Tofu and seitan are two popular sources of plant-based protein for vegans, vegetarians, flexitarians, and those simply trying to eat less animal protein. If you’re new to plant-based eating, you may not be completely sure how they stack up to each other.
Is one healthier than the other? Is one a better source of protein? Does one taste better, and how can I use them in cooking?
As a vegan registered dietitian, I’ve eaten my fair share of these foods and cook with them all the time. In this post, I’ll compare their nutrition profiles, health benefits, taste, degree of processing, and best culinary uses to help you understand the best ways to incorporate them into a vegan or flexitarian diet.
Tofu and seitan – a quick comparison
Tofu is made from soybeans, while seitan is made primarily from vital wheat gluten, the main protein in wheat. People with soy allergies should avoid tofu, while people following gluten-free diets will need to avoid seitan.
Tofu and seitan are two of the best sources of protein for vegans, although seitan is higher when looking at typical serving sizes. Most tofu is a much better source of calcium.
Tofu is famously bland in flavor, making it a great vehicle for marinades, sauces, and seasonings. Seitan can also be pretty bland when made from a basic recipe, although various seasonings and flavors are almost always added to mimic the flavors of beef, pork, or poultry.
What is tofu?
Tofu is a protein-rich food made from soymilk. It originated in China during the Han Dynasty, but is also a common component of Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Filipino cuisines, among others.
The process for making tofu is similar to making cheese from dairy milk. Acid is added to soymilk, causing the proteins to coagulate. This forms protein-rich solids that are pressed together into blocks of tofu.
What is seitan?
Seitan was invented by Buddhist monks in China hundreds of years ago, while the name itself comes from Japan. Also known as “wheat meat”, seitan is a popular meat alternative with a meaty, slightly chewy texture. Gluten, the primary protein in wheat, is what gives it this texture.
Seitan can be made from two different starting ingredients:
- Wheat flour – Flour is mixed with water to form a dough ball. This dough is repeatedly washed under running water until most of the starches in the flour have been rinsed away, leaving a glutinous, protein-rich mass of dough. This method is known as the “washed flour method”. The dough is then knotted or shaped, seared in a pan, and simmered in a flavorful broth.
- Vital wheat gluten – This is a flour-like powder consisting of gluten that has already been separated from wheat flour. It is often mixed with broth and other seasonings, formed into a dough, sometimes kneaded, and either steamed, boiled, or baked.
Tofu or beans are sometimes incorporated into seitan dough to improve the texture, which can be quite chewy when only using vital wheat gluten.
Nutrition profile
The chart below contains nutrition information obtained from the USDA for calcium-set firm tofu. Keep in mind that nutrition facts can vary by brand.
Since the ingredients in seitan can vary significantly, I’ve included information from a commercial brand (Upton’s Naturals) made only from vital wheat gluten (no tofu or beans) and from an online shredded seitan chicken recipe that does include beans.
When using the USDA-provided serving size of ¼ of a block, tofu is lower in protein with 14 grams compared to 23-27 grams in seitan. This makes sense considering seitan is made from vital wheat gluten, a very concentrated source of protein similar to protein powder. Increasing the portion size of tofu to half a block will provide you with about the same amount of protein as seitan.
Tofu is the lowest in carbohydrates, while seitan made with beans is the highest.
Out of these examples, tofu is highest in fat since it retains some of the healthy fats found in soybeans. In all three, the fats are primarily heart-healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. All are low in saturated fat.
Tofu shines as an excellent plant-based source of calcium, as long as it’s “calcium-set”. You should see a source of calcium in the ingredients list, such as calcium sulfate, and the high calcium content will be reflected in the nutrition facts label on the package. Just a fourth of a block of firm tofu contains 553 milligrams of calcium, or 43% of the recommended Daily Value!
You’ll also notice that seitan is significantly higher in sodium, especially when store-bought. The sodium content of homemade seitan will vary based on the recipe.
Amino acid profile
One difference between tofu and seitan is their amino acid profile. Tofu is considered a high-quality protein with good proportions of all nine essential amino acids. Seitan is considered a relatively lower quality protein since vital wheat gluten is lower in the amino acid lysine1.
However, when made with tofu or beans in addition to vital wheat gluten, the lysine content of seitan will be higher since legumes are excellent sources of this amino acid.
So does this mean that seitan is a bad source of protein? Not at all! If seitan was the only food you ever ate, then sure, you might become deficient in lysine. But as long as you include seitan as part of a balanced diet that includes a variety of the best vegan sources of lysine, as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics2 suggests, you can meet all your amino acid needs.
Good news for gym rats: tofu and seitan are both excellent sources of leucine3, a branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) that acts as a powerful trigger for stimulating muscle growth.
Health benefits
Now that we’re familiar with the nutrition profile of these plant-based proteins, let’s discuss a few ways that tofu and seitan can support our health.
Muscle health
With about 20-25 grams of protein in half a block of tofu or a serving of seitan, both are great choices for people seeking to maintain muscle mass or build more muscle. The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN)4 recommends getting 20 to 40 grams of protein every few hours to maximally stimulate the muscle-building process.
