Vegan Philly Cheese Steak Roll-Ups

I am a big fan of a vegan Philly Cheese Steak, but sometimes all that seitan and all that bread doesn’t make my stomach as happy as it makes my brain.

So the simple solution was to just make Vegan Seitan Philly roll ups, no bread required.

Just perfectly seasoned seitan, veggies, and the best vegan cheese sauce, hands down.

This way I feel like I can eat more of all good stuff, and a nice big side of fries with a little less guilt.

And let me tell you that cheese sauce makes some dang good cheese fries while you are at it….you might just want to go ahead and double that recipe.

This seitan recipe is easy and comes together quickly, and bake up pretty fast too. Since the pieces are thin, they really don’t need to rest like a big piece of setian would. So This recipe is perfect for a fairly quick weeknight dinner.

But by all means, you could bake them the night before, and reheat them the following day for a super quick supper.

We use jackfruit in this recipe for a nice meaty texture, plus its low fat and full of fiber so a nice healthy bonus to bulk up the recipe and use less vital wheat gluten.

So if you are into Philly cheese steaks, then I can not recommend trying this recipe enough! Its easy, filling, and super delicious!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 bell peppers

• 1 medium yellow or white onion

Cheese Sauce:

• 1/2 cup cashews or sunflower seeds (plus water for soaking)

• 1 cup fresh water

• 2 tablespoons tapioca starch

• 3 tablespoon nutritional yeast

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

• 1/2-1 teaspoons salt

• 1 teaspoon turmeric

• 1/2 -1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Setian:

• 1 can jackfruit in brine, drained and rinsed (20 oz can)

• 1 and 2/3 cups vital wheat gluten

• 1/4 cup tapioca or corn starch

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce or coconut aminos

• 3 teaspoons vegan Worcestershire sauce

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

• 2 teaspoons vegetable Better Than Bouillon

• 1/4 cup water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Cut the peppers into matchstick, long pieces. Cut the onion into rings, then cut the rings in half. Set aside.

2. Drain and rinse the jackfruit. Chop the jackfruit in your food processor by pulsing a few times.

3. Add the remaining ingredients to the food processor and mix for a minute, until a sort of dough forms.

4. If you do not have a food processor, finely chop the jackfruit using a sharp knife. In a medium bowl add the jackfruit and remaining ingredients. Using your hands, (I promise its just easier) mix all of the ingredients together until a dough forms. Knead the dough by hand for a few minutes.

5. Flatten the dough into a disc shape. Divide the dough into 14-16 equal pieces. Flatten and stretch each piece into a flat rectangular shape (see picture, just do the best you can.)

6. Lay 4 pepper pieces and 2 or 3 onion pieces in the middle of each flattened piece of seitan. Roll each piece up and pinch the seam closed.

7. Line 2 baking sheets with foil. Spray or brush some oil on the foil and place the rolled seitan pieces on the pan spaced out an inch or so apart. Give each roll up piece a spray with oil as well. You can sprinkle the rolls with an all purpose seasoning or more garlic and onion powder if you like or give them a brush of soy and Worcestershire sauce. Take a piece of foil bigger than the pan and place on top of the rolls, pinching and tucking the foil around the pan so it is sealed up best you can. We want the seitan to steam inside the pan so try and not leave any gaps or holes when covering the pan.

8. Bake the seitan Philly rolls for 20 to 25 minutes covered. Uncover the rolls, and allow to bake for 10 more minutes.

9. While the the rolls are cooking prepare the cheese sauce. Place the cashews or sunflower seeds in a microwave safe container and cover in water. Heat on high for 3 minutes. You can do this in a small pot on the stove if you do not have a microwave. Just let them boil about 3 minutes. Drain. Add the nuts or seeds and remaining cheese sauce ingredients to a high speed blender or food processor. Blend until there are no more pieces of cashews or seeds and the mixture its totally smooth. Add the mix to a medium sauce pan. Whisk continuously over medium heat until the sauce is a thick queso consistency. If the sauces gets too thick you can whisk in more water and thin it back out.

10. Once the Philly rolls come out of the oven you can serve them by drizzling the cheese sauce over them. We eat our with a side of fries. You can garnish with some chives or diced green onions if you like.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Philly Cheese Fries with Vegan Beer Cheese Sauce

Dry Rubbed Vegan Brisket

Vegan Pulled Jackfruit Torta

Vegan Beyond Meatball Filled Bread Bowls

I love meatballs. Vegan “meatballs” that is.

I love that Beyond Meat can be used to make a deliciously convincing meatball so I can still enjoy one of my all time favorite pre vegan foods.

Before Beyond started selling the beyond meat in a 1 lb. block, I simply bought the burgers and thawed them, mixed them all up and used them as I would ground meat. It works really well and 4 burgers equal 1 lb. of vegan ground. You can use any brand of vegan mince you like. I prefer Beyond but I know there are a lot of new brands popping up these days, so use your fave or what you can find locally! What a glorious time to be a vegan!

