Vital Wheat Gluten...Ribs!

What is vital wheat gluten???

Some of us know what gluten is... my mom always described it as the "sticky stuff" that holds your bread together. It is that but it is so much more! Gluten is latin for GLUE! So mom was right but did you know it also adds elasticity and assists in leavening?

My favorite product out there is Bob's Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten. You can use it to add protein to baked goods and even make Vegan "wheat meat" or Seitan from it. Are you a new Vegan and miss ribs? YES YOU CAN!!!

Vegan Seitan style Ribs!

1 cup vital wheat gluten
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 small caramelized onion, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons nut butter
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
1 tablespoon Braggs Liquid Aminos or Soy Sauce
Your Favorite BBQ Sauce
canola oil


Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly spray an square baking dish with oil.

In a medium sized bowl mix together Vital Wheat Gluten, Paprika, Caramelized onion and garlic together. In a separate bowl stir together the water, nut butter, Liquid Smoke, and soy sauce.

Add the nut butter mixture to the dry ingredients. Using your hands mix well and then knead lightly in the bowl for 5 minutes until a strong gluten forms. It should be well mixed and elasticized.

Put the dough into the baking dish, flatten it so that it evenly fills the pan. Take a sharp knife and cut it into strips; then turn the pan and cut those strips in half to form two rows. You can make the pieces as big or small as you like.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Get your grill ready in the mean time, make sure to brush the grates with vegetable oil so your Ribs don't stick!

You can freeze some now if you will not need it all right away other wise generously coat the top of your Ribs and place them coated side down on the grill, when you are done placing them on the grill brush the other side with sauce. When the first side is sufficiently brown, turn over and repeat on the other side. The cooking time will depend on your grill but on my charcoal grill not in the center of the fire it takes about 5 minutes each side to get a good grill mark on it and to get the nice and sweet.