Homemade seitan (“wheat meat”) is wrapped around a savory stuffing in this elegant vegan main dish.
This is A Tale of Two Seitans.
For Thanksgiving this year, I decided to make something a little fancier than the baked tofu my husband, daughter, and I usually enjoy while our omnivorous extended family is eating turkey. The day before the big feast, I took one of my old favorite stuffings, wrapped wheat gluten around it, sealed it in foil, and baked it like “Veggeroni.”
Right out of the oven, the savory flavor of the stuffed seitan was divine. Though the texture was verging on dry, I had to chase away family members circling like ravenous wolves so that I could wrap it up for the trip to my parents’ house.
The next day, I reheated the foil-wrapped seitan in the oven alongside my green bean casserole and my mother’s cornbread dressing. And that’s where I made my mistake. I should have steamed it or microwaved it because it came out of the oven much drier than before. Doused with mushroom gravy, it was still good, but it could have been better.
Seitan Roulade First Attempt
I posted a photo of the first seitan roulade on my Facebook page and planned to share the recipe when I got back from my Thanksgiving trip. But because I wasn’t completely satisfied with how the stuffed seitan “performed” for the big meal, I decided to see if I could come up with a moister, more tender seitan that would hold up to reheating.
That’s how this second seitan roulade came to be.
In this version, I “oven-steamed” the seitan first in a little broth before uncovering and baking it. Success! The stuffed seitan was so tender that we didn’t need any gravy.
The only downside is that because it wasn’t confined by foil, the roast expanded as it cooked and lost its “rolled” design. It’s also less sturdy than the foil-baked version, so if we were planning to travel with it, we’d need to pack it much more carefully.
Overall, I prefer the final version, but if you want the roulade look, follow the variation in the recipe below. Whichever way you make it, just be careful how you reheat it. Or better yet, eat it while it’s still piping hot out of the oven.
“Savory.” That’s the best word to describe this meat-free roast, redolent with the flavors of thyme and sage and enlivened with the sweet-sour tang of dried cranberries. You won’t have any leftovers!
Seitan Stuffed with Walnuts, Dried Cranberries, and Mushrooms
Ingredients
Stuffing
- 1/2 large onion chopped
- 1 rib celery chopped
- 4 ounces mushrooms sliced or chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
- generous grinding of pepper
- 3 ounces whole wheat bread (about 2 slices), cut into small cubes
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries or cherries
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or sunflower seeds, for nut-free
- 1 teaspoon whole chia seeds or ground flax seed
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water (more as needed)
Seitan
- 2 cups vital wheat gluten (10 ounces)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
- 1 teaspoon marjoram
- 1/3 cup quinoa flakes or quick oatmeal
- 1 teaspoon chia seed or ground flaxseeds
- 1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 1 cup great northern beans cooked
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 1 clove garlic peeled
- 1 tablespoon tahini (preferred) or nut butter
Baking Broth
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil (optional)
Assembly
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
Suggested Tools
Instructions
Make the stuffing:
- Sauté the onion and celery in a non-stick skillet until onion is becoming translucent. Add the mushrooms, thyme, sage, and a generous grating of black pepper and cover. Cook until mushrooms exude their juices, about 3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients along with enough water to moisten the stuffing but not make it soaking wet. Remove from heat and keep covered.
Make the seitan:
- In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients (vital wheat gluten through chia seeds). Place the 1 1/2 cups of broth, white beans, soy sauce, and garlic in blender and process until liquefied. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add the bean mixture, and stir until gluten is completely moistened. Drizzle the tahini over the top and knead it into the dough. Keep kneading until dough holds together in a ball. Set aside while you make the broth.
Make the broth:
- Heat all ingredients until hot but not boiling. A microwave works well for this.
Assemble:
- Preheat oven to 400. Lightly oil an oval or rectangular baking dish, 11-13 inches long and 6-8 inches wide. (Your seitan will expand to fit it, so try not to use a very wide dish.)
- Line your work surface with plastic wrap, parchment paper, or waxed paper. Place the dough in the center, cover it with plastic wrap, and roll out the seitan, making sure that it is the same thickness in all places, until it's about 9x13 (an inch or so either way doesn't matter, but make sure it's not longer than your pan). Spread the stuffing evenly, leaving a 1-inch margin on all sides.
