Vegetarian Donairs / Vegan Donair Meat tastes - and feels - so much like the real thing, it has fooled even the most dedicated of carnivores!
Well, I was working on Donairs for More Than Poutine this week, and I was feeling a bit guilty that my husband wouldn't get to try them. He's never had a Donair, so that wasn't helping things - he's ALL about trying new foods.
What is a Donair?
A donair is a type of sandwich that's available across Canada, but is WILDLY popular in Halifax, where it originated.
A pita is topped with slices of spit roasted, highly seasoned beef. It's topped with chopped onions and tomatoes, and finished off with the piece de resistance - donair sauce.
Donair sauce sounds nasty to anyone who's new to the concept - sweetened condensed milk and garlic! - but really WORKS in the context.
It's essentially a beef version of a gyro, with a unique sauce on it. Much like poutine, they're messy, tasty, fun, not at all healthy, and are extra satisfying after a night of bar crawling.
It doesn't stop there, either - you can get Donair egg rolls in Halifax, as well we Donair Pizza. Donair pizzas are also becoming a thing here locally, alongside the more common shawarma pizza options.
Want to know more about Donair? Linsday from Eat This Town wrote a whole book about Donairs! Check out Book of Donair at the publisher's site!
Vegan Donair Meat!
Anyway, as my own loaf of tasty tasty donair meat was almost ready to go in the oven, I decided I'd play around with my seitan recipe, and come up with a vegan donair meat for him.
It was done completely as a surprise for him, he had no idea what I was up to. Frankly, I didn't want to disappoint him if it didn't turn out.
Well, I guess I was overly cautious, because it turned out amazing. I was kind of shocked at how much it looked, smelled, and felt like the real thing. I was actually able to taste a bite, and... damn.
I could absolutely be tricked by it in a sandwich, had I not made the thing. Completely bizarre!
Anyway, he LOVED his first Donair ever, and joked that it should be called a "DON'Tair", along the lines of food names being changed a bit to denote their vegetarian status.
We also used red pepper instead of tomato, as he hates tomatoes.
Vegetarian Donairs
A bit of a caveat here:
While the Donair "meat" here is vegan, the sandwich itself is vegetarian.
As he doesn't have to be dairy free, I just haven't played with the alternatives enough to have the first clue on how to make vegan donair sauce.
I’m sure there’s some kind of non-dairy, sweetened condensed milk substitute out there. Assuming it’s a good, thick texture, I’d just sub it 1:1 for the regular stuff in the sauce.
This recipe is one of many fantastic Canadian recipes in my cookbook, "More Than Poutine: Favourite Foods from my Home and Native Land”. "More than Poutine" is a Canadian cookbook like no other - written by a Canadian living away, it includes both traditional home cooking recipes, as well as accurate homemade versions of many of the snacks, sauces, convenience foods, and other food items that are hard to come by outside of Canada!
Order your copy here on this site, through Amazon, or through any major bookseller!
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Love sandwiches, or just want some new ideas for your lunches? We've got you covered!
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Vegan Donair "Meat"
Ingredients
Donair Sauce
- 1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk (300 ml)
- ⅓ Cup White Vinegar
- 1 ¼ teaspoon Garlic Powder
Donair "Meat"
- 1 ½ Cups Hot Water
- 3 "Beef" Flavoured Vegetarian Bouillon Cubes
- 1 ½ Cups Vital Wheat Gluten
- 2 tablespoon Nutritional Yeast
- 2 ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 2 ½ teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon Dried Oregano
- 1 ½ teaspoon Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Ground Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Cayenne Powder
- 2 tablespoon Almond Butter
Assembly
- 4-6 Pitas
- 1 Onion Thinly Sliced
- 2 Tomatoes or Red Peppers Chopped
Instructions
For Sauce
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, vinegar, and garlic powder.
- Use a whisk to mix together the sauce ingredients until well combined and thick.
- Transfer to a covered container, chill until use.
For the Donair "Meat"
- Preheat oven to 325, grease a glass loaf pan (4″ x 8″ or similar size)
- Dissolve “beef” bouillon cubes into hot water, set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, and seasonings.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together almond butter and 1 cup of the “beef” bouillon mix – a little at a time – until relatively smooth.
- Once wet ingredients are well whisked, pour into dry ingredients and stir to form a lumpy dough. Turn dough out onto a clean work surface, and knead for at LEAST two minutes. This is important – if you don’t knead it enough, it’ll turn out puffy, and more like a baked good than a “meat” substitute. It won’t really look any different as you go, you just have to trust in your timing.If you have a stand mixer, you can beat it in there on medium speed for a couple minutes, instead of kneading.
