Serves 6 to 8
Active time: 1 hour || Total time: 2 hours
I know. I’m posting a roast recipe on the Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving. I’m sure everyone already has their menus planned and I’m late to the party. But this roast almost drove me to the brink of madness Call of Cthulu style, so I had to defeat it! And defeat it I did.
After about 20 years and twice as many tries I’ve got a fabulous centerpiece stuffed roast that I’m proud to show off to the neighbors. Succulent seitan stuffed with herbed meaty shiitakes and leeks. The seitan is mixed with pureed pinto beans to give it great, juicy texture and even a hint of pink color. It’s really similar to my sausage recipes which I used as a base recipe. The stuffing is coated with bread crumbs, which keep it perfectly packed into the roast when you slice it, instead of falling out all over the place. It all comes together when baked in a familiar tinfoil wrapping.
I don’t know what took me so long to get it right. Maybe someday I’ll be ready to talk about it. But right now, let’s get roasting!
There are a few recipe notes before you begin:
~For best results, use a salty homemade vegetable broth. Salt is integral to the flavor of the seitan, so if your broth isn’t seasoned then add a teaspoon or so of salt to it.
~You’ll also want to spoon broth over the roast before serving, to keep it from being dry. Of course you’re going to be coating it in gravy, too. But the broth is a nice touch. If you’re slicing and serving, ladle on spoonfuls of broth on each individual slice, too. You can’t have too much juice, here!
~This roast reheats perfectly. Refrigerate in its wrapper for up to 3 days before hand. When ready to serve, preheat an oven to 350 F and cook for 20 minutes. This will dry it out a bit, so use the broth hints above for sure!
~Use a steak knife for the easiest slicing.
~I used storebought breadcrumbs but if you use homemade, use 3/4 cup.
~This makes enough for 6 hungry people. If it’s not Thanksgiving or another holiday, and people are not totally stuffing their faces, it serves at least 8.
For the filling:
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 oz shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced (rough ends removed)
2 leeks, white and light green parts only, cut into thin half moons
1/2 teaspoon salt
Fresh black pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
For the roast
3 cloves garlic
3/4 cup cooked pinto beans, rinsed and drained (fresh or canned)
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups vital wheat gluten
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed or finely chopped
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed between your fingers
1 teaspoon dried sage, crushed between your fingers
Several dashes fresh black pepper
First prepare the filling:
Preheat a large pan, preferably cast iron, over medium heat. Saute the mushrooms and leeks in oil until soft, about 10 minutes. Add salt, pepper, garlic and thyme. Cook for about 2 more minutes, stirring often.
Sprinkle in the breadcrumbs and toss to coat. Cook the mixture, stirring very often, until the breadcrumbs are toasty and the mixture is relatively dry. This should take about 5 minutes, and the breadcrumbs should turn a few shades darker.
Drizzle in the broth and lemon juice and toss to coat until moist. If it still seems dry drizzle in a little extra olive oil. Set aside until ready to use.
Prepare the roast:
Preheat oven to 350 F. In a food processor, pulse the garlic until well chopped. Add the beans, broth, olive oil and soy sauce and puree until mostly smooth (a few pieces of bean are okay, but they should be no bigger than a pea.)
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, herbs and spices. Make a well in the center and add the bean mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture starts coming together to form a ball of dough. Knead until everything is well incorporated.
Now we’re going to roll out the seitan and form the roast. Place two pieces of tin foil (about 18 inches long) horizontally in front of you. The sheet further from you should overlap the closer sheet by about 6 inches. This way you have enough foil to wrap around the whole roast.
On a separate surface, use your hands or a rolling pin to flatten the seitan into a roughly 12 x 10 rectangle. If any pieces rip, don’t worry about it, just use a pinch of dough from the ends to repair any holes.
Place the filling in the lower 1/3 of the seitan rectangle, leaving about 2 inches of space at both ends. Make sure the filling is compact, use your hands to form it into a nice, tight bundle.
Now roll! Roll the bottom part of the seitan up and over the filling. Keep rolling until in it’s in a log shape. Now pinch together the seam and pinch together the sides to seal. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it will snap into shape when baking.
Place the roll in the center of the tinfoil and roll up like a tootsie roll, making sure the ends are tightly wrapped. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for an hour*. Rotate the roll every 20 minutes for even cooking.
* I may update the time in this recipe because I’ve gotten a few comments that said it took up to 90 minutes to cook completely! So for now I would say just do a test my poking the roll with tongs. It should feel very very firm. If it doesn’t, then bake further.
