No need to buy expensive veggie sausages anymore! These Homemade Vegan Sausages are easy to make and delicious. Thanks to two tricks, they are not tough and rubbery like seitan often is.
Veggie sausages like all the other meat alternatives and processed vegan products are quite $$$. Making your own vegan sausages at home can be quite daunting. I get it. I've been there. It took me a couple of years of being vegan to finally figure out a vegan sausage recipe that I'm happy with.
These vegan Seitan Sausages are
- easy to make (soften the onions and garlic, then add all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse, form the sausages, roll them in parchment paper and aluminum foil and steam - no need to knead seitan until your arms hurt!)
- quick to make (you'll only need about 20 minutes of preparation time to make these, then steam)
- super versatile (you can use them in any dish you would have used regular sausages in)
- soft and firm (if you've had rubbery and tough seitan before, you know what I'm talking about. These do not have the texture of a rubber mallet!)
Tricks for making Vegan Sausages that aren't spongy/rubbery/tough?
My #1 super secret ingredient for these sausages that have just the right balance of soft and firm is sparkling water! It's just a simple substitution with a huge effect. Trick #2 is to use canned chickpeas instead of chickpea flour. This makes the seitan soft (even the next day or the day after!).
How to make Vegan Seitan Sausages
Uses for the Seitan Sausages
Basically, you can use these Seitan Sausages in any dish that would use regular sausages. They are very versatile! Here are a couple of ideas:
- Vegan Goulash with Homemade Sausages
- Vegan Hot Dogs with Homemade Seitan Sausages
- Vegan Breakfast Pizza
- Corn Dogs (coat them in a batter of cornmeal, flour, spices, and plant-based milk and fry)
- Paella (cut into slices)
- serve them with mashed potatoes and gravy
- Breakfast Sausages with tofu scramble
- Pigs in a Blanket (wrap with puff pastry and bake)
Can you freeze Seitan Sausages?
Yes, I've tried it with this seitan recipe and it works great! Remove the foil, let the sausages cool off completely, place them in a freezer-safe container or ziplock bag, freeze. When you're ready to eat the frozen sausages, let them thaw at room temperature for a few hours, then grill/cook/roast/whatever you want to do with it! They are good as new!
Homemade Vegan Sausages
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon canola oil
- ½ large white onion chopped
- 1 garlic clove chopped
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- ¼ cup cooked chickpeas
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ¼ cup sparkling water
- ¾ cup vital wheat gluten
Instructions
- In a large pan with canola oil, sautée the chopped onion and garlic cloves until soft. Add the cumin and fennel seeds. Let it cook for another minute until the spices are toasted.
- In a food processor, add the chickpeas, onion-garlic-spices mixture, tomato paste, salt, thyme, smoked paprika, soy sauce, and sparkling water. Pulse until it’s saucy. Then add the vital wheat gluten and pulse again until it comes together in a ball.
- Prepare a large pot (filled with a couple of inches of water) with a steaming basket and bring it to high heat.
- Divide the seitan into 4 equal chunks. Roll and press the seitan into a sausage shape. Roll each sausage in parchment paper and aluminum foil (roll it tightly). Twist the ends so that the seitan is completely covered in foil. Add the seitan sausages into the steaming basket and let them steam for about 40 minutes, flipping them after 20 minutes.
- Let them cool off a bit before removing the aluminum foil and parchment paper.
- You can use them in various recipes (Hot Dogs, Corn Dogs, serve them with mashed potatoes etc.). To warm them up, cook them in a pan or contact griller. You can store them in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Scott says
We made these for Fathers Day today. Took them right out of the parchment and foil wrappers and finished them on the grill. Wow is all we could say. Just wow! They completely satisfied that craving for a grilled sausage. The taste was great and the mouthfeel and texture were amazingly close to any veggie sausage you can buy. They were MUCH more satisfying, though, because we made them at home. What a wonderful recipe and one that is going in our summer rotation for grilling. I evidently couldn’t get them rolled as tight as yours because they were not smooth like your pictures, but that didn’t matter one iota! These are fantastic. Thank you SO much.
