Slow Cooker Seitan Experiment

I haven’t made seitan in the slow cooker since I developed my steam-baked methodology with breadcrumbs that my husband loves. However, when Sarah the Ordinary Vegetarian asked me what she could substitute for tapioca flour in this version, I decided to experiment. I love to learn new things in the kitchen so I offered to experiment with my original slow cooker recipe. The results were not exactly what I had anticipated.

Slow Cooker Seitan Experiment
Makes 2 large roasts - 5 servings each

Version 1 Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup water
1 clove garlic
¼ teaspoon marmite
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ tablespoon tomato paste
½ tablespoon liquid aminos
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 ¼ cups vital wheat gluten

Version 2 Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup water
1 clove garlic
¼ teaspoon marmite
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ tablespoon tomato paste
½ tablespoon liquid aminos
½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 ¼ cups vital wheat gluten

Cooking Broth Ingredients:

6 cups water
4 tablespoons onion flakes
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste

Directions:

I am going to give the directions once and make notes where they differ by version.

Combine the wet ingredients in the blender (water, garlic, Worcestershire, tomato paste, and liquid aminos) and process to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into a bowl with either the breadcrumbs of flour. If using the breadcrumbs allow the mixture to sit long enough for the breadcrumbs to be completely saturated. If using the flour whisk it into the wet ingredients so there are no lumps. Now add the vital wheat gluten and knead the mixture to combine. If there is dry gluten left add a few tablespoons little water so the gluten is completely absorbed. However, if the seitan dough is too wet add a few tablespoons of vital wheat gluten. Form each seitan dough into a rough roast shape with your hands.

Combine the cooking broth ingredients in the slow cooker and whisk to combine. Place the two roasts in the slow cooker and set the cooker to high and cook for 12 hours. After twelve hours check the texture of the seitan. If it is too firm cook the seitan a few more hours. I tested the time with part of each roast and 18 hours yielded a similar texture to 12. I think you can safely cook this while you are at work and not worry about it overcooking even if you are delayed. I was very surprised that it could cook for so long with deteriorating.

Allow the seitan roasts to cool in the cooking liquid before refrigerating in the cooking broth. You can cut the seitan roasts into slices and wrap them in plastic cling film and store them in zip top freezer bags until needed. I defrost my seitan in the microwave and then sear it in a lightly greased hot cast iron skillet. Sometimes I dust the slices in a little whole-wheat flour before searing, and sometimes I don’t. Either with or without exterior flour works fine. The floured version has a crispier exterior.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 159.77
Calories From Fat (4%) - 7.13

Total Fat - 0.81g
Saturated Fat - 0.13g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 141.08mg
Potassium - 115.25mg
Total Carbohydrates - 13.75g
Fiber - 1.74g
Sugar - 0.35g
Protein - 25.32g

I am showing one set of numbers for the seitan because there was very little difference.

The results:

As I expected I slightly preferred the version with whole wheat bread crumbs since it was less firm. However, when the roasts cooked for 18 hours the difference in texture was minimal. So overall I would say it depends on how long you are going to cook the seitan and how you will be using it.

Additionally if you want to serve a piece of seitan on the plate (like meat) I still prefer the steam-baked version, one of which is posted here. However, if you are going to use the seitan in a stew or a braise either slow cooker version would work well there.