Seitan piccata: Easy & elegant date night dinner

When I’m traveling, seitan piccata is one of my favorite picks for a fancy night out.

Whether it’s Blossom or the now defunct Candle Café West in NYC or Modern Love in Omaha, seitan piccata is attached to some very pleasant memories.

But even when I’m not exploring the world, I can still enjoy the lemony flavors of that celebratory dinner from the comfort of home.

And best of all, it’s so easy for this eye-catching entrée to come together – especially if you already have homemade or store-bought seitan on hand.

In this post:

Non-vegan piccata is often found on the menu at Italian restaurants.

It is usually made with meat that’s pounded until thin. Then it’s coated in flour and browned. Finally, it’s topped with a lemon caper sauce, loaded with butter.

This vegan version is made a little differently.

First, there’s no pounding involved.

Using seitan, you can simply cut the roast to your preferred width. About a half inch thick is ideal.

Second, there’s no flouring.

I find it to be unnecessary since seitan is basically made of flour. It browns just fine on its own.

Third, this version is not loaded with butter.

It’s topped with an easy piccata sauce made with sautéed onions, white wine, vegetable broth (or water + bouillon), lemon juice, and dried thyme.

Finished with capers and a dollop of vegan butter, this beautifully silky sauce is then spooned over browned seitan.

For this recipe, I use my homemade seitan chicken. It has a nice mild flavor that really lets the sauce shine.

You’ll need just half the loaf of seitan chicken.

(This piccata recipe calls for 8 ounces of seitan. The loaf is about 16 ounces.)

But feel free to use any store-bought vegan chicken.

(I also give some other plant-based alternatives below.)

Any white wine that you enjoy drinking will work here. I especially love something light and dry.

My favorite option is the Verdejo Viura from LaGranja 360. It’s sold at Trader Joe’s for around $3.99. It has a vegan emblem right on the bottle, which is really handy.

But feel free to use your preferred white wine. To see if your favorite option is vegan, check out Barnivore.

Here’s how to make this recipe at a glance. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.

Sauté onions in a skillet until fragrant & translucent.

Add oil & flour. Cook the flour in the oil. Then combine it with the onions.

Then add the following to the skillet:

• White wine
• Water
• Better Than Bouillon, no chicken base
• Lemon juice
• Dried thyme
• Salt
• Pepper

Bring to a simmer. Stir regularly as it thickens, reduces, and becomes glossy.

Once thickened, add vegan butter & capers.

In a separate skillet, brown half inch slices of seitan chicken. Flip & brown the other side.

Move the browned seitan to dinner plates. Top with the lemon white wine caper sauce.

You can easily tweak this dish to make it your own by doing these simple swaps.

• Fully bread the seitan cutlets before frying for a toothsome entrée.
• Instead of seitan, use rehydrated & browned Soy Curls, store-bought vegan chicken (like Gardein), slabs of extra firm tofu, or even roasted chickpeas as the protein-rich component
• Use vegetable broth instead of water + Better Than Bouillon.
• Instead of or in addition to dried thyme, finish the final dish with freshly chopped parsley

My favorite way to serve seitan piccata is with a pile of vegan mashed potatoes & sautéed kale. You can serve them all alongside one another.

Or get a little fancy & serve them in a tower with the mashed potatoes as the base, followed by sautéed kale, browned seitan, and piccata sauce (as shown above).

Seitan piccata also works well with any of the following:

• Air fryer asparagus
• Sautéed spinach
• Vegan creamed kale
• Air fryer baby potatoes
• Broccolini with kale
• Roasted cauliflower
• Buttery garlic noodles (I’d leave off the red wine mushrooms since you already have white wine involved. Or cook the mushrooms in white wine instead.)

If you’d like to make the piccata sauce ahead of time, it keeps well in a covered container in the refrigerator. Keep in mind that it will continue to thicken as it cools.

Reheat the sauce in a pot on the stove, slowly bringing it up to temperature, as you stir it often. Add another splash of water if it’s too thick.

Or you can reheat it in the microwave, stopping at regular intervals to stir. Again, if it gets too thick, add another splash of water.

Reheat the seitan cutlets the same way that they were first cooked – by browning them in a pan with a little oil until warmed.

Leftover cutlets & sauce will keep for three or four days in the refrigerator in covered containers.

📖 Recipe

Seitan piccata

Author: Cadry Nelson

5 from 3 votes

Recreate a fancy date night out from the comfort of your home. Browned slices of seitan are enveloped in a lemon and white wine sauce, dotted with capers. Serve alongside sautéed kale and mashed potatoes.

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 people

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian, Vegan

Keyword: holiday food, lemon sauce, seitan recipe

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 Tablespoons avocado oil divided, or your preferred oil
• ▢ ⅓ cup chopped onions
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
• ▢ ¾ cup white wine
• ▢ ½ cup water
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Better Than Bouillon, no chicken base
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon dried thyme
• ▢ Pinch of salt
• ▢ Dash of pepper
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon vegan butter
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons capers drained
• ▢ 8 ounces chicken seitan sliced into half inch cutlets

Instructions

• ▢
  Bring a large non-stick skillet to a medium heat with one teaspoon of oil. Add onions to the skillet and sauté for a few minutes, until fragrant and translucent.
• ▢
  Add another Tablespoon of oil to the skillet along with a Tablespoon of flour. Cook the flour in the oil for about a minute. Combine with the onions.
• ▢
  Add white wine, water, Better Than Bouillon, lemon juice, dried thyme, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer. Stir with a spatula to combine everything. Allow it to thicken, reduce, and become a glossy sauce. This will take 7 to 10 minutes.
• ▢
  Once it has thickened, stir in vegan butter and drained capers. Remove from heat and set aside.
• ▢
  Cut chicken seitan roast into half inch thick slices. You'll need 8 cutlets for this recipe.

  (If you're using store-bought seitan, use your best judgment on cutting appropriately-sized pieces for 4 people. You can even use seitan pieces, if needed.)
• ▢
  Bring another large skillet to a medium heat with a teaspoon of oil. Brown the sliced seitan in the skillet, flipping once one side is brown. Once it is brown on both sides, remove from skillet.

  The seitan will brown the best if the skillet isn't overcrowded. So if you need to work in batches, add another teaspoon of oil to the skillet before browning the remaining seitan cutlets.
• ▢
  Serve the seitan slices with two cutlets per person. Drizzle the seitan with piccata sauce. Serve with mashed potatoes and sautéed kale.

Notes

If you’d prefer, you can use ½ cup vegetable broth instead of water + bouillon.

In place of sliced seitan chicken, you can use an equal amount of browned vegan chicken (like Gardein), tofu slabs, hydrated Soy Curls, or roasted chickpeas.

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Nutrition

Calories: 193kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 392mg | Potassium: 60mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 142IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 1mg