This easy Vegan Philly Cheesesteak is incredibly delicious and makes a fun lunch or dinner to share—or not! Packed with a realistic but healthy homemade meat alternative, caramelized onions, and smothered in homemade melty, gooey vegan cheese in a hoagie roll, this is a truly satisfying vegan sandwich recipe.
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Hey Internet, I LOVE seitan, and I decided to give you an incredible vegan sandwich recipe today! This awesomely delicious vegan Philly cheesesteak recipe features my homemade Instant Pot seitan beef, though don't worry, you can still make it on the stovetop if you don't have a pressure cooker.
I really have a lot of fun making seitan. It's definitely the highest protein option out of all the vegan meat recipes on my site. Try my vegan steak, vegan ham, vegan turkey, vegan pepperoni, vegan salami, vegan schnitzel, seitan chicken, and more.
Today we're taking seitan to a whole new level and making it into a satisfying seitan sandwich: The Vegan Philly Cheesesteak! This is a REALLY good sandwich.
Disclaimer: I am not from Philadelphia. I've only been there once for a journalism conference during graduate school. My point with that statement is to say that this is probably not a super authentic Philly cheesesteak recipe. It is, however, super delicious, super easy, and definitely super vegan.
I also used my 6-minute melty vegan mozzarella but made a simple change to the spices and presto! It tastes like provolone cheese! I'll make sure you know about that tip in this recipe. But you can also use any cheese you like, of course.
These vegan sandwiches are also loaded with caramelized onions, mushrooms, and optional peppers (kind of a divisive addition!), which adds flavor, texture, and nutrition!
This vegan cheesesteak recipe is the real deal—it's the perfect vegan sandwich to serve at a watch party, game day, movie night, or really to any hungry vegans who want a great meal. I've gotten feedback that even omnivorous eaters enjoy this recipe!
Why You'll Love This Vegan Philly Cheesesteak
- Loaded With Protein: This amazing vegan sandwich recipe is packed with quality plant-based protein, which is great if you're looking to increase your protein intake. One sandwich has just shy of 50 grams of protein! You won't be left hungry with this satisfying vegan sandwich.
- Great for Company: These delicious vegan Philly cheesesteaks are a total crowd-pleaser! From the meaty vegan beef strips to the melty and gooey cheese to the caramelized onions, mushrooms, and optional peppers, there's a lot to love about this loaded seitan sandwich.
- Prep in Advance: It seems like maybe a lot of steps with making your own seitan, but the good news is you can prep it in advance! It'll last 5 days in the fridge or you can freeze it for up to 3 months.
- Easy to Assemble: When it comes time to assemble the sandwiches, it's really easy! Simply sauté up your veggies, heat up your seitan pieces, and make the cheese (only 6 minutes, I swear!). You can grill your cut hoagie rolls in a sauté pan with vegan butter if you want too!
Ingredients
Grab these simple ingredients the next you’re at the supermarket. See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full ingredients, instructions, and accurate nutritional information (to the best of my ability; please consult your physician or healthcare professional if you have specific dietary needs). I give substitutions for some of the main ingredients in the next section, so most people can still make this recipe!
- 1 Batch ZardyPlants Beef Seitan: My homemade Instant Pot seitan (you can do it stovetop too) is a fantastic meat substitute and really mimics the flavor and texture of the meat in a classic Philly cheesesteak. There are alternatives, though, so check the next section if that applies to you.
- ¼ Cup Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce: Add extra flavor and moisture to your carved up seitan.
- 2 Medium White Onions: This is to make the caramelized onions, which I highly recommend you do not skip!
- 2 Green Bell Peppers, Optional: Some people are absolutely pro sautéed peppers on their vegan Philly cheesesteak sandwiches and I am one of them. If you are not, skip it! I've seen arguments even in regards to traditional cheesesteak sandwiches, so it's really a personal decision.
- 16 Ounces White Button Mushrooms, Optional: Not everyone loves mushrooms so you can leave this part out if you like.
