Makes 4 big sausages
Total time: 50 minutes || Active time: 15 minutes
There are so many amazing versions of these steamed sausages floating around, but one more couldn’t hurt! These are an excellent brunch sausage, perfect for slicing up alongside French Toast. They have a slightly sweet mapley taste, and when they sop up a little extra maple syrup, well that’s quite allright. I used both chickpea flour and nutritional yeast because I love that texture best, but you can use all nutritional yeast, or all chickpea flour. This recipe is anything but fussy. Here’s a PPK thread that has about a bazillion and one ideas for variations on the steamed sausage.
1/2 cup cooked pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke
2 cloves garlic, grated (with a microplane, or very finely minced)
1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons chickpea flour
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Several dashes fresh black pepper
Before mixing your ingredients, get your steaming apparatus ready, and bring water to a full boil. The rest of the recipe comes together very quickly.
Have ready 4 sheets of tin foil. In a large bowl, mash the pinto beans until no whole ones are left. Throw all the other ingredients together in the order listed and mix with a fork. Divide dough into 4 even parts (an easy way to do this: split the dough in half and then into quarters). Place one part of dough into tin foil and mold into about a 5 inch log. Wrap dough in tin foil, like a tootsie roll. Don’t worry too much about shaping it, it will snap into shape while it’s steaming because this recipe is awesome.
Place wrapped sausages in steamer and steam for 40 minutes. That’s it! You can unwrap and enjoy immediately or refrigerate until ready to use. They’re really great sliced up and lightly sauteed, or grilled.
YUM!! these look so good! and smoky maple is totally my wheelhouse of breakfast flavor. AND I just made pinto beans. You have great timing! <3
This recipe makes me so happy. How I’ve yearned for a vegan sausage with all sorts of flavors beyond wheat gluten. Hooray!
Oh my! I can’t wait to try these! Thank you. 😀
One can never have too many steamed sausage recipes!
I have now added these to my list of Weekend Foods to Make. It is with snausages like these that I hope to wean my husband off of pork.
I can’t find liquid smoke – can I use hickory smoke seasoning (dry)?
I love your sausage recipes in Vegan Brunch and this sounds possibly more amazing. I can’t wait to try it!
One of the things I most hate about being gluten intolerant is no more seitan sausages. I love them so much!
Sounds delicious. I’ve been sort of fiending to make sausages lately – I have fennel seeds on the brain.
Sounds lush but what is liquid smoke?
this is phenomenal! i can’t wait to taste them!
sounds yummy! just wondering how i can replace the steamer since i don’t own one?
Make three or four small aluminum balls, place on bottom of 5- or 6-quart pot, fill with an inch or so of water, put your wrapped packets on a plate that fits inside your pot, and close the lid. Or use a metal colander that is big enough to suspend itself on the rim of the pot or that has legs or a rim long enough to keep it out of direct contact with the water. Anything that will suspend the packets above the water and surrounded by the steam.
And when you get a chance… invest in a simple metal steamer basket. They’re cheap, and you’re becoming a serious cook and you need one. They’re sold everywhere, even Walmart, and they’re cheap.
Michaela, if you take a metal colander and put it in a pot with boiling water not touching the food, you create a steamer. Voila 🙂
these sound amazing! i have everything but chickpea flour…. would regular flour work in it’s place? if not, can you recommend a substitute? thanks! can’t wait to try it
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=2062910295480&set=a.1089747767025.2015700.1326394704&type=1&theater
Came out great. Did not have chickpea flour but will get some and try again as these came together very easy! I think I want to try browning them a little in a cast iron or on the grill. Thanks!
This recipe is indeed awesome. But the sausages weren’t nicely shaped. Could it be that I used heavy duty foil?
Liquid Smoke –
Most major US grocery stores carry this, next to the BBQ stuff.
In a pinch, I have used either smoked salt and / or smoked paprika when out of the liquid smoke.
Every since I discovered your recipes with the release of Appetite for Reduction, I have referred to you as my “kitchen hero.” After successfully making these sausages, you are now upgraded to “kitchen goddess.” Thank you for sharing your vegan wisdom, Isa. Mmmmmm! They turned out amazing!
I made these last week and just wanted to add that the flavor is just so sweet/smoky perfect and they’re so freaking easy to make.
I understand that spice profiles can be changed, but then the maple syrup might not go so well. As its liquid it seems if I take it out it will affect the end result/texture. Any suggestions on a more neutral flavor liquid if I use other spices?
Kelly see the post I linked to with all of the variations!
Liquid smoke has been around almost forever. It will be in the spice aisle. It’s not a very big bottle and is inexpensive. I’ve used it for years to give meats a smokehouse flavor. Worth buying.
