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I started making this exact vegan Korean BBQ seitan recipe from my food truck back in 2011. Chef Roy Choi had just popularized the fusion of Mexican & Korean food from his popular West coast truck Kogi BBQ. And I thought "Why the heck should non-veg folks have all the fun?"
So, after serving many tens of thousands of these over the years from my food truck, I put together this well-tested recipe to help you nail this food truck classic out of the park at home.
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Seitan is criminally slept on as a protein and this recipe is its villain origin story: Korean chili, smoky chipotle, funky kimchi and an easy homemade chili oil that makes the tortilla bubbly, crispy and smokey all at the same time.
Think of this as the lovechild of all the best parts of vegan seitan bulgogi and vegan Korean fried chicken, but faster to make even for the first time.
My kids, who grew up eating this several times a week from my food truck, still ask for me to make them this at home pretty regularly. And I must say, maybe the speed comes from doing this a zillion times, but if I have chili oil already made, I can have this on a plate in front of them in under 20 minutes.
So yeah, if you're looking to relive your visits to my truck, or are on the prowl for something a wee bit spicy, a little extra, and extremely hard to stop eating… you just found your new Faveraham Lincoln.
Jump to:
🥰 Why you'll adore this Korean barbecue seitan recipe
🔥 Korean BBQ Flavor Without the Grill: You don't even have to go outside, buy a grill or explain to your landlord what that smell is. Just a skillet, some heat, and a complete disregard for the idea that BBQ requires anything more than that.
🤫 It's Kinda a Salad in Disguise: My kids grew up vegan. And to make sure they had a nutritionally complete diet, they had no idea how many dark leafy greens I was sneaking into their meals, and this recipe pulls that same con flawlessly.
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide: Like all of my vegan Korean recipes, this recipe has a whole resume. Years on my truck, a feature in my cookbook Street Vegan, and a brutal vetting process by over 1,000 home cooks globally before it landed here.
👩🍳 Learn to make the BEST vegan Korean food
This 5-day guide to my most popular Korean recipes is 100% FREE, & you'll love the actual heck out of it 🥰
🔥 Korean BBQ Seitan Ingredients
Gochugaru
Gochugaru, which is a pretty mild kind of Korean chili flakes, and they are the flavor MVP of the chili flake game in general. It's killer stuff to add to your spice arsenal to make sundubu jjigae, chipotle seitan breakfast burritos, and even vegan shrimp paste recipe with. If you can't find it, Aleppo pepper flakes are probably the closest sub. Otherwise, mix mild chili powder with a pinch of smoked paprika and a tiny bit of cayenne.
Ancho Chile
Dried ancho chile brings this deep, almost raisiny sweetness with a gentle smoky edge that stops the chili oil from tasting like plain heat and pretty much nothing else.
But what the heck do you do with the rest of the bag since this recipe calls for only one?!? They are absolutely essential for my vegan carne asada, chile de arbol salsa, vegan tamales, and I use them in my vegan pozole rojo too. Dried guajillo or mulato chiles are both solid subs if you can't find ancho.
Ume Plum Vinegar
If you own my cookbook Street Vegan you already know I am obsessed with umeboshi plum vinegar to a degree that my friends find concerning.
I mean really, I use it in an embarrassing number of things from my vegan breakfast burritos to vegan truffle mac and cheese and approximately 47 zillion other recipes because it pulls triple duty as a salt substitute, acid, and nearly MSG-like flavor enhancer like nothing else can.
If you genuinely cannot track it down just mix equal parts white vinegar and salt together and that will have to do.
Seitan
Because there's not a single incredible store-bought seitan on the market, I am gonna recommend here that you make it from scratch. You can use my vegan chicken recipe, or the washed flour seitan mixture from my homemade seitan masterclass in this recipe.
Gluten-free folks can grab soy curls and rehydrate them in vegetable stock to use in place of seitan in this great recipe. This is sorta the similar plan on how I make my vegan mole tortas.
