For this adventure, we're making our own barbecue sauce! If that sounds a bit extreme, you can always use the store bought kind instead, but then you'll miss out on all the fun.
First, you want to make your seitan. Click here for full instructions and step-by-step photos on making seitan.
While your seitan is cooling, it's time to get to work on the sauce. Although it has a lot of ingredients, it's actually pretty easy to whip up. You start out reducing some bourbon (not required but highly recommended!) with onions and garlic. Then you whisk in all kinds of yummy things like brown sugar, molasses, tomato sauce and ginger. It all simmers together for 20 minutes while the flavors develop and your kitchen smells heavenly.
Once the seitan is done, shred it all up.
Then brown it in a little olive oil.
Stir in some or all of the sauce, depending on how wet and sticky you want it to be. After you let it simmer and thicken for a bit, it's ready to serve!
Pulled Seitan Barbecue
Serves 6-8
Important: Be sure to give yourself enough time to cook the seitan. For a quicker recipe, you can use store bought seitan OR you can use store bought barbecue sauce (just be sure to check the ingredients). I guess you could buy both, but then what's the point?
Ingredients
Seitan
1 ½ cups vital wheat gluten flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup water
¼ cup apple sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 cups vegetable broth
Barbecue Sauce
2 tablespoons vegan margarine
½ small onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup bourbon (optional)
1 cup ketchup
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup molasses
2 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
To Serve
2 tablespoons olive oil
lightly toasted vegan kaiser rolls
Method
- Prepare the seitan. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly oil a lidded casserole dish with non-stick spray. Combine wheat gluten, nutritional yeast and spices in a large bowl. Whisk together the remaining seitan ingredients except for the vegetable broth in a small bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until a dough forms. Adjust amount of water or gluten as needed (see tip). Knead the dough for 5 minutes, then form into a loaf. Place the seitan in the casserole dish and cover with vegetable broth. Cover and cook for 40 minutes. Flip the loaf, then cover and cook for another 40 minutes. Remove the seitan from the dish and allow it to rest until cool enough to handle.
- While the seitan is cooling, prepare the barbecue sauce. Melt the margarine in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook 5-7 minutes or until lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook 1 more minute.
- If using the bourbon, add it to the pot and simmer for 3 minutes or until reduced by half. Whisk in remaining ingredients until well combined and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer and cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- While the barbecue sauce is cooking, stick a fork into the top of the seitan loaf and hold it in place with one hand. Use a second fork to shred the loaf into bite sized chunks.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the shredded seitan and cook 5 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Ladel in enough of the barbecue sauce to cover the seitan and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2-4 minutes or until the seitan is tender but not soft and the barbecue sauce is slightly thickened. Once your desired consistency is achieved, pile the mixture on to lightly toasted vegan Kaiser rolls and serve.