Sunday was such a beautiful day that I had to get outside, away from the kitchen and the computer, and just enjoy the sunshine and flowers. I spent all of last week closeted in my office trying to copy files and programs to a new computer and set up a new home network. By Sunday I had had enough. I wanted to spend as much of the day outside as I could.
For a few weeks I’ve been planning on cooking these barbecued seitan ribs, but the timing and weather were never quite right. Though they’re started in the kitchen, they’re finished up on the grill, giving them the smoky taste that only grilling can impart.
I’ve found that cooking outside is much less stressful if most of the foods are pre-cooked at least a little in the kitchen; long grilling times, different foods finishing at different times, and potential burning all can be avoided with a little strategic pre-cooking in the microwave or oven.
We ate these vegan ribs outside with steamed broccoli and grilled/baked potatoes. The potatoes were pre-cooked in the microwave until almost done and then cooked on the back of the grill while the seitan was cooking. The whole meal was a complete success.
The potatoes had that delicious grilled taste without the long cooking time baked potatoes usually require. And the seitan was succulent and tasty. In fact, the three of us probably could have eaten another entire pan of this stuff, so in the future I will double the recipe and hope for leftovers. E. says to tell you that this is “way, way kid-friendly.”
Note: This recipe is loosely based on this recipe, which uses the oven rather than the grill.
For a different version, try my Jacked-Up Vegan Ribs with jackfruit for texture. Yum!
Suggested Homemade Barbecue Sauces:
Try these ribs with one of these homemade barbecue sauces or any bottled sauce.
Barbecued Seitan Ribz (Vegan Ribs)
Ingredients
- 1 cup vital wheat gluten
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons tahini or other nut butter
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
- about 1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce see some suggestions below
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly spray an 8×8 baking dish with canola oil. Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix the water with the nut butter, Liquid Smoke, and soy sauce and add it to the dry ingredients. Stir to mix well and then knead lightly in the bowl 15-60 seconds (the less you knead it, the more tender it is; the longer, the chewier).
- Put the dough into the baking dish and flatten it so that it evenly fills the pan. Take a sharp knife and cut it into 8 strips; then turn the pan and cut those strips in half to form 16 pieces:
- Put it in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. While it’s cooking prepare your grill.
- Remove it from the oven and carefully re-cut each strip, going over each cut to make sure that the ribz will pull apart easily later. Generously brush the top with barbecue sauce. Take it to the grill and invert the whole baking dish onto the grill (or use a large spatula to lift the seitan out, placing it sauce-side down on the grill). Brush the top of the seitan with more sauce:
- Watch it closely to make sure that it doesn’t burn. When it’s sufficiently brown on one side, turn over and cook the other side, adding more sauce, if necessary. When done, remove to a platter and cut or pull apart the individual ribs to serve.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
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Serving suggestion:
Jose
Thank you! These were delicious – had to give you credit here 🙂
#whatveganseat Seitan “Ribz”+ corn + home fries = food coma, recipe here-> http://bit.ly/mh5XHF http://twitpic.com/54tttg @amyceleste
Katy
Thank you so much for another fantastic recipe! I made these this week with a Balsamic BBQ sauce and was completely blown away at how delicious they were!
I pretty much threw it together and in the oven before work and had my husband take it out and refrigerate them until I got home and then we grilled them. SO easy and SO satisfying. My only trouble was they were hard to cut but I realized next time I should use my dough cutter.
This, as well as so many of your other recipes have wow’ed us and have helped make this transition (to eating vegan) so much more enjoyable. Please keep doing exactly what you are doing!
estelle Siegel
I’m pretty new at this. Where can I found vital wheat gluten?
Jacki
I find it on the baking aisle at regular groceries in a small brown box (hodgeson mills is one I see a lot). it’s cheap, like less than $3. I also frequently buy it in bulk at Whole Foods Market or Central Market. Also pretty cheaply. 🙂
Jacki
BRAVO! We totally loved this. What a nice change this was from our usual food. We served them with roasted Brussels Sprouts and fresh broccoli. I whipped up a simple ketchup-based sauce for this which turned out to be perfect! Thanks for the brilliant recipe. We think the serving size is adequate for our family, too, and can’t wait for the leftovers!
Shelly Norton
Best Seitan recipe ever. So versatile. Will use in many variations. Thank you very much.
Crystal
Thanks for this recipe. I’ve been wanting a BBQ seitan without having to spend an arm and a leg. I actually put ginger and green onions in my sauce and then cut it with water. Made kind of an asian BBQ. Served it with Bean Thread noodles and steams sugar peas and cabbage. YUM!
Also, for those who may be concerned about Liquid Smoke making this dish just dangerous, here’s something that’s probably worth reading:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070314/news_lz1f14focus.html
The moral is, use it occasionally and it shouldn’t be a problem at all. I mean I feel the FDA would be all over this stuff if it were really that bad.