So, that said, what do you do with your vegan meatballs? Add them to spaghetti? Sure, I guess, I do love spaghetti and meatballs. Put them on a sub roll and make a sandwich? Sure, It’s one of my favorite sandwiches. OR, you can bake up you very own homemade bread bowls and fill it with vegan meatballs.

Hear me out. These are way BETTER than a sub! For starters it’s less messy, and also you can pile up a LOT of meatballs into a bread bowl. Then you can smoother it, cover it, drowned it, in vegan cheese sauce and bake it up til it’s bubbly brown, and extra gooey. You will likely look a little more classy eating this than you would with marinara running down your chin as you chomp on a meatball sub. Just saying.

Bread bowl meatballs get my vote!

If you don’t want to make bread bowls, you can go buy some smaller round loaves of bread at the bakery and use those. I have done this with a giant round bread loaf and just made one giant bread bowl for sharing. “Sharing” sure…. if you even believe me, then yeah, I shared it.

Anyways, our all purpose vegan cheese sauce gets extra stretchy and gooey, and is perfect for topping these meatball bread bowls. Also, you are going to want to lick the pot you cook it in, so just a heads up, it’s actually that good. You can use the bread scraps to clean up the cheese pot. I am a genius like that, y’all!

So I you are a fan of meatballs, then try them in a bread bowl. Bread makes all meals better and carbs are for sure my love language. Can you even eat a meatball without bread? I would strongly argue that you for sure can not!

INGREDIENTS:

You will need one batch of our Easy Vegan Bread Bowls or 4-6 store bought bread bowls

• 4 thawed Beyond Beef burgers, or 1 lb block of Beyond Meat

• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (a mix of thyme, sage, basil, marjoram, rosemary, and oregano) if you do not have Italian seasoning feel free to add a combo of any of the listed spices

• 1 teaspoon tomato paste

• 1 flax egg

• 1/2 batch All Purpose Vegan Cheese Sauce

THE SAUCE: ( or use a favorite pre-made sauce)

• 1 onion, diced

• 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

• 1 small 14.4 oz can diced tomatoes

• 1/3 red wine (optional)

• 2 teaspoons crushed garlic

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

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INSTRUCTIONS:

Meatballs:

1. Mix thawed burgers, panko bread crumbs, garlic, spices, and flax egg together in a bowl.

2. Once well combined, form meatballs with a small scoop, or spoon, and place them on a baking pan. You can line the pan with parchment paper for easier clean up.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sauce: (you can also easily use store bought sauce)

1. In a medium sized sauce pan, sauté onions and garlic in 1 teaspoon of oil, and a teaspoon of salt, until onions are translucent.

2. Add the wine, and let it cook for 2 minutes.

3. Add the remaining ingredients, and let the sauce simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Add the cooked meatballs, and let simmer in the sauce for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1. Prepare cheese sauce according to directions, allowing it too cook until it is thick and stretchy.

2. Cut tops of bread bowls and hollow them out. You can save the extra bread to make croutons, or just save the scraps to dip in extra sauce. No judgments from me. It’s what I do. Fill the bread bowls equally with vegan meatballs and marinara sauce.

3. Evenly top the bread bowls with dollops of the cheese sauce, and sprinkle with some parsley if you like.

4. Place bread bowls on a baking sheet.

5. Place in the oven on the top rack just until the cheese starts to get extra melty and gooey.

6. Allow to cool a bit before serving. You don’t want to burn you mouth ( I am a mom of 4, I can’t help but give this warning)

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If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Beyond Meatloaf Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes

Minestrone Soup with Vegan Meatballs

The Perfect Vegan Lasagna

Easy Vegan All Purpose Cheese Sauce

One of the most basic and useful recipes I have, is this one. Seriously, it is vegan recipe that first gave me hope that I could do this! I could give up cheese, and survive to tell about it!

This easy vegan all purpose cheese sauce is something I almost always have on hand. It is a very convincing, ooey, gooey, white cheese. It keep well in the fridge and comes together in just minutes!

The base is cashews which work really well for substituting dairy. They break down super well and are extra creamy making them a popular ingredient in vegan cheeses.

If you are allergic to nuts, you can easily sub them out with sunflower or pumpkin seeds!! It works just fine!

You can use this vegan cheese sauce for pizza, pastas, grilled cheese, seriously so many different things.

The longer you cook it, the thicker and stretchier making it work really well as a quick vegan mozzarella. I actually perfect this cheese sauce on pizza and I make a LOT of vegan cheeses, including shredded mozzarella and soft mozzarella. This sauce is just so quick and so delicious I see no need to make things harder than they need to be!

The spice profile is pretty basic and can be changed up depending on what you are using it for.

Also check out our cashew queso recipe. It has a nice spicy kick and works well for quesadillas, and enchiladas, and tacos.

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INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup cashews

• 2 cups water, plus water for soaking nuts

• 4 tablespoons tapioca starch

• 1/4 cup Sauerkraut, no juice

• 3-4 tablespoons nutritional yeast (I tend to lean towards being more heavy handed with the nutritional yeast. Adjust to your taste)

• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

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INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Place cashews in a microwave safe container and cover in water. Microwave for 3 minutes. Drain water and rinse. If you do not have a microwave, you can boil them in a pot of water for 5 minutes or you can soak them for a few hours in hot water.