- Lift up the plastic wrap on one of the long edges and roll the seitan up like a jelly roll. (Alternatively, arrange the stuffing in a horizontal line across the middle of the seitan and bring one long edge up and over it to the other side.) Pinch the ends sealed first and then pinch well to seal the long seam. Take care to make sure that the edges are completely sealed and no gaps or stuffing shows.
- Lift the seitan roll carefully and place seam-side down in the prepared casserole dish. Pour the baking broth over it, add rosemary, and cover tightly. If the dish doesn't have a cover, use aluminum foil to cover tightly. (Did I mention "tightly?" Tightly! I enclosed even the bottom of the dish in foil.)
- Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, baste with broth, recover tightly, and bake for another 25 minutes. Baste again and return to oven uncovered for about 30 minutes. Baste 2 or 3 times as it's cooking. Seitan is done when top seems firm and brown and the broth has evaporated. You can test it by cutting a small slit in the middle; if it is doughy rather than firm, return to the oven.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Transfer carefully to a cutting board or serving platter and cut into 1/2-inch slices.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
Please pin and share:
Lisa
This looks fantastic! I may just have to make it for our Christmas dinner!!
Lisa
Oh… and of course I would love a chance to win your book! 😉
Jennifer
I’d love to win this book, thank you for the giveaway!
We are having a couple of soups as our main meal for Christmas. As the only vegetarian in the family, I’m bringing a veggie pot pie type of stew. I’m guessing that the same thing will happen as Thanksgiving (when I brought your amazing gravy)…they’ll all want the dish I bring because it’s so good! 🙂
Happy holidays!
Kimberly Carlo
This sounds amazing! I love your recipes. So inspiring
Melissa
I’d love to win a signed copy of this book! It is on my Christmas list! Usually, we have a tofurkey, but I might venture into the world of a field roast this year. Maybe next year I will attempt to make my own holiday “roast.” This recipe looks great!
Amanda
This looks amazing! I was looking for a dish to take to the family potluck and this is perfect. Please enter me to without recipe book – I love the recipes here, and would imagine that I would love the book. Thank you!
Sarah Campbell
I’d like a chance to win the book, please. We’re dining at somebody else’s this year so I’m not cooking. 🙁 My favorite holidays are Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s a happy time.
Jacki
that looks divine! I may add that to our dinner! It’s our first Christmas as vegans, so things are a little different. We had ZERO issues with Thanksgiving, tho, so I’m feeling more confident! I loved Happy Herbivore’s Thanksgiving gravy…it was SO good! For Christmas Eve we usually have a Mexican feast with tamales as the main dish. I found a place that makes vegan tamales (in two flavors) locally, so I’ll be ordering those, then fix up a batch of black bean enchiladas, rice, beans, guacamole and chips. It’s always SO yummy, and Mexican is super easy to do vegan. Christmas morning we’ll have cinnamon rolls and fruit, then Christmas Dinner is still undecided. It can be anything as we don’t have a tradition for that. Maybe your lasagna, as that was a big hit last time I fixed it, with a big salad and some yummy bread. Desserts will be pies using the pie filling I canned over the summer, and probably some cookies. I can’t wait, and now I’m hungry thinking about it! And, i’d like to win your book! Since we’re new vegans, our cook book collection is rather slim.
Colleen Galofaro
I’ve seen many variations of this basic idea, but out of all of them, it think this one most appeals to my favorite holiday tastes. Thank you!
brenda
I would love to win a copy of your book! I don’t plan on cooking for the holidays. (But will be making raw truffles to give as gifts)We’ll be going out of town and may just eat out-not quite sure yet. I’m not much of a Christmas person, but I do celebrate it as a chance to get together with family during this time.
Laura
I’d love a copy of the cookbook! Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorite holiday meals. I love cooking a vegan pumpkin pie, a green bean casserole, and some type of vegan protein for my family. We always adapt the meal to be largely vegan (vegan butter, soymilk, etc) so that I and my lactose intolerant father can both enjoy the meal worry-free. The green bean casserole is always a huge hit and has since become a staple on all of our holiday menus. I also just love baking various holiday-type cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. 🙂
Lowrie
i am always intimidated by the “stuffed seitan” concept… i make seitan a lot, but i just can’t imagine mine rolling well… mayb ei need to be less afraid though! thanks for the post.
for the giveaway :), i would LOVE the book and for my holiday menu i’ll be making a tofurkey (kinda boring, i know), and some vegan yorkshire puddings (for my british mama), and some enchiladas b/c i saw a christmas recipe w/ red and green food and got inspired. i’m not really a religious person, but the family celebrates christmas, so that’s what i do, too!