Also, vital wheat gluten is natural. It’s just the product of what is left from separating the starch from wheat. You could actually make seitan from wheat flour, but it’s a process that I tried, and decided I would never try again.
Shannon
We make these all the time. They’re fantastic. Question: would they travel well? I’m thinking if I cook them in the oven, then refrigerate overnight and keep in a cooler, I could grill them over a campfire tomorrow night. What do you think?
SusanV
They should travel just fine. I’m so glad to hear you enjoy them!
Pink Kitchen
I love these! Whenever I make these for a BBQ, all the meat-eaters end up loving them.
Ellie
Hi Susan! 🙂
I made these, but I wasn’t looking for a ‘ribs’ recipe, I was trying to make ‘chicken fingers’ and this did the trick! I made heavy alterations to the spices (use thyme, sage, dried parsley) and omitted nutritional yeast and liquid smoke- just didn’t have any. This was a great and easy way to prepare seitan. Was rather quick in comparison to other methods – and the idea to use tahini is genius. I’m definitely going to make these in the ‘ribz’ manner next time. My boyfriend commented “this is the best seitan I’ve had yet” I’m giving credit to this recipe, because my skills with seitan are still on the baby side 😛 Thanks for a wonderful recipe Susan, cheers! 🙂
Heidi
I haven’t tried these yet but I’m really excited to — I understand the desire to eat only whole foods and not “meat-substitute” meals, which is what I generally try to do and probably is healthier, but I think it’s entertaining to try to make classic dishes vegan and realize how good they can be. It helps me show non-believers how delicious it can be which is so much fun, and I need to indulge sometimes as well! It only makes me that much more sure that I never have any desire to go back to eating meat. Thanks so much for the recipe, I will be excited to see how it turns out for me.
KALASUNSHINE
SUSAN HELLO I ALREADY DID POST MY REPLY TO YOUR RIBZ ANY WAY IT WILL BE MADE FOR THE FAMILY REUNION COMING UP I KNOW FOR ALL THE MEAT EATERS THERE IS ONLY 2 OF US THAT ARE VEGGIES AND TURNING VEGAN WILL NOT BELIEVE THIS IS NOT BARBECUED RIBS WILL LET YOU KNOW OKEY..I AM MOST GRATEFUL TO YOU FOR SUCH AN AWESOME SITE… GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY AND ALL YOUR ENDEAVORS MAKING DELICIOUS FOODS…..PEACE AND LIGHT AND LOTS OF LOVE
I AM SUNSHINE
Carly
My most favourite seitan recipe (I often triple the recipe and bake in one 8×8 dish and another 9×13 dish for 40 min). My omnivore husband loves these too. I often have them without the BBQ sauce and just chop them up and add them to all sorts of dishes. Awesome.
Shirely
Great recipe and I do want to try it. How would I adapt it to make other shapes crumbles, strips, etc for other recipes. I was looking for a basic seitan recipe on here but got a little lost. Is seitan cooked better in the oven like this or boiled? I am a seitan beginner and need pointing in the right direction for a recipe that can be adapted.
steve
at first i was skeptical trying out this recipe, but it had soo many comments that i couldn`t resist reading. It was on my menu last sunday and believe me it works like wonders. this sunday i am going to tweak the recipe a bit and see how it turns out and i`ll be sure to leave another comment. thanks for the kool recipe
shirley
I made these last night and ate more than a serving size while watching the Superbowl. All I can say is Yummy and thanks again for another fantastic recipe.
SM
just made these and i’m in awe. so delicious and easy.
Donna Kohn
These are awesome! looking forward to making them when we are camping!
Dina O'.
YUM! Thank you for simplifying seitan. I had been hesitant to make seitan even though I had purchased gluten a while ago for this purpose. When I saw this recipe on Facebook last week, I knew I had to finally just do it and I am so glad I did – and so is my family! My two year old, my hubby, and I loved them even though I didn’t finish them on the grill (it’s raining) I doubled the recipe and we will enjoy it again tomorrow.
I am going to make them again next week when we go camping so I can grill them up on the campfire 🙂
Dawn
Wow! I’ve been eating largely vegan for the last several months, but was not sure how I would transition into BBQ season. Thank you for this easy and delicious recipe that did not leave me craving grilled meat in the slightest.
Tanya B
We have recently given up meat and with the nice weather here, we have been dying for BBQ recipes. When I found this one, I just had to try it. I will say, this was amazing, my only concern is that I didn’t double the recipe.
Mary Learman
Delicious! Thank you for sharing your amazing recipes!
Leena Sowambur
You smashed it again! Looks so good!!!
laura jean
Made these ribs last night – so so good! Will have to double the recipe for company, though.
I used 1/2 bbq sauce for my liquid with great results. Also, thinking about adding a little more nut butter next time, which makes them higher fat, I know, but I think a little fat running through them would add to the rib concept (I’m a Memphis girl).