Seitan curry, or vegan chicken curry, is a super easy recipe that harks back to a classic chicken curry. Something we both used to have as children. Ready in just 20 minutes and you don’t need any complicated ingredients. Plus, you can buy the seitan to make it even easier! Perfect when served with vegan naan.
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🌟 Why this recipe works
- So quick – I honestly can’t believe how quick and easy this recipe is! We actually made it three times solely to check that the timings were right. They were, it’s just that easy.
- Classic taste – this seitan curry is our take on a vegan chicken curry. It’s not spicy but does taste like a classic chicken curry. It’s not rich with tradition, in fact, it’s probably quite British (we haven’t done any research into the history though). If you had chicken curry out of a tin as a kid (and loved it), this recipe is for you. It’s basically that, but better! And vegan, of course.
- Two spices – can you believe you’ll only need two spices for this seitan curry? Just chilli powder and curry powder – both mild. It creates the loveliest curry flavour!
- One-pot – who doesn’t love a one-pot wonder? Less washing up, usually pretty easy and quick too!
- Creamy – vegan yoghurt creates a really creamy and rich (but not too rich!) curry sauce for this seitan curry.
📋 Ingredient Notes
- Seitan – Dan makes the greatest chicken-style seitan for this curry. He first learnt to make seitan using Skye Michael Conroy’s book, Seitan and Beyond, and Avocados and Ales’ chickwheat shreds recipe. He’s changed his technique for it over the years, and we’ll publish the recipe when he’s ready, but in the meantime get the book, or head to the link above to have a go at making it yourself. In addition, if you’re buying it, we recommend Love Seitan or vegan chicken style pieces from a super market.
- Vegan yoghurt – we recommend Koko coconut yoghurt. If you don’t want to use coconut yoghurt, just make sure to use plain vegan yoghurt. It mustn’t be flavoured. A good alternative is plain soy yoghurt.
- Passata – we use passata rather than chopped tomatoes in this recipe. It could be replaced with blended tomatoes or tinned chopped tomatoes for a chunkier sauce but that’s not our intent. We use passata to make a smooth and silky sauce, not a chunky one.
- Vegan chicken stock – this really helps to bring the chicken curry flavour! We recommend getting the vegan chicken stock by Massel, but there are lots on the market now. If you don’t have it, use vegetable stock.
- Spices – just chilli powder and curry powder! Yes, just two spices are needed. We use the mild versions of both. If you’d like your seitan curry with a bit of chilli heat, then switch either the chilli or curry powder for hot versions, but not both of them!
Check out the recipe card at the bottom of this article for exact measurements.
🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
These instructions are an overview of how we make our seitan curry, designed to go with the images. For the full list of ingredients with measurement, instructions and notes, head to the recipe card below.
1. Fry off the onion with oil or oil spray until soft, for 5 minutes.
2. Next add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute.
3. Sprinkle in the curry powder and chilli powder, which should take just 1 minute more, to help the spices release their flavour.
4. Pour in the passata and stock, then bring up to a simmer – for about 2 mins
5. Add in the seitan chicken and stir well. Keep it cooking for a couple of minutes more.
6. Pop in the peas and stir through.
7. Then pour in the coconut yoghurt and stir until thoroughly mixed, and the sauce is thick, creamy and glistening.
8. Finally, add in the chopped coriander, stir well and season to taste. That's it, we told you this seitan curry was super simple!
👩🍳 Expert Tips
Super quick cooking time – I know I said it above but this vegan chicken curry takes just 20 minutes to make! We don’t sweat down the onions, we just cook until translucent and there isn’t much prep to do, so it really is that quick!
Easy swaps – you can use plain soy yoghurt instead of coconut yoghurt, broccoli instead (or as well as) peas and you can switch out the stock for vegetable stock.
Homemade seitan – if you’re keen to make seitan, we recommend the Chickwheat Shreds recipe (linked above), if not, just buy some from the supermarket or order online.
Mild curry powder – our seitan curry is mild, and doesn’t have much heat to it. If you’d like it a bit spicier, try using hot chilli powder or hot curry powder. If you don't have curry powder, check out these curry powder substitutes.
Make ahead – this recipe keeps well in the fridge for around three days, so it can be prepped ahead of time. If you’re doing that, we’d recommend adding in the peas when you reheat it, as well as adding a splash of water. As there’s coconut yoghurt in the sauce, it’s likely to thicken quite a lot in the fridge. Therefore, adding water helps the sauce to loosen up.
Storage – keeps well in the fridge for three days, and three months in the freezer. Just defrost and reheat thoroughly.
💭 FAQs
Seitan is a meat substitute that can be made at home, using washed plain flour or vital wheat gluten. It’s often flavoured with herbs, spices and stock. In addition, different methods such as steaming, wrapping, boiling, baking and deep-frying can be utilised to create different types of vegan meat substitutes.
Seitan is made from vital wheat gluten or washed plain flour. It’s often paired with other ingredients like chickpeas or tofu, to create different textures. As mentioned above it often has herbs and spices added to it, but often beetroot powder and other ingredients can be added to create different colours and textures.
Depending on how it is flavoured, seitan can taste like any number of different meats. It can often have a slight spongey texture but can also be quite dense if the gluten isn’t kneaded out of the flour enough. In addition, different flavour combinations are often used to create different styles of seitan. When we make chicken seitan, we used vegan chicken stock and herbs such as thyme and rosemary, but for beef-style seitan, we would use beetroot powder for the colour and vegan beef stock for flavouring.
We think chick wheat is a great style of seitan for curry – especially when making a vegan chicken curry like this one. We included a link to the recipe that we recommend above.
🍛 What to serve with it
Similar Recipes to Try
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📖 Recipe
Seitan Curry in 20 Minutes
Ingredients
- 1 onion – chopped
- 4 cloves garlic – pressed
- 0.5 tablespoon fresh ginger – minced
- 3 tablespoon curry powder
- 0.25 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 cup passata
- 0.5 cup coconut yoghurt
- 0.5 cup vegan chicken stock
- 400 g chicken-style seitan pieces
- 0.75 cup peas
- 0.25 cup fresh coriander – chopped
Instructions
- Fry off the onion with oil spray until soft, for 5 minutes.1 onion
- Next add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute.4 cloves garlic, 0.5 tablespoon fresh ginger
- Sprinkle in the curry powder and chilli powder, which should take just 1 minute more, to help the spices release their flavour.3 tablespoon curry powder, 0.25 teaspoon chilli powder
- Pour in the passata and stock, then bring up to a simmer - for about 2 mins1 cup passata, 0.5 cup vegan chicken stock
- Add in the seitan chicken and stir well. Keep it cooking for a couple of minutes more.400 g chicken-style seitan pieces
- Pop in the peas and stir through.0.75 cup peas
- Then pour in the coconut yoghurt and stir until thoroughly mixed, and the sauce is thick, creamy and glistening.0.5 cup coconut yoghurt
- Finally, add in the chopped coriander, stir well and season to taste.0.25 cup fresh coriander
Notes
- If you don’t have coconut yoghurt, make sure to use plain vegan yoghurt, like plain soy yoghurt.
- If you don’t have seitan, it works great with other meat substitutes such as brands like Squeaky Bean, Gardein or even Fry’s. Alternatively, tofu or tempeh are great options too.
- If you don’t have passata, try using blended tinned tomatoes.
- For a spicier curry, use hot chilli powder.
- Try adding broccoli for a curry with more vegetables.
- Keeps well in the fridge for 3 days and freezes well for up to 3 months too.
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