Easy meatless pot roast
Delicious vegan pot roast. Made with potatoes, seitan, jackfruit, onions and mushrooms. In a rich, savory sauce with wine, soy sauce and vegetable broth. This comfort food will satisfy both meat eaters and vegans alike.
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❤️ Why this recipe works
- this is a comforting, delicious recipe that's great for a cozy weeknight meal or special occasions.
- because of the seitan, it's high in protein.
- it only requires one pot, so you don't have to clean a bunch of dishes.
- it's full of familiar flavors, so it's a great way to replace a pot roast if you're used to eating it with meat.
🧂 Ingredient notes
- Seitan - You can make your own seitan with this easy recipe, or buy it from the store. I love using seitan because it's chewy, satisfying and full of protein and is a great meat substitute.
- Jackfruit - I love adding this for extra meaty texture. It has a stringy, chewiness that I find with pot roast. Make sure to use young green jackfruit in a can. You can easily find this at Trader Joe's, or an Indian grocery store.
- Potatoes - Red skinned potatoes work great in this. You can keep the peel on and just quarter them. Or use yellow potatoes or baby potatoes work great as well.
- Large carrots
- Onions & Garlic - I love using four to five cloves of garlic and one large onion. Cut the onions in large slices.
- Mushrooms - Mushrooms also add a delicious richness, chewiness and umami flavor to the pot roast. Small mushrooms work great. You can also use baby bella, portobello mushrooms, oyster mushrooms or lion's mane.
- Vegan beef flavored bouillon cube - This will add a rich and savory beef flavor, without the beef! If you don't have this, use some vegetable stock.
- Dry red wine - This adds a nice richness to the veggie stock as well. Substitute for more broth or soy sauce if you don't have this on hand. Pomegranate juice is also a great substitute for red wine.
- Soy sauce - This is a vegan's secret weapon for adding a savory flavor to meals.
- Spices - Use your favorite spices and fresh herbs. I used thyme and oregano. Sprigs of rosemary and bay leaves would also taste great.
- Vegan Worcestershire sauce - You can either buy a brand that is vegan, or read the ingredients to make sure it doesn't contain anchovies. Some accidentally are vegan.
- Liquid smoke - This adds a nice meaty flavor.
- Corn starch - Use a corn starch slurry to help thicken the pot roast if there's too much liquid.
- Tomato paste - This adds another depth of flavor to this hearty dish.
- Oil - Olive oil or avocado oil work great. Since part of the reason traditional pot roast is so delicious is because of the fat content of the beef, we need to add this back in with some oil, since seitan and jackfruit don't contain that much fat.
- Salt & black pepper
↩️ Substitutions
- Seitan & jackfruit - If you don't want to have seitan and jackfruit as a base, you can also use sliced portobello mushrooms. They have a rich, meaty flavor. Soy curls (also called textured vegetable protein) also make a great meat alternative as does tempeh.
- Liquid smoke - You can also use smoked paprika.
- Tomato paste - Use ketchup if you don't have tomato paste on hand.
- Corn starch - You can also use all purpose flour.
- Vegan Worcestershire sauce - If you don't have this, just use a little more soy sauce.
- Red wine - a lager or IPA beer would work well. Pomegranate juice is also a great substitute for red wine.
- Potatoes - Turnips and rutabega are a great substitute for potatoes and are lower in carbs as well.
👩🍳 Expert tips
- I love making my own seitan because it's a lot cheaper than buying it from the store. I love buying a big bag of vital wheat gluten (the base of seitan) and having it on hand. It's one of my favorite meat substitutes.
- Once you put all of the ingredients into your baking dish or dutch oven, it helps to stir everything well, to make sure all of the ingredients are well covered. Halfway through roasting, I like to stir it all again.
- Cut all of the vegetables about the same size so they cook evenly.
❄️ Storing tips
To make ahead - Prep all of the vegetables. Make the seitan. Once you're ready to cook everything, throw it in a large dutch oven, baking dish or casserole dish and roast for 45-50 minutes at 400 degrees.
Refrigerate - Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days. This vegan pot roast is delicious as left overs the next day.
Freeze - You can easily freeze this meal, if you make a big batch of this. Just let it thaw out completely. Warm it up on the stove top, microwave or in the oven. You may need a little more water or liquid.
🍛 Serving suggestions
Top this with a delicious vegan brown gravy if you'd like even more flavor. Serve this with a nice, crusty homemade 3 ingredient bread to help sop up the delicious liquid. Since this is a more hearty dish, a nice salad would help to balance it out as well.
❓ FAQ's
If you'd like this to be soy free, just leave out the soy sauce.
Add all the ingredients to a slow cooker. Cook it on low for 8 hours for the richest flavor. If you're short on time, cook on high heat for 5 hours
An instant pot also works great for this recipe. Sauté the onions and seitan first. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. Natural release for 10 minutes, then quick release.
There are many different ways to make a vegan pot roast. Many recipes use mushrooms as the meat replacement because they are chewy and savory like meat. This recipe calls for seitan and young green jackfruit which mimic the tenderness of a meat based pot roast.
🍗 More vegan meat recipes
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📖 Recipe
Vegan pot roast (seitan mushrooms and jackfruit)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 batch of seitan
- 20 ounce can of young green jackfruit (drained)
- 1 onion (quartered)
- 4 carrots (chopped)
- 4 cups red skin potatoes (quartered)
- 8 ounces mushrooms (quartered)
For the basting liquid
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- ¼ cup dry red wine (or a stout beer or pomegranate juice)
- 1 vegan beef flavored bouillon cube
- 1¾ cups water (or vegetable broth if you don't have the vegan beef bouillon cube)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste (or ketchup)
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke (or smoked paprika)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons vegan worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
Instructions
Prepare the seitan
- Follow the recipe for making seitan. If you don't want to make it, buy a couple packages of pre-made seitan.
Prepare the vegetables
- Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees (if roasting)
- Chop up and prepare all of your vegetables.1 batch of seitan, 20 ounce can of young green jackfruit, 1 onion, 4 carrots, 4 cups red skin potatoes, 8 ounces mushrooms
Mix the basting liquid
- Mix together all of the ingredients for the basting liquid in a separate small bowl. Pour the liquid over the pot roast. Stir well to make sure everything is coated. Cover the dutch oven or casserole dish with a lid or tin foil.4 cloves garlic, ¼ cup dry red wine, 1¾ cups water, 1 vegan beef flavored bouillon cube, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, 4 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 teaspoon liquid smoke, ¼ cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons vegan worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon thyme, 1 teaspoon oregano, 2 teaspoons corn starch
to roast in the oven
- In a large dutch oven, or casserole dish add all of the casserole vegetables plus the seitan and jackfruit. Cut up the jackfruit and seitan however you'd like. I find keeping the jackfuit in larger pieces prevents it from shredding too much.
- Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until all of the vegetables are cooked through. Halfway through cooking, uncover the lid and stir everything around again and add the cover back on. The last 10 minutes of baking, take the lid off to let the seitan crisp up a little on the bottom.
Instant pot instructions
- Set your instant pot to sauteé mode and add a teaspoon of oil. Sauté the onions and mushrooms until golden brown.
- Add in the rest of the ingredients, including the basting liquid. Stir all the ingredients to make sure everything has been covered by the basting liquid.
- Turn off sauté mode. Cover and seal the lid. Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. Let it natural release for 10 minutes then quick release.
Slow cooker instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a slow cooker. Stir everything well to make sure everything has been covered by the basting liquid. Cook on low heat for 8 hours for the richest flavor. If you're short on time, cook on high for 4-5 hours, or until all the vegetalbes are cooked through.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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