This spicy vegan salami is made from meaty seitan and seasoned to perfection. It's surprisingly easy to make a homemade vegan salami that's perfect for sandwiches or snacks. This peppery vegetarian salami is sure to be your new favorite vegan deli meat!
Vegan salami is made with seasoned wheat gluten that is then cooked into a meat substitute with an authentic taste and texture. This recipe is similar to my vegan pepperoni and vegan Italian sausage recipes. Seitan salami is easy to make and can be whipped up in about 10 minutes (plus cooking time.)
You can dice up this plant-based salami and use it in things like vegan lasagna, stuffed peppers, or pasta salad. It's a also great addition to a vegan charcuterie board along with some vegan cheese.
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🧾 Ingredients and substitutions
Wet ingredients and spices
- Refined Coconut Oil - for a rich flavor and fatty mouthfeel of traditional salami. You can omit it if you want it to be oil-free. I put a little extra coconut oil in the salami to simulate the fat pockets in a traditional salami. You can choose to do this or omit this step.
- Smoked Paprika - you can also use regular paprika plus 1/2 tsp of liquid smoke.
- Red Pepper Flakes - you can adjust the amount to control the level of spice.
- Fresh Ground Black Pepper - it's important to use fresh ground for the best flavor. You can swap it out for regular black pepper, but it won't be quite as flavorful.
- Cayenne Pepper - for extra spice. You can leave it out if you don't want it too spicy.
- Onion Powder- for flavor.
- Garlic Powder - for flavor.
- Fresh Garlic - for more flavor.
- Water - or low-sodium vegetable broth
- Salt - for flavor. Feel free to cut the salt in half for a lower-sodium salami.
- Soy Sauce - or you can swap it out with 1 tablespoon of Bragg's Liquid Aminos.
- Ketchup - for flavor and a slight sweetness. You can also use tomato paste and a little sugar.
- White Beans - you can use any type of bean that you want, but the small chunks of white beans will give a look of salami.
Dry ingredients
- Vital Wheat Gluten - this is a high-protein gluten flour. You must use wheat gluten and no other type of flour to get the salami to work with this method. There is no gluten-free swap for this. You can find it at most major grocery stores, but I like to order a large bag from Amazon to make lots of seitan recipes.
🔪 Helpful tools for making seitan
- Aluminum Foil - to wrap the salami before steaming. (If you don't want your seitan to touch the foil, you can wrap it in parchment paper before wrapping it in foil.
- Steaming Pot - a pot with a built-in steamer basket is the easiest to use, but you can use any type of steamer basket large enough to fit the salami links.
Many of my seitan recipes like vegan ham, vegan turkey, vegan hot dogs, or vegan beef require a blender or a food processor to blend the beans and broth, but for this recipe, I like to simply mash the beans instead of blending.
🥄 How to make vegan salami
Step 1 - In a small saucepan, warm the oil over low heat and add the smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, black pepper, minced garlic, garlic powder, and onion powder.
Step 2 - Stir the spices around in the warm oil and let the flavors bloom for about 3 minutes, then remove from heat. (Be sure to only warm the oil and not burn the spices.)
Step 3 - Add water, ketchup, soy sauce, and salt, and stir well.
Step 4 - Add 1/2 cup of white beans to the broth and mash them up with a fork and stir them into the broth.
Step 5 - Mix in 3/4 cup of the vital wheat gluten with a silicon spatula, then knead in the remaining 1/4 cup of wheat gluten with your hands until you have a firm dough.
Step 6 - Spread the wheat gluten dough out flat and drop small pieces of very cold coconut oil on it. (This will simulate the fat in a traditional salami.) Then roll the gluten to trap the pieces in the center of the salami. (You can omit this step for a lower-fat vegan salami.)
Step 7 - Shape the seitan salami into a smooth log and wrap it tightly in foil. (You can wrap it in a layer of parchment before wrapping it in foil if you don't want the foil to touch your food.)
Step 8 - Place the wrapped seitan into a steamer basket and steam for 50 minutes (or steam for 40 minutes in a pressure cooker and let the steam release naturally).
Step 9 - Allow it to cool completely and store in the fridge until ready to slice and eat. (You can eat it warm, but it will become denser as it cools.)
👩🏻🍳 Pro tips for making seitan
- Vital wheat gluten is a very fine powder and it gets messy fast. When adding the flour, hold the measuring cup low in the bowl so you don't have a cloud of powder.
