This seitan gyros recipe make the perfect vegan gyro meat alternative. It’s packed with flavor and offers a chewy, meat-like texture that isn’t dry or tough!
Skill: Intermediate | Time: 90 min | Servings: 8
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Seitan: The Ultimate Vegan Gyro Meat
There are plenty of ways to make a vegan gyro, but I use seitan because it’s the perfect meat alternative.
While some other ingredients make a tasty gyro wrap, nothing compares to the texture and flavor of seitan. Not to mention that seitan is one of the highest sources of vegan protein you can find!
Seitan gyros (or any seitan recipe) are a great choice if you’re serving people who enjoy a chewier, meatier texture and flavor. Learning to make seitan was one of the things that convinced my husband that vegan food is awesome and can easily replace consuming animal products.
How to Make Seitan Gyro
Seitan is simple to make, although it may seem intimidating the first time you try. With a long list of ingredients, you may wonder if you should even attempt this recipe but I assure you it’s straight forward.
With this simple seitan gyro recipe, you simply mix together the dry ingredients (gluten flour and dry herbs/ spices).
In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. The wet ingredients won’t mix together perfectly but that’s ok.
Then, mix wet with dry. Stir until a ball of dough forms then use your hand to knead the dough together.
Shape, wrap in tin foil, then bake – it’s that simple.
How to Serve Seitan Gyro
A classic gyro is served in pita bread wrap along with tzatziki sauce, tomato, cucumber, onion and lettuce.
This is the best way to serve the recipe, in my opinion, but this seitan can easily be served in place of meat in many other dishes. It’s also tasty thinly sliced on a sandwich or Greek-inspired pizza!
If you want to skip the pita, make a gyro salad bowl with the seitan, tzatziki sauce and veggies! This is also delicious with a side of rice.
I hope you enjoy this recipe! If you make it, please rate and comment below so others benefit from your experience.
More Vegan Recipes with Plant-based Protein
Seitan Gyros | How to Make Vegan Gyro Meat
Equipment
- Large bowl
- Cutting Board
- Knife
- Tin foil
- Baking tray
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ½ C gluten flour (vital wheat gluten)
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp dry oregano
- 1 tsp dry thyme
- 1 tsp ground cumin seed
- ½ tsp ground dry rosemary
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper , ground
Wet Ingredients
- ½ C onion , finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 tbsp oil (I use olive oil)
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (juice of about ½ a medium lemon)
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (low sodium; or tamari)
- ¾ C vegetable broth
To Serve
- 1 batch vegan tzatziki sauce
- pita bread
- tomato
- cucumber
- red onion
- lettuce (or any leafy greens)
- fresh dill (or parsley)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Prepare two large pieces of tin foil.
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Mix the wet ingredients together in a bowl. They won’t mix together completely (will be flecks of tahini and oil; that’s perfectly ok).
- Stir the wet ingredient mix into the dry ingredient mix until a ball of dough starts to form. Then use your hands to knead the seitan dough for about a minute.
- Place the seitan dough onto one sheet of tin foil (shiny side up) and form into a rectangle that is about 1-1 ½ inches (about 2-3 cm) thick.
- Tightly wrap the seitan dough in tin foil. Place the open edge down onto the second sheet of tin foil and wrap tightly again.
- Place the wrapped seitan onto a baking tray and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Allow the seitan to rest and cool for about 10 minutes then transfer onto a cooling rack and place into the fridge so it can set.
- If possible, allow the seitan to rest in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight (it can be sliced after 10 minutes of resting but is easier/ firmer when completely cooled). Slice thinly and serve in a pita bread with vegan tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, red onion, cucumber and lettuce.
Vegan Tzatziki Recipe with Cashew Sour Cream, Cucumber and Dill Sauce
This recipe looks delicious. I’m an oil free vegan and i was wondering if i could leave out the oil in this recipe. Should I sub it with something else and if so then what? I would love to try this recipe out ! 😉
Please see my other comment!
So delicious! I made it in the morning- it was so easy and tastes great! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Jesslyn, so happy you enjoyed!
Hi,
First time making this….outstanding! Very easy to make didn’t have lemon juice so substituted orange juice and was delicious . Definitely will be a regular. Can this also be frozen?
So happy you enjoyed Cheryl! I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever frozen seitan and think I must have but it usually gets eaten quickly around here. I don’t see why it wouldn’t freeze well – maybe test out a small piece just so it doesn’t get wasted? I’ll add this to my to-do list for sure.
Hi, any substitutions for the Lemon juice?
Hi Cheryl. At the very least, the liquid would need to be replaced and you could do that with water or vegetable broth. The lemon juice brings some acidity and you could replicate that with about 1 tsp of vinegar (ex. apple cider vinegar). So maybe 1 tsp vinegar with 1 tbsp + 2 tsp other liquid (to make a full 2 tbsp of liquid). Hope that helps!
Looks like a great recipe! Are the onions raw? Or should I sautée them first?
Hi Rachel! I put them in raw because they have time to cook in the oven and come out soft. It wouldn’t hurt to cook them first if you prefer but not needed (I recommend chopping them quite small).
This recipe sounds amazing. Could I leave out the oil in this recipe or not? Im an oil free vegan & i was just wondering if the seitan would cook the same?
Hi Natasha, I’ve never made this without oil so I can’t comment on how it would turn out. It may be a bit dry and much less similar to gyro meat (which is very high in fat, typically). At the very least, the liquid would need to be replaced to get the dough to come together. Extra tahini may work but the small amount of oil that’s called for really makes a difference in creating a delicious flavor and texture.
Made this today and LOVED IT! How long will it keep in the refrigerator?
Hi Sara, I’m so happy you enjoyed! It should keep for 5-7 days in the fridge (I haven’t tested any longer than that).
This was absolutely delicious and so so easy to make!! I might tone down the tomato paste to 2 tbsp next time as I found it a little overwhelming (just my personal taste, I’m sure most would find it perfectly delicious as is!), but otherwise it was amazing!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Cristina and found it easy to make! Absolutely adjust to your tastes next time 🙂
I can’t believe how yummy this is! Pan fry it crispy and you’d almost swear it was beef and lamb. My only craving so far…
Hi Amanda! Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed! Pan frying it is such a great idea, I’ll have to try that out 🙂