As mentioned above, tofu and seitan are great sources of leucine. This is important for people trying to build muscle, as the ISSN also recommends getting 700 to 3000 milligrams of leucine at each meal for optimal muscle growth.
There are approximately:
- 2,200 milligrams of leucine in a ½ block of tofu
- 1,700 milligrams of leucine5 in a serving of seitan/vital wheat gluten
Helpful for weight management
As protein-rich foods, tofu and seitan are good choices for weight loss.
Protein is known for being satiating, helping us feel full and satisfied for longer after a meal. If you’re trying to lose weight, eating a higher-protein diet can be an effective way to eat less calories without feeling excessively hungry.
And since protein takes more effort for the body to digest and utilize than carbohydrates or fat, high-protein diets can raise your metabolism and help you to burn more calories at rest. This is known as the thermic effect of food.
If you’re also lifting weights while trying to lose weight, eating a high-protein diet can help you preserve muscle mass. This means more of the weight you lose will come from fat versus muscle.
Better for heart health than red meat
As plant-based proteins, tofu and seitan are lower in saturated fat than red meat and don’t contribute to the production of TMAO6, a metabolite associated with an increased risk of heart disease.
In addition, eating more plant-based protein in place of animal protein is associated with a reduced risk of dying from heart disease, according to a 2023 systematic review7.
Tofu is naturally low in sodium, which is beneficial for blood pressure. Just be sure to watch the sodium content of the seasonings and sauces you add to it. Store-bought seitan can be high in sodium, but you can try making your own at home to better control the sodium content.
Can reduce cancer risk
The American Institute for Cancer Research suggests eating less red and processed meats and eating more plant-based protein as part of their recommendations for cancer prevention8.
Anti-inflammatory
Tofu is rich in isoflavones, a type of phytoestrogen found in soybeans. Isoflavones are known for reducing chronic inflammation9 and reducing the risk of many pro-inflammatory diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, PCOS, and some types of cancer.
Isoflavones also act as antioxidants, neutralizing molecules known as free radicals which damage our cells.
Bone health
Calcium is essential for maintaining strong bones and teeth, and calcium-set tofu is one of the best plant-based sources of calcium available. This makes it a particularly nutritious food for people who don’t consume dairy.
The soy isoflavones in tofu may also benefit bone health10 by helping the body build new bone and regulate bone resorption, the process of breaking bones down for remodeling.
May reduce Alzheimer’s Disease risk
The soy isoflavones in tofu may also help prevent Alzheimer’s disease11 thanks to their ability as antioxidants to prevent blood vessel damage, reduce inflammation, and fight oxidative stress within the brain.
That said, more research is needed before we can know how much tofu you’d need to eat to get these benefits.
Processing
Tofu and seitan are both more highly processed than other plant-based proteins like beans, lentils, edamame, or tempeh.
That said, tofu is usually considered less processed than seitan since tofu is made using a relatively simple process. This involves coagulating the proteins of soymilk and pressing these “curds” into a block of tofu. Tofu remains rich in protein and still contains some of the healthy fats, fiber, and anti-inflammatory isoflavones naturally found in soybeans.
Seitan, on the other hand, is made from washed wheat flour or vital wheat gluten, two highly processed ingredients that are significantly different from wheat, their initial source.
Because of this extra processing, some people following the whole food plant-based no oil diet (WFPBNO) prefer to avoid seitan. Tofu is typically accepted on this type of diet because, compared to processed foods like candy or chips, the processing is minimal and it retains many of the healthy nutrients found in soybeans.
However, contrary to popular belief, I don’t consider this extra processing to be a problem necessarily. The processing is what allows seitan to be so high in protein, which can be very beneficial for vegans and vegetarians with increased protein needs, such as those trying to build muscle or who are recovering from surgery.
As such, I consider it a more nutritious type of processed food than things like soda, candy, or chips, which can have high amounts of added sugars, sodium, or fat, if fried.
Flavor
At their most basic, tofu and seitan are both very bland. While this scares many people away from trying them, it’s also what makes them such versatile proteins.
To make tofu more flavorful, a helpful step is using a tofu press or heavy skills or pans to press out the excess water. This allows tofu to absorb more marinade or sauce, if using these to add flavor. Tofu can also be coated in spices and seasonings before being cooked. You can also purchase pre-seasoned tofu online or at some grocery stores.
If you buy pre-made seitan, it’s always going to be seasoned. Recipes for making your own seitan almost always include some type of seasoning, such as bouillon cubes, nutritional yeast, miso, tomato paste, and vegan spices, to give it a savory, meaty flavor. Seitan can be seasoned to taste like beef, pork, poultry, and deli meats, depending on the recipe.
RELATED: What Does Tofu Taste Like?
Texture
The texture of tofu can vary significantly based on the type of tofu and its preparation.
The softest, most moist type is silken tofu. This is followed, in order, by firm tofu, extra-firm tofu, and super-firm tofu, the latter of which has had the most water removed from it and doesn’t need to be pressed at all.
