Schnitzel has been a beloved staple in German cuisine for generations, and it holds a special place in my heart, so today I want to share my recipes for Vegan Schnitzel with you!
Growing up in Germany, this crispy, breaded cutlet was a highlight of our Sunday family meals. Today, I'm excited to share my plant-based version that captures all the nostalgic flavors and textures of traditional Schnitzel while being completely vegan.
Whether you're missing the classic German dish or simply looking to try something new, this recipe brings the authentic taste of German comfort food to your kitchen - with a modern twist!
❤️ What's Great About this Recipe
- 🌱 Perfectly Authentic Texture: The combination of vital wheat gluten and chickpeas creates a meaty, tender texture that perfectly mimics traditional schnitzel
- ⏰ Make-Ahead Friendly: Can be prepared in advance and frozen for up to 3 months, perfect for meal prep
- 🥘 Versatile Serving Options: Works great with traditional German sides or modern accompaniments
- 💪 High in Protein: Seitan and chickpeas provide an excellent source of plant-based protein
- 👨👩👧👦 Family-Approved: Even non-vegans love this crispy, satisfying alternative to traditional schnitzel
- 🔄 Customizable: Easy to adjust seasonings and coating to your preference
- ✅ Tested & Perfected: Developed through multiple testing rounds to ensure the best results
Jump to:
💡 About Schnitzel
What is a Schnitzel?
A Schnitzel is traditionally a very thin and boneless cutlet and it is normally made from pork, beef, veal or chicken. The thin cutlet is breaded and fried until crispy.
Where does Schnitzel come from?
Schnitzel is said to have originated in Germany (where I grew up!) but it's difficult to say for sure. There are a few sources that mention Schnitzel originally came from Austria, and we'll probably never know 100% who came up with it first.
What we know for sure is that the dish is found in multiple countries around Europe.
What is Vegan Schnitzel made from?
This vegan Schnitzel recipe is made with a Seitan base and a crunchy breadcrumb coating.
What is Seitan?
Seitan is made from wheat gluten, and it has been around for thousands of years. It was first detected in Asian cuisines and was used by Buddhist monks as a protein source. It is often also referred to as wheat meat, vegan meat or meat alternative due to its firm, chewy texture that resembles meat.
If you want to find out more about where Seitan comes from, how it is made and what the different methods for making Seitan are, read this in-depth blog post about Vegan Steak, which goes into further detail.
🌱 Ingredients & Notes
Here's everything you need for this recipe:
Ingredients for the Seitan base:
- Vital Wheat Gluten Flour - The key ingredient for this Seitan recipe! You can get Vital Wheat Gluten at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, most health food stores or simply buy it online via Amazon. You can also use it to make this Vegan Döner Kebab Meat.
- Chickpeas - for this recipe I used a 14-oz can of precooked chickpeas and for this recipe we're also using the chickpea water from the can, so don't drain it.
- Silken Tofu - I like to use soft silken tofu, it is a very soft tofu that easily blends smoothly
- Miso paste - I like to use white miso paste for my vegan poultry recipes. It has a slightly sweeter and milder taste than other miso pastes.
- Oil - I like to use vegetable oil like sunflower oil, olive oil or sesame oil as the flavor work best for poultry-style recipes. You will also need a little oil for panfrying.
- Bouillon Cube - I use Kallo, you can also use bouillon cubes for vegan chicken broth
- Poultry seasoning - in some stores you can find vegan-friendly poultry seasoning, but if you don't have any to hand, simply make your own at home.
- Seasoning - garlic powder and onion granules or onion powder
- Baking powder - the baking powder helps create a lighter, softer, fluffier texture for the Seitan.
- Vegetable broth - this is what we're cooking the Seitan in.
Ingredients for the Vegan Schnitzel Coating:
- all purpose flour - to coat the Seitan schnitzels
- chickpea flour - also called 'gram flour', this is our egg replacement for the Schnitzel coating
- seasonings - smoked paprika, ground pepper and black salt
- plant milk - I like to use soy milk, but you can use any unsweetened plant milk, such as oat milk or almond milk.
- breadcrumbs - for the crispy coating
See recipe card at the bottom of the post for quantities.
Ingredient Substitutions
In case you don't have everything to hand, here a few ideas and notes for possible substitutions:
- Chickpeas - Instead of chickpeas you can use any other white beans, such as butter beans or cannellini beans.
- Baking powder - instead of baking powder, you can add a ⅛ teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- Paprika powder - instead of smoked paprika you can also use sweet paprika powder
- Plant milk - you can also mix the batter with regular water instead of non-dairy milk but from experience, the batter doesn't stick as well to the vegan Seitan in that case.
