Easy vegan pepperoni recipe made with vital wheat gluten flour (seitan) and the perfect blend of spices! Perfect on pizza, sandwiches or on a vegan appetizer platter with crackers and dairy free cheese.
I was never a huge meat eater, even in my pre-vegetarian days. But one thing I LOVED was pepperoni pizza! If you are like me and have been looking for a vegan way to re-create this beloved pizza, then you’ve come to the right place.
This vegan pepperoni is quite easy to make and yields a large amount, so you can either freeze some or refrigerate it to use for sandwiches and other meals.
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What is vegan pepperoni made of?
This vegan pepperoni is seitan based, and made with vital wheat gluten flour. Vital wheat gluten is the natural protein found in wheat, and is often used to make vegetarian meats, as it create a great “meaty” texture.
The other ingredients in this pepperoni are various spices, nutritional yeast, water and tomato paste! The spice mix is what really brings the flavors to life! It’s spicy, salty, peppery and smoky. YUM.
How do I make vegan pepperoni?
The process is quite simple.
Mix the dry ingredients together, then mix the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl.
Pour wet into dry and mix, then knead the dough until smooth. Form into logs, wrap tightly in foil and bake for an hour.
Let cool a few minutes, slice and top that pizza!
How should I use vegan pepperoni?
- Pizza, of course, with vegan cheese (or try my EASY stretchy vegan mozzarella).
- Sandwiches- We have been enjoying this all week long on sandwiches for lunch. The kids LOVE it.
- Homemade Lunchables! Pack your kid a fun lunch with vegan pepperoni slices, vegan cheese and crackers.
- Charcuterie board for parties- make your own fun appetizer board with this pepperoni.
- Calzones
Vegan Pepperoni
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten flour
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons fennel seed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Wet Ingredients
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients.
- In a smaller bowl, whisk all the wet ingredients together until well combined.
- Pour the wet into the dry ingredients and mix with a large spoon until it comes together. It will be like a dough that is pretty rough at this point.
- Turn the dough onto a work surface and knead until smooth. Break into 3 sections and shape each section into logs about 2 inches in diameter.
- Wrap tightly in aluminum foil, twisting the ends to secure.
- Bake for 60 minutes, placing the foil-wrapped logs directly on the oven racks.
- Remove from oven, unwrap and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Slice the pepperoni very thin, or thicker if desired. Store extra pepperoni in an air tight container or plastic wrap.
Notes
- Use homemade vegan pepperoni on pizza, in calzones, sandwiches or make your kids homemade lunchables with crackers and vegan cheese squares!
- If you shape the log very large, you will need to cook it for closer to 90 minutes. I like to make a few small logs to make smaller pepperoni rounds.
10/10 so excited about this!! So good on pizza, so good by itself.
I have not made this yet, but I was wondering if this could be made GF? My son has a lot of allergies. We made the gf chc chip cookies and he loved them. I am looking for more things I can make him but he is gf and has a lot of other allergies. I appreciate you listing alternatives in most of your recipes.
I’m glad you are able to find so many of my recipes that your son can enjoy! Thanks for sharing your feedback! Unfortunately, another flour won’t work with this recipe. I know Minimalist Baker has a gluten free pepperoni made with tofu, maybe try that recipe instead? Sorry!
Once again, an Absolutely amazing and delicious recipe by Nora! I make this every week and have it on hand to either eat by itself or I make pepperoni sandwiches on Sourdough with it and pepperoni pizza! Thank you Nora for helping to change my life and my relationship to food. This has turned my new vegan life into a constant celebration! Blessings to you!
Hi Susan. It’s great to hear you are celebrating and loving the foods you are eating. How encouraging to learn that my recipes and information have helped! Thanks for your fabulous review and feedback! Wishing you lots of happy cooking!
Do you have any suggestions for replicating that greasy oily goodness of meat pepperoni pizza? This looks delicious, but also better for you than the ones I’ve been accustomed to.
Using a good vegan cheese helps, that has a greasy type quality. 🙂 You could also spray the top of the pizza even with the pepperoni with a little oil.
Sounds interesting, will have to give it a try, thank you.
Can this be made in a kitchenaid mixer? I have arthritis.
I think it could, yes. Thank you!
Hi Nora! About to try this recipe but wasn’t going to use all of it right away. I was wondering: do you bake the 3 logs and then freeze after? Or do you wrap, freeze, and bake later?
I have only frozen after cooking, and that’s what I would recommend. Hope you enjoy it!
These are so yummy and easy to make!!! I’ve just been snacking on them but am excited to put them on a pizza soon 😋 Thanks Nora!
Excellent recipe. Thank you
Delicious
My daughter and I made this last night and it tastes amazing!!! It was really easy to make and fun to do together. I can’t believe how real it tastes. Thank you for creating this recipe and sharing.
You’re welcome! So glad it was good!
What could I have done that would have made the wheat gluten get stringy and not stay together?
It sounds like you just needed to knead it longer, getting stringy is normal from the gluten but if you keep kneading it should come together pretty well.
Love this pepperoni! How long will it last in the fridge?
So glad you love it! It will last 4-5 days in the fridge, it can be frozen as well.
Can i leave the fennel seeds out or replace them?
You could, but fennel seeds are what really make this taste like pepperoni. But it won’t harm anything to leave them out.
Is it possible to remove the oil?
You probably could just leave it out, I don’t think it would be a problem. Thank you!
I just made batch #2 of this delicious pepperoni!! The 1st batch was quickly consumed so this necessitated in needing a 2nd batch immediately. Had it sliced with cheese and crackers, made pizzas, and shared some with my non-vegan friends, who really thought it was good. One of them asked me to make her some for herself!! So my question is, how do I know when to stop the kneading process? I have not made many things in my life that required kneading so I don’t have any way to measure when I have reached the maximum knead. And mine does not have the texture yours seems to have in the pictures, nor the light color. You say above to knead till smooth, but mine doesn’t become smooth…..it just starts to separate and never seems to form a nice ball of dough.
I’m so glad you are enjoying this recipe! I don’t make it often enough. Really, for this you just need to knead it until it comes together. It might not be incredibly smooth like a bread dough might be, and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Long enough for it to come together is fine, then start forming it into a log shape. But it sounds like however you did it, it worked out well since you are on a 2nd batch! 🙂
Hi Nora,
Just came across your website and have already printed out a dozen of your recipes. It’s addicting.
2 questions;
1/Is it better to wrap the pepperoni in parchment paper the in foil? I thought I read somewhere that cooking in foil is not a good idea.
And
2/Have you written a cookbook? If not, you should.
Thanks so much Donna, that means a lot to me!
I have never tried wrapping it in parchment paper, but I don’t think it would work the same. Wrapping the pepperoni helps keep it moist and not dry out in the oven.
And no, I haven’t written a cookbook yet! Hopefully one day though, thanks! 🙂
I had this pepperoni the other day and it was fantastic! I used the leftovers in sandwiches, and it was really tasty!
I love you Nora, you are so inspiring and loving! May God bless you for the great work and sacrifice that you are doing to help us, and save our precious earthlings’ lives! We #govegan #veganlife, peace and love to all the world! Animals are life!
Thank you so much Ella for your kind words!! That just made my day. 🙂
Can you use any other kind of flour? I have wheat allergy.
Sorry another flour won’t work here, but I know Minimalist Baker has a gluten free pepperoni made with tofu, maybe try that recipe instead? Sorry!
Can you let it cool longer before slicing? My knife skills are compromised. so I need to use a food processor or a mandoline.
Yes, let it cool completely if you’d like, it makes no difference at all, except it will make it easier to slice! 🙂