Vegan Corned Beef Recipe

It was bound to happen. My husband Dave, who has been progressing on his vegan journey, has upped his plant-based cooking game.

He made vegan corned beef.

See, Dave loves to veganize his favorite pre-vegan eats. How can we forget these vegan buffalo wings?

vegan buffalo wings lettuce wraps | JL Fields | JLgoesVegan.com

He watches Food Network like it’s his job … with the intent to develop vegan versions of the recipes he finds appealing. He’s been talking about making a vegan corned beef recipe for quite some time. And on New Year’s Eve, he went for it. He dug up our chicken-style seitan recipe and got creative.

Husband in the vegan kitchen

(Is there anything cuter than finding your husband referring to your blog or cookbook for a recipe? I don’t think so.)

The next day Dave boiled some potatoes and cabbage and prepared the seitan for Vegan Corned Beef and Cabbage.

Vegan Corned Beef and Cabbage | JLgoesVegan.com

And the day after he made this loaded vegan corned beef sandwich: 

Vegan Corned Beef Sandwich | JLgoesVegan.com

Major success!

With or without a pressure cooker – you can make it, too. Enjoy!

Vegan Corned Beef

Course Main Course
Cooking Method Pressure Cooker
Servings 8
©JLFields JL Fields

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups vital wheat gluten
  • 1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
  • 1/4 cup tomato powder
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1 tablespoon rosemary crushed
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon beef-like seasoning we use Massel and Vegetarian Express
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 to 1 1/4 cup vegetable broth or beef-like vegan broth
  • 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
  • 2 tablespoons low-sodium tamari sauce

Cooking broth

  • 4 cups beef-like vegan broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/4 cup mustard seeds
  • 1/4 cup peppercorns
  • 8 whole cloves
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon minced onion
  • 2 tablespoons beef-like seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

Instructions

  1. Combine the first six ingredients (dry) in a medium bowl (or KitchenAid bowl).
  2. Whisk together the wet ingredients (NOT the cooking broth ingredients) in a small bowl.
  3. Add wet to dry and stir until well combined.
  4. Knead for five minutes (I highly recommend using the dough hook of a KitchenAid, or similar appliance).
  5. Pull dough apart to form two “roasts”.
  6. Bring broth ingredients to a boil in the uncovered pressure cooker and add the roasts to the boiling water.
  7. Lock the pressure cooker cover in place.
  8. Bring to pressure, cook at high pressure for 30 minutes.

  9. Remove from the pressure cooker from heat and allow for a natural release.
  10. Remove roasts from the broth to cool before handling or serving.
  11. Store roasts an airtight container, submerged in the cook broth.

No Pressure Cooker? Do this

Follow the first five instructions above.

Bring the cooking broth ingredients to a boil in a large pot.

Place the roasts in the boiling broth.

Bring almost to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour.

Remove roasts from the broth to cool before handling or serving.

Store roasts an airtight container, submerged in the cook broth.

NOTE: Though not necessary, we highly recommend that you store the seitan in broth overnight before using. The longer it sits in the broth, the more flavorful!

Serve as Corned Beef and Cabbage

Boil quartered potatoes (if smaller) or large cubed pieces in a large pot of salted water for 20 – 25 minutes.

When potatoes are halfway through cooking, simmer thinly sliced cooked seitan in a saucepan or skillet in the seitan broth (not too much, just enough to heat the seitan without sticking; add more as needed)

Add cabbage to the potatoes with about 6-8 minutes remaining (for four, use half a head of cabbage, quartered). Don’t overcook the cabbage! Boil until just tender. Drop in a quartered piece of cabbage (or less) per person.

When serving, add a little salt and black pepper to the cabbage and potatoes, to taste

Serve as a Vegan Corned Beef Sandwich

Dry fry thinly sliced seitan in a cast iron skillet – spoon cooking broth over seitan when sticking occurs – for 5 – 7 minutes. Place mozzarella cheese (we used Miyoko’s buffalo-style; Follow Your Heart slices on the sliced seitan while still in the skillet to let it melt a bit. Cover it with a pan lid and drop some broth in there to let it steam.

Serve on bread with cabbage (or lettuce) and Dijon mustard. Pickles are optional (but highly recommended!)

Let us know if you try it! 

17 thoughts on “Vegan Corned Beef Recipe”

  1. I just tried out my IP yesterday making beans and then lentils. I need to shorten the time for the lentils. This sounds fabulous! I also ordered your book last night. I can’t wait to try out the recipes.
    Off topic question – I know Dave is a trainer. A blogger who believes meat is necessary for an optimum diet said a 150 lb. active woman needs 100 to 150 grams of protein a day. What is your and Dave’s opinion? I’m not going back to meat. Just want to be healthy.

    1. Hey Jacqui, Dave here. 150g of protein is a ton of protein! Now, if you’re big into weight training, and looking to build / gain muscle, 1g per lb of mass is a lot to eat, but would be good for building muscle / gaining muscle. However, if you’re quite active, or an endurance athlete, something around .65g per lb is closer to what I think is good (That’s just under 100g). But ideally, I like to gauge protein intake as a percentage of daily calories. So, for an athlete, getting about 25% or so of your calories from a protein source is good. Sometimes even higher (depending on age, activity levels, etc.)

      This is a long winded answer, giving you some vague guidelines. But, I’d stand by my initial comment that unless you’re looking to build muscle mass, 150g of protein is a little much (and not easy to consume on a daily basis!)

      I hope that helps a little.

      1. Thanks to you both! I’m a 55 year old with a moderate activity level. Definitely not an athlete. I thought that sounded like a lot of protein. I shoot for 10-15 % of my calories in protein. Some days are more .

  2. Hi JL (and Dave)- if I don’t have beef-like seasoning can I use beefless bullion? Or do you have a different seasoning blend you can recommend? Thanks!

    1. @disqus_cG4xwJ3Gin:disqus, beef bouillon is okay. The Massel link in the recipe is to their bouillon granules!

  3. I’ve never actually had corned beef, so I have nothing to compare this too, but I really want to try it!

  4. I made this tonight and can’t wait to try it tomorrow. This is quite different to what we know as corned beef in UK but know what it is like in US. Have had to wing it a bit with the flavourings as we don’t have the same ones here but think it will be ok, adding bits here and there.

      1. It was very good – certainly a “keeper”. We had it with brussel sprouts and cauliflower and will have it another evening this week. The second piece is sliced in the freezer to use for sandwiches. Thanks again for the recipe.

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