbq broth to simmer the seitan in, then you pan fry it before baking it in more BBQ sauce.

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Prep Time12

Cook Time13

Ingredients

Seitan Base

5 lbs Bread Flour
6-7 Cups Water
2 tbs Salt

Seitan Seasoning

2 tbs BBQ Seasoning
2 tbs Nutrional Yeast Flakes
1 tbs Mushroom Seasoning

To Fry

½ Cup Coconut Oil or avocado oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, or canola oil

BBQ Broth

6 Cups Water
6 oz Tomato Paste 1 small can
1 Large Onion or about 1 cup
¼ cup Brown Sugar
4 tbs BBQ Seasoning
4 Cloves Garlic
2 tbs Malt Vinegar or balsamic vinager, or red wine vinager
2 tbs Mushroom Seasoning
2 tsp Smoked Paprika

BBQ Bake

BBQ Sauce

Instructions

Add the flour to a large bowl and mix in the water to create a dough, knead it to ensure there are no pockets of flour.
Let rest for 1 hour
Stretch and fold the dough over itself to help knead it. Do this until the dough is nice and smooth.
Cover the dough in water and sprinkle over the salt
Let rest overnight
Pour away the salted water.
Refill your bowl with cold water and gently knead it. The water will begin to become milky and thick with the starch that is separating from the dough.
Pour away the white starch water to reserve for other recipes. Using a strainer can help with this process to prevent gluten from washing away.
Continue to gently knead the dough under the cold water. Being gentle helps prevent the gluten from tearing so it is easier to work with.
Continue to wash the dough until no more starch comes out of the dough- leaving you with clear water.
Let the seitan rest for about 1 hour, this will help it firm up and be easier to work with. You'll notice it will leak out more water, pour that way
Stretch out your seitan into a large rectangle and gently rub in the seasonings. Fold the dough over itself and continue to knead to incorporate the seasonings into the dough. You can let the dough rest again to firm up after this to make it easier to work with, but that is optional
Roll your dough into a long log and break it up into about 3 to 4-inch sections. Stretch out each section and knot it up.
Bring a frying pan up to medium heat and add about ¼ cup of coconut oil (or any neutral oil) - this is half of the oil this recipe calls for.
Fry the knoted seitan until it has a gold brown exterior.
Place each chunk of seitan inside of a small muslin bag or wrap each piece in cheesecloth.
Slice up 1 onion and crush up at least 4 cloves of garlic. Add it to an Instant Pot or in a large stock pot over the stove. If using an Instant Pot set to sauté and add a little bit of oil to prevent sticking. If using a large stock pot then bring to medium high heat and add oil along with the onions and garlic.
Sauté for about 10 minutes or until the onions are starting to become transluscent
Then add the brown sugar, tomato paste, vinegar, mushroom seasoning, and smoked paprika. Let cook for a couple of minutes to let all the ingredients mingle.
Add in the water and stir well.
Add the wrapped seitan to the broth.
If using an instant pot, set to slow cook on the lowest setting for 24 hours (it can be ready in 12 hours, but it will be very tender)
If using a pot on the stove bring to a very low simmer, where there are little to no bubbles. Too high of a heat will cause the seitan to expand and will make it have bubbles- creating a spongy texture. Slow cook on the stove for 12 hours
Remove the seitan from the broth and remove them from the muslin bags.
For a firmer seitan, let it rest overnight. For a tender seitan skip the overnight rest and continue cooking
Preheat your oven to 375F (190C)
Bring a cast iron pan to medium high heat and add ¼ cup of coconut oil
Fry the seitan for 4-6 minutes to crisp up the exterior.
Remove from heat
Pour over the BBQ sauce over the seitan, ensure an even and thick coating
Bake the seitan with a lid on in the oven for 45 minutes
Flip the seitan and spoon over more BBQ sauce over each of them
Bake for another 20 minutes
Allow the seitan to cool before serving

Video

Notes

Tips for Sucess

You can use all purpose flour instead of bread flour in this recipe- however you will have a smaller yield. All purpose flour is lower in protien and higher in starch, so you will have more washing to do to remove the starch from the dough.
More resting time gives you a firmer seitan. After simmering the seitan for 24 hours it is recommended that you let it rest in the refrigerator for at least a few hours.
If you bake the seitan right after simmering you still get a flavorful seitan. However the texture of it is soft and tender. I found both ways to be delicious but the texture is more chicken like if you let the seitan rest.