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These vegan Chinese ribs are the red-edged, sticky, sweet-and-spicy takeout ribs you used to fish out of one of those folded white takeout boxes with your fingers, of course, minus the pig. Easy to make, requiring no overnight marinade, no smoker, and absolutely hells-to-the-no red dye.
Recipe tips tailored to what matters most to you:
These are basically a brick of wheat gluten wearing a red glaze. Gluten-free friends can get some inspo from the ingredients in this recipe and can apply them as a marinade to tofu or tempeh instead. It’s not the same, but, it’s something.
Bake a double batch of strips and freeze them unglazed. Thaw overnight, then sear and glaze when it's go time.
Grab the cheap Anthony's vital wheat gluten online, and make your own homemade sriracha instead of buying a bottle.
Use reduced-sodium tamari in the dough and ease up on the maple syrup and hoisin a little in the glaze. If you use a nonstick pan, you can cut back on the sesame oil too.
Annatto and red yeast rice powder are only there for color, so skip them if you can't find them. Shaoxing wine and black vinegar can be found online or at any Asian grocery store.
Freshly processed gluten is tense AF and springs back the second your knife touches it. Give the slab about 5 minutes to calm down, and your strips stay the size you cut them.
Pull them at 30-35 minutes, when they feel firm and are just lightly golden. If they dry out, they sorta never come back from that.
Oodles more tips, step-by-step recipe photos, info on weird ingredients, and FAQs are all still here. I just tucked 'em out of the way so you can start cooking sooner.
If you grew up not-yet-vegan anywhere with a decent Chinese takeout spot in your neighborhood, you know boneless spare ribs. Long red strips, sweet sticky edges, just a little char, and a brown paper bag going semi-see-through with grease before you even got home.
Spare ribs (I mean f'real though, who has any to spare?) are normally a pretty umami heavy meat, so this recipe builds all that flavor right into the dough. Shaoxing wine, hoisin, tamari and toasted sesame oil go into the seitan before it ever sees the oven, so every bite is seasoned all the way through, not just on the outside.
If you've made my Korean BBQ seitan, you already know a seasoned dough is the difference between "that's pretty good, I guess" and "What? This is for real just seitan?"
Want the rest of the takeout menu? My Veganized Chinese Takeout Classics class covers it.
Okay, grab your cutest aprons and let's get these bad boyos cooking.
Jump to:
Why you'll adore this vegan Chinese BBQ ribs recipe
🔴 To Die For, Without Dye, or Death: Tomato paste and red yeast rice powder in the dough, and annatto in the glaze give these that classic dark red takeout look. No bottle of red food coloring that stains your cutting board for the rest of Father Time's infinite lifespan.
🥢 Seasoned The Heck Up: Shaoxing wine, hoisin, tamari and sesame oil go right into the seitan, so you skip having to deal with an overnight marinade completely. It's the quickest thing in my vegan meats collection that still tastes like it took a skilled artisan all day.
🏈 Built for Finger Food: No bones to gnaw around, just sticky strips you can pile on a platter and watch disappear. They're one of the vegan Super Bowl recipes your non-veg guests will actually flip out about. In a good way.
Tested and Approved Worldwide: Like all my vegan recipes, 1,000+ home testers hammered on this in their own kitchens before I hit publish. Somewhere a tester is still licking hoisin glaze off a spatula, and I salute them with a hand over my heart and a tear rolling down my cheek.
I'm on my knees staring weirdly into your eyes, asking you in a soothing voice to be my taste-testing partner in crime. Sign up for the recipe testing crew and get early access to new recipes before they're published.
Chinese seitan ribs ingredients
The Gluten
Vital wheat gluten on its own makes some hockey-puck-ass seitan, so I cut it with ¼ cup of chickpea flour. That little bit of dilution softens the chew into something that pulls apart like actual meat. I put the same basic method to work in my seitan pastrami and vegan BBQ brisket.
I've tested this recipe with fancier, pricier brands of vital wheat gluten, and Anthony's is the cheapest one I've found and works great.