Chipotle Powder
This is the ingredient that gives the spicy korean BBQ sauce deep smoky heat that makes everything taste like it came off a charcoal grill, even though you just threw this together in no time on a single burner indoors.
Can't find chipotle powder? Equal parts cayenne and smoked paprika mixed together is your guy and it works like a total charm with a sparkle in its eye.
Flour Tortillas
The reason we're using flour tortillas specifically is because they bubble up beautifully when cooked in the chili oil and get this golden crispy texture.
Wanna make them smaller? Grab regular sized flour tortillas and just do smaller servings. These are the 6-7 inch ones I use in my vegan fajitas recipe.
Kimchi
My vegan kimchi recipe was actually formulated from the ground up to be perfect in this KBBQ banger, and on my gochujang seitan sandwiches. Chopped radish kimchi is also great to use if you want your kimchi chunkier.
Otherwise, if you are buying your kimchi, just be sure it doesn't contain any anchovies, because you love fish (alive). That way, when you grow up to marry an anchovy, their entire aquatic kingdom will not already be sworn to do lifelong revenge on your ass.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯Variations
Sweet Korean BBQ
Traditional Korean BBQ is actually way more on the sweet and savory side than this recipe which leans smoky, acidic and spicy, so if you want to go that more classic route swap the sauce here for my Korean BBQ marinade and finish the whole thing off with a pile of my mildly sweet, sesame oil-kissed Korean carrot salad.
Korean Seitan Bowl
Not feeling tortilla today? Pull everything out of the wrap and throw it over a bowl of steamed rice, brown rice, or vegan kimchi fried rice.
50+ of my own family's fave recipes. Carefully concocted to win over even your most anti-vegan friends.
📖 How to make vegan Korean BBQ
This recipe has more going on than a group chat after you found out your boss got caught on the kiss cam doing something wild. But don't stress m'dear goose, I've mapped out every single step so clearly you could make this half asleep. Follow along below or jump straight to the printable recipe card at the bottom if you've got places to be.
Step One
Oil Always Love You:
Add all chili oil ingredients to a small saucepan and heat over medium. After 2-3 minutes, once the oil is hot and the chilies begin to gently bubble, lower the heat and let it simmer for 40 minutes.
Step Two
In the Cold November Strain:
Remove the saucepan from heat and allow it to cool to room temperature. Strain the oil into a glass container and discard the solids.
Step Three
Kale Me Maybe:
Place the kale in water, then rinse and drain well. Trim off the thick bottom stems and slice the leaves into 1-inch ribbons.
Step Four
Massage Therapy:
Transfer the kale to a mixing bowl with olive oil, vinegar, thyme, and black pepper. Massage for 60-90 seconds until the leaves are tender and evenly coated.
Step Five
Ah, Ha, Ha, Ha, Seitan Alive:
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. After 90 seconds, when hot, add the seitan and cook for 7-8 minutes, turning regularly until lightly browned and crisp on all sides.
Step Six
Whisk And Weward:
In a small bowl, whisk together tomato paste, chipotle powder, ground chili, vinegar, and water.
Step Seven
Princess Chipotlea:
Pour the marinade into the skillet and stir to coat the seitan evenly. Continue cooking over medium-high heat until most of the liquid has reduced and absorbed into the seitan.
Step Eight
South Korilla:
Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. Brush both sides of a tortilla with chili oil and place it on the hot surface. Cook for 30-40 seconds until it begins to bubble, then flip.
Step Nine
Seitanne of Green Gables:
Add kale, arugula, seitan and kimchi to the tortilla. Cook for 40-60 seconds until the underside is golden brown.
Step Ten
Chucky Kimcheese:
No pressure (because this took me months and years of tons of practice on the food truck), but the pro way to get these onto the plate is the use of two large spatulas.
Fold one side over with one spatula, the other side with the other spatula. Then place one spatula firmly in the center on top to prevent the wrap from opening, and use the other spatula from underneath to transfer it onto a plate. The bigger your spatulas, the easier this is to do.
