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–+ servings
a sliced seitan roast on a cutting board

Seitan Turkey

This seitan turkey has a crispy skin, with juicy, shreddy layers! This seitan is made from bread flour for a superior flavor that you can't get from vital wheat gluten. This is one of the best tasting seitan recipes you will come across!
Print Recipe
CourseMain, Main Course, Vegan Staples
CuisineAmerican
Prep Time8 hours
Cook Time12 hours
Servings8

Equipment

Ingredients

Seitan Base

Fat Sauce

  • 2 tbs Wheat Starch Saved from Washing Step
  • 2 tbs Vegetarian Chicken Bullion
  • 3 tbs Coconut Oil
  • 1 tbs Smoked Yeast Optional

Turkey Style Broth*

  • 3 cloves Garlic
  • 5 Large Shiitake Mushrooms Preferably dried
  • 1 Small Yellow Onion
  • 1 tsp Smoked Salt or black truffle salt, or sea salt
  • 8 Cups Water or Aquafaba
  • 2 tbs Miso Light variety
  • 4 tbs Vegetarian Chicken Bullion

Seasonings for Roasting

  • 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
  • 1 tsp Marjoram
  • ½ tbs Poultry Seasoning
  • 1 tbs Rosemary

Instructions

Create a Dough Ball

  • Add the flour and water to a large bowl and knead together into a dough
    Let rest for about 30-60 minutes or until the dough is smooth
    Stretch the dough out and fold it over itself to knead it.
    You have the option to repeat stretching and folding every 40 minutes- this helps strengthen the gluten in your dough so you have a higher yield. It is completely optional and not required.

Cover in Salted Water

  • In a large bowl or pitcher add roughly 8 cups of water to about 2-6 tbs of salt and mix well to create very salty water. Pour the salted water over your dough ball- ensure that the dough is completely submerged in the salt water.
    Let this rest overnight, ideally in your refrigerator but you can leave it on your countertop safely.
    *This will not make your seitan salty- it will be poured and washed away. The salt helps strengthen the gluten*

Washing Away the Starch From the Gluten

  • Pour away the salted water. Add clean cold water to your bowl with the dough and gently knead. As the water becomes thick and cloudy from released starch pour away the starch water into a large bowl and set aside.
    Continue to knead the ball of dough under cold water. If it feels like the ball of dough is coming apart add ice and let it rest. The cold helps the gluten seize up and makes it more managable to work with.
    As you knead it the texture of the dough will become weblike.
    Knead the dough in cold water until no more starch is released (the water stays clear when kneaded). Look for smooth pockets, those are areas that still have starch in them and you'll want to knead that out.
    This washing step takes about 30 minutes and you'll notice the ball of dough will shrink up quite a bit as it looses starch.
    Once all the starch is removed, let the gluten rest in a bowl for 1 hour. It will release water as it rests, pour that away.

Creating the Broth

  • *You can completely skip this step if you are using premade vegetarian chicken broth. The broth will further flavor the seitan, do not simply use a vegetable broth- because then your seitan will have that flavor. No one wants a carrot flavored seitan! You can always add some vegetarian chicken bullion to a vegetable broth to make it taste more like poultry.
  • Slice your onions and crush and mince your garlic.
    In either your instant pot, or a large stock pot (wherewhere you want to cook your seitan!) preheat.
    Add a little bit of oil and add the onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Saute until the onions are translucent
  • Add the rest of the ingredients for the broth and mix well. Lower the heat so it is barely simmering or set to slow cook on low for the instant pot.

Forming the Seitan

  • Your large bowl of starch water should have separated by now, pour off the water that is over the surface.
    Take 2 tablespoons of the wheat starch and add it to a small bowl. Mix in the rest of the ingredients for the 'fat sauce', the coconut oil, bullion, yeast.
  • Remove about 1/3 of the gluten so you have two chunks. Take the larger chunk and stretch it out into a long tube. Lightly coat the strand with the 'fat sauce'. Create tight knots with the gluten, knot it up with itself to create a roundish loaf.
    Coat the knotted loaf with more of the 'fat sauce'. Take the other chunk of gluten that was set aside and stretch it over the knotted loaf. This creates a skin that will encase everything.
    Tightly wrap your loaf in cheese cloth or inside of a stock sock
  • Submerge your seitan into your prepared broth and let it slow cook. It's recommended to slow cook in an instant pot or slow cooker on low overnight.
    If slow cooking over the stove let it simmer for at least 4 hours (or until it is nice and firm).
    *You can't overcook seitan in this stage, however it will be very soft and doughy if it is not cooked long enough. It needs a long, slow cook for the best results. Increasing the heat will not speed this stage up, too high of heat will result in bubbles. Creating a spongy texture*

Roasting the Seitan

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • Once the seitan is nice and firm remove it from the broth and remove the cheese cloth. Place it inside of a baking sheet or casserole dish
    Add about ⅓ cup of your broth to the base of the pan along with 2 tbs of oil.
    Lightly coat your seitan in oil and sprinkle over your seasonings.
  • Bake in the oven for 1 hour, but every 15 minutes or so baste the seitan.
    Do this by dipping a brush in the roasting liquid and recoating the seitan. This helps prevent it from drying out while still giving you a crispy skin.
  • Serve your seitan with your favorite gravy, cranberry sauce, and enjoy!

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