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
- 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
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.
kristin says
i've kind of given up on seitan, because the last few times i've tried making it, i feel like it's always come out too gooey and doughy. this is making me want to give it another go!
Bianca says
I'm soooo proud of this recipe because the seitan is SO MUCH better than all the store-bought seitan I've ever had! I really hope you give seitan one last try (and that you love it of course!) :)
antonio palmieri says
Wonderfull. I cannot resist, I'm going to prepare it.! Thank you very much
B-Rye-Ant says
any benefit to using Sparkling Water rather than normal water/broth?
I usually make seitan pretty regularly but this is the first recipe i've seen that calls for Sparkling Water. Really excited to try this out!
Bianca says
I've found that sparkling water makes the seitan softer (not as tough or rubbery like it ends up in many recipes). Hope you enjoy!
Ed says
I doubled the recipe for 8 instead of 4 sausages. By the way, I'm still not sure whether you are trying for "hot dogs" or "sausages." Anyway, I double-checked all my quantities against this recipe. My opinion is that they taste too "thyme-ey." If I make them again, I will probably skip the thyme altogether and maybe increase the smoked paprika. Otherwise, good texture. Thank you!!
Bianca says
Thanks for your feedback! :)
Deb says
Omg!!! Amazing hot dog. BEATS ANY STORE BOUGHT DOG FOR SURE. takes about 1hour totalif you move quickly. Try a hot dog bun recipe with cashew milk and vegan butter
Bianca says
Awesome! I'm so glad you like these, Deb!
Alex Millns says
I'm sorry but Ketchup never belongs on a hotdog, that is just straight up blasphemy!
Rene says
Haha, I feel the same way!
Mariah says
Wow! These were incredible!
Anna says
Do you have to use chickpeas? Any alternative or can they just be omitted?
Erin Bell says
Can these be frozen?
MAS says
Is a food processor necessary to make this? Currently, I only have a hand mixer and emulsion blender. Please help having to recreate most of my foods without salt....
Sur says
Going vegan to be healthy is wonderful. It is healthy but not when things like canola oil are used. Or wheat gluten which can cause silent triggers of mystery illnesses. For many it creates havoc to the intestinal track. Sometimes going Vegan to really be healthy may require going Plant Base Vegan. Surely the recipe is good for those that don’t care about the other dangers from specific products. Just because is not meat.. does not mean is HEALTHY. A little research would help. I hope this reaches the author first. It is for the author. Be blessed
Kathryn Gannon says
You say to be healthy may require going plant based tht's wht this is. Gluten is from wheat and may cause problems for some but, the Chinese have eaten it for centuries as a protien substitute. I don't see the problem wiyh Canola it cooks at high temprature and so is considered safe.
Paul says
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.
Hannah says
Why do we need to add sparkling water?
Bianca says
sparkling water makes the seitan softer :)
L says
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 says
Yeay! So glad you like them :)
Carl says
Parchment paper works just fine without the aluminum foil.