Kathy
I’d love to win a book.
This will be our first vegan holiday season. We are going to head to our family for the holiday. For one meal I’ll be bringing lasagna and they are making sure to make the other sides vegan for us. For the other meal, I was thinking about this since they are serving a beef roast and this will compliment everything else. It will be fun to see how many of the 22 that gather that try “that food”.
Cindy
I will be recovering from surgery on Christmas day and I told my husband I want him to make this dish for Christmas dinner for me and he said “Sure!” I can’t wait. It looks so delicious and festive!
mars
I’m going to try this soon. Love your blog. Have your old cookbooks would love to add this one to my collection of well used cookbooks.
M
jessica
I would love a chance to win this cookbook- I have been a vegetarian since 1984, and I have been trying to make the switch to vegan, although it’s been difficult. I celebrate all holidays, winter or otherwise, but Christmas is my favorite. I love everything about Christmas- the spirit, meaning, music, family and food of course! We haven’t picked an entree yet for the holiday menu- but we always have garlic/chive mashed potatoes, rosemary/thyme roasted butternut squash, almond/scallion green beans, and rolls. My husband and son are meat eaters, but they do enjoy veg meals as well. I would love to do an entire vegan meal this holiday, and I know they wouldn’t mind if I could pick a good entree!
Joelle
I would love a chance to win the cookbook! So far, for our Christmas dinner, I’m planning to make gluten/ seitan steaks with gravy, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes (maybe twice baked potatoes), some sort of sweet Christmas bread, a vegetable or two, and some sort of dessert. Maybe a cheesecake. Not sure yet!
We generally celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving. And New Years, but not generally with a big dinner like the other two holidays.
NancyG
would love to have this book! Your photos are awesome..
I don’t have a menu planned because we go to a potluck every year but I am bringing my cold cranberry relish! Leftovers are great over oatmeal the next day!
Julia
We celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas…and there is always a lot of squash and pumpkin on the menu for both – as well all love it in almost any form. This year we had/are having a curried squash soup at Thanksgiving and a roasted root vegetable casserole at Christmas that are favorites…still hunting for other possibilities as well!
Julia Hatch
I would love a chance at the cookbook! When I saw this recipe on facebook yesterday, I bookmarked it to try after the beginning of the year, as I plan to do a juice fast over the holiday season.
Heather
This looks fantastic! I’m not sure what I’ll be contributing for Christmas dinner yet, but this is getting added to the list (sans mushrooms!).
Shawna
The book looks amazing! We are doing Christmas with my in-laws this year, which means a very traditional Polish meal… but we made a really yummy seitan turkey wrapped in puff pastry for Thanksgiving! 🙂
Danielle
This book is actually at the top of my wish list this year! I would love to be able to cross it off once and for all!
My holiday menu consists of a lot of baked goods, mostly cookies. I treasure baking with my grandmother especially now that I have vegan versions of her holiday recipes. I tend to focus on this more than my actually meal because it’s memorable and meaningful.
Lydia
I celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas and I’m the only vegan/vegetarian in my family. I was thinking of buying a field roast from Whole Foods but now I’m thinking of trying out this recipe because it looks so delicious! I would absolutely love a chance to win a copy of your book because I’m really trying to get in to cooking my own vegan food and I’m ready to branch out with new flavors and textures.
vikess
I am transitioning to vegan..have been borderline vegetarian for years. I am looking for holiday recipes that will be sort of ‘elaborate’ to keep a holiday feel for the omnivores in my family without hitting them over the head, so to speak, with veganism. I think this recipe is a serious contender, although I’ll almost have to make two…one with mushrooms, which I love, and one without. Other favorite dishes in my family include a baked acorn squash, broccoli salad, and green beans……
Judith Vegan Barnes
“Leave a comment below letting me know you’d like a chance at the book and telling me what’s on your holiday menu and what winter holiday(s) you celebrate.”