A popular method of improving tofu’s texture is by freezing, thawing, re-freezing, and re-thawing it before using it in a recipe. The repeated freezing and thawing causes the water molecules in tofu to expand, creating larger pockets within the tofu and giving it a meatier, chewier texture.
Seitan has a naturally chewy, meaty texture thanks to its gluten content. Think about bread: gluten is what gives it structure and elasticity. It does the same for seitan.
Seitan made only from gluten can be overly chewy, so it’s often made with additional beans or tofu blended into the dough to make it a little softer while still retaining its meaty bite.
Culinary uses
Tofu, once pressed, and seitan, once steamed or baked initially, can be sliced or cubed. Pressed or super firm tofu can even be grated, while seitan that has been knotted can be shredded like chicken. They can also be:
- Sautéed
- Air-fried
- Braised
- Grilled
Not surprisingly, then, they can also be used in many of the same dishes:
- Stir-fries
- Buddha bowls
- Burritos
- Stews
- Tacos
- Curries
Once seitan has been cooked initially (or bought pre-made), it can be used as a direct replacement for many meat, pork, and poultry dishes depending on how it has been seasoned.
Tofu has some unique culinary uses. It can be:
- Blended into dairy-free tofu “ricotta” and used in lasagna and baked ziti
- Blended into cream cheese (such as my Vegan Strawberry Cream Cheese)
- Crumbled and sauteed into a tofu scramble (vegan alternative to scrambled eggs)
- Blended into pasta sauces
- Sweetened and blended into dairy-free mousses and puddings
- Used to make plant-based quiches, frittatas, and egg cups (such as my Vegan Egg Bites with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Olives)
Tofu vs. seitan – which should you choose?
Tofu and seitan are excellent sources of protein, making them ideal choices for vegans and vegetarians looking to increase their protein intake or build muscle.
Tofu is a better source of calcium, benefiting bone health and offering anti-inflammatory properties through its soy isoflavones. It’s also less highly processed, making it a more acceptable choice for people following a whole food plant-based diet.
Seitan has a meatier texture than tofu, making it easy to substitute directly for meat. It also tastes more like meat. If you’ve tried various ways of cooking tofu and still don’t enjoy it, seitan may be more enjoyable. It’s a great transition food for people who are new to plant-based eating, as long as you can tolerate gluten.
Ultimately, I’d encourage you to try both proteins as long as they fit within your dietary needs. You’ll likely find that you enjoy tofu in certain dishes and seitan in others, and including both will provide nutritional and culinary variety.
RELATED: Are Soy Curls Healthy?
The scientific information in this article was accurate at the time of publishing but may change over time as new research becomes available.
References
- Reynaud Y, Buffière C, Cohade B, et al. True ileal amino acid digestibility and digestible indispensable amino acid scores (DIAASs) of plant-based protein foods. Food Chem. 2021;338:128020. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.128020
- Melina V, Craig W, Levin S. Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Vegetarian Diets. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2016;116(12):1970-1980. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2016.09.025
- Norton LE, Wilson GJ, Layman DK, Moulton CJ, Garlick PJ. Leucine content of dietary proteins is a determinant of postprandial skeletal muscle protein synthesis in adult rats. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2012;9(1):67. Published 2012 Jul 20. doi:10.1186/1743-7075-9-67
- Jäger R, Kerksick CM, Campbell BI, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: protein and exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14:20. Published 2017 Jun 20. doi:10.1186/s12970-017-0177-8
- Norton LE, Wilson GJ, Layman DK, Moulton CJ, Garlick PJ. Leucine content of dietary proteins is a determinant of postprandial skeletal muscle protein synthesis in adult rats. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2012;9(1):67. Published 2012 Jul 20. doi:10.1186/1743-7075-9-67
- Thomas MS, Fernandez ML. Trimethylamine N-Oxide (TMAO), Diet and Cardiovascular Disease. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2021;23(4):12. Published 2021 Feb 17. doi:10.1007/s11883-021-00910-x
- Lamberg-Allardt C, Bärebring L, Arnesen EK, et al. Animal versus plant-based protein and risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials and prospective cohort studies. Food Nutr Res. 2023;67:10.29219/fnr.v67.9003. Published 2023 Mar 28. doi:10.29219/fnr.v67.9003
- American Institute for Cancer Research. 10 cancer prevention recommendations. AICR website. Accessed 7/19/24.
- Bernatoniene J, Kazlauskaite JA, Kopustinskiene DM. Pleiotropic Effects of Isoflavones in Inflammation and Chronic Degenerative Diseases. Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22(11):5656. Published 2021 May 26. doi:10.3390/ijms22115656
- Zheng X, Lee SK, Chun OK. Soy Isoflavones and Osteoporotic Bone Loss: A Review with an Emphasis on Modulation of Bone Remodeling. J Med Food. 2016;19(1):1-14. doi:10.1089/jmf.2015.0045
- Lu Y, An Y, Lv C, Ma W, Xi Y, Xiao R. Dietary soybean isoflavones in Alzheimer’s disease prevention. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2018;27(5):946-954. doi:10.6133/apjcn.052018.01