One question: How well do you think they would freeze? I’d like to make a large batch and freeze some to pull out and throw on the grill when we have people over.
Bianca says
Wow, thank you so much for the amazing review, Scott!! :) I'm so glad you all enjoyed them!
Although I haven't tried freezing them, I would think that it would work just fine. It's definitely worth a try! :)
Alocasia says
What a great recipe. We inhaled them. :) I usually have to knead the seitan for 8 minutes in my electric mixer to get this kind of tenderness. Fantastic!
Bianca says
Thank you so much, Alocasia, I'm so glad to hear that! They are so easy to make, right?!
Rebecca says
What role does the vital wheat gluten play? I have all the other ingredients and would love to make them without it.
Bianca says
The vital wheat gluten is the most important ingredient in this recipe. It makes the sausages meaty and holds everything together.
Diane says
Would you be able to substitute the vital wheat gluten with bread flour ?
Bianca says
Unfortunately not! Vital Wheat Gluten is 100% gluten and is needed for binding and a meaty texture.
Marcus says
Any chance Psyllium Husks, Xantham Gum, Guar Gum, or some other non-gluten binding agent would work without yielding weird-tasting/textured results? I’m gluten intolerant and really miss eating veggie sausages.
antje says
Hey Bianca
sounds like a yummy recipe. Can you tell me if I have to use sparkling water or if this could be substituted?
Look forward to hear back from you.
Antje
Bianca says
You can use regular water BUT I found that sparkling water makes the seitan softer, so I really recommend it.
Julia says
Hi Bianca, this recipe is great! I ended up tripling the recipe... Can you freeze the sausages?
Bianca says
I have seitan frozen right now. I'll let you know later today how it will turn out! :)
Bianca says
Okay, so I've tried freezing them! It works perfectly! Keep in mind to remove the foil, let them cool off completely, then freeze them in a freezer-friendly container or ziplock bag. If you want to use them take them out a couple of hours before, let them thaw at room temperature (haven't tried the microwave as I don't have one), then grill/roast/cook whatever you want to do with them. They are good as new! :) Hope you enjoy!
Katrine says
Hi Bianca
This look amazing! We're having people over for a housewarming end of this month and plan to serve hot dos on the grill. Do you if they will hold up on the grill?
/Kat
Bianca says
Absolutely, you can grill them as well! They hold together really well!
James says
Tried this recipe on a Wednesday and made them again on the Friday, they are SO good!
I made a couple of herb substitutions and used a pressure cooker to steam them.
Thank you so much this has changed my eating habits completely.
Kerrie says
@James, Did you use the steam function or the pressure cook function? If pressure how much time did they need? Thanks!
Amy says
Hi Bianca,
Awesome! I've been trying to find recipes like these and bingo! I'm going to try and make these soon - The question I have is can these be made in an Instapot? If so, what would the instructions be for that? Thank you!!
Bianca says
Oh, I've never tried steaming them in the instant pot. Interesting idea! I will have to try that the next time!
Amy says
HI Bianca,
An update - I steamed the sausages for 40 minutes in the instapot and they came out AWESOME!! My boyfriend said that this recipe is the best one yet!! Thanks for sharing :)
Bianca says
Perfect! Thank you so much for letting me know! I steamed the seitan in the instant pot too (after you telling me about it) and I loved the results! :)
Colleen says
How would you steam them in the instant pot? Thanks!
Mrs Thompson says
What release did you do for the instant pot? And was it set on high pressure? TYIA. Can't wait to make this!
Amy says
I also made a new batch this morning - Yup, that's how good they are folks! Tried something new tho - Substituted the tomato paste for bbq sauce, the soy sauce for liquid smoke and instead of a white onion, I used red. In the instapot now and we shall see! Am hoping for a bbq smokey flavor this go around -
Bianca, do you have other spices / flavors for the sausages that would suit this recipe as well?
Bianca says
I will have to try different varieties! I've been meaning to make a spicy chorizo-style sausage. I've been using liquid smoke in the sausages and that has been working great. I haven't tried bbq sauce but I have been thinking about it. I think that would turn out great :) Can't wait to hear what you say!
