So far this fall has felt a whole lot more like summer. We have had high temperatures around 90° F and lots of Iowa humidity. Last night we had severe storms all night, and today it is cloudy, windy, and COOL. Cool enough that you want a jacket to go outside. *Gasp* fall, is that you?
This cool, fall day has me in the mood for a rich, hearty beef stew. The only problem is, I don’t eat meat. After some tinkering and experimenting I have settled on this recipe that has all the elements I remember of a tasty beef stew, without the beef! I love making soups and stews because we always have tons of leftovers, but my family enjoyed this stew so much they almost blew through the entire pot!
What do I use instead of beef? Seitan. Seitan is a meat-replacement that is made from vital wheat gluten. It is high in protein and has a shockingly meaty texture and flavor. I have this baked seitan loaf recipe on the blog, but for this recipe I followed the instructions on the back of the vital wheat gluten bag and boiled pieces of seitan in broth. You can also buy seitan already prepared. Once the seitan was cooked and drained, I tossed it with some flour, then browned it in a pan with a little olive oil.
Then I tossed the seitan into my Instant Pot with chopped carrots, frozen peas, 2 diced tomatoes, 2 minced garlic cloves, salt, some Italian seasoning, and a broth concoction. For the broth I whisked together 4 cups of vegetable broth with 1/4 cup of tomato paste. You don’t want to use too much tomato paste, or this comes out like vegetable soup, but just enough gives the broth a hearty flavor.
I pushed the meat/stew button and cooked this on the preset time of 35 minutes. I did a 20 minute natural release, then removed 1 cup of the broth. I whisked in 2 T of corn starch, then returned it to the pot and mixed everything together. You may want to salt to taste for each serving.
If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you need one! But you can simmer this stew on the stovetop for abut an hour, or until the carrots and potatoes are tender. I didn’t peel my potatoes because I think a lot of flavor and nutrients are in the peel, but you can if you want to.
- 1 batch seitan
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 chopped carrots
- 2 diced tomatoes
- 1/2 C frozen peas
- 4 C vegetable broth
- 1/4 C tomato paste
- 1 t salt
- 1/2 t Italian Seasoning
- Saute seitan until it is lightly browned on all sides. Add it and all the other ingredients to the Instant Pot and press stew button. Natural release 20 minutes. Salt to taste. For stovetop add all ingredient to stock pot and simmer for an hour or until vegetables are tender.
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