Rich, tender, and meaty, this Vegan Corned Beef is delicious for dinner, sandwiches and more. Packed with a whopping 25g of protein per serving, this vegan meat alternative is low in fat, contains zero cholesterol, and is incredibly flavorful and satisfying.
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Hey Internet, I’m super excited to share with you my vegan corned beef recipe. This is another seitan recipe, much like my vegan Philly cheesesteaks and seitan turkey.
I experimented with this recipe QUITE a bit while working on my Plant-Based Jewish Recipes e-book, and it’s also the base of my vegan pastrami recipe. The pastrami uses this recipe, but takes it a bit further to get that classic tangy pastrami taste.
Anyway, back to this vegan corned beef. I tested this recipe many different times, working to perfect that crust that you’ll find with corned beef. I also wanted the slices to be super tender, flavorful, and--sorry if you hate this word--moist.
I finally settled on a spice blend and set to work on making this one of the best vegan meat replacements I had ever tasted, and let me tell you: it delivers.
My husband, who went vegan with me a few years ago, often requests me to veganize things he misses. But corned beef (and pastrami) were things we both missed.
I grew up enjoying corned beef at many of the Jewish parties I attended with my mom’s side of the family--lots of extended family so lots of events! My parents often made us sandwiches with it for road trips and picnics.
So it was always on my list to try, and writing my recipe book gave me the perfect impetus to finally do it.
This seitan corned beef is actually very easy to make and highly delicious, so keep reading to find out what you need to buy or might already have on hand!
What You’ll Need
The main component of the seitan is vital wheat gluten. This is flour that has been stripped down to the protein of the wheat. It’s what makes this recipe so high in, you guessed it, protein!
Once mixed with liquid and the other things in this recipe, the vital wheat gluten will form a dough. This is not a dough we knead--actually, the less we touch it the better.
Overworked seitan is rubbery and gross. Let’s not do that.
Unfortunately this recipe is not gluten-free and I do not have a substitute for the vital wheat gluten.
Standard seitan is ALMOST a complete protein, but it’s missing one of the essential amino acids: lysine.
To add lysine to make seitan a complete protein AND to add more of a tender, meaty texture, I like to blend my seitan with beans.
For this corned beef seitan recipe, I used black beans (but any would work), mostly for color, but also for nutrients! Black beans are very high in antioxidants. Kidney beans would also work well in this recipe.
To really make it taste like beef, I highly recommend you use a vegan beef broth. My favorite is Better Than Bouillon Vegan Beef Base--which you just mix with hot water.
The Better Than Bouillon brand is much more economical than prepared broth, has better flavor in my personal opinion, and lasts forever in the fridge.
However, vegan beef bouillon cubes or prepared vegan beef broth will also work.
If you cannot find any of these, just use vegetable broth but you’ll need to go heavier on the other spices--you’ll need to add salt too. I recommend adding a bit of soy sauce for flavor if you use the vegetable broth.
To get that real corned beef tang, I recommend something a little strange: pitted kalamata olives and their brine. This does NOT make the seitan taste like olives, but rather just gives it an extra kick of flavor.
The fat in the olives also helps the texture and mouthfeel of the seitan. Don’t worry, the food processor will blend up the olives so your seitan won’t be chunky.
Maple syrup adds a much needed sweetness to the seitan. Don’t get me wrong; the seitan does not taste sweet. It just balances out the other flavors to compose a beautifully flavored mock meat.
So as far as spices, I used a combination of smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and ground mustard. Like I said, tangy.
I actually order all my spices from The Spice House. You can get your spices cheaper if you order a flat pack (cheaper to ship as well) and refill your existing spice jars. Here’s a link for a discount with The Spice House
For the Spice Rub
The spice rub is completely necessary if you want your vegan corned beef to have that signature rind. Don’t worry, it’s fast and easy to throw together.
There’s more smoked paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder in this rub (taking note from what you added into the seitan itself, but the rub also calls for a few other ingredients.
Coriander, sea salt, brown sugar (or coconut sugar, but the texture of brown sugar is better), and a pinch of espresso powder (coffee grounds also work) do a great job of flavoring this rub.
The espresso powder isn’t enough to get you hyped on caffeine (so don’t worry if you’re feeding this to kids, we’re talking half a teaspoon for the entire recipe), but it adds a richness and an incredibly slight bitterness that the corned beef begs for.