Remove from oven and let cool. Unwrap, slice and serve! (See recipe notes for keeping moist and reheating.)
i’m just beginning my foray into making seitan (really tired of paying so much for field roast products, even though they are darn tasty).. i tried this recipe the other night, with some changes–instead of pinto beans, i used lentils, i didn’t do the stuffing, and i flavored it with sage and pepper.. but the real question i have is about the cooking method.. since it was kinda late and my partner and i were hungry, i didn’t want to put the whole roast in the oven for an hour. i thought it would be quicker (and an interesting experiment) to try to roast half of it, and then put the other half in foil and simmer it in broth. unexpectedly, the oven roasted half turned out great, albeit a bit dry. the stovetop one? never cooked thru. never! i took it off the stove after 45 minutes, with 15 minutes resting in the warm broth and it was mush. i put it back for awhile. mush. i took it out of the foil and simmered it directly in the broth. mush. i put it in the fridge, cut off chunks and fried them. mush. i’ve now got what’s left in the over, but i’m curious what you think might have happened!?!
does any one have any thoughts on how to turn this into a wellington type dish? like wrapping pastry around it? I can’t decide if I should steam the seitan a bit and then bake it with the pastry around it or what… ANY THOUGHTS???
Would this be okay to make in advance and freeze…then thaw and cook on the day?
I guess you gave us, Brazilian vegetarian people, something that was really missing – a beautiful centerpiece dish, to replace meat dishes that receive all the attention on parties and celebrations. At least, for my part, this will help me to continue fighting against animals slaughter. Your recipe will be seat in the center of the table on my Christmas Lunch to the wonder of non-vegetarian eyes. A big hug to you , and , in behalf of all animals, thank you for your mental, emotional and physical work,.
This was surprisingly delicious! After taking it out unsure if it was done after 60 minutes, I realized when I tried to cut it and it was the texture of rubber that it was in fact NOT done cooking. I threw it in the oven for another 30 minutes and it was perfect! Sliced up the leftovers thin and put it in sandwiches. Yum!
My very first attempt with vital wheat gluten, so quite an ambitious and nervewrecking attempt at an early Christmas dinner… :o) It was perfect! Thank you!
I just made this for Christmas. It is easy to make and tastes as good as it looks. which is very good indeed!
just took this out of the oven, in preparation for tomorrow. very excited to have such a gorgeous roast for my gringo dinner here in mexico city! thanks!
I’ve made this several times now, sometimes with different beans, depending on what I have on hand, but it always turns out great! This is our new holiday feast standard! I vary the stuffing depending on what I have on hand from my csa, I receiveda a huge bunch of summer savory this week, so i played with the herbs a little, but what a fantastic recipe to keep that holiday flavor we expect…. Awesome!
I made this for Christmas a few weeks ago and it was amazing. Carnivores loved it too. Thanks!
I made 5 recipes of this throughout the holiday, everyone who tried it loved it (most of the feast-ers were omnivores too). I cut down significantly on the amount of shittake mushrooms I used in some of my roasts and they still turned out good. This recipe is a little time consuming but absolutely worth it! Thank you!
my seitan was having no part of getting thinner than, say, 3/4″
12X10 not an option, it just shrank back up. suggestions?
I’m trying to veganize the folks in my office…they have lunches every friday, and those are mostly CARNIVOROUS, so i’m going to WOW them with this, and see if i can get a few people THINKING!
Thanks so much– i was on the verge of trying to figure out how to do this myself, and i had a thought about agar agar… but let’s not go there, and just say we did.
Hi, all right brother there are obviously various blogging web pages Seitan Roast Stuffed With Shiitakes And Leeks | Post Punk Kitchen | Vegan Baking & Vegan Cooking, however I advise you to use Google free of charge blogging services.
Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!! Like you, I have beaten my head against the wall trying to achieve the perfect seitan roast! This looks pretty dang close and I can’t wait to try!!
good
This was delicious! I made it exactly as Isa wrote, accompanied by a variation of her Savory Mushroom Gravy.
The next time I make it, I may:
1. Cut back on the fennel a bit. It seemed a little strong in comparison to the other flavors.
2. Halve the leek stuffing and mix it with more typical stuffing.
I made this again, this time skipping fennel entirely and stuffing it with a store-bought herb stuffing. The changes suit our tastes better. Also I already had black beans defrosted, so I used those instead of pintos. The color of the roast was different, but this wasn’t a problem.
hi i just wanted to notify you that your the first pic of this recipe is another website (im assuming taken from your page without consent because they do that constantly here is the URL
http://malikimran.likes.com/15-best-vegetarian-main-dishes?pid=64213&utm_source=mylikes&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ml&utm_term=27744116
This roast is a thing of beauty! We all loved it!
could I steam these like the ‘sausages’? I don’t have an oven.
Is there a gravy recipe I missed?
Steam it first.. then it won’t take so long to cook, nor will it come out dry..
Too bad it is full of gluten. Any suggestion for substituting something for the vital wheat gluten? Probably can just leave the 1/4 C bread crumbs out.