- 1 Batch ZardyPlants Vegan Provolone: Since it's so delicious AND quick to make, I highly recommend using my homemade vegan cheese sauce. Just make my homemade vegan mozzarella sauce and all you have to do to make it taste like provolone is omit the onion powder and increase the garlic powder to a full tablespoon.
- 6 Sub Rolls / Hoagie Buns: I got my incredible hoagie rolls from a local Italian grocery store that bakes their own (I verified they were vegan!).
Substitutions
- ZardyPlants Beef Seitan: If you don't want to make your own seitan, I'd recommend at least 2 pounds of store prepared seitan. You could also try Impossible Meat, Beyond Steak, soy curls, tofu, or even just chickpeas, and all of these could be good options if you're gluten-free (you'll need a gluten-free bun or a lettuce wrap too). Keep in mind though, those store bought dudes won't have the same flavoring, so add some low sodium soy sauce or liquid aminos or vegan Worcestershire sauce, thyme, smoked paprika, like a quarter to a half teaspoon salt, nutritional yeast, and black pepper or crushed red pepper flakes (if desired).
- Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce: You can use regular soy sauce (or aminos, but I don't recommend coconut aminos as they're too sweet) or just a little vegetable broth and a pinch of salt if you need to.
- White Onions: You can use sweet onions, white onions, yellow onions, or red onions here.
- Green Bell Peppers, Optional: You can use red bell peppers (or orange or yellow) if you hate green bell pepper specifically, or you can leave them out.
- White Button Mushrooms, Optional: Any other mushrooms will work, such as Baby Bella mushrooms, portobello mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, etc.
- ZardyPlants Vegan Provolone: You can also use any prepared vegan cheese you like—Field Roast Chao might be pretty dang good in this, but I'm OBSESSED with my provolone concoction. Not that I'm biased, no, that would be wrong.
- Sub Rolls / Hoagie Buns: Use any long rolls, buns, cut French bread, lettuce wraps, or whatever you want.
How to Make Vegan Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches
- Tip on timing: If you are making my easy Instant Pot seitan recipe, I like to start the veggies and cheese while the pressure is releasing naturally from the pressure cooker (or if steaming on the stove top, during the last 10 minutes of the cooking process).
- Start the onions: Start onions cooking in a large pan or large skillet over medium-high heat. You know the drill with me, I cook without oil so I just add a splash of water when things start to stick, just to deglaze the pan. If you use olive oil or vegetable oil or whatever, you can start with a splash of that.
- Add peppers and mushrooms, if using: After the onions have become fairly translucent, add the peppers and mushrooms. Let those cook down for about 10 minutes and turn down the heat to medium. Add 2 tablespoons of reduced sodium soy sauce during the cooking process. There shouldn't be any need to add anymore liquid as the mushrooms release some of their own.
- Rest the seitan: Whenever the seitan is done, it needs to be rested for 10 minutes. Just tastes better and juicier that way!
- Finish the veggies: Continue to cook the veggies if you like, over medium low heat. Remove from heat when you're satisfied.
- Cook the vegan cheese: If you haven't made my vegan provolone yet, you can quickly blend up the ingredients (remember to omit the onion powder and increase the garlic powder to a full tablespoon for more provolone flavor) and cook it for a few minutes in a small pot (this is what makes the cheese become stretchy). You could also just add slices or shreds of vegan cheese to the pan in step 9 and the filling will be ready when the cheese melts.
- Toast the bread: Heat a grill pan or a large skillet over medium heat and add a bit of vegan butter. Once it melts, grill the cut sides of your bread until desired level of golden brown.
- Carve the seitan: After the seitan has rested enough, slice it into quarter inch thick slices and cut those pieces in half lengthwise.
- Flavor the seitan pieces: Throw all this delicious stuff in the pan with the veggies over medium heat and toss in the other 2 tablespoons of reduced sodium soy sauce or liquid aminos.