It’s actually common among meat eaters to add coffee grounds to beef rubs, so why can’t I use it for my seitan?
Tips for Making the Perfect Vegan Corned Beef
There’s a few steps to making this seitan, but I wouldn’t call it difficult. Don’t worry, I’m going to break it all down into a few easy steps for you.
A lot of the time required is cook time--and most of it you don’t need to babysit the pan so you can go do other things while it’s doing IT’S thing. Sorry, I had to.
Making the Dough
- Add beans, maple syrup, pitted olives and brine, spices, and broth to your food processor and blend until mostly smooth. Some black specs of the bean skin may remain and that’s OK.
- Now add the vital wheat gluten and pulse until mostly combined. It may still be a little powdery. We’ll fix that.
- Add the dough to a medium bowl. You should be able to pick it up.
- Press it into one lump that kind of looks like meat. If it looks a little powdery still, wet your hands and smooth the areas. Don’t knead the dough.
Steaming the Seitan
An Instant Pot is NOT required for the first half of the cooking process--you can steam it on your stovetop, but an Instant Pot saves time and having to babysit the pot.
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Place the Instant Pot steaming basket in the pot and add 1 cup of water.
- Add the seitan to the basket, close the lid, set the pressure valve to “sealing” and cook on high pressure or manual for 45 minutes.
- After the cooking is done, let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes, then carefully switch the pressure valve to venting and release the remaining pressure, which shouldn’t be very much.
- Preheat your oven to 400° Fahrenheit (or 205° Celsius) and skip to the next section.
Stovetop Instructions:
- If you do not have an electric pressure cooker, you can easily make this on the stovetop.
- Grab a large pot with a large steaming basket and a lid. Add 2 inches of water to the pot, then insert the steaming basket.
- Place the seitan into the basket, add a lid to the pot, and steam it on high for about 1 hour, 15 minutes.
- When it’s done, preheat your oven to 400° Fahrenheit (or 205° Celsius) and skip to the next section.
Adding the Spice Rub and Baking
- Let the steamed seitan rest for 10 minutes after removing it from heat.
- Mix together the rub ingredients in a small bowl while you wait.
- Then place the seitan in a large bowl or on a large plate. If the seitan is dry now, get a little water on your hands and pat it all over (or use a spray bottle) to moisten the surface.
- Add the spice rub using a spoon and your hands, crusting the entire hunk, even the bottom, lightly pressing the rub into the seitan. You may have leftover spice rub--we’ll use it in the simmering liquid (if you’re making pastrami).
- Place in a deep baking dish with a cover (you can use a covered baker, a dutch oven, or cover a dish or pan with aluminum foil, though the rub may stick if you do this, so I’d spray the inside of the foil with an oil spray if you don’t have a lid).
- Bake for 15 minutes, covered, then remove the cover and bake for 10-15 more minutes until the outer layer has become hard, like a crust.
- Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10-15 minutes before carving. I recommend a serrated blade, sawing through the vegan corned beef instead of just pushing your knife down, which can “mush” it.
- You’re done! Serve it up and enjoy.
- Store leftover seitan in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you’re making pastrami, head on over to my vegan pastrami recipe for the last step (not too much longer, I promise!).
More Seitan Recipes
I’m really enjoying making seitan. It’s fun to see what I can come up with, and that high protein, delicious meals don’t need to contain animal products.
Here’s a few awesome seitan recipes I’m loving right now:
- Vegan Philly Cheesesteaks (these happen to be the most popular recipe on my blog!)
- Vegan Drumsticks
- Seitan Chicken Nuggets
- Vegan Schnitzel
- Seitan Turkey
- Vegan Pastrami
- Vegan Gyros
- Instant Pot Seitan (the basic beefy recipe for any application)
Anything Else?
As always, I hope you love this recipe–I know I do, and Mr. Zardyplants does too. I definitely got the coveted reaction from him when he first tried it: eyes closed and “Mmmmpppphhhh” while chewing. I just love that.
This vegan corned beef is:
- Tender
- Juicy
- Moist (sorry)
- Chewy
- Meaty (but without the cruelty!)
- Satisfying
- And perfect for a satisfying lunch, family dinner, or even just high protein vegan meal prep!
