Vegan Sausage Recipe

Here's exactly what you' need to make your homemade meat-free sausages:

You'll notice that the ingredients are pretty much vegan pantry staples. For the best results, I recommend not making any subs. This seitan sausage recipe has been tested many, many times and will give excellent results if followed exactly.

A few notes on the ingredients that I know will get the most questions:

• Vital wheat gluten - The main ingredient. Note that this is an essential ingredient in this seitan sausage recipe. There is no substitute and the sausages cannot be made gluten-free. You can buy VWG in a lot of bigger grocery stores these days, or online. The best value one I've found is Anthony's from Amazon. If you are in the UK you can buy vital wheat gluten from Holland & Barrett or Amazon.co.uk.
• Oats - Really important for texture in this recipe.
• Soy sauce, nutritional yeast, bouillon/stock cube, tomato puree, paprika, garlic, black pepper, salt - All important for layers of flavour and colour. If you are soy-free you can use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce and smoked paprika can be used instead of paprika.
• Sage and fennel - For authentic sausage flavour.

So how exactly do you make your own vegan and vegetarian sausages? The process is pretty simple. Let me show you how:

1. In a food processor or blender, pulse up the oats to break them up a bit.
2. Mix the oats with the vital wheat gluten.
3. Blend up everything else.
4. Pour the wet into the dry and combine.

5. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape into rough sausage shapes. They won't look pretty at this stage!
6. Roll the paper over and tuck it under the sausage to secure it.
7. Roll all the way then twist the ends closed. The rolling and twisting compacts the seitan sausage dough and neatens them up into proper sausage shapes.
8. Make a foil package to nestle them in, seal it up and bake.

Once removed from the oven the vegan sausages are completely cooked through, but it is best to cook them again before serving to get them nice and golden. Methods for this include:

• Pan-fry in a skillet over medium heat, turning frequently until golden on all sides.
• Cook on a grill pan until nice char marks appear.
• BBQ/Grill outside until golden.
• Air fry at 350°F for about 10 minutes or until golden.
• Oven bake at 350°F until golden and heated through. About 15 to 20 minutes.

Serving Suggestions

These homemade vegan sausages are rustic, hearty, and packed with protein. They can be enjoyed any way you please, for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner.

My favourite ways to enjoy vegan sausages include:

• In a sausage sandwich with plenty of the British fave HP sauce (as in the photo above!)
• In recipes like sausage rolls, corn dogs, toad in the hole, vegan sausage casserole, and vegan stuffing.
• Cooked up in a skillet with peppers, onions, and garlic then piled up into hot dog buns.
• On salads, pizza and pasta dishes (you can make vegan sausage crumbles or slice them).
• On the side of Red Cabbage with Apples.
• With mashed potatoes, vegan gravy and vegan Yorkshire puddings.
• As part of a full English breakfast with vegan scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes, baked beans, vegan bacon, mushrooms, toast etc.

Making Ahead & Storing

This vegan sausage recipe isn't one you want to be starting midweek when you need dinner on the table fast, because they do take a little time. But once made, they are so handy to have stashed away in the fridge or freezer for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. All they need is a quick sear in a pan or on the grill so your meal can be ready really quickly.

I like to keep the sausages wrapped in their parchment paper for protection, then I pop them in an airtight container or freezer-safe container/bag. They will keep for up to 7 days in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer. Defrost overnight in the fridge before using.

Seitan Sausage FAQs