- Assemble vegan Philly cheesesteak sandwiches: Add a couple scoops of seitan, sauteed onions + veg to your toasted roll, then add a healthy dollop of the cooked melted cheese or a couple slices of store bought if that's how you roll. Then add some more seitan and veggies. Finally, make your best attempt to close it up, grab a napkin, and enjoy!
- Note on leftovers: Only make as many sandwiches as you'd like to eat—this will keep the bread from getting tough in the fridge. Once it's cooled to room temperature, refrigerate leftover seitan and veg separately from leftover cheese. Both will keep in a sealed container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Leftover seitan can be frozen for up to 3 months in a freezer-safe air-tight container.
Expert Tips
- Vegetarian Philly Cheesesteak: If you are vegetarian, you can use whatever type of cheese you want. Since I make my own vegan provolone style sauce, you might want to use provolone on your vegetarian cheesesteak.
- Substitutions: If you don't want to make your own seitan or cheese, there's a whole Substitutions section above which gives you great options for store bought replacements. But for the best vegan Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, I recommend trying my recipes at least once!
- Make Ahead: You can make the Instant Pot seitan (stovetop or pressure cooker) up to 5 days ahead of time (the sooner the better, though, for the best flavor). Actually, seitan freezes really well, so you could make the seitan log, freeze it, and then defrost and carve when you're ready. Then you'd just cook it up when the instructions say to add the carved seitan and don't skip the soy sauce to make it juicy again. You can also make the cheese in advance, though it tends to firm up a little in the fridge, so you might need to revive it with a splash of plant-based milk in a pot over low heat on the stove.
Gluten-Free Option: You'll need to check the Substitutions section above for gluten-free meat options, such as a GF store bought meat alternative like soy curls. When flavoring it, use a gluten-free tamari, and don't forget you'll need a gluten-free bun, sub roll, or lettuce wrap. I love butter lettuce or green leaf lettuce for lettuce wraps, but you might want to double layer since this is a pretty loaded vegan sandwich recipe.
Serving Suggestions
This vegan sandwich would go with just about anything. A classic pairing would be a side of French fries, chips, or maybe some onion rings (recipe coming soon!) would be nice.
Other serving options include air fryer Brussels sprouts or your favorite veggie. Try our roasted potatoes or boiled baby potatoes. Maybe a side salad like my vegan goat cheese salad with strawberries and pecans or vegan Italian salad for *balance!*
Storage Instructions
- Refrigerating: I recommend storing each component separately in airtight containers in the refrigerator. The cooked vegetables will be good for 1-2 days, while the seitan and cheese will be good for 5 days.
- Freezing: The seitan itself can be frozen in an airtight freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.
- Reheating: The veggies and seitan can be reheated in a large skillet over medium heat. You may want to add a splash of vegetable broth or soy sauce to revive the juiciness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Seitan is a high protein vegan meat alternative made using the protein of wheat—it is made by washing flour or blending pre-made vital wheat gluten, flavoring it, and cooking it until it resembles a certain type of meat (chicken, pork, beef, etc.).
Seitan is fairly healthy on its own, though it depends on what you do to it. If you fry it in a ton of oil, it's not as healthy as seitan that is steamed, baked, or otherwise cooked without oil. I make all my seitan with added beans for a full profile of amino acids. Seitan is one of the easiest ways to get protein as a vegan, and it's the most realistic meat replacement in plant-based takes on traditionally animal product-laden dishes.
While different sandwiches can be made of different things, this vegan Philly cheesesteak recipe includes homemade seitan beef, onions, peppers, mushrooms, homemade vegan cheese, and bread. Many vegan Philly cheesesteak recipes on the Internet use just mushrooms, which doesn't get you enough meatiness in my opinion, and also they're not high in protein. This particular vegan sandwich is loaded with nearly 50 grams of protein and it's super meaty yet still cruelty-free.