I’d love a chance to win this vegan holiday cookbook! It’s just me and my omnivore partner and I’m not planning a huge dinner but I will make a couple of special Autumn and Winter themed dishes over the next few weeks. I don’t “celebrate” anything but I do try to take notice of moon phases, solstices, season changes, etc.
Happy Winter Solstice!
Julee
I would love the chance to win the Vegan Holiday Kitchen! We love having big dinners for Thanksgiving and Christmas!
Rachel
How wonderful! I’d love to win the book. My holiday menu will include my delicious cranberry relish and mashed potatoes for sure… The rest of the menu will be decided by family! A shared effort this year.
Michelle Kucerak
I’d love a chance to win the book. We celebrate Christmas and plan to make panko crusted soy cutlets with a sauce of mushrooms and shallots in white wine and with lots of sides (vegan mashed potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts, garlicky greens, etc.) We’ll have some vegan pie and cupcakes too.
Amy :)
Oh, yum! 🙂 I have to try this recipe sometime soon, once I find out where to get the vital wheat gluten here. At Thanksgiving I had a great time making the two-layer pumpkin cheesecake & serving it to omnivores who loved it! The husband didn’t notice anything, and the wife only ate it when I told her it was dairy-free… the word “cheesecake” had scared her off at first, since she’s lactose intolerant. I would *love* to win this book! 🙂
Kim
I would love a copy of your book!! I am a new vegan and am still learning. I am not cooking for the holidays but you posted a meatless loaf from the Thanksgiving made from sweet potatoes that I would like to try. I want to introduce my family to this new lifestyle. I hope to bring a dish or two to Christmas. Thanks you!!!
Kim
Oh and the pumpkin pie!!!
Denise
I celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. For Thanksgiving this past year I made:
-Lentil loaf
-“Chicken”-style gravy
-Polenta stuffing
-Sweet-potato and Apple Ginger Mash
-Cauliflower and potato mash
-Soy-baked beans
-Your green bean casserole!
Sarah
I would love to win a copy of the cookbook! It looks wonderful! We just starting eating a vegan diet about 4 months ago so I am still learning how to cook in a new way. I’m not sure yet what we’ll be having for Christmas dinner but I know it will include lots of yummy veggies and I’m sure some recipes from your site! Thanks!
bonnie
I think for this Christmas, I’ll make a slow cooker seitan pot roast, some kale with tahini dressing, brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes and gravy and a fruit crumble with cashew cream.
I celebrate Christmas.
Happy Holidays!
Siri Kaur
Thank you for posting yummy recipes. My family & I love them! I’d love to be entered for a chance to win your cookbook.
chamaeleonsky
cookbook please! I’m not having my own holiday event but bring your recipes to all the parties I go so I have something to eat and get to wow people with yummy healthy vegan food. I love the shocked look. I get tons of recipe requests!
Kathryn Ho
This may be just what we have been looking for as our first vegan Christmas main dish! I’ll also make oven-roasted vegetables and the pear-cranberry crumble from Forks Over Knives which is incredibly delicious and easy! We’ll be leaving Santa the chocolate raspberry cookies from Veganonomicon. I’ve very much enjoyed trying your recipes–thanks so much for posting them. I hope I win the cookbook.
Lisa
I would love to win a copy of Vegan Holiday Kitchen! We’re going to have some kind of stuffed seitan roast for Christmas dinner, and soup on Christmas Eve.
Alysia
I’d love a chance to win your new book. 🙂
I celebrate Christmas & Winter Solstice. My holiday menu will include fresh-made cranberry sauce, baked acorn squash stuffed with couscous, your lemony quinoa with butternut squash, red potatoes baked with rosemary, freshly steamed green beans and I’m going to try my hand at making the your stuffed seitan recipe.
Karen
That looks very tasty unfortunately I am allergic to wheat so won’t be making it. I think I am making the lentil wild rice timbales. Would love Nava’s new book, thanks for the opportunity to win a copy. Happy Holidays, Karen
Beth Porch
sounds tasty, I’ll give it a try when I have time to devote to it, during Holiday season I don’t have time to do anything new!, roasted cauliflower is my GoTo dish right now