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I previously discussed protein on a vegan diet and whether or not you can get enough protein from plant-based sources. While I hope that specific article was useful, I wanted to talk about a particular vegan food item that is abundant in protein that you may not have yet discovered. This food item is incredibly cost-effective and used in many vegan recipes for different purposes. It is versatile, and if you are creative in the kitchen, you can make some pretty cool things with it!
So, what am I talking about here!? Vital wheat gluten.
Vital wheat gluten is abundant in protein and is probably one of the most cost-effective forms of protein that you can find and that you can easily make mock meats from (commonly known as seitan) or other high protein goodies. One of the things that I enjoy when I am making mock meats such as seitan steaks or chicken is that it is legit made with love and excitement, as compared to the real thing that is/was full of fear, torment and death (yeah, I got pretty vegan there).
By making your own or purchasing seitan products in local stores, means that you can enjoy foods that are reminiscent of things that you once loved but filled with good vibes. How much better can it get!?
Vital wheat gluten is a flour that you can easily find in most local grocery stores, but also bulk food stores such as Bulk Barn. It is the main ingredient of seitan products and is what gives them their high protein content, and in large part, their consistency. If you aren’t incredibly familiar with vital wheat gluten, let alone what to do with it, I hope to shed some more light on it here.
What is Vital Wheat Gluten?
So, what the heck is vital wheat gluten!? To put it simply, it is all in the name! Vital wheat gluten is the extracted protein source (gluten) of wheat. To extract the gluten, producers harvest wheat and wash it to remove all the starch and other compounds, leaving nothing other than the gluten granules: a beautiful, high protein flour. Of course, this flour isn’t your typical flour that you would commonly bake with, no. Think of it as flour on protein steroids, and its effects in baking are far different compared to other flours that have its other counterparts intact.
What Do You Do With Vital Wheat Gluten?
More often than not, vital wheat gluten is used to make faux meat products such as steak, chicken, or ‘beef’ jerky and other meaty delights and is used as a binding agent for homemade vegan burgers so that they don’t lose their shape. Typically these foods are referred to as seitan, and you can find many recipes online, leaving you with a very cost-effective protein source to add to your meals. I should also note that seitan and vital wheat gluten are not the same and are not interchangeable if you are making a recipe that calls for one ingredient or the other.
Typically, when you are making seitan, the dough is boiled, steamed or baked, which gives the seitan a chewy meat-like texture that you experience with real meat.
Furthermore, vital wheat gluten is also used in baking bread as it adds elasticity, but can also be used to make high protein pancakes, which I have several variations of. Lastly, you can also find creative ways to make high protein desserts, but those are much harder to discover in the land of the internet, but is always worth the search.
How Much Protein Does it Pack?
Good question! Just ¼ of a cup of vital wheat gluten packs about 21 grams of protein! Not surprisingly, I am sure how you can see that it undoubtedly boosts the protein content of any recipe.
If you are someone such as myself, who has specific macro targets, products containing vital wheat gluten, such as seitan, makes an excellent addition to your diet to help meet your protein target.
Can You Use Vital Wheat Gluten if You’re Allergic?
The simple answer here is no. If you are someone who has celiac disease or is gluten intolerant, you will want to steer clear of vital wheat gluten altogether. As the name suggests, it is 100% gluten.
Recipes Using Vital Wheat Gluten
As mentioned, I love using vital wheat gluten to make protein pancakes because I love carbs and sweets (sorry, not sorry). But I also love to make mock meats such as seitan steak and recently, chicken!
While there are far more recipes that you can find in cookbooks and on the internet, here are some for you to browse through.
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