A ridiculously tasty vegan version of the popular Chinese takeaway favourite: Crispy Chilli Beef!
After accidentally creating some sort of crispy beef/steak out of seitan one day, I refined it to closely resemble the look, taste and texture of the real thing before deciding it would be perfect for a vegan 'crispy chilli beef' recipe. I was not disappointed! It takes a bit of prep work, but once you've tried it you'll realise it was time well spent.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 2 people | 40 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 20 minutes |
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A ridiculously tasty vegan version of the popular Chinese takeaway favourite: Crispy Chilli Beef!
After accidentally creating some sort of crispy beef/steak out of seitan one day, I refined it to closely resemble the look, taste and texture of the real thing before deciding it would be perfect for a vegan 'crispy chilli beef' recipe. I was not disappointed! It takes a bit of prep work, but once you've tried it you'll realise it was time well spent.
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Ingredients
Seitan 'Beef'
- 50 g vital wheat gluten
- 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp vegan bouillon powder or vegan stock cube
- 1 tsp beetroot powder for colour (fairly cheap, and it goes a long way)
- 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp liquid smoke
- 60 ml water
- 4 Tbsp cornflour
- 1 tsp chinese five spice
Veggies
- 1 red pepper thinly sliced
- 4 spring onions thinly sliced. separate the lighter parts from the green parts
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 fresh red chilli thinly sliced
- 1 thumb-sized piece ginger sliced into matchsticks
Sauce
- 4 Tbsp white rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp light soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce
- 2 Tbsp tomato ketchup
- 2 Tbsp water
Servings: people
Instructions
Seitan 'Beef'
- In a large bowl, add the vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, smoked paprika, bouillon powder and beetroot powder and mix well with a fork. Add the dark soy sauce, liquid smoke and 60ml water and mix well. Form into a dough, set aside the bowl and knead on a clean surface for 2-3 minutes. This will toughen up the gluten slightly. If you use too much water, just add a bit more gluten.
- Stretch out the dough so it's long and thin; it will have some resistance, but keep at it and apply pressure with your hands and it will stay put.
- Slice the seitan into long, thin strips. It doubles in size when cooking so the thinner you slice it, the better. More surface area means more sauce coverage!
- In the bowl you set aside, add the cornflour and Chinese five spice and mix well with a fork. Coat each piece of seitan with the mixture.
- In a large wok, heat approx. 6 tbsp vegetable oil until hot. Fry the pieces of seitan for about 10 minutes or until browned and crispy. Set aside. (while it's cooking, chop the veggies so you're not hanging around)
Veggies
- Thinly slice the red pepper and chilli (with seeds). Slice the spring onions and separate the lighter parts from the green. Mince or slice the garlic into small pieces and slice the ginger into matchsticks. Set aside half the chilli and the green parts of the spring onions.
- Fry the ginger, garlic, red pepper, half the chilli and white parts of the spring onions for a 2-3 minutes on a medium heat until soft. Try not to burn the garlic and ginger or they'll go bitter.
Sauce
- While the veg is cooking, grab a jug (or bowl) and add the vinegar, light soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, ketchup and 2 tbsp water. Mix well and add to the wok. Turn up the heat and let it bubble for a minute or two. Add the seitan and ensure the pieces are coated evenly in sauce. Heat for another minute.
- Serve on noodles or rice, and sprinkle the green bits of spring onions and remaining chilli on top. Enjoy hot!
Recipe Notes
The seitan could easily be used in any recipe that calls for beef—Chinese or otherwise. You could also make larger quantities of the seitan dough and freeze it for later to save you making it from scratch every time. Also, you can freeze any leftover cornflour/five spice mixture in a bag if you use too much; although it's cheap there's no need to waste anything!
Wanda Jenkins
March 10, 2019Is cornflour the same as corn starch?
Chris
November 4, 2020Yes 🙂
Nicky Coates
March 10, 2019Oh wow! I subbed half a tablespoon of marmite for the beetroot powder and this was absolutely amazing. Thanks so much!
Chris
November 4, 2020Brilliant idea! I’m glad you enjoyed it 😀
Nancy
September 14, 2020wow, the dish looking so delicious.I will try out it.
Chris
November 4, 2020Thank you! How’d it go?!
Bully
October 8, 2020This is really good. I saw it posted a few times on Rate My Vegan food, decided to make it and made the seitan in advance, froze it, then made as per recipe with some added kale. Really good but I felt like even from frozen the veef didn’t need ten mins to cook – more like five.
Chris
November 4, 2020Thank you!
Adding in some kale sounds wonderful.
I did find that around the 5 minute mark the pieces were cooked, but I really wanted that crispy texture which comes out after a while longer. Either that or I need a new wok!
I’m glad yours turned out well 😀
Scott Barclay
February 1, 2021I can’t wait to try this…. What is it like not cut up and just like a full fillet? Has anyone tried?
Chris
February 4, 2021You definitely can cook it as is, like a fillet rather than slicing it! It’ll take a bit longer to cook though and might end up being a bit tough, but as long as you don’t overwork the seitan you should be ok. Might even work well on the BBQ which I will definitely try when it gets a bit warmer.
Scott Barclay
February 3, 2021I’m holding back my swearing. It’s so ******* good! Thank you so much. Exceeded my expectations! Thank you!
Chris
February 4, 2021I’m so glad you like it! And you are most welcome 🙂