I use Wrights liquid smoke. They make two flavors(Hickory and Mesquite). I can only find Mesquite online(Amazon…).They are distinctly different. Not sure why recipes don’t specify a particular flavor Wrights or otherwise.
I made these this morning and they were brilliant. I concur that one can never have too many variations of this recipe!
Just fried one for brunch – delicious. LD, I got a perfect cylindrical shape by really tightening the foil ends – you can see the dough filling up inside the wrapper.
These sound well good. I’ll try these out as soon as I possibly can! One problem though, what’s liquid smoke? I live in Malta and I doubt I’ll find it (whatever it is), any suggestions for an alternative? 🙂
I have the ultimate “dumb question”.
When the recipe calls for Vital Wheat Gluten, would I be adding Seitan or a dried ingredient?
It’s a flour, most health food stores have it, even some regular groceries do. Google it!
You can buy it directly from Bob’s Red Mill online or by phone from same. It’s made from wheat flour, which is kneaded with water to develop the gluten, then rinsed under running water while working the mass, until everything but the gluten is washed away and the vital wheat gluten is left behind. So buying vital wheat gluten skips all that mess and saves time, and gives you an exact amount to work with. Easy peasy.
Vital wheat gluten is made from wheat flour. The wheat flour contains glutenin and gliadin. When you add water and knead the flour, it loosens up their chains and they combine, forming your stretchy gluten.
Just made a version of these and they were fantastic. I love this website, I won’t be eating any more store bought veggie burgers or sausages ever again!
That’s what I like to hear!
I’m wondering about the beans. They haven’t got pinto beans in stores anywhere near me. What other kinds of beans could I use?
Navy or great Northern are both great choices!
I have trouble believing you can’t find dry or canned pinto beans at a grocery store. They’re one of the most popular beans. They would be at Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Sprouts, or any other grocery chain or health food grocery. If not, Bobs Red Mill will send them to you, as well as the vital wheat gluten and lots of other ingredients.
Awesome! My meat eating family is totally converted on the breakfast front now! Thanks again Isa!
these were sooo good….i kinda messed up and put a whole can of cooked beans in lol but still very tasty…steamed them about 15 mins longer due tothe mishap with the beans..Thanks Isa!!!
I have to add a comment because I’ve never until tonight made my own sausages! I’m always nervous about recipes that I can’t “check in” on while their cooking. Just trust that they’ll be done in 40 minutes. It worked and they are delicious! Can’t wait to crisp them up a bit and serve with pancakes. Thanks for your recipes – they’re a hit every time.
I made these as a substitute for hot dogs. They were amazing!
I know this probably defeats the purpose, but is there any way of making something like this without gluten? I’m both vegan, and fluten intolerant, and miss sausages in a bad way.
Also, if you can’t find liquid smoke, you might also look for smoked paprika. That stuff is amazing.
I have this same question. I would love to make a gluten-free version of this sausage, if anyone has some ideas for replacing the vital wheat gluten.
By fluten, I meant gluten 🙂
Hi! I don’t have chickpea flour but reallllly want to make these today. Can I use an alternate flour?
You can use regular old white flour.
you can just double the nutritional yeast.
My OH gave these the thumbs up today! Another fantastic recipe from the PPK site. I used rice crumbs rather than vital wheat gluten, due to gluten intolerance, and they still work brilliantly. I now need to find my next recipe, and the maple pecan pie is looking good 🙂
Just saw this comment after posting about replacing the gluten flour. What are rice crumbs?
I have been looking at this recipe and looking, but too afraid to try it…..but NO MORE!!!! I just made them and they are steaming even as I write!!! They smell so indescribably delicious….can’t wait to taste them!!! I’m very, very excited!!! Thank you so very much for this site (and all your books….your’s are my favs! And I’m not just saying that, I really mean it). Your recipes are the bomb!!!
Oh yeah, and we’re having your French Toast in the a.m. It feels a bit like Christmas!!!
Hi Isa,
I’ve been unconsciously moving toward veganism for a while now, and then I saw a film that changed my life. It’s Forks over Knives. Anyway, now I’ve made a conscious decision, but I am also omitting nuts and oils from my diet. Could this sausage vary greatly from excluding the olive oil? It seems that to go vegan you have to rely more on nuts, oils, and tofu… all of which I’d like to keep out of my body. Thanks for your input!
You can certainly remove the oil from this recipe!
Can you use Okara instead of the beans? Thanks
This are very, very similar to Vegan Dad’s sausages! I love his recipe and everyone I share them with loves them too.
There are amazing! By far the best vegan sausages I’ve made. I made them smaller to be more like breakfast links and served along side pumpkin french toast. Here’s a link: http://bit.ly/p6dKGm