✅ If you are scared about the thing falling apart on your way from the stove to the plate, just transfer the flat grilled tortilla to a plate, add the fillings there, and fold into a triangle, leaving one side open.
Repeat with the remaining tortillas and filling.
Step Eleven
Finish Him:
Repeat with the remaining tortillas and filling.
💡Serving Ideas
If you're going full Korean dish spread with some of my vegan recipes tonight, my Korean-style vegan pigs in a blanket are such a fun combo. And if gluten is a no-go for you, swap the seitan out for my Korean braised tofu instead and you've got yourself a completely gluten-free version of this recipe without losing a single drop of flavor.
👉Top tips
- Dry Your Seitan Before It Hits the Pan: Pat your seitan pieces dry with a paper towel before they touch that hot skillet, hon. Wet seitan sticks to pans like crazy and will make you super mad.
- Don't Make A Korean BBQ Floor: If you are scared about transferring the fully formed thing from the pan to a plate, just transfer the grilled tortilla onto your plate and assemble it there.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Yes, seitan has a firm, chewy texture that pretty darn closely mimics beef (you can also get it pretty close in texture to gable if that's your game), and it absorbs marinades really well, making it one of the most convincing plant-based swaps.
Because I was always trying to convince non-veg eaters that vegan food doesn't have to be bland, I made this hyper flavorful, and just a little bit over the average person's spice tolerance. If you want it less spicy, use a milder kimchi and cut back on the chipotle powder in the sauce.
🧊 Refrigeration
Let the Korean bbq seitan cool completely, then transfer it to an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
🔥 Stovetop reheating
Warm a skillet over medium heat, add the seitan and kimchi with a splash of water or broth, and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally until heated through and glossy. Fire up a fresh tortilla with chili oil, and use fresh raw greens, rather than cooking them.
✌️You'll love making these Cinnamon Snail menu items too:
Learn to make the most insane Korean sandwiches you've ever had in this super-fun cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Korean BBQ Seitan Recipe
Ingredients
For the Chili Oil:
- ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons gochugaru
- 1 dried ancho chile
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Marinated Kale:
- 1 bunch kale
- 2 tablespoons
extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon umeboshi plum vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon thyme
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
For the Smoked Chili Seitan:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cups seitan chopped (about 1.5 lbs.)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon chipotle powder
- 1 tablespoon gochugaru
- 5 teaspoons umeboshi plum vinegar
- ⅓ cup water
To Assemble and Serve:
- 4 flour tortillas 12-inch size
- 2 cups baby arugula
- 1 ⅓ cups vegan kimchi
Instructions
- Combine all chili oil ingredients in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat. After 2-3 minutes, when the oil is hot and the chilies begin to gently bubble, reduce to low heat and simmer for 40 minutes.
- Remove from heat, cool to room temperature, then strain into a glass container and discard the solids.
- Submerge the kale in water, then rinse and drain thoroughly. Remove the bottom portion of the thick stems and slice the leaves into 1-inch (2.5 cm) ribbons.
- Transfer to a mixing bowl with the olive oil, vinegar, thyme, and black pepper. Massage for 60-90 seconds until the leaves are tender and evenly coated.
- To make the seitan, warm the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. After 90 seconds, when the oil is hot, add the seitan and cook, flipping the pieces regularly, for 7-8 minutes until lightly browned and crisp all around.
- Whisk together the tomato paste, chipotle powder, ground chili, vinegar, and water in a small bowl.
- Add the marinade to the skillet and stir to coat the seitan evenly. Continue cooking over medium-high heat until most of the liquid has reduced and absorbed into the seitan.
- Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. Brush both sides of a tortilla with chili oil and place it on the hot surface. Cook for 30-40 seconds until it begins to bubble, then flip.
- Add the kale, arugula, kimchi, and hot seitan. Cook for 40-60 seconds until the underside is golden brown.
- Transfer to a plate and fold into a triangle, leaving one side open. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and filling.
Notes
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