Let me know in the comments below if you make this recipe or tag me @Zardyplants on Instagram so I can see your beautiful recreations! If you tag me on IG, I will share your post in my stories :)
Also, one quick request: if you love how this recipe looks or tastes, please leave me a 5-star rating and a nice comment–ratings help more people find my recipes which helps me keep providing them! Thank you!
<3 Liz
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Vegan Corned Beef
- Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 cups 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Rich, tender, and meaty, this Vegan Corned Beef is delicious for dinner, sandwiches and more. Packed with a whopping 25g of protein.
Ingredients
Seitan base
- 1-15 oz can (or 1 ½ cups) cooked black or kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- ¾ cup hot water
- 2 tsp Better Than Bouillon Vegan BEEF Base (see note 3)
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ⅔ cup pitted kalamata olives
- ⅔ cup brine from the kalamata olives jar (this is key for that briney tang)
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp ground mustard
- 3 cups vital wheat gluten
Rub
- ¼ cup coconut or organic brown sugar
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp each coriander and ground mustard
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp espresso powder or 1 teaspoon ground coffee (such a good addition!)
- 1 tbsp freshly cracked black pepper IF you’re making pastrami. I’d leave it out for corned beef.
Instructions
- Mix the seitan: Add beans, maple syrup, pitted olives and brine, spices, and broth to your food processor and blend until mostly smooth. Some black specs of the bean skin may remain and that’s OK. Now add the vital wheat gluten and pulse until mostly combined. It may still be a little powdery. We’ll fix that. Add the dough to a medium bowl. You should be able to pick it up. Press it into one lump that kind of looks like meat. If it looks a little powdery still, wet your hands and smooth the areas. Don’t knead the dough.
- Option 1: Steam in the Instant Pot: Place the Instant Pot steaming basket in the pot and add 1 cup of water. Add the seitan to the basket, close the lid, set the pressure valve to “sealing” and cook on high pressure or manual for 45 minutes. After the cooking is done, let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes, then carefully switch the pressure valve to venting and release the remaining pressure, which shouldn’t be very much. Preheat your oven to 400° Fahrenheit (or 205° Celsius) and skip to the next section.
- Option 2: Steam on the stovetop: If you do not have an electric pressure cooker, you can easily make this on the stovetop. Grab a large pot with a large steaming basket and a lid. Add 2 inches of water to the pot, then insert the steaming basket. Place the seitan into the basket, add a lid to the pot, and steam it on high for about 1 hour, 15 minutes. When it’s done, preheat your oven to 400° Fahrenheit (or 205° Celsius) and skip to the next section.
- Rest: Let the steamed seitan rest for 10 minutes after removing it from heat. Mix together the rub ingredients in a small bowl while you wait.
- Add the spice rub: Place the seitan in a large bowl or on a large plate. If the seitan is dry now, get a little water on your hands and pat it all over (or use a spray bottle) to moisten the surface. Add the spice rub using a spoon and your hands, crusting the entire hunk, even the bottom, lightly pressing the rub into the seitan. You may have leftover spice rub--we’ll use it in the simmering liquid (if you’re making pastrami).
- Bake: Place in a deep baking dish with a cover (you can use a covered baker, a dutch oven, or cover a dish or pan with aluminum foil, though the rub may stick if you do this, so I’d spray the inside of the foil with an oil spray if you don’t have a lid). Bake for 15 minutes, covered, then remove the cover and bake for 10-15 more minutes until the outer layer has become hard, like a crust. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10-15 minutes before carving. I recommend a serrated blade, sawing through the vegan corned beef instead of just pushing your knife down, which can “mush” it.
- Serve: Serve this delicious vegan corned beef with anything you like--I like to do roasted brussels sprouts and baby potatoes on the side.
- Store: Store leftover seitan in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you’re making pastrami, head on over to my vegan pastrami recipe for the last step (not too much longer, I promise!).
Notes
- Note 1: If you’d like to make a reuben, head to my vegan pastrami and simmer the seitan in a special briney sauce. It’s AWESOME--not that I’m biased, no that would be wrong.
- Note 2: An Instant Pot is NOT required for the first half of the cooking process--you can steam it on your stovetop, but an Instant Pot saves time and having to babysit the pot.
- Note 3: To really make it taste like beef, I highly recommend you use a vegan beef broth. My favorite is Better Than Bouillon Vegan Beef Base--which you just mix with hot water. The Better Than Bouillon brand is much more economical than prepared broth, has better flavor in my personal opinion, and lasts forever in the fridge. However, vegan beef bouillon cubes or prepared vegan beef broth will also work. If you cannot find any of these, just use vegetable broth but you’ll need to go heavier on the other spices--you’ll need to add salt too. I recommend adding a bit of soy sauce for flavor if you use the vegetable broth.