- Press dough evenly into prepared loaf pan, pour remaining broth over it, and bake for 45 minutes. Allow to cool.
To Assemble
- Brush pitas with a little water, heat in a hot frying pan until warmed through.
- Heat a little vegetable oil in a frying pan. Slice vegan donair meat into ¼″ thick slices (or however thick/thin you prefer!), add to pan and reheat until desired texture (If you like the crispy edges, cook a little longer than you would if you don’t!)
- Pile reheated “meat” on warm pita, drizzle generously with sauce, top with onions and tomatoes. Wrap in wax paper, parchment paper, or foil to hold it together while eating, serve immediately.
Nutrition
More Vegetarian Recipes
Looking for more delicious vegetarian recipes? Check these out!
Boneless Vegan Ribs
Moi-Moi
Paleo Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Paneer Burgers
Trader Joe's Tofu Edamame Nuggets
Vegetarian Chorizo Burger
Vegetarian Donairs / Vegan Donair Meat
Vegetarian Salad Rolls
Wild Rice and Edamame Salad
Wild Rice Polenta Sandwich
Ayngelina Brogan
I think because donair meat is so heavily seasoned it really lends itself well to Seitan.
APRIL J GLENDENNING
Can you freeze the leftovers?
Marie Porter
You know, I honestly have no idea - he eats it all within a day or two, never leaves leftovers to freeze!
Dena
I’ve had success freezing donair sauce. It never gets hard because of the sugar content but it keeps for ages.
Paulette
Im so dying to make this.My first donairs came from the Dartmouth ferry terminal back in 74...love at first bite.Of course living in California I may as well be living in the planet Zagon.as far as donairs are concerned.We are going meatless and I am seriously dairy intolerant so this sounds like heaven ! One question.Is there a way to make the sauce aless sqeet as Im diabetic.
Cheers
Marie Porter
I haven't seen any commercially available sweetened condensed milks, but Googling just now turned up a few recipes for how to make it. I'd say just look through what's available for homemade versions and go with whatever suits your needs / available ingredients best!
Paulette
Oops I mean less sweet!
Jo
Hi! This looks great! I was wondering: can I used natural peanut butter (no salt, no sugar) in place of the almond butter? I don't have any almond butter on hand but have all of the other ingredients.
Marie Porter
I don't see why not, the flavour will with fine with the sauce!
Jo
Hi Marie! I used natural peanut butter instead of almond butter (as mentioned, I had none on hand) and it turned out fantastic! Thanks for a great recipe! Definitely a regular in our house from now on! 🙂
Pete
I was first introduced to donairs when I joined the Navy in 1974. I used to eat them 4-5 times per week. My roommate and I even got a job making the meat and sauce for a donair shop on Gottingen Street. We just needed beer money...lol.
Now, I have to make a correction to your recipe. The sauce - the sauce originally consisted of JUST canned milk, sugar and vinegar. There was NEVER garlic in the sauce. We NEVER used sweetened condensed milk. Think about it. There is garlic in the meat. You don't need garlic in the sauce. The sauce is meant to provide a sweet, cool contrast to the hot, spicy meat. Putting garlic in the sauce is just too much. The idea of adding garlic to the sauce seems to have crept into the recipe in the last 25 or so years.
Seriously, upgrade your donair with sweet sauce (sans garlic).
1 can of evaporated milk
1/2 can of white sugar
1/3 can white vinegar
Mix the milk and sugar until dissolved. Quickly pour in the vinegar and stir for 2-3 seconds. Leave it to thicken for 2-3 minutes. That's it - done.
Use less sugar if it is too sweet. It will still work.
I have talked to donair shop owners several times in the last few years and they insist that the original sauce recipe included garlic. They are wrong. Plain and simple. They are too young to know better. They grew up eating donairs with garlic sauce and they think it is the original recipe.
There are two shops in Halifax with owners old enough to know the original recipe. Trust me...donair sauce with no garlic is far tastier. It isn't overpowering and it contrasts nicely with the hot, spicy meat.
You nailed the six main spices for the meat - garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, black pepper and oregano. Well done. Most people can't identify the six spices.
Marie Porter
Hey Pete,
Thanks for your comment, and your very enthusiastic opinion on the use of garlic.
Just a note: Condensed milk + sugar = sweetened condensed milk.
Using a pre-sweetened condensed milk is less effort and has a better texture, which is probably why that's why everyone does it that way, these days 🙂
Lee Alexander
What would be an acceptable replacement for nutritional yeast in this recipe?
Marie Porter
I can't think of any that would be a good straight sub. Maybe some mushroom powder? Probably half as much, though.