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Bring your sandwiches to the next level with these homemade vegan deli meat slices! They are packed with flavor, easy to put together and cheaper than the store-bought options available.
If you have ever seen Chris’ Instagram, you’d know that he is a lover of sandwiches. Some would even say that he is a sandwich connoisseur and I would definitely agree with that! With this, vegan deli meat is something that we are constantly restocking our fridge with. Considering the price and also the amount of waste that the packaging produces, we thought that it was time that we tried our hand at making deli meat at home.
Going into this, we thought the process was going to be long and tedious. To our pleasant surprise, making vegan deli meat at home was easier than we could’ve imagined. It does take a little bit of time though, so make sure you carve out some time in the day to be home while the seitan steams and bakes.
The beauty of this recipe is that you can customize the spices and ingredients to make different “deli meats”. We made turkey flavored slices, but you can also make ham, roast beef, etc. Get creative!
This vegan deli meat is also the absolute perfect recipe to make for back to school. Growing up, we both had sandwiches for lunch throughout the entirety of middle school and high school, and ’till this day, we are still huge sandwich fans.
To start, grab a high-speed blender and add all of the ingredients from the tofu to the turmeric (in the ingredient list).
Blend everything together until smooth. In a large bowl, add the vital wheat gluten along with the chickpea flour and mix until uniform. Pour the blended mixture into the bowl and using a spatula or a wooden spoon, mix everything until a dough forms.
Flour a clean work surface (we used chickpea flour) and knead the dough for 3-4 minutes, or until it becomes soft and smooth. The dough may appear sticky, but it is supposed to be this way! If it is too dry, the result will not be ideal.
Lay a 12-inch piece of aluminum foil on the counter and then place a 10-inch piece of parchment paper on top. Place the dough at the bottom of the parchment paper and press it into a tall and thick log with your hands.
First, wrap the parchment paper around the seitan, leaving the ends open.
Next, place the wrapped log towards the bottom of the foil and then wrap the foil around the seitan log. Twist the ends up like a candy wrapper to seal the seitan in. Try not to make this too tight and allow for a bit of room at the ends as the seitan will expand.
Place the seitan log into a steamer basket and and steam it for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 350 ºF. Once the seitan has steamed, remove it from the steamer basket and transfer it onto a baking sheet. Place it into the oven and cook for 30 minutes.
Remove the seitan log from oven and allow it to cool completely before slicing. It is beneficial to unwrap it at this point (carefully, it will be hot) so that it will cool faster.
Once the seitan has cooled to temperature, you can place it into an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. When you are ready to eat the seitan deli meat, use a sharp knife to thinly slice the log.
All that’s left to do is to serve the seitan vegan deli meat in your favorite sandwich! We added ours to a sandwich with tomatoes, lettuce, vegan mayo, avocado, and vegan gouda cheese. It was delicious!
Have you ever made your own vegan deli meat at home? If not, now’s the perfect time to try. You’ll be amazed at how effortless it is. Also, the fact that these are free from any funky preservatives is a huge win too.
Make sure you tag us on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you recreate any of our recipes, we love to see your photos!
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Homemade Vegan Deli Meat
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Description
Bring your sandwiches to the next level with these homemade vegan deli meat slices! They are packed with flavor, easy to put together and cheaper than the store bought options available!
Ingredients
- 12 oz. extra firm tofu, drained
- 2 cups vegan chicken broth (we used this one)
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons tamari
- 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
- 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
- 2 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 3 cups vital wheat gluten
- 1/4 cup chickpea flour
Instructions
- Set up a large steamer pot on your stove and bring the water to a boil. Once boiling, lower to a simmer.
- In a high -speed blender, add all of the ingredients from the tofu to the turmeric and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the vital wheat gluten along with the chickpea flour and mix until uniform. Pour the blended mixture into the bowl and using a spatula or a wooden spoon, mix everything until a dough forms.
- Flour a clean work surface (we used chickpea flour) and knead the dough for 3-4 minutes, or until it becomes soft and smooth. The dough may appear sticky, but it is supposed to be this way! If it is too dry, the result will not be ideal.
- Lay a 12-inch piece of aluminum foil on the counter and then place a 10-inch piece of parchment paper on top. Place the dough at the bottom of the parchment paper and press it into a tall and thick log with your hands. First, wrap the parchment paper around the seitan, leaving the ends open. Next, place the wrapped log towards the bottom of the foil and then wrap the foil around the seitan log. Twist the ends up like a candy wrapper to seal the seitan in. Try not to make this too tight and allow for a bit of room at the ends as the seitan will expand.
- Place the seitan log into the steamer basket and and steam it for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 ºF. Once the seitan has steamed, remove it from the steamer basket and transfer it onto a baking sheet. Place it into the oven and cook for 30 minutes.
- Remove the seitan log from oven and allow it to cool completely before slicing. It is beneficial to unwrap it at this point (carefully, it will be hot) so that it will cool faster.
- Once the seitan has cooled to temperature, you can place it into an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. When you are ready to eat the seitan deli meat, use a sharp knife to thinly slice the log.
Notes
- Recipe adapted from Vegan Dad.
