Name: Vegan Philly Cheesesteak
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 batch Zardyplants seitan or store bought, see note 1; 1 batch Zardyplants provolone, see note 2; 2 medium white onions, sliced thinly; 2 green bell peppers, sliced thinly; 1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce, divided; Sub rolls or other bread/lettuce wraps

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This easy Vegan Philly Cheesesteak recipe is ridiculously delicious and makes a fun lunch or dinner to share — or not! Packed with melty, gooey vegan cheese, a realistic but healthy homemade meat substitute, and some yummy veggies, this is a truly satisfying seitan sandwich recipe.

Hey Internet, you know how I posted a seitan recipe last week? Well, it wasn’t just a one-off–I used it in this awesomely delicious vegan Philly cheesesteak!

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.

This recipe features my easy Instant Pot Seitan, though I do provide instructions in that recipe for how to make it on the stove top if you don’t have an Instant Pot (that said, I totally recommend them).

I also used my melty 6-minute vegan mozzarella but made a simple change to the spices and presto! It tastes like provolone!

I can’t wait to share this recipe with you all… so why wait? Here we go! (I did not just imitate Mario, I swear)

What You’ll Need

I kinda just gave it away, but you’ll need approximately one batch of my vegan instant pot seitan.

However, if you don’t have it or don’t want to make it, I’d recommend at least 2 pounds of store prepared seitan. You could also try soy curls, tofu, or even just chickpeas, but please don’t tell the Philadelphians.

Keep in mind though, those store bought dudes won’t have the same flavoring, so add some low sodium soy sauce or liquid aminos, thyme, smoked paprika, salt, and chili flakes (if desired).

You’ll need some veg. From what I gather, onions and green bell peppers seem to be the most popular choices.

Mushrooms are usually also good in this (I’ve read competing accounts of whether they’re authentic or not). Since they’re also meaty and super flavorful, I highly recommend you add them but feel free to omit if you’re not a mushroom fan.

I’d also highly recommend you slather this bad boy in vegan cheese–provolone, preferably. I mean, what would a vegan Philly cheesesteak recipe be without the cheese?!

What Vegan Cheese Should I Use?

When testing this I lamented over the fact that I didn’t yet have a provolone recipe for the blog.

I’m actually working on a super secret new cheese for the blog, however if I told you, well…. I just won’t tell you. Yet.

Anywho… I was just playing around so I decided to make my standard melty, stretchy, gooey vegan mozzarella but I was out of onion powder. On a whim I just added more garlic powder instead and LO AND BEHOLD… it tasted like 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.

Finally, I serve up these delectable and savory treats in whole wheat sub rolls from my local bakery, but you could use any bread you like.

If you’re not friends with carbs, try stuffing everything inside a pepper, or rolling it up in some lettuce. Still tasty!

Alright now that we know what we need, I think you know what comes next…

How to Make Vegan Philly Cheesesteaks

So these sandwiches come together pretty dang quickly after you’re finished making the instant pot seitan. If you are making my 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 onions sauteing in a pan. 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 oil, you can start with a splash of that.

After the onions have become fairly translucent, I add the peppers and mushrooms. Let those cook down a bit.

I add a splash of reduced sodium soy sauce (or Bragg’s liquid aminos* if avoiding soy) during the cooking process. There shouldn’t be any need to add anymore liquid as the mushrooms release some of their own.

Whenever the seitan is done, it needs to be rested for 10 minutes. Just tastes better and juicier that way! Continue to cook the veggies over medium heat. If you like them crunchier, turn off the heat for a bit.

Toast your bread if you want to.

After the seitan has rested enough, slice it into quarter inch thick slices and cut those pieces in half lengthwise. Throw all this delicious stuff in the pan with the veggies over medium heat and toss in a little extra reduced sodium soy sauce or liquid aminos.

Alright, time to assemble this deliciousness.

Add a couple scoops of seitan and veg to your sub roll, then add a healthy dollop of my vegan 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!

What to Serve with Vegan Philly Cheesesteak

Most traditionally, french fries are served with Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. I give a good tutorial on two ways to make french fries without oil (so not technically fried, but still yummy) in my Nacho Fries recipe.

You could also just serve it with a side salad, some soup, or just the sandwich–or two–because they’re that dang good.

Other High Protein Recipes

While I easily and consistently get more than my recommended daily protein so I never think about it much, I’ve got a lot of other high protein vegan recipes if you’re interested:

Anything Else?

As always, I hope you love this recipe–I know I do, and Mr. Zardyplants does too. I gauge how good recipes are during the testing process based on his reaction.

If, during the first test, his eyelids close and he eats slowly–and then quickly–it means I’ve got a dang good recipe and that’s exactly what he did with this seitan sandwich recipe. I won’t even mention the sound he made because I don’t want to embarrass him ;)

These vegan Philly cheesesteak sandwiches are:

Savory
“Meaty” (hold the cruelty)
Chewy yet tender
Satisfying
and great for anyone in your life that either isn’t vegan or vegetarian yet and needs to be convinced or is already and just kinda misses the taste and mouthfeel of meat.

I highly recommend these sandwiches, and they make for a 20 minute dinner if you’ve already got the seitan made.

The best thing about my seitan recipe is that you can make it ahead of time so you have minimal work to do when it actually comes time to make dinner.

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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