This Salami Seitan recipe is a spin on the old classic. It is spiced and herbed to perfection and an absolute must try for that nostalgic taste. We have some great ways to use our homemade vegan seitan salami so be sure to try it out!

I get a lot of judgement for this, but my favorite types of meat back in the day was the highly processed kinds. I’m talking hot dogs, deli meats and chicken nuggets. Salami was a particular favorite.

Salami slices were amazing in sandwiches, fried as a breakfast food, in deli rolls and more, so I’ve worked on reproducing this deli meat, vegan style. At this point I’ve tried quite a few spice combos and ingredient variations and this is my favorite version of vegan salami.

It’s very low effort to make this seitan salami, so there’s no reason not to get cooking!

Looking for more ways to make and use seitan? Check out the best seitan recipes! Or switch over to tempeh with these delicious miso tempeh wraps.

Vegan Salami Ingredients

Just like with real salami, you’ll need quite a few spices to whip up this plant based salami. What you’ll need is:

• Vital Wheat Gluten Flour
• Mustard Seeds
• Paprika
• Onion Powder
• Garlic Powder
• Fennel Seeds
• Salt
• Pepper
• Canola Oil
• BBQ Sauce
• Liquid Smoke
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Red Food Dye (Optional)

Vital Wheat Gluten

If you haven’t worked with vital wheat gluten before, in short it’s the gluten extracted from flour. It looks just like a little bit of a yellower flour. You can buy vital wheat gluten in many health food shops, or even easier grab it on amazon.

If you need more inspiration for ways to use vital wheat gluten you can check out our seitan ribs, or seitan bbq chicken!

Red Food Dye

If you want it to have a more red hue you should add a few drops of food dye. Obviously it doesn’t affect the taste but real salami is a very dark red and without any dye this vegetarian salami comes out brown.

How To Make Seitan Salami

To make the salami, mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl until well combined. In a medium bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients.

This also needs to be very well combined, especially if you are using the food dye, because as soon as the liquid hits the gluten it will start absorb it and become tough to redistribute ingredients.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined, do not knead and use the minimal effort until it’s just combined. If you keep messing with the dough, it will change the texture of the final product.

Start boiling some water and set up your steamer. Take two peices of tin foil and then cut your dough in half.

Roll one piece of your dough up into the tin foil to create a log, pressing the dough into the shape/width that you like while rolling the tin foil tightly around it.

Twist the ends of the foil to seal it. Repeat with the second piece of dough.

Place in your steamer and steam for 45 minutes. When it’s finished remove from the pan, unwrap and allow to cool.

The texture will change as it cools, I always dig in before it cools down though. When it’s fully cool enjoy as is, use in recipes, or wrap it up airtight and store in the fridge.

Need a steamer? This collapsible one takes up almost no space and is super affordable!

Vegan/Vegetarian Salami Serving Suggestions

There are so many ways to use this vegan salami. Here are a few of my favorite:

• Make a charcuterie board.
• Deli sandwiches are especially great as packed vegan lunches. I pair the salami with whole grain bread, mustard, vegan mayo, red onion, lettuce and tomato slices. It’s really, really good. If you need more cold vegan lunch ideas, check out our best ones here.

• If you make a fatter salami roll, and then thinly slice, it’s perfect for use in a vegan deli roll.
• Fried Salami – If you haven’t had this, think bacon and eggs but swap out the bacon for salami slices and fry until crisp. Serve up with some tofu scramble.
• Paninis – Throw some salami slices into a panini with some vegan cheese and pesto. If you really want to level up the decandence of this sandwich, lightly fry the salami slices first.
• Add it into soups in place of sausage, just add it at the end so it doesn’t absorb too much liquid.
• Chop it into small peices and add it to your favorite salad greens and top with some vegan ranch.
• This salami goes great with our Traditional White Bean Dip

Don’t Forget To Pin This Recipe For Later!

Vegan lunch ideas

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