With Memorial Day approaching, hot dog season will soon be in full swing. It’s a bummer sometimes as a vegan to miss out on the traditional back yard party/picnic offerings – but of course, we know that there’s a vegan version for just about everything out there!
Now, I know all kinds of bad and mysterious ingredients end up in meat hot dogs. Nevertheless, back in the day, I loved them. I also know that I can buy vegan hot dogs, but being the control freak that I am, I need to keep tabs on what goes in those, too. These are super easy to make, are juicy and have that kind of eerily familiar mouthfeel. Turns out the rather distinctive taste/smell that I remember from meat hot dogs comes from ground coriander – never would have guessed that.
I used the seitan recipe from Mark Bittman’s classic, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian – and it really is ridiculously basic: vital wheat gluten, water and broth. I added toasted wheat germ for texture and the spices typically found in meat hot dogs. To get a more-or-less hot dog shape, I rolled pieces of seitan in foil and steamed rather than simmered them.
Basic Seitan Hot Dogs
- Prep Time: 35
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 95
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
Just in time for BBQ season! Next time you’re invited to a picnic or cook-out, bring your own cruelty-free seitan hot dogs that taste oh-so-close to the “real” thing!
Ingredients
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 vegan, beef-flavored bouillon cube (such as Not-Beef Bouillon)
- 1 Tbsp. miso paste
- 1 cup vital wheat gluten
- 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
- 1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
- 3/4 tsp. ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp. marjoram
- 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. dried onion flakes
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- pinch salt
- 1 tbsp. sweet onion, finely minced
- 2 cloves garlic, grated or finely minced
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 Tbsp. tamari or soy sauce
Instructions
- Place the bouillon cube and miso paste into the hot water and stir to dissolve. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the vital wheat gluten, wheat germ, and nutritional yeast. Set aside.
- In a spice blender, add the coriander through salt and process until fine. Pour this mixture into the vital wheat gluten mixture and whisk. Now stir in the bouillon/miso water and the onions and garlic. This mixture will be very wet. Knead for about 5 minutes and then cover the bowl with a towel and let sit for 25-30 minutes.
- While the seitan rests, prepare the steamer. Add the water, broth, and soy sauce to a large pot. Put a steam basket into the pot. I put a small ramekin in the bottom and set the basket on top of this – I feel that it just works a bit better to be higher above the liquid. Cover the pot and turn on the stove to low heat. You just want to get some steam rolling in there. Cut 6 sheets of aluminum foil that are about 8-inch wide.
- After the seitan has set, knead for a few more minutes and then divide the dough into 6 pieces. Gently roll them into logs and taking one piece at a time, roll up into the aluminum foil and twist the ends. Repeat with the remaining 5 pieces. When the water/broth is steaming. add the seitan and cook on low heat for 1 hour. Turn off the heat and let the seitan rest just as it is for another hour. They’re ready to serve at this point, but you can also refrigerate them for several days or freeze for a longer period.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
- Calories: 161
- Sugar: 1
- Sodium: 536
- Fat: 2
- Saturated Fat: 0
- Unsaturated Fat: 1
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 10
- Protein: 27
- Cholesterol: 0
Ok those look sooooo good. I was just thinking last month that I need to create a vegan hotdog. Seriously, I admit, hotdogs were one of my top favorite foods, topped with chili and cheese. I’d eat 4 at once and enjoy every minute of it and then be sick as a dog for hours afterward, haha.
Girl, I was the SAME! I loved hot dogs! For a while I lived in Cincinnati and Skyline Chili had the best chili dogs…I’d eat two of them and regret it later, but always went back for more punishment. Young and stupid, I guess ;-)!
I’m sure I would enjoy these in a way I didn’t enjoy hotdogs. The though of that bright pink meat of questionable origin makes me feel quite ill, but these look terrific. I like the chunks of tomato in the bun, too. Tasty!
Agreed, Lorna – it’s best not to contemplate what finds its way into a “real” hotdog. I kind of cringe when I think of how many I consumed!
Sounds a whoooool lot better than the real hot dog ingredients. Yum!!
No health hazards here!
PS I hope you had a good breakfast this morning – and not one from 7/11 ;-)!
Could have been actually. Pecans and the biggest banana I’ve ever seen…Smoothie tomorrow though 😉 Thx for asking ♡
Those look amazing!
Very cool! And I love the photography!
These hot dogs are way better than any I have seen 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I never liked hot dogs, but loved getting down on field roast back in the day. These days my tummy can’t hang with those, so I would be ALL OVER these!! They look amazing!
Annie these look and sound amazing! They’ll be great for a summer barbecue! What’s the strip of white stuff on them?
Thanks, Poppy. Well…believe it or not, that’s a pickle :-P. They just weren’t very green for some reason. Oops!
Haha just seen this and had a good laugh!! 😀
Yum yum yummm! At the moment, I took vegan weeners for this & now, I can make this tasty seitan substitute! Yum yum yummm!
These look delicious. I used to love hotdogs (even though, yes, they were totally gross!) and I sometimes buy Smartdogs… Guess I should just start making my own!
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