Enjoy your favorite appetizer vegan-style with this Seitan Wings recipe, flavored to your preference with either buffalo or sticky sriracha sauce!
Whoever said “the perfect appetizer does not exist” clearly never met seitan hot wings.
I take my appetizers seriously, and have to admit that seitan wings are one of my new favorites. They’ve got a great texture (from the seitan!), and they taste fantastic once sautéd. The real kicker is the choice of sauce, as seitan takes on the flavor of what it’s mixed with!
For today’s wings, you have two options: buffalo or sticky sriracha. I know, I know, how can you choose? Well, that’s the beauty of it – don’t! Both types of sauce are made with kitchen staples, so there’s a high chance that you have everything you need to try these vegan wings both ways.
So, what will it be? Vegan buffalo wings or sticky sriracha wings? The choice is yours! Let’s dive in.
Ingredients in vegan hot wings
The ingredients for seitan wings consist of the dough, the broth, and then the sauces. Each part uses only a handful of ingredients and is very simple to whip together.
Dough
- Vital Wheat Gluten: We’ll start things off with 1 cup of vital wheat gluten. This is the ingredient for creating seitan!
- Water: Then, we’ll mix the gluten with 1 cup of water. The mixture is how seitan begins to form.
- Chickpea Flour: ¼ cup of chickpea flour will be used to thicken up the dough and begin transforming it into “wings.”
- Nutritional Yeast: From there, add ¼ cup of nutritional yeast for texture and flavor.
- Seasonings: Finally, add 1 teaspoon of each seasoning: salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika.
Broth
- Vegetable Broth: 6 cups of veggie broth will be needed to simmer about 20 wings. This infuses the wings with even more flavor as they cook.
- White Vinegar: We will use 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to add a slight bite.
- Liquid Smoke: Finally, include ½ teaspoon of liquid smoke for extra smoky flavor.
Wing Sauce (Pick One)
- Buffalo Wings: The buffalo wing mixture of your dreams consists of ½ cup of Frank’s buffalo sauce, 2 tablespoons of melted, unsalted butter or margarine, and ½ teaspoon of garlic powder.
- Sticky Sriracha: And for the sriracha, you’ll need ¼ cup of sriracha, ¼ cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of lime juice, and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce.
How to make seitan wings
Seitan wings aren’t as complicated as you think. We’ll get into the details in a second, but here’s a quick overview. First, we’ll create the seitan by using a wheat gluten and water mixture. We’ll add flour, yeast, and seasonings to form the dough.
From there, we’ll shape and knead the dough before breaking it into individual wing pieces, and then we’ll simmer them in broth. Finally, we’ll sauté the wings and add the sauce, and then they’re ready to devour!
Step 1: Form the dough
In a large bowl, stir together all of the dough ingredients until a ball forms. Transfer the ball to a clean surface and knead for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is elastic and cohesive. It will still be lumpy, which is okay!
Step 2: Shape the wings
Next, portion the dough into about 20 pieces, then roughly form the pieces into nugget shapes. They’ll expand while cooking, so make them smaller than you think you’ll want them. Let the hot wings rest while you prepare the broth.
Step 3: Simmer in broth
Add all of the broth ingredients to a large pot and bring to a simmer. Gently lower the seitan wings into the broth, ensuring that it covers the dough. If it doesn’t, transfer everything to a smaller pot. Partially cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Step 4: Create the wing sauce
While the wings simmer, choose your flavor and whisk together all of the ingredients for that specific sauce.
Step 5: Sauté the wings
Remove the wings from the pot and let them cool enough to touch. Grease a large sauté pan over medium heat, then add the hot wings. Cook, flipping once while cooking, until the wings are golden brown on all sides.
Step 6: Toss and serve
Toss the wings in your wing sauce and serve warm.
hot wing dipping sauces
After you flavor your wings with either the buffalo or sriracha mixtures, you need to pair them with something! For the best flavors, I recommend using one of the following dipping sauces:
- Blue cheese
- Ranch
- Chipotle mayo
- Mustard mayo
- Garlic parmesan
Include a side of carrots and celery for bonus points!
More drool-worthy appetizers
What better suggestions could I provide than even more appetizers?! In setting out to provide a quick list of some more favorites, I quite literally had a hard time deciding. I dropped four classics below, but head to the apps page to see more great ideas!
- Creamy Vegan Cashew Queso
- Air Fryer Fried Pickles
- Vegetarian Buffalo Dip
- Hidden Spinach Healthy Guacamole
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup vital wheat gluten 120 g
- 1 cup water 236 mL
- ¼ cup chickpea flour 30 g
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast 15 g
- 1 tsp each salt, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika
Broth
- 6 cups vegetable broth 1.4 L
- 2 Tbsp white vinegar 30 mL
- ½ tsp liquid smoke 2 mL
Wing Sauce (Pick One)
- Buffalo Wings: ½ cup Frank's buffalo sauce, 2 Tbsp melted unsalted butter or margarine, ½ tsp garlic powder
- Sticky Sriracha: ¼ cup sriracha, ¼ cup brown sugar, 1 Tbsp lime juice, 1 tsp soy sauce
Instructions
- Dough: In a large bowl stir together all dough ingredients until a ball forms. Transfer to a clean surface and knead for about 5 minutes, or until dough is elastic and cohesive (it will still be lumpy, that's okay!)
- Shape: Portion dough into about 20 pieces, then roughly form into nugget shapes (they will expand when cooking, so make them smaller than you think you'll want them!). Let hot wings rest while you prepare the broth.
- Broth: Add all broth ingredients to a large pot and bring to a simmer. Gently lower the seitan wings into the broth, ensuring the dough is covered by the broth (if not, transfer to a smaller pot). Partially cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Wing Sauce: Meanwhile, pick your wing sauce and whisk together all the ingredient for your chosen sauce.
- Saute: Remove from pot and let cool enough to touch. Grease a large saute pan over medium heat, then add the hot wings. Cook, flipping once while cooking, until wings are golden brown on all sides.
- Serve: Toss wings in your wing sauce and serve warm.
Judy says
Is there another flour to use besides chickpea flour? I have bought other flour options for other recipes, but will get the chickpea flour if it’s necessary. I look forward to trying this!
Sarah says
Hi Judy! I sometimes omit the chickpea flour and that can work well, but I haven’t tried other types of flour to see how those would go.