Equipment
Here's everything you need for this recipe:
- food processor - with a blade and a dough attachment, I use a Magimix. Alternatively, you can use a blender to mix the wet ingredients, and then knead in the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl
- a sharp knife & a cutting board
- a rolling pin
- a large skillet or large pan with a lid - this needs to be big enough to hold all the vegan Schnitzels, or alternatively you can cook them in batches
- 1 shallow bowl & 2 large plates
Instructions (Step-by-Step)
Step 1: Creating the Seitan Dough
Place all ingredients apart from the vital wheat gluten for the Seitan base into a food processor.
Process until smooth, then swap the blade for the dough attachment. Slowly sprinkle in the vital wheat gluten and process until a dough forms.
Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes
Step 2: Shaping the Schnitzel
Spread out the dough flatly on a cutting board. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces.
Pull and stretch each Seitan piece.
Fold in the stretched pieces.
Then pull and stretch the next corner.
And fold it to the middle.
Repeat on all corners of the Seitan until you get a smooth Seitan dough ball when you flip it.
Place each dough ball on the cutting board or another flat surface and roll it to roughly ½-inch thickness.
Divide each dough piece in two pieces - or leave it to be one huge Schnitzel, down to you 🙂
Shape each Seitan Schnitzel to your desired shape with the rolling pin and your hands.
Step 3: Initial Pan Frying
Pan-fry each Schnitzel in a little oil over low to medium heat. Just long enough until a thin skin forms on the Schnitzel. This will make it easier to handle the Schnitzel in the next steps without them sticking together.
Flip and fry on the second side too.
You can stack all Schnitzels on a plate whilst you're batch frying them.
Step 4: Simmering
Place the Schnitzels into a large skillet and add the broth. If your skillet is big enough, you can add all Schnitzels at once. Feel free to stack them - as they have a thin skin, they shouldn't stick together anymore. If your skillet is too small, batch cook them.
With the lid on, cook the Schnitzels over low/medium heat for 1 hour, then let them cool down in the remaining broth for at least another hour, or over night.
Step 5: Preparing the Coating Station
In a shallow bowl, mix all ingredients for the coating including the non-dairy milk - apart from the breadcrumbs and the smoked paprika powder.
Whisk until you get a smooth batter.
Set up a breading station: the shallow bowl with the batter, 1 plate with all purpose flour and 1 plate with the breadcrumbs and smoked paprika powder mixed.
Step 6: Coating and Frying
Place each cooked Schnitzel onto the plate with the flour.
Flip to thinly coat both sides. Shake off any excess.
Next, dip each Schnitzel into the batter.
Flip to evenly coat the Schnitzel all over and let any excess drip off.
Place the Schnitzel into the breadcrumbs.
Make sure to coat it all over.
Pan-fry each Schnitzel in just enough oil until crispy and golden brown all around and remove any excess oil with a paper towel.
Useful tip: traditionally, Schnitzel is often deep-fried, but with a good non-stick skillet, only a little oil is needed to fry the Schnitzel crispy - and it's just as delicious!
🍽️ Serving
Once pan-fried, the Vegan Schnitzel is ready to serve! My family often served it with boiled potatoes and veg, such as peas and carrots, but you can also go with roasted potatoes and vegetables, or this gorgeous Vegan German Potato Salad.
You can keep it simple and serve it like a "Wiener Schnitzel" alongside lemon juice or a slice of lemon or serve it alongside a delicious creamy mushroom sauce, like a 'Jägerschnitzel'. For more serving suggestions, check out the Variations section further down.
How is Schnitzel traditionally served?
Depending on the type of Schnitzel, it can be served in many different ways. The famous 'Wiener Schnitzel', for example, is served with lemon juice, and the well-known 'Jägerschnitzel' is served with a mushroom sauce.
In Germany, it is often served alongside boiled potatoes and vegetables, but it's just as delicious with roasted potatoes & Co!
Serving Ideas
Schnitzels are traditionally seasoned very basic, usually just with salt and black pepper, but I already like to add the paprika into the game to add some flavor to the crust. Just like the real deal, this vegan Schnitzel can be served in a number of different ways, such as different toppings and sauces to give them variety:
- Lemon juice - this is like the traditional "Wiener Schnitzel"
- Mushroom Gravy/Sauce - this is like a "Jägerschnitzel"
- with a creamy gravy - like a "Rahmschnitzel"
- with a roasted paprika sauce - like a "Paprikaschnitzel"
- as a sandwich - this is called "Schnitzelbrötchen" and traditionally the Schnitzel is served with a crunchy bread roll
You can also serve these homemade vegan cutlets without breading!
Guten Appetit!