2. Add drained cashews, 2 cups clean water, and remaining ingredients to a high speed blender and process until the mixture is totally and completely smooth. This may take a minute or two of blending.

3. Transfer mixture to a medium sized pot over medium heat. Heat the mixture for a few minutes, stirring continuously with a whisk until the mixture begins to thicken. Once desired consistency, remove from heat. If it gets too thick, you can add a little more water to thin it back out.

4. Depending on what I am using the sauce for, depends on how thick I will allow it to get. If using it for pizza, then I will let it get pretty thick so I can dollop it on top of the pizza. If using it in a lasagna or in enchiladas, I will keep it at a thick pudding constancy so it’s easier to spread. You can use it as an alfredo sauce, just keep it on the thinner side. Feel free to add any extra spices depending on what you are using it for!

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You can use this sauce for:

pizza, lasagna, enchiladas, as an alfredo sauce, stuffed shells, calzones, quesadillas, mac and cheese, cheese spread for sandwiches, grilled cheese, just to name a few

If you like this recipe, try these:

Cashew Queso

“Meaty” Cheddar Queso

Spicy Vegan Queso, Nut Free

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My favorite vegan cookbook is “Veganize It!” by Robin Robertson. I adapted and made some changes to her recipe for cashew pizza “cheese” to create this basic all purpose cheese sauce. If you are in the market for some great vegan cook books, be sure to check her’s out. Find a copy of Vegaize It at amazon or a local bookstore. I can not praise this woman enough.

Easy all purpose cashew based vegan cheese sauce. Perfect for vegan pizza, pasta, or sandwiches!

Vegan Gorgonzola and Balsamic Glazed Chips

As much as I love french fires, my love for loaded chips is probably just as equal.

Lets be real, offer me a fried potato of any kind and I will eat it.

That being said, this recipe is my all time favorite chip recipe. A local restaurant we used to frequent served a non vegan version of these chips, and I was obsessed.

It took me a while to get a convincing vegan gorgonzola sauce, but once I did, it was game on. The sauce can actually be used in all kinds or recipes and should! We used cashews to get a super creamy and convincingly cheesy texture and added the right amount of lemon, vinegar, and dijon to give it that gorgonzola zip.

The homemade balsamic is sweet and tangy as well, pairing really well with the creamy cheese sauce.

These chips are salty, tangy, sweet, and perfect. You can top them with chives, but we like to chop up cilantro stems and sprinkle on top for a bright, fresh contrast!

I promise you, these will be one of your new favorite chips, too!

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Ingredients:

• 4 - 6 russet potatoes

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

• 1 - 2 tablespoons agave

• oil for frying (air fryer instructions also given)

• optional: chives or chopped cilantro for garnish

Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce

• 1/2 cups cashews, soaked in hot water for a few hours, or covered in water and microwaved for 3 minutes.

• 1 cup water (this is used to process the cashews, not for soaking)

• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

• 2 tablespoons tapioca or corn starch

• juice from 1 lemon

• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard

• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

• 1 teaspoon light miso paste

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup plant based milk

• 1 tablespoon vegan butter

Instructions:

1. Wash Potatoes but do not peel. Using a kitchen mandoline, slice the potatoes on the thinnest setting. You can also use your food processor with the slice attachment, or use the side of box grater that has one horizontal blade. Whatever you use, you want a super thin slice.

2. IF USING AN AIR FRYER: Toss the potatoes in a teaspoon of oil and a few shakes of some salt, then add them in batches to your basket. Cook on 360 degrees for 15 minutes. Half way through cooking, move the chips around in the basket; they like to stick together so you may have to peel some apart. Continue cooking for another 15 minutes or until all of the slices are crisp like a chip.

3. IF PAN FRYING: Fill a large skillet with a few inches of your preferred oil for frying. Heat the pan on medium heat until the oil is sizzling. Begin adding chips in batches and allow to cook for several minutes until they are browning and crisp. Place finished chips on a wire cooling rack that you have placed on a paper-towel-lined baking sheet. Lightly salt the chips.

4. Add balsamic and agave to small sauce pan. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. You can start with 1 tablespoon of agave and if the glaze is not sweet enough for you, add more. It will thicken some as it sits, so if it is too thick and sticky when you are ready to use it, add a few splashes of balsamic vinegar back in and whisk.

5. To prepare the cheese sauce, drain the cashews and add them along with remaining cheese sauce ingredients, minus the milk and butter, to a high speed blender or food processor. Blend on high until mixture is completely smooth.

6. Transfer mixture to a sauce pan and heat on med/low heat. Whisk the sauce as it is cooking. Once the sauce begins to thicken, add in the milk and butter, and cook for one more minute. If the sauce gets too thick, you can always add a little more milk to thin it out.

7. To serve, pile chips on a plate. Drizzle with cheese sauce, balsamic glaze, and sprinkle with diced chives or cilantro.

serves 4-6

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If you liked this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Chili Cheese Fries

Vegan Gorgonzola Fried Brussel Sprouts

Vegan Fried Cheese Grits