This Vegan Ham roast is flavored with liquid smoke, maple syrup, and a delicious brown sugar mustard glaze! It’s a perfect centerpiece for your holiday meal, or slice some up for ham sandwiches, pizza toppings, and more!
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Enjoy this seitan ham without having to harm those cute little pigs!
If you’re new to a vegan diet, it might be hard to know what to eat on holidays like Easter and Christmas. Fortunately, you can make vegan versions of just about anything, and there are recipes like this that allow you to enjoy the familiar foods you’re used to eating.
No need to miss out on the smoky, sweet, salty, meaty experience just because you’ve decided to go plant based. This ham roast is made with only plant based ingredients, but is just as tasty and satisfying as the real thing! And it has a similar meaty texture to traditional ham.
It’s so easy and amazingly delicious, you’ll want to make it any time of year!
Why do vegans want to eat mock meat?
Many vegans did not make this lifestyle choice because they did not like meat. There are various reasons for choosing a plant based diet, including concern for their health, a desire to help the environment, and compassion and concern for animal welfare.
Vegan meat substitutes can be good transition food for people who want to go vegan, but aren’t ready to stop eating meat. It’s nice to still be able to enjoy the textures and flavors of some of those animal based foods in a cruelty free way.
What is vegan ham made of?
This vegan ham is made of vital wheat gluten, the protein in wheat. Gluten is what gives bread dough its elasticity.
Because this is a gluten based recipe it is not appropriate for those following a gluten free diet.
Gluten itself has virtually no flavor. To give this ham its signature sweet, salty, and smoky flavor, I used hickory liquid smoke, maple syrup, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, and tomato paste (for color and flavor).
How to make vegan ham
Here are step by step instructions to make the most delicious plant based ham!
Step one:
Combine the vital wheat gluten with the nutritional yeast, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and black pepper. Stir to combine well.
Step two:
In a small bowl, whisk together the warm water, tomato paste, maple syrup, and liquid smoke.
Step three:
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a rubber spatula. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, then let it sit for 10 minutes to allow the gluten to absorb the moisture.
Step four:
Form the dough into a thick log. Wrap it in a sheet of parchment paper. Then wrap tightly in a large sheet of foil, pressing the sides as you roll. Twist the ends of the foil and bend the twisted end over to secure the foil. Then wrap in an additional sheet of foil. If the foil tears while you are wrapping, you will need a third layer. The seitan expands as it cooks, and you do not want the wrapping to burst during cooking.
Step five:
Prepare a large pot with a steamer basket. The water level in the pot should be just below the steaming basket. Bring the water to a boil. Place the seitan in the steamer basket and steam it at a medium temperature for an hour and 15 minutes, turning it over after 30 minutes.
Monitor the water at the bottom of your steamer to make sure that the pot doesn’t boil dry. You may want to add a bit more hot water to the pot when you turn over the seitan.
Then remove the seitan from the steamer.
Step six:
Heat the oven to 400 F. While the oven is heating, mix together the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan and heat the glaze over medium heat until it comes to a boil.
Step seven:
Unwrap the seitan, place it in a parchment lined baking pan or casserole dish, and cut the top in a diamond pattern with a sharp knife.. If desired, insert a clove into each diamond section on the top of the ham. Spoon about a third to a half of the glaze over the seitan and place it in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, adding more glaze about every 10 minutes.
Ways to enjoy this meatless ham
- Enjoy slices with your favorite vegan sides like scalloped potatoes or my oil free roasted veggies and some green vegetables.
- Slice it up and make delicious sandwiches for lunch with some of my vegan mayo, a bit of mustard, and whatever else you like stuffed between slices of my Multigrain Bread or inside one of my Whole Wheat Hoagie Rolls.
- Add slices of the ham to a pizza along with some pineapple for a classic Hawaiian pizza.
- Dice some up and add it to your Tofu Scramble.
- Toss some diced ham into your Fried Rice.
- Dice it and use it in my Vegan Twice Baked Potatoes with Ham and Broccoli.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Most vegan meat substitutes are high in fat, and full of processed ingredients. This recipe is oil free, high in protein, and made with easy to find ingredients.
Since this is a seitan recipe, and the main ingredients is vital wheat gluten, it is not possible to make this recipe gluten free.
Yes! This ham can be made a couple of days in advance of a holiday. The texture and flavor actually improve after it sits in the refrigerator for a day.
I would make it through the steaming step and keep the seitan wrapped and in the refrigerator. On the day you want to serve this ham roast, continue with the basting step.
It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. For longer storage, you can wrap the seitan and store it in a Ziploc bag in the freezer for up to 3 months. I like to slice it before freezing. To thaw, let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Explore our Plant Based Staples cookbook
Here are more vegan meat substitutes
- Vegan Breakfast Sausage Links
- Vegan Beef Seitan
- Easy Oil Free Vegan Pepperoni
- Vegan Italian Sausages
- Vegan Andouille Sausage
- Lentil Loaf
- Lentil Walnut Taco Meat
- Vegan Bacon Bits
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And come join my Oil Free Vegan Recipes and Support Facebook group, where you can share your favorite oil free vegan recipes, and give and receive support on your plant based journey.
Vegan Ham
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup vital wheat gluten
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Wet Ingredients
- 1 ⅛ cup water
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon liquid smoke
Glaze
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
Instructions
- Combine the vital wheat gluten with the all purpose flour, nutritional yeast, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and black pepper. Stir to combine well.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the warm water, tomato paste, maple syrup, and liquid smoke.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a rubber spatula. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, then let it sit for 10 minutes to allow the gluten to absorb the moisture.
- Form the dough into a ball. Wrap it in a sheet of parchment paper. Then wrap in a large sheet of foil, pressing the sides as you roll. Twist the ends of the foil and bend the twisted end over to secure the foil. Then wrap in an additional sheet of foil. If the foil tears while you are wrapping, you will need a third layer. The seitan expands as it cooks, and you do not want the wrapping to burst during cooking.
- Steam the seitan for one hour and 15 minutes. Halfway through the steaming time, check to make sure there is still plenty of water in the pot. I also turn over the ham at this time to help it cook more evenly.
- Allow the ham to sit in the foil while making the glaze.
- Whisk together the soy sauce, brown sugar, mustard and liquid smoke in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Unwrap the ham and slice it diagonally with a sharp knife in one direction and then in the opposite direction to form a criss-cross diamond pattern on the top of the ham. If desired, insert a clove into each diamond.
- Place the ham in a parchment lined baking dish and spoon some of the glaze over the top. Bake in a 375° F oven, for 20 minutes, basting with additional glaze a couple of times during the baking.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Then slice and enjoy.
Nutrition
Nutrition calculations are approximate.
