Is Seitan Healthy? (And What the Heck Is It, Anyway?)

My editor, who is way cooler than me, has been hanging out on TikTok lately and says she is seeing lots of videos about cooking with seitan. Apparently, this meat substitute is having a bit of a moment. But plenty of people are still unfamiliar with this ingredient: What the heck is it, how does it stack up nutritionally, and how do you eat it?

Apparently, seitan is having a bit of a moment. But the food it refers to has been a staple in Asian cultures for at least 15 centuries.

Seitan is not a new thing. The word (pronounced say-tan) is Japanese and was coined just 50 years ago by one of the proponents of the macrobiotic diet. But the food it refers to has been a staple in Asian cultures for at least 15 centuries. I remember seeing it (but not buying it) at the Food Coop I belonged to as an undergraduate at Boston University. Although that was not quite 15 centuries ago, it was still long before the days of Whole Foods stores and yoga studios on every corner. Back then, food coops (and health food, in general) occupied a sort of a fringe culture left over from the Age of Aquarius.

Today, of course, plant-based and plant-forward diets have become relatively mainstream and you are much more likely to run across seitan at your local grocery store. It's often next to the tofu or the plant-based meat alternatives. If your local grocery doesn't carry it, seek out a health food store, food coop (yes, they still exist!), or Asian grocer. You can even make your own! (More about that in a moment.)

What is seitan made of?

Seitan is most frequently used as a meat substitute in vegetarian diets. It has a sort of stringy, chewy texture that makes it a fairly good substitute for meat. Unlike some meat substitutes, however, it’s actually a decent source of protein. But the source of the protein might surprise you.

The source of seitan's protein might surprise you!

Seitan is made from wheat gluten. Yes, you heard me correctly. This “health food” consists almost entirely of gluten: a substance a lot of people are going to great lengths to avoid these days. It’s made by rinsing wheat flour dough to dissolve and remove most of the starch and fiber. Eventually, what you have left is a sticky, elastic mass of protein.

Wheat as a source of protein

We tend to think of wheat and products made from wheat (such as bread and pasta) as “carbs.” However, people forget that...

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