- The seitan log can also be frozen (without the parchment/foil wrapping) in an airtight container. Allow it to thaw completely before slicing.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Category: Lunch, Entree
- Method: Stovetop and Oven
- Cuisine: Vegan
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I know this blog post is a little older, but I came upon your recipe about 2 months ago and I feel compelled to thank you for sharing it. I have made this deli log 3 times now and it is loved by many people in my life. My husband is so so so happy to be eating deli sandwiches again and I have shared the slices with vegan and non-vegan friends who have raved about how yummy it is. I was quite nervous to attempt making something like this, but your YouTube video was very helpful. I am super confident whipping it up now, and we use our deli slicer (which I thought we would never use again once we went vegan) to cut thin, uniform slices. They freeze and thaw really well, too! Cheers to you both!
Just made this and it turned out really good. I shared with a couple of friends and they were amazed. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you for a great recipe that’s healthier and so much cheaper than buying from the store.
My absolute favourite vegan deli meat recipe. I have tried so many other recipes and this one is the best. Jasmine and Chris have mastered the ingredients and most importantly the kneading time which makes a huge difference in texture. This is only recipe my family requests over and over. I make a double batch and slice it on my deli slicer and freeze some of it but it usually doesn’t last too long 😉 . It’s perfect! Great job guys and thank you for this.
A big 5 from me, I’ve been meaning to make a deli meat sausage for ages! I chose this recipe and it was a lot easier than anticipated. I also watch the yt video which made it look simple. All in all, it was easy to make, it looked and tasted much much more delicious than expected. I’ll be making this again soon!
HI!, is it okey If I add more vital gluten wheat to crank up protein amount
We haven’t tested it, but you can try!
Great deli “meat” recipe! Very flavourful, and the perfect texture. It makes a huge batch so, more often than not, we do half batches. We just reduce the simmer time by 15 mins and keep everything about he process the same.
This is my first time seeing your blog and I’m super stoked. My soon-to-be brother in law is Filipino, a bunch of my coworkers are as well… I’m trying to learn Filipino – wow, that is a challenge! Being able to cook some of the dishes you have here, and make my new family and friends a nice meal that I also can eat, is just fantastic. I can’t thank you enough.
Thank you.
🙏
Love this cold meat
Planning on making this on the weekend! Just one question: about how many servings do you think this would be? I’m trying to decide whether or not to halve the recipe. Thanks in advance and can’t wait to try it out!
Hey Emily,
Depending on how thin or thick you slice the loaf, it will be around 50-75 slices.
Can you do this with silken tofu? Or does it have to be firm?
It has to be firm. Silken has too much water to achieve the proper consistency 🙂
How long does it stay if wrapped well in the fridge?
We estimate about 1-1.5 weeks!
Great recipe! Is it possible to cook this in the instant pot to shorten the steaming time?
We haven’t tried it, but it’s definitely worth experimenting with!
I haven’t tried this yet but when I’ve made other seitan recipes it’s usually about 10 minutes less in the instant pot than if you steam it
What high speed blender did you use and did you use dry container or liquid container
Do we need chickpea flower or can we substitute it for something else?
We have not tested this recipe without it. It is usually a component of seitan so I don’t know what you could use instead of it sorry!
Thank you for this recipe! Have you found a gluten-free alternative to vital wheat gluten please?
We don’t know of a gf alternative, sorry! There are recipes for gluten free seitan online that you might be able to try instead of this one. Here is one we found on google: https://cookingwithplants.com/recipe/gluten-free-seitan-roast/
I just made this tonight and I didn’t have tomato paste so i used some ketchup lol. It actually turned out really good. I really like it and so does my boyfriend and little ones. I think we will be making this again sometime.
So glad to hear that, thanks for sharing! 🙂
I subbed the poultry seasoning for 1 tsp ground sage and 1 tsp dried thyme. Yum!
Thankfully I found your video on your YouTube page and was so glad to hear your tips on making this. I don’t know if I’d be happy to hear an explosion from wrapping the parchment and foil too tight. Haha! I’d highly recommend a video link on this blog post!
If I wanted to make it slightly chewier, would you recommend I add more chickpea flour and vital wheat gluten or just decrease the amount of broth? I’d like the texture to be closer to Tofurky’s deli slices.
Thanks again for the recipe!
Can you maybe replace the tofu with chickpeas?
We wouldn’t recommend that, sorry!
This was easy and it looks and tastes great. Thanks! Now if I can make my sandwich look as good as yours.
Looks amazing! Can’t wait to try this recipe. What kind of chicken broth did you use? The link did not work. Thank you!
It’s from Better than Bouillon! 🙂
Can I substitute the gluten for anything to make it gluten free? I’m guessing that’s what holds it together so maybe not?
Unfortunately not, the gluten is the key ingredient in this recipe. We have seen some gluten-free Setian recipes online though if you search. We don’t know how good they are since we haven’t made them ourselves.
I’m allergic to soy tofu. Could I use Chickpea tofu?
We haven’t tried it, so it’s hard to say!
wow, this is a new one on me. I’ve made seitan, but never incorporating tofu or cooking in the oven. I may have to try this over the weekend!
This looks soooo good!! How many servings does the log make?
Hey Nancy, it will depend on how thick it’s cut!