❄️ Storing Leftovers
You can enjoy the vegan Schnitzel right after pan-frying or keep some for later:
- Fridge - keep the fried Seitan Schnitzels in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Freezer - You can also freeze the Schnitzels! To save space, you can stack them and place parchment in between them, so they're easier to separate and serve separately. You can store them in the fridge for up to 3 months.
The Schnitzels are best reheated by being pan-fried. If they are frozen, first allow them to thaw at room temperature for a few hours.
Related Recipes
If you love trying new Seitan recipes, then definitely try this Vegan Turkey Roast (it's a whole vegan turkey!), or this Döner Kebab-style Seitan. This vegan chicken recipe is also a great base recipe and the chunks can be served with a variety of sauces or added to other recipes for some extra vegan protein. And for a real treat, try these vegan steaks!
📌 If you love Pinterest you can pin any of the images to your boards!
📖 Recipe Card
Vegan Schnitzel
Equipment
- 1 food processor
- 1 sharp knife
- 1 cutting board or another flat surface
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 large skillet or pan with a lid ideally non-stick
- 1 shallow bowl
- 1 large plates
Ingredients
For the Seitan dough:
- 1 12.3-oz carton of silken tofu (350 g)
- 1 14-oz can chickpeas (400 g) in unsalted water
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil (28 ml)
- 1 tablespoon white miso paste (15 g)
- 1 bouillon cube (11 g)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon vegan poultry seasoning (10 g)
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 2 ¼ cups vital wheat gluten (315 g)
For Frying & Cooking:
- vegetable oil for frying
- 1 cup vegetable broth (250 ml)
For the coating:
- ½ cup all purpose flour (60 g)
- ¾ cup chickpea flour (70 g) gram flour
- ⅛ teaspoon black salt kala namak
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup plant milk such as soy milk
- ½ cup breadcrumbs (70 g) more if needed
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika powder
Instructions
- Place all ingredients apart from the vital wheat gluten for the Seitan base into a food processor. Process until smooth, then swap the blade for the dough attachment. Slowly sprinkle in the vital wheat gluten and process until a dough forms. Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes so that the gluten can come together.
- Spread out the dough flatly on a cutting board and cut it into 4 equal parts. Knead and stretch each piece of Seitan dough, stretching from the edges and folding them into the middle until you get a smooth dough ball (refer to step-by-step photos in the post above).
- On a flat surface, use a large rolling pin and firmly roll out each dough ball to roughly ½-inch thickness. The pieces will be quite big, so slice them in half and shape them into your desired Schnitzel shape with your hands and the rolling pin.
- Heat a drizzle of oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat and fry each vegan Schnitzel on both sides for 1-2 minutes or until a light skin forms.
- Once you've done this with all of them, place them into a large skillet and pour the vegetable broth over the top. Cover with a lid and cook the Schnitzels over low to medium heat for 1 hour.
- Let the Seitan schnitzels cool down in the remaining broth for 1 hour or overnight.
- In a shallow bowl, mix the chickpea flour, black salt, black pepper, and plant milk. Whisk until smooth.
- Place the flour onto a plate and mix the breadcrumbs and smoked paprika powder on another plate. Set them all up as a breading station and preheat a little oil in a non-stick pan next to it.
- Coat each vegan Schnitzel in the flour first, removing any excess. Then dip into the chickpea flour batter and let any excess drip off. Place each Schnitzel into the breadcrumbs and coat it all around, then place it straight into the hot pan.
- Pan-fry on both sides until golden-brown, then you're ready to serve alongside boiled potatoes and vegetables.
Notes
- Food processor - if you don't have a food processor to hand, you can use a blender to mix the wet ingredients, and then knead in the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl
- Storage - you can enjoy the vegan Schnitzel right after pan-frying or keep some for later! Keep the fried Seitan Schnitzels in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can also freeze the Schnitzels! To save space, you can stack them and place parchment in between them, so they're easier to separate and serve separately. You can store them in the fridge for up to 3 months.
- Reheating - the Schnitzels are best reheated by being pan-fried. If they are frozen, first allow them to thaw at room temperature for a few hours.
- Chickpeas - Instead of chickpeas you can use any other white beans, such as butter beans or cannellini beans.
- Baking powder - instead of baking powder, you can add a ⅛ teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- Paprika powder - instead of smoked paprika you can also use sweet paprika powder
- Plant milk - you can also mix the batter with regular water instead of non-dairy milk but from experience, the batter doesn't stick as well to the vegan Seitan in that case.
- Serving - you can serve the vegan Schnitzel alongside potatoes and vegetables and with a drizzle of lemon juice or your favorite gravy.
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Susan
This looks great and I'm hoping to try it soon.Silken tofu comes in different firmness here. Did you use sift, medium or firm, please?
Holly
Such a fantastic recipe! Thanks!
romylondonuk
Thank you for leaving a review ❤️