With homemade Seitan Sausages, you can take this classic ballpark snack to the next level. I’ve topped the vegan Hot Dogs very traditionally with ketchup, pickles, and fried onions, but feel free to experiment with adventurous toppings such as guacamole, salsa or chili sin carne.
Sometimes you crave something simple – like a hot dog – and then you end up making everything from scratch: seitan sausages, bread, fries. Can anyone relate or am I the only weirdo here? Anyways. I’m not complaining. Making things from scratch is oddly satisfying.
The Bread
Making bread from scratch is one of my favorite things to do! It always feels like cheating when I’m using store-bought buns. Maybe it’s because of the basic white bread recipe? It’s perfect for ANYTHING. You can literally make loaves, buns, pizza crust, naan,… With such a great recipe at hand, why wouldn’t you make anything bready from scratch?
The Vegan Sausages
And then the Seitan Sausages. I feel like I’ve finally cracked the code for amazing seitan (after being a vegan for 5 years – it’s about time!) and I can’t stop using the seitan in different shapes for all kinds of recipes. It’s so versatile.
The Toppings
My Hot Dog toppings are classic – ketchup, pickles, and fried onions. But you can be adventurous with the toppings as well. I had a Hot Dog topped with guacamole in Barcelona a few years back – delicious! Or add chili sin carne for a messy but amazingly rich and creamy meal. Salsa is a great topping for the summer!
Fun fact: As a teen, I worked in a pickle factory for a summer job. I couldn’t eat pickles for years after that. Stuffing pickles into glasses at 6 am isn’t the coolest thing to do. But now I’m slowly getting into the pickle game and I like it. I kind of get why pickles are such a popular topping now.
Fries are the classic Hot Dog side dish. I made my own and I’ve included instructions for it in the recipe notes if you want to make them too! Super simple and delicious!
More Seitan Recipes you will love
- 15+ Seitan Recipes – The perfect meat substitute
- Basic Seitan made with Vital Wheat Gluten
- Seitan Sausages
- Seitan Schnitzel
- Seitan Steak
- Seitan Roast with Bread Stuffing
I hope you’ll enjoy these hot dogs as much as I do!
Let me know if you give this recipe a try! I’d love to hear how it turns out for you.
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Cheers, Bianca
Vegan Hot Dogs with Homemade Seitan Sausages
Equipment
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Seitan Sausages
- 1/2 tablespoon canola oil
- 1/2 large white onion chopped
- 1 garlic clove chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1/4 cup cooked chickpeas
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/4 cup sparkling water
- 3/4 cup vital wheat gluten
Additional Ingredients
- 4 Hot Dog Buns *
- Ketchup
- Pickles
- Fried Onions
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 further 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 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. Twist the ends so that the seitan is completely closed off. 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.
- Heat the sausages in a grill pan or contact grill for nice grill marks. Then add them into your hot dog buns, top with ketchup, pickles and fried onions and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
This post was first published on July 24, 2014. Updated on July 06, 2018.
Ariel
Friday 28th of April 2023
This was my fourth time trying to make vegan seitan hot dogs. Not sure why I've been insistent on trying again because they never turn out. This is the first round of hot dogs I would ever consider serving to someone else. They have acceptable color, taste, texture. I wouldn't call them amazing, but I think they "pass", especially with toppings and such, in a way that my other attempts at vital wheat gluten sausage did not.
I baked them, and I think what worked about them, was that their texture was quite a bit firmer, and way less rubbery than my other recipes. Now time to weak until perfection!
Carl
Thursday 9th of March 2023
Parchment paper works just fine without the aluminum foil.
L
Tuesday 31st of May 2022
I’ve been trying to incorporate more plant-based recipes into my diet, and I don’t know what made me google “vegan hot dog recipe” (I guess it is summer after all) but I’m glad I did! This recipe is fantastic! These were easy to make and they taste great. I didn’t have any tomato paste, so I substituted ketchup and it totally worked. Will definitely be making again.
Bianca
Saturday 11th of June 2022
Yeay! So glad you like them :)
Hannah
Friday 16th of April 2021
Why do we need to add sparkling water?
Bianca
Wednesday 28th of April 2021
sparkling water makes the seitan softer :)
Paul
Tuesday 16th of February 2021
Haven't tried this yet, but have all the ingredients and it sounds great so I will soon. I commented to suggest adding some a tablespoon or so of potato starch to the fries recipe along with the oil, which is messy but gives a lovely crunchy coating to the fries - it works well for sweet potato fries too.