Easy Butter Seitan “Chicken”
Simple, delicious, vegan, high-protein butter “chicken” made with homemade seitan and a creamy cashew-based sauce!
Ingredients
Chicken-less butter chicken is conveniently made with these simple kitchen staples.
How to Make
First, make sure all of your ingredients are prepped and ready to go, and you’re seitan is made.
Blend the Cashews
In a food processor, combine pre-soaked cashews with half the vegetable broth until it becomes a smooth consistency. See recipe notes for my “quick soak” method if you haven’t already soaked your cashews for an extended time period.
Make the Sauce
Heat up the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Once melted, add in the diced onion and cook until softened. Then, you can add in your minced ginger, minced garlic, all spices, salt, and black pepper. Stir well.
Next, stir in tomato paste, followed by diced tomatoes and remaining vegetable broth. Bring the mixture to a boil and let it simmer for 10 minutes. At this point, you can proceed to add the blended cashews, and then continue to simmer for another 5 minutes.
Your sauce is ready! Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Then, you can either mix in your seitan, or just pour the sauce directly over seitan before serving. I also topped with a fresh squeeze of lime juice and cilantro for the aesthetic!
Customizations
There are many ways to modify this recipe to fit what you’re looking for! If you want the sauce to be more similar to regular butter chicken sauce, I’d recommend blending with an immersion blender before adding in the seitan. Otherwise, it will be a little more chunky and less butter-chicken-y.
If you’re not a seitan fan, you can also use tofu, soy curls, or a store-bought vegan chicken alternative. Just note that the nutrition information may differ.
Storage
Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months! Just make sure you let it cool completely before refrigerating.
Frequently Asked Questions
Seitan is naturally not something that can be made gluten-free, since the main component of it is literally gluten. But, you can use the same sauce part of this recipe with tofu or another vegan chicken alternative for a gluten-friendly option.
Not precisely. The flavours are there, and the texture of seitan is very close to chicken. However, I it has a bit more of a stew type of feel. I recommend blending the sauce with an immersion blender if you want to mimic the buttery-ness and creaminess or the classic butter chicken.
Yes! You can also substitute for tahini, coconut cream, full fat coconut milk, or coconut yogurt. The flavour profile and texture will differ slightly though.
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Easy Butter Seitan “Chicken”
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 batches Crispy Seitan Bites
- 1 cup raw cashews soaked overnight or for at least 4 hours (see notes for a quick soak)
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 20 grams plant-based butter
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced I recommend using the garlic mincer linked under equipment for easy prep!
- 1 tsp ginger, minced I recommend using the grater for mincing linked under equipment for easy prep!
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt or more to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper or more to taste
- 1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 can (796mL) diced tomatoes
- cilantro optional for serving
Instructions
- In a food processor or blender, combine pre-soaked raw cashews with half the vegetable broth, until it becomes a smooth paste.
- Heat butter in a large pot over medium-high heat.
- Add the diced onion and cook until softened, stirring frequently.
- Stir in the garlic, ginger, garam masala, cumin, paprika, salt, and black pepper.
- Add in the tomato paste and stir for one minute. Then follow with the diced tomatoes and remaining broth.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and let simmer for 10 minutes.
- Mix in the blended cashews and let the sauce simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Taste, and adjust seasonings if needed. Then you can either add in the Crispy Seitan Bites, or you can just add the sauce directly on top of the seitan before eating.
- Optionally, top with cilantro and serve with rice. Enjoy!
Notes
- One serving is 1/6th of the seitan (half of one batch) + around 1 cup of sauce (or 1/6th of the whole batch)
- For a quick soak of the cashews: place cashews in a pot of water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and cover pot with a lid. Leave for 15 minutes.