- Note 4: Friendly tip: I order all my spices from The Spice House. You can get your spices cheaper if you order a flat pack (cheaper to ship as well) and refill your existing spice jars. Here’s a link for a discount with The Spice House
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes
- Category: Entree
- Method: Pressure Cooker, Stove Top
- Cuisine: American, Jewish
Keywords: Vegan, Oil-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free, Vegan Corned Beef
Naomi
I'm in the middle of making this so reply will probably come after I've made a judgment call.... :), but if I'm using veggie broth and upping the spices, does the broth replace the water? I'm guessing the hot water goes with the bouillon which I'm not using. Thanks.
💚 Liz
Yes it does replace it!
Naomi
Well, I made it and my husband LOVED IT!!! Swooned over it. He was so excited! I did use veg broth in place of the bouillon and doubled the spices. Now that I've made it, the next time will go much quicker. Really is a simple recipe. Thanks so much.
★★★★★
Richard
This is so tasty and it makes so much! Your instructions say it keeps in the fridge for 5 days, can this be frozen? Or would that mess up the texture?
Thanks so much!
💚 Liz
Yes! Freeze it by tightly sealing it in a freeze safe container. You could also opt to freeze it in the broth.
Jodi
Super easy to make and I loved taking it to the next level with the pastrami instructions. I loved the addition of the olives and olive brine, superb!!
★★★★★
Jen
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. It was fairly easy and really delicious.
★★★★★
christina
This was pretty good, but mine came out dry and tasted strongly of olives. Aside from being dry, the texture itself was great and I would definitely do the steaming in the IP in the future. I'd also never made seitan in the food processor before, and that made it REALLY easy so I'd certainly do that again too! I did add a little bit of olive oil to my dough because it seemed dry and in the past I'd added some fat to my seitan. Don't know what kind of difference that made.
I may try and make pastrami out of the leftovers and I think they'll be great on sandwiches.
Thanks!
★★★★
Nicole
This was delicious! It was the first seitan recipe I’ve made where the consistency was perfect; not too dry or too crumbly. Plus I loved that I could use the IP which made it a very easy recipe. I didn’t have olives, but subbed capers and some pickle brine which helped with the briney flavor. I served it with roasted cabbage for St. Patty’s day. Will definitely be making this again soon. Thank you!
★★★★★
Michael
Definitely my favorite seitan recipe I've tried to date! The flavor was very nice, though it was a tad bit sweet for my preferences. The texture after roasting was wonderfully moist and chewy and the beans made for an appetizingly speckled cross-section when cut. I would recommend letting it cool down for longer if you plan to cut it very thin. Looking forward to making this again!
★★★★★
Ankita
Thank you both of you for such a fantastic recipe! It was our first time trying out making sriram recipe at home and as soon as I saw your recipe online, I wasn’t overwhelmed with the ingredients list! Loved how simple yet great this recipe is. Definitely going to be making more vegan meats at home. I just love vegan cold cuts and now with having experimented it making at home, surely gonna be a repeat at our house!!
★★★★★
Debi from Michigan
Is it possible to make this recipe gluten free by using something like garbanzo bean flour or something other than vital wheat gluten?
💚 Liz
Unfortunately, no.
matty
excited to try! if I'm halving the recipe (i'm the only vegetarian in the house, lol) would any of the cooking times be adjusted?
💚 Liz
Try reducing the time by 1/3!
Tomate
Hi, this is probably a silly question but do you wrap the corned beef in foil before putting it in the steamer? I'm making this today for my mom and I want to make sure. It looks fantastic!
💚 Liz
Hi! As long as your steamer has a lid, you don’t need any foil. Hope your mom loves it!
Tomate
Thank you for your help and for this recipe! Mom loves it!
★★★★★
Vahram
Hi,
A Reuben sandwich is something I really miss since going vegan 8 years ago, so I am really looking forward to trying your recipe!
Whenever I have made seitan before, it was always wrapped tightly in foil when being steamed. I just wanted to confirm that you are steaming it without any wrapping.
Also, could I use a deli slicer instead of slicing with a knife ?
Thank you.