Vegan Steak Hack
One of my favorite vegan steaks is made by a company called Meati. It is made almost entirely out of mushroom. But the thing about cow steak vs. Meati steak, the Meati steak isn’t the juiciest or the most tender. Although it’s still pretty good, I want to see if I can tender it up a bit, while also adding some more juicy-ness to it. An old trick that has been around forever is adding baking soda to cheap steaks to tenderize them. I originally saw this test on Guga Foods so I wanted to do the exact same test here. Keep reading to find out the best vegan steak hack! If you like this recipe, be sure to check out this one too! and this one!
Coating The Steaks
I am going to take three steaks, thaw them out, cover one of them in kosher salt (making sure to get both sides), then I put it in a bowl labeled “salt” and cover it up. Cover another steak in baking soda, add to a bowl and cover up. And I have a third one as a control. I add these all to the fridge so they can rest over night. After they have rested all night, the salt steak feels very similar to the control but the baking soda steak definitely feels really smooth. Almost a silky feeling. The baking soda one is totally softer. I give these a quick rinse to remove the excess salt and baking soda.
Cooking The Steaks
I am going to prepare them exactly to Meati’s directions. First, they recommend seasoning thirty minutes prior to cooking. So I season them all with a mix of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I weigh them out to make sure they all get the exact same amount of seasoning. I do about two grams of seasoning overall. Next I preheat a large, cast iron griddle over a medium/low heat and add one tablespoon of olive oil for each steak. Once the griddle is hot, I place my steaks on it (labeling them to avoid confusion). Now I flip them every two minutes, until the outside is lightly browned.
Which Method Works Best?
I cook these to an internal temperature of 165ºf. This should take about seven or eight minutes. Now I remove them, and let them rest for about two minutes. I think they look amazing! The control steak was good. It had a general steak taste to it. The texture was pretty good, it cut easily. My baking soda steak cut even a little better than the control steak. It is more tender, but too tender. It was sort of mushy. This steak would maybe be better as taco meat, or in a sandwich.
The salt steak does not fall apart, and it cut nicely. It cut very much like a real steak. It’s firm and tender, and has a really real tasting steak flavor! It even has a little crisp on the outside, the salt steak wins!! This steak tasted the most like real steak! So, I do not believe the baking soda trick works on vegan steaks. Salt is the real vegan steak hack! Watch the full video here!
I Tried Guga’s Baking Soda Test On A Vegan Steak And This Happened!!
Ingredients
- 3 Meati Steaks
- kosher salt
- baking soda
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- garlic powder
Instructions
- Coat one steak in kosher salt, put it in a bowl and cover it. Coat another steak in baking soda, put it in a bowl, and cover it as well. Add these to the fridge and let them sit over night.
- Season the steaks 30 minutes before cooking them, with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Preheat a large, cast iron skillet on a medium/low heat. Add olive oil, then once it is hot, add the steaks. I added one control steak as well.
- Flip them every 2 minutes until they lightly brown. I cook them to an internal temp of 165ºf.
- Remove them from the skillet and let them rest for 2 minutes. Enjoy!