- Feel free to adjust the spices to your taste. This is a spicy deli "meat," so if you don't like it too spicy, cut the red pepper flakes in half and omit the cayenne.
- If you don't have a steamer basket, you can use a small amount of water and place jelly jar rings at the bottom of your pot to lift the salami up out of the water. Just check and refill the water as needed.
- Wash your bowl and utensils in very hot water. This will "cook" the gluten and stop it from being sticky.
🥡 How to store your faux salami?
The salami will keep well in the fridge for 3 - 5 days wrapped in an air-tight bag or container.
❄️ Can I freeze seitan salami?
Yes, seitan freezes well and seitan-based salami can be stored in an airtight bag in the freezer for up to 3 months.
📌 Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for new vegan recipes!
📋 Vegan salami recipe
Vegan Salami
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons refined coconut oil divided
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cloves fresh garlic
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (or liquid Aminos)
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1/2 cup white beans (or any type of bean)
- 1 cup vital wheat gluten
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, warm 1 tablespoon of the oil over low heat and add the smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, black pepper, minced garlic, garlic powder, and onion powder.
- Stir the spices around in the warm oil and let the flavors bloom for about 3 minutes, then remove from heat. (Be sure to only warm the oil and not burn the spices.)
- Add water, ketchup, soy sauce, and salt, and stir well.
- Add 1/2 cup of white beans to the broth and mash them up with a fork and stir them into the broth.
- Mix in 3/4 cup of the vital wheat gluten with a silicon spatula, then knead in the remaining 1/4 cup of wheat gluten with your hands until you have a firm dough.
- Spread the wheat gluten dough out flat and drop small pieces of very cold coconut oil on it (totaling about 1 additional tablespoon of coconut oil). (This will simulate the fat in a traditional salami.) Then roll the gluten to trap the pieces in the center of the salami. (You can omit this step for a lower-fat vegan salami.)
- Shape the seitan salami into a smooth log traping the little bits of oil in the center and wrap it tightly in foil. (You can wrap it in a layer of parchment before wrapping it in foil if you don't want the foil to touch your food.)
- Place the wrapped seitan into a steamer basket and steam for 50 minutes (or steam for 40 minutes in a pressure cooker and let the steam release naturally).
- Allow it to cool completely and store in the fridge until ready to slice and eat. (You can eat it warm, but it will become denser as it cools.)
Notes
- Vital wheat gluten is a very fine powder and it gets messy fast. When adding the flour, hold the measuring cup low in the bowl so you don't have a cloud of powder.
- Feel free to adjust the spices to your taste. This is a spicy deli "meat," so if you don't like it too spicy, cut the red pepper flakes in half and omit the cayenne.
- If you don't have a steamer basket, you can use a small amount of water and place jelly jar rings at the bottom of your pot to lift the salami up out of the water. Just check and refill the water as needed.
- Wash your bowl and utensils in very hot water. This will "cook" the gluten and stop it from being sticky.
Nutrition
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Click the stars above or leave a comment! I'd love to hear from you!
Your amazing ,great dishes you make, glad i found your page.
Thanks, Colleen! I'm glad you found me too! 🙂
Can I sub out the coconut oil? Hate the stuff. Thanks!
Yes, you can use any other type of oil or just leave it out completely.
Do you think you could sub chickpeas for white beans? And thank you for your bologna recipe! Having bologna sandwiches again with relish is wonderful!
Yes, you can swap out the white beans for any other type of bean or even tofu. I like the white beans because if you don't mash them up too much, the little pieces of white look like real salami. (I'm so happy that you like my bologna recipe too!) Enjoy! 🙂
Thank you always sharing. It helps when I miss the food I used to eat.
You're welcome! I'm glad that my recipes help satisfy your cravings for these recipes.
Hello, Monica,
I would like to know what the gluten-free alternative for Vital Wheat Gluten would be. I have made Vegan Salami before, and the texture was good but not as good as l would like it to be.
Unfortunately, there are no good alternatives for wheat gluten. Most of my recipes have a gluten-free alternative, but there is no other way to make seitan. You could use the flavored broth in this recipe and rehydrate TVP or Butler soy curls in it for a meaty salami taste, but it would not be a sliceable deli meat.
Thank you for this recipe!! I think the food I missed the most when I stopped eating meat was salami. I'm going to pin this.
I hope that you enjoy this salami, Lea!
I have not tried this yet only because I would like to know how long will it keep in the refrigerator and freezer.
It will keep for about 5 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer. Enjoy!
Okay, thank you!!