Vegan Sweet and Sour Seitan with Veggies
This Vegan Sweet and Sour Seitan with Veggies recipe is sweet, savory and delicious! It’s also a little spicy, thanks to the hot pepper Amelia added.
This recipe was inspired by a recipe in Dr. Esselstyn’s book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. I read Dr. Esselstyn’s book after discovering I still had high cholesterol after more than 2 years of eating a Whole-Food Plant-Based (WFPB) diet. And I found this out on the same day my mom had a stent put in her heart to fix a large blockage. You can read more about this bad day in my blog post, “Can Vegans Get Heart Disease?”
Dr. Esselstyn’s book is full of delicious, low-fat and oil-free recipes. It’s also full of scientific evidence showing that a WFPB diet is the only diet proven to prevent and reverse heart disease.
We modified this Vegan Sweet and Sour Seitan with Veggies recipe a little bit by using both broccoli and cauliflower, as well as a hot pepper that we got at our favorite mercado here in Cuenca, Ecuador. We also used a fresh pineapple instead of canned, which meant we had less juice than you get from canned pineapple. We added a tablespoon of brown sugar to make up for the missing sweetness. Finally, we changed the order of things a bit to make it a little quicker and easier to prepare.
It’s hard to find cornstarch here in Ecuador, so we use the widely available yucca powder as the sauce thickening agent. You can also use agar powder, tapioca powder or arrowroot. Use whatever you can find.
Try different veggies, using whatever you have on hand, or veggies that need to be used before they go bad. Being creative brings new and exciting flavors to recipes so they stay interesting.
We got our no-oil seitan from Fratello Vegan here in Cuenca, Ecuador. In addition to delicious vegan food made to order with a great view of the Tomebamba river, they also sell seitan, vegan chorizo sausage, vegan desserts and other vegan foods that can be hard to find in grocery stores.
While the plant-based and vegan movements are growing rapidly here in Ecuador, the grocery stores are still a bit behind the times. They do have some vegan options, but the selection is limited and often out-of-stock. It’s nice that Fratello is helping us to fill in the gaps.
After we ate this delicious meal, Amelia found out her pineapple allergy is still alive and well. Normally, cooking pineapple seems to make it safe for her to eat, but about 30 minutes after dinner, she broke out in hives all over her body. They lasted about an hour and then went away, thankfully.
If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4 servings | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 16 minutes |
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This Sweet and Sour Seitan with Veggies recipe is sweet, savory and delicious! It's also a little spicy, thanks to the hot pepper Amelia added. Serve over brown rice.
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- 8 oz fresh pineapple chopped small (or 1-16oz can crushed pineapple in juice)
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
- 1 tbsp cornstarch or yucca powder or agar powder
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable broth
- 1 large red onion chopped
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp fresh ginger grated or 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 cup cauliflower florets
- 1 cup grated carrots
- 1 medium red bell pepper sliced or cut into bit sized pieces
- 1 medium red chili pepper or jalapeño pepper (optional)
- 3 cups cooked brown rice (1 cup dry)
- Heat the 2 tsp soy sauce in a large skillet over medium heat. Add seitan and cook until browned, stirring constantly, about 4 minutes. You may need to add more soy sauce or water if it starts to get too dry. Remove from skillet and set aside.
- Fresh Pineapple: Finely chop 8 ounces of pineapple. Try to save as much juice as possible. Canned Pineapple: Drain the pineapple and reserve the juice.
- In a small bowl combine the juice, vinegar, brown sugar, cornstarch and soy sauce. Whisk until well combined.
- Heat the veggie broth over medium heat in the same skillet used to brown the seitan.
- Add the onions and garlic, cover and steam fry until onions are translucent, 3-4 minutes.
- Add broccoli and steam fry for an additional 3 minutes. You may need to add 1-2 tbsp of broth or water.
- Add peppers and continue to steam fry until tender, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in carrots, ginger, seitan, pineapple and sweet and sour sauce. Continue to cook until the sauce thickens and the pineapple is heated through, approximately 2 minutes.
- Sever over 3/4 cup brown rice.
Serving size is 3/4 cup brown rice topped with 1 cup of Sweet and Sour Seitan with Veggies.
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