This looks gorgeous and i’m thinking about making it this year but ever since i started making chickpea cutlets it’s hard to even consider making something else. Do you think the pintos could be replaced with chickpeas in the roast? I tend to prefer the flavor of chickpeas.
Has anyone had any luck with changing out the beans?
I made this tonight, and after 90 minutes it’s still quite soft in the center. I’m putting it back in the oven for another 20 minutes in hopes of it changing. But not too optimistic! I followed the recipe to a T and used Bob’s Red Mill vital wheat gluten. Who knows….
HELP! I need to make a ‘roast’, but I don’t have an oven. So, I boil the roast, which tastes great, but I also don’t have cheesecloth to keep it together (I live in Seoul). Last time I made this I kneaded it until it got elastic, and I got it smooth on top, but the bottom was u.g.l.y. Any tips??
Thanks!
I’ve made this several times and this is delicious.
I made this today for Thanksvegan Day Dinner, and here is my review. I have 2 major points to cover:
1. Problems: I was cooking in a kitchen not my own, and without all of my tools, i.e. I did not have my food processor. Also, I forgot to add my broth/boulion mixture (all-season blend from the uncheese cookbook), and only added plain water instead.
2. Successes: I only had one T of Soy sauce, so used accidentally vegan Terriyaki sauce found in Mom’s fridge instead. It’s pretty concentrated, so It may have helped compensate for the lack in flavor caused by my forgetting to seasoning in the roast.
I cooked it too long, it was kind of dry, but I had a batch of homemade cream of mushroom soup that I used for gravy; the texture of the roast was lovely, and I totally enjoyed it. 🙂
Next time I a. add the broth powder, b. don’t cook it as long (I went the hour, I know we’re all havign mixed results with the timing, I suspect it varies according to your particular circumstance/ingredients), and c. use the stuffing part as in the recipe (my stuffing was ok, but not awesome.
Two big thumbs up for this recipe. When I put it in the oven I turned to my family, put my both arms in the air football-fereree-field-goal-complete style, and shouted “MY ROAST IS IN THE OVEN.”
Good times 🙂 Thanks for yet another amazing recipe, Isa. I did it all wrong and STILL it turned out great. I’m calling it MAGIC. Good, old-fashioned Vegan Magic.
xoxoxox Melissa
To an earlier question about subbing different beans, I used Cannelini, and it worked out just fine. I like the tip about steaming, I think I’ll steam it to re=heat, will help to re-moisten it since mine came out rather dry.
For those with no oven, I think steaming will be fine (ala the original sausage recipe), and if you can bake/roast/broil for a few minute to brown it that will be nice, but you can live without it.
This will be awesome in my leftovers sammiches for the next few days. I’m happy with it on all levels.
Looks very yummy. Not so sure I can get the recipe right though. lol
Thanks! You saved Thanksgiving in a town where I can’t get the vegetarian “turk’y” loaf I like.
Sorry, it looks delish, but I prefer Turkey, Ham, or blood rare roast beef or fillet.
Just popped this out of the oven and I am so impressed! It is delicious! I switched out the dressing for a modern vegan version of a family classic. This is definitely something I can bring to Christmas dinner and share with my omni family. I went veggie last year just four days before Christmas and it is so much better that the veggie nuggets and faux meat I used to survive the abrupt and unprepared for transition. I love seitan, and have also made a batch of your italian sausages to freeze and store for quick pasta meals…An honest thanks for all the great recipes I’ve tried and loved from PPK.
love the recipe going to try but what did you use for gravy?
this has definitely become one of my favorites -thanx isa….
I found that cooking it for 45 min on one side, then turning it to cook the other side for another 45 minutes really worked out best. I served it with the Chickpea Gravy from “Vegan with a Vengeance”. SO GOOD!
I’m planning to make this for Christmas dinner this year! I’m going to stuff it with regular Sage & onion stuffing! Can’t wait!
I made it for Thanksgiving this year and it was fantastic. Great recipe!
Hi there – just made your loaf and looks delicious. I have made it for Christmas day and called it a vegan *turkey* roll. Tried a little bit and tastes wonderful. Am going to freeze it and reheat on Christmas day and will make some vegan gravy to go with it as well. Have you got a good vegan gravy recipe at all?
Absolutely the best seitan roast I have ever made! Thanks! I now have a go-to recipe for a “big/fancy” meal.
If you have a Tops supermarket in your area, try their own brand of mushroom gravy. It is the best I have ever had. You will not be disappointed.
This can easily be turned into a vegetarian gyro meat roast. I removed the stuffing, used mixed pinto and navy beans, and substituted marjoram, rosemary, thyme and oregano for the spices listed here. Cook the same and use a serrated blade to cut strips from the outside and saute in a pan. Amazing!
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