Amy says
Thank you for replying Bianca! An update on the 2nd batch with the substitutions - Honestly, sticking with the first batch and ingredients is better. The flavor in the 2nd batch wasn't as tasty as the first. Look forward to trying out more of your recipes!
Bianca says
Thank you for letting me know! :)
Anonymous says
@Amy, FYI it’s actually called “Instant Pot”, not Instapot 😉
Holly says
@Anonymous, Thanks Greg. That's a really interesting point.
Florence Hanampota says
I tried them. They are wonderful
Anonymous says
@Florence Hanampota, then why did you only give them 2 stars…?
Clinton says
Hi bianca.
I'm from south africa and of indian descent. I just recently became a pescatarian and I enjoy soya meals but the shop ones are plain. I plan to spicy it up so I'm definitely gonna try this recipe and will let you know how it tastes.
Regards
Clinton R
Bianca says
That's the beauty of making things from scratch :)
Lester says
If making Vegan sausages why on earth would the author suggest using "Milk" in the Corn Dog batter?
Quote "Corn Dogs (coat them in a batter of cornmeal, flour, spices and milk and fry)"
Mal Lee says
I saw that too - I'm guessing she meant "your favourite plant milk"?
Bianca says
Of course, I meant plant-based milk! :) Unsweetened rice milk or soy milk would be a great choice.
JustJJ says
@Bianca, WHY ON EARTH would people think you meant anything BUT plant based milks as this IS a Vegan website? THINK people THINK!!!! Thank you for your hard work and recipes, they are appreciated by this cook who can walk & chew gum at the same time.....
Anonymous says
@JustJJ, I can see why that could be confusing for some readers, especially new vegans. Maybe show a little understanding and grace?
Sandy says
I made these and they turned out incredibly well. Easy to make and very tasty. Will definitely be making again. Thank you for the recipe!
Bianca says
Yeay! I'm so glad to hear that, Sandy!
Sam says
Hi- I plan to make sausage rolls with these. Should I cook them (steam them) first,
Then wrap in the puff pasty and bake, or do you think I could use the raw mixture in the pastry then bake?
I’ve used dried sausage mix before and just put that in raw without pre- cooking.
Many thanks
Sam
Bianca says
I'd definitely recommend steaming them first. Otherwise, they might not cook all the way through.
Sam says
Thank you! Will let you know how they turn out!
JustJJ says
@Sam, They also will not hold shape unless steamed in parchment/foil first.
Emily says
Hey I made these and they turned out good although they are quite chewy. I know this is a typical issue with seitan, do you have any solutions for this?
Cheers!
Rosie says
Hi, I'm looking forward to trying this recipe. I have tried a few attempts at vegan sausage, and they always come out rubbery. These don't? And do you know why that happens? Will report in when I've made these!
Bianca says
Hi Rosie! I've found out that the chickpeas and sparkling water make soft seitan! This one isn't rubbery at all! But I'd love to hear your opinion as well! :)
.emma says
HI THERE do you think this mixture would work if put through a sausage machine into vegan Casins..
Bianca says
Interesting! I've never tried that! Unfortunately I have no idea how they would turn out but let me know if you give them a try!
Louise says
I was going to ask the exact same thing. Been looking for a good vegetarian sausage recipe for a while now.
Have you tried it with the celulose casing? If so can you tell me if it worked? Thanks
Kathy says
LOVE LOVE LOVE! I have made these four times now, each time upping the spice a bit as I prefer a more spicy sausage. The third time I made these, in addition to the spices in the recipe, I added Italian spice and red pepper flakes, and a bit more garlic. The texture is amazing and so much better than store bought vegan sausage without all the additives you can't pronounce. They are so easy to mix and roll and actually look like a sausage on the ends. I prefer to pan fry versus the grill, but both turned out well. When I go to friends who BBQ regular meat sausage at get togethers, I always bring these for myself.
Bianca says
Oh! I'm so happy to hear that, Kathy!! I will have to make really, really spicy ones soon! :)