More Vegan Sandwich Recipes to Try
I LOVE making vegan sandwiches! It's such a fun and delicious way to make a satisfying meal. Here are some of my favorite vegan sandwich recipes:
- Vegan Lobster Roll
- Vegan Tuna Melt
- BLT Wraps with Soy Curl Bacon
- Vegan Chicken Salad Sandwich
- Vegan Honey Mustard Chicken Wraps
- BBQ Jackfruit Sandwich with Vegan Coleslaw
- Vegan Bacon Grilled Cheese
- Vegan Pinwheels
- Not sure I can call this a sandwich, but Vegan Sheet Pan Quesadilla
- Vegan Pastrami (this recipe is for the filling, but gives you instructions on how to make a vegan reuben!)
If you like this recipe, check out my list of 100 vegan meat recipes!
<3 Liz
Vegan Philly Cheesesteak
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 Sandwiches 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This easy Vegan Philly Cheesesteak is incredibly delicious and makes a fun lunch or dinner to share—or not! Packed with a realistic but healthy homemade meat alternative, caramelized onions, and smothered in homemade melty, gooey vegan cheese in a hoagie roll, this is a truly satisfying vegan sandwich recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 Batch ZardyPlants Beef Seitan (see note 1 for substitutions)
- ¼ cup Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce (see note 2)
- 2 Medium White Onions, sliced in ¼-inch thick half moons
- 2 Green Bell Peppers, optional
- 16 ounces White Button Mushrooms, optional (or any mushrooms, or omit)
- 1 Batch 6-minute ZardyPlants Vegan Provolone (see note 3)
Instructions
- Tip on timing: If you are making my easy Instant Pot seitan recipe, I like to start the veggies and cheese while the pressure is releasing naturally from the pressure cooker (or if steaming on the stove top, during the last 10 minutes of the cooking process).
- Start the onions: Start onions cooking in a large pan or large skillet over medium-high heat. You know the drill with me, I cook without oil so I just add a splash of water when things start to stick, just to deglaze the pan. If you use olive oil or vegetable oil or whatever, you can start with a splash of that.
- Add peppers and mushrooms, if using: After the onions have become fairly translucent, add the peppers and mushrooms. Let those cook down for about 10 minutes and turn down the heat to medium. Add 2 tablespoons of reduced sodium soy sauce during the cooking process. There shouldn't be any need to add anymore liquid as the mushrooms release some of their own.
- Rest the seitan: Whenever the seitan is done, it needs to be rested for 10 minutes. Just tastes better and juicier that way!
- Finish the veggies: Continue to cook the veggies if you like, over medium low heat. Remove from heat when you're satisfied.
- Cook the vegan cheese: If you haven't made my vegan provolone yet, you can quickly blend up the ingredients (remember to omit the onion powder and increase the garlic powder to a full tablespoon for more provolone flavor) and cook it for a few minutes in a small pot (this is what makes the cheese become stretchy). You could also just add slices or shreds of vegan cheese to the pan in step 9 and the filling will be ready when the cheese melts.
- Toast the bread: Heat a grill pan or a large skillet over medium heat and add a bit of vegan butter. Once it melts, grill the cut sides of your bread until desired level of golden brown.
- Carve the seitan: After the seitan has rested enough, slice it into quarter inch thick slices and cut those pieces in half lengthwise.
- Flavor the seitan pieces: Throw all this delicious stuff in the pan with the veggies over medium heat and toss in the other 2 tablespoons of reduced sodium soy sauce or liquid aminos.
- Assemble vegan Philly cheesesteak sandwiches: Add a couple scoops of seitan, sauteed onions + veg to your toasted roll, then add a healthy dollop of the cooked melted cheese or a couple slices of store bought if that's how you roll. Then add some more seitan and veggies. Finally, make your best attempt to close it up, grab a napkin, and enjoy!
- Note on leftovers: Only make as many sandwiches as you'd like to eat—this will keep the bread from getting tough in the fridge. Once it's cooled to room temperature, refrigerate leftover seitan and veg separately from leftover cheese. Both will keep in a sealed container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Leftover seitan can be frozen for up to 3 months in a freezer-safe air-tight container.