New to seitan? My seitan masterclass walks you through the whole darn science of it.
Shaoxing wine
Shaoxing wine is a Chinese rice cooking wine, and provides a nice brothy umami backbone to these ribs.
Find it at any Asian grocery store, usually near the soy sauces.
Got most of the bottle left? Splash it into my vegan yakitori, mi xao xi dau (Vietnamese stir-fried noodles), or the filling for bánh bao chay.
Hoisin and sriracha
Hoisin sauce is sweet, salty and thick, and it's sorta the bulk basis for the glaze on these.
Sriracha brings the heat and a little garlic. If you aren't going to make mine, the OG Huy Fong, or Ninja Squirrel are my personal recommendations for store-bought ones.
Black vinegar
Chinese black vinegar (AKA Chinkiang) is malty, dark and a little sweet, and has a musky, kinda-anise-like fragrance. It's really a nice ingredient to keep on hand for marinades and dressings.
The Color and Spice Crew:
Annatto powder (ground achiote seeds) gives the glaze a little more of its red color without food coloring.
Chinese 5-spice brings the cinnamon, star anise and clove warmth that makes it taste like Chinese BBQ, and a dash of liquid smoke fakes a few hours over hot coals.
Want them even redder? 1 teaspoon of red yeast rice powder in the dough takes the color from takeout red to "is that a stop sign?" red. It's totally optional and only there for looks. It's the same stuff that turns my vegan prosciutto crudo pink.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
Variations
Vegan BBQ ribs
Same seitan idea, full backyard cookout. My vegan BBQ ribs sandwich a smoky tofu and miso meat dough between 2 layers of coconut oil "fat," get cinnamon sticks jammed in for bones, then hit the grill until the sauce chars.
Vegan Thai seitan ribs
Swap the takeout glaze for lemongrass, lime, vegan fish sauce and bird's eye chilies. My vegan Thai seitan ribs use the same bake-then-sear strips, then get buried in Thai basil and cilantro.
Extra Szechuan heat
Swap half the sriracha for my Szechuan chili garlic sauce for a darker, garlickier kind of heat action.
Grab my easy-yo-use app that builds your whole week with real, chef-tested vegan dinners in 30 seconds, customized to your budget, time, and taste, with a shopping list sorted by aisle.
How to make vegan Chinese ribs
Heck, the food processor does the kneading, the oven does the firming, and you just stand at the stove for 10 minutes looking like a skilled takeout line cook. Steps below, printable card at the bottom.
Step One
Dough the Right Thing:
Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). In a food processor, combine the vital wheat gluten, chickpea flour, Shaoxing wine, vegetable stock, tomato paste, toasted sesame oil, hoisin sauce, tamari, and red yeast rice powder (if using). Process for about 90 seconds, until a somewhat stringy, meaty dough forms.
Step Two
Of Slice and Men:
Shape the dough into a slab about ½ inch (1.25 cm) tall, 4 inches (10 cm) long, and 14 inches (35 cm) wide. Let it rest for about 5 minutes, until the gluten relaxes, then cut it into rib-sized strips, ½ inch (1.25 cm) tall, 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide, and 4 inches (10 cm) long.
Step Three
Bake Me Up Before You Go-Go:
Lightly oil a parchment-lined baking pan. Arrange the strips with a little space between them and bake for 30-35 minutes, until they feel just firm and look lightly golden.
Stretch and slightly bend each rib to give them a more natural shape before baking them.
Step Four
Whisk and Weeward:
While the ribs bake, whisk together the hoisin sauce, sriracha, black vinegar, maple syrup, liquid smoke, Chinese 5-spice, annatto powder, and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Set aside.
Step Five
Sear and Present Danger:
Heat the toasted sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat for about 90 seconds. Add the baked ribs and sear for 2-3 minutes per side, turning as needed, until browned on the outside.
Step Six
Rib Van Winkle:
Reduce the heat to medium-low and pour the sauce over the ribs. Toss gently to coat, then cook for 3-4 minutes, turning occasionally, until the sauce thickens and clings to every surface.
