So I have been making vegan deli meats for a while now.

The one goal has always been making the best vegan sandwich I can get my hands on!

I could live off of sandwiches. They have everything! Bread ( bread is my love language) veggies, delicious vegan deli meat, and in my case, vegan mayo. Almost ever sandwich needs mayo or some mayo based spread, but that is just a matter opinion.

I also get asked regularly if I have a recipe for “fill in the blank.” So far I have covered turkey, ham, roast beef, brisket, pastrami, salami, and pepperoni. All the meats I missed after going vegan, and all the meats I wanted on a perfect vegan sandwich.

A reuben is by far my all time hands down favorite sandwich. And I don’t discriminate. Before I was vegan I had a favorite reuben variation from all my favorite restaurants. From an original corned beef reuben to a turkey reuben, and even the most untraditional BBQ brisket with slaw reuben. I even make reuben latkes every year for Hanukkah.

I mean you can make a reuben with lots of different meats, and I just kept making mine with my vegan pastrami recipe, but one would argue the correct, traditional way is to make one with corned beef. And recently someone asked if I had a corned beef recipe. And I did not. Even with my fierce love of a reuben, I had just not delved into the world of corned beef making.

So I decided it was high time! And that is just what I did.

Making homemade seitan, especially deli meat is much easier than most people think, and if you have made any of my other deli meats recipes, you were probably surprised just how quick and easy it actually is.

If I were going to rate the other deli meats on my site as “beginner level’ then I might would rate this corned beef “intermediate.” Not as quick and easy, but truly to get a corned beef you are going to have to take a few extra steps.

Regular corned beef needs to hang out in a pickling brine for a time, hence the whole “corned” part of the name. It is also suppose to be sort of fall apart tender. This gave me some challenge as most of my deli meats are super firm so you can slice them nice and thin.

So for starters I needed a nice tender, and flavorful seitan, but I needed it to be able to slice thinly as well. So I opted to simmer the seitan in a pickling spice liquid and then wrap and bake it to steam. I really wanted all that flavor from the spice blend to sink in and simmering seemed like the answer. Baking it in the foil helped to firm it up and give it that nice outter coating.

This deli meat is not harder to make than the others on my site, but making the spice blend, and allowing it to simmer before the bake does take more time.

Outside of using this vegan corned beef to make the perfect reuben, it will also work great in you St Patty’s day corned beef and cabbage recipes. After you have allowed it to rest and firm up (NO, you may not skip this step) you can reheat it however you like. And now all the other vegans missing corned beef and cabbage will be green with envy….(bad St Patty’s day joke, I know)

Really, if you are on the fence with this recipe, it really is not too much harder than any of my other deli meats. It does take a little more time and effort, it may not end up on your weekly vegan meat making rotation, but I will be so worth it when you do make it! I promise.

And really yall, keep the seitan requests a comin’. I mean it only took me a year to get around to tackling this one but really, I do consider all the requests I get, and when I find the time and inspiration I am willing to try and tackle just about anything yall throw at me. Just don’t throw an actual deli meat at me, that would just be weird.

INGREDIENTS:

16 oz package of super firm tofu, the kind in a vacuum sealed package
1 cup vital wheat gluten
1/3 cup diced raw beet, peeled
1 teaspoons No Beef Better than Bouillon
1/4 cup corn starch or tapioca starch
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons soy sauce or coconut aminos
1 tablespoon oil ( I used grape seed)
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
2 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons powdered mustard
1 teaspoon each salt and black pepper

Pickling Spice :

You will need to use a spice grinder, coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle for this

2 star of anise
2 teaspoons juniper berries
2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds
2-3 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons all spice
1/4 teaspoons ground clove, or 3 whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cardamom
2 teaspoons dried dill
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon coriander
2 whole bay leaves

Simmering Liquid:

4 cups water
1 heaping teaspoons No Beef Better Than Bouillon
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 teaspoon minced garlic
All of the pickling spice
2 teaspoons corn starch or tapioca starch

INSTRUCTIONS:

Add the peeled and cubed beet to the food processor. Let it run for a minute and get the beet good and broken down.
Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor along with the beet. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.
Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit. If the dough seems too dry, you can add water, just a teaspoon at a time until the dough comes together. I added NO water to my dough. The other liquid ingredients and the beet added enough moisture to mine.
Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute, forming a kind of oval shaped loaf with the dough.
Add all of the spices to a spice grinder, or clean coffee grinder. Grind into a powder. I even dump in my already ground spices just to help mix it all up together. If using a mortar and pestle then just grind up the whole spices and mix them with the ground. I tend to have a decent selection of ground spices in my pantry at all times. I only added whole spices that I coudln’t find already ground. Use ground if you have it already.
In a large pot or dutch oven, add all of the simmering liquid ingredients EXCEPT for the starch. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat.
Add the beef seitan to the liquid. Simmer with a lid for 25 minutes. Remove the lid for the remainder or the simmer, turning the seitan a few times as it cooks. After 45 minutes the liquid should be reduced by more than half.
Take a piece of foil at least double the size of your seitan and spray it with some oil. Using tongs and a spatula, transfer the vegan corned beef to the foil.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of starch into the boiling liquid and whisk well. Scrape any bits of stuck seitan off the bottom of the pot into the mixture. Once it has thickened to a gravy consistency, spoon a few nice spoonfuls over the seitan and brush it on with a pastry brush. Flip the seitan and do the same on the other side. You won’t use all of the gravy you made.
Tightly wrap the foil around the vegan corned beef and repeat with another large piece of foil giving it a nice tight double wrap.
Bake for 40 minutes. Carefully open up the foil and allow to bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool at room temperature for at least half an hour. Transfer to the fridge either wrapped back in the foil or you can drop it in a gallon freezer bag or some Tupperware. Allow the vegan corned beef to rest in the fridge over night or AT LEAST 6 HOURS. Seitan MUST REST to achieve the texture we are looking for. Trust me here. Let it rest.
After the vegan corned beef has rested, you can slice it and store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a 10 days or freeze for up to 6 months. You can reheat the full roast by slicing it thick and heating in the oven at 350 covered in foil so it does not dry out or reheat it in a pan or even the crock pot if cooking in a broth with cabbage and other veggies.

TROUBLE SHOOTING THIS REICPE:

*I used high protein tofu in a vacuum sealed package and this what I strongly advise using. It is much firmer than regular firm tofu and has less moisture and a more chewy texture. If you opt to use regular firm tofu you will need to press it first and remove as much liquid as possible. You may need to adjust the amount of water in the recipet as well. Add the water last, adding just enough to accomplish a firm dough.

*If you find your turkey has A LOT OF LITTLE HOLES, and a more BREAD LIKE TEXTURE this can be caused from under kneading the dough, BUT more likely cooking the seitan at too high of a temperature, or for too long. Check your ovens temperature with an oven thermometer. Your oven may just be cooking hotter than it registers. Also gas and electric ovens tend to cook differently. If you do not have an oven thermometer you can reduce the heat in your oven by 25 degrees, and keep the seitan covered for 50 minutes and open for 10.

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