Notes
- Note 1: My homemade Instant Pot seitan (you can do it stovetop too) can be made in advance and is a fantastic meat substitute and really mimics the flavor and texture of the meat in a classic Philly cheesesteak. If you don't want to make your own seitan, I'd recommend at least 2 pounds of store prepared seitan. You could also try Impossible Meat, Beyond Steak, soy curls, tofu, or even just chickpeas, and all of these could be good options if you're gluten-free (you'll need a GF bun or a lettuce wrap too). Keep in mind though, those store bought dudes won't have the same flavoring, so add some low sodium soy sauce or vegan Worcestershire sauce, thyme, smoked paprika, like a quarter to a half teaspoon salt, nutritional yeast, and black pepper.
- Note 2: You can use regular soy sauce (or aminos, but I don't recommend coconut aminos as they're too sweet) or just a little vegetable broth and a pinch of salt if you need to.
- Note 3: Since it's so delicious AND quick to make, I highly recommend using my homemade vegan cheese sauce. Just make my homemade vegan mozzarella sauce and all you have to do to make it taste like provolone is omit the onion powder and increase the garlic powder to a full tablespoon. You can also use any prepared vegan cheese you like—Field Roast Chao might be pretty dang good in this, but I'm OBSESSED with my provolone concoction. Not that I'm biased, no, that would be wrong.
- Note 4: Make Ahead—You can make the Instant Pot seitan (stovetop or pressure cooker) up to 5 days ahead of time (the sooner the better, though, for the best flavor). Actually, seitan freezes really well, so you could make the seitan log, freeze it, and then defrost and carve when you're ready. Then you'd just cook it up when the instructions say to add the carved seitan and don't skip the soy sauce to make it juicy again. You can also make the cheese in advance, though it tends to firm up a little in the fridge, so you might need to revive it with a splash of plant-based milk in a pot over low heat on the stove.
- Note 5: Gluten-Free Option—You'll need to check the Substitutions section above for gluten-free meat options, such as a GF store bought meat alternative like soy curls. When flavoring it, use a gluten-free tamari, and don't forget you'll need a gluten-free bun or lettuce wrap. I love butter lettuce or green leaf lettuce for lettuce wraps, but you might want to double layer since this is a pretty loaded vegan sandwich recipe.
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Lunch, Entree, Sandwich
- Method: Pressure Cooker, Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Maggie
Made this today and it was so easy! I am super new at seitan so I was a little worried but the steps were so easy and it came out amazing. It was so good my husband ate 2 whole sandwiches for dinner!
Susan Kowalsky
Can't wait to try this! It looks and sounds amazing. Your photos are so appetizing!
Celeste Stoneman
Really luscious! Haven't had one of these since I was in college in Philly 30 years ago!
Tammy
These sandwiches turned out great! It was my first time making seitan and it was easy and delicious.
Carol K. Howell
Haven't had one of these since I was a freshman at Temple U. in Philly! Wonderful!
Bonnie Lyon
I love seitan but, I’m in a location I can’t get it . So to learn how to make it so that it tastes great and can be made simply in my instant pot is all mind blowing for me ! Cannot wait to try this for a versital meat ! Of course all thease other recipes zardyplants offers look amazing as well . You rock Liz !
Vee
This was so freaking good!
Nakita Martin
This was delightful. I did use store bought setain and vegan provolone. It was so good.
Alice
Hello! Thank you for the recipe, I’m excited to try but wanted to know if you can make this in the slow cooker.
Thanks in. advance!
💚 Liz
Hi Alice! I have not tried to make this recipe in a slow cooker. However, my fellow blogger and friend Vegan Yak Attack has a great slow cooker seitan recipe. I think if you took the ingredients from my recipe and modified it to work with their method, it should turn out great! You can find the recipe of theirs here: https://veganyackattack.com/2020/11/22/slow-cooker-seitan-roast/