If the sauce gets too thick before the ribs are coated, add a small splash of water and stir gently.
Step Seven
Plate Expectations:
Transfer the ribs to a serving platter and spoon any leftover sauce over the top. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and sliced scallions.
Serving ideas
Do the full takeout spread at home. Filipino garlic fried rice isn't Chinese, but lemme just tell ya, it's fragrant and soaks up extra glaze and makes your life amazing. Add some vegan dim sum rolls to make it feel like a Sunday morning brunch hullabaloo in Chinatown.
The glaze is sweet and spicy, so put something cold and crunchy next to it. Korean cucumber salad or a quick Korean scallion salad cuts right through it.
Top tips
- Let the Dough Chill Out Before Cutting: Freshly processed gluten can be tense AF and springs back the second your knife touches it. Give the slab about 5 minutes to calm down, and your strips stay the size you cut them instead of shrinking back into a stiff something or other.
- Bake Just Until Firm, Not Crunchy: Pull them at 30-35 minutes, when they feel firm and are just lightly golden. They're getting a second round in a screaming hot skillet, so if you bake them into croutons now, your jaw is gonna file a formal complaint later.
Recipe FAQs
They're a Chinese-American takeout classic, especially around New York and New Jersey: strips of pork marinated in a char siu style sauce, roasted until the edges get all (artificially) red and sticky.
These vegan boneless spare ribs borrow the shape and the glaze.
Sorry, but not this version. Vital wheat gluten is the whole structure of the ribs, so there's no swap that keeps the texture right. I mean you could marinate tofu and fry/grill it with the sauce, but Shaoxing wine and hoisin usually aren't GF anyway.
🧊 In the Fridge: Keep leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
❄️ In the Freezer: Freeze the baked, unglazed strips in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then sear and glaze.
🔥 Reheating: Warm them in a covered skillet over medium heat with a little oil and a splash of water, flipping once while they steam back to life, until the glaze loosens and turns sticky again.
You'll also love TF out of these saucy vegan Asian meat recipes:
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Vegan Chinese Ribs Recipe
Ingredients
For The Ribs:
- 1 ½ cup vital wheat gluten
- ¼ cup chickpea flour
- ¼ cup shoaxing wine
- ½ cup unsalted vegetable stock
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 4 teaspoons tamari
- 1 teaspoon red yeast rice powder (optional for color)
For the Rib Sauce:
- ⅓ cup hoisin sauce
- ¼ cup sriracha
- 2 tablespoons black vinegar
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice
- 1 teaspoon anatto powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
To Cook and Garnish:
- 4 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F (165°C). In a food processor, combine the vital wheat gluten, chickpea flour, Shaoxing wine, vegetable stock, tomato paste, toasted sesame oil, hoisin sauce, tamari, and red yeast rice powder (if using), and process for about 90 seconds until a somewhat stringy, meaty dough is formed.
- Shape the dough into a ½ inch tall, 4-inch long by roughly 14-inch wide slab
- Once the gluten has relaxed, cut it into ½-inch tall, 1-inch wide, and 4-inch long rib-sized strips.
- Lightly oil a parchment paper lined baking pan. Stretch and slightly curve each strip and arrange them on the pan with a little space between them and bake them at 325°F (165°C) for 30-35 minutes until firm feeling and lightly golden.
- Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together the hoisin sauce, sriracha, black vinegar, maple syrup, liquid smoke, Chinese 5-spice, annatto powder, and salt until smooth. Set aside.
- Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. After 90 seconds when the oil is hot, add the roasted ribs and sear for 2-3 minutes per side, turning as needed, until browned on the outside.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and pour the rib sauce over the seared ribs. Toss gently to coat, then cook for 3-4 minutes, turning the ribs occasionally, until the sauce thickens and clings to the surfaces. If the sauce becomes too thick before the ribs are evenly coated, add a small splash of water and stir gently.
- Transfer the ribs to a serving platter and spoon any remaining sauce over the top. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and sliced scallions.
Notes
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