Makes 4 Sausages
Time: 50 minutes || Active time: 10 minutes
I realized I don’t have a super basic sausage recipe on the site and so here it is! The now classic, always magical, seitan and bean steamed-in-tinfoil sausage. Perfect for grilling, sauteeing or tossing into stews.
In case this is your first time making a vegan sausage, here’s what’s going down: You’re going to mash some beans in a mixing bowl and then throw in the other ingredients and mix. Then you’re going to roll ’em in tinfoil like a Tootsie Roll, and steam them. And then, like magic, you will have vegan sausages. Easiest thing in the world! A few versions of these sausages appear in Vegan Brunch.
1/2 cup cooked white beans (great northern or navy), rinsed and drained
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon olive oil *or* 1 tablespoon tomato paste (tomato paste is a great fat replacement)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon granulated garlic *or* 2 cloves fresh garlic, finely grated
1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed, crushed *or* 1 teaspoon ground fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Several dashes fresh black pepper
Before mixing your ingredients, get the steaming apparatus ready, bringing water to a full boil. The rest of the recipe comes together very quickly.
Have ready 4 square sheets of tin foil. In a large bowl, mash the 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.
Hi
I’m just starting to go vegan, what is vital wheat gluten, is it just wheat flour?? I can’t wait to try these they sound wonderful!
thanks
Thanks Rhian 🙂
@Heidi – it’s not normal flour, it’s gluten flour. Have a look at the links in the previous comments if you’re in the UK. If you’re lucky enough to live in America then Bob’s Red Mill make it. I got mine in Whole Foods when I was there in the summer 🙂
These were so easy and really good! Made spaghetti with them. Steamed the sausages, then sliced them and fried them up in some olive oil, added mushrooms, onions, lots of garlic and herbs, tomato sauce. Tossed with whole wheat spaghetti. Served it at my chavurah gathering and everybody loved it – babies to parents and everyone in between! And *tonight*, I used the sausage recipe and seasoned them like hot dogs (from Ruhlman’s hot dog recipe), and lo and behold, they smell and taste like hot dogs!!! I’ll be slicing them and simmering them in my home-made barbecue sauce for Superbowl party. Woohoo! I love vegan cooking!!
Sounds so fun!
Hi Joy, I know it has been a while since you wrote this. Did you use one recipe of the hot dog spices for one recipe of the vegan sausage?? Thanks!!
Hi Isa,
When made correctly, are these at all rubbery? Today was my first time making wheat gluten sausages, and they turned out quite rubbery. If that’s not how they’re supposed to be, I think my error was that my vegetable broth was warm, rather than room temp, when I mixed up the batter. Just wasn’t sure what the texture is supposed to be.
Hmm, I wouldn’t describe them as rubbery. They’re definitely firm and have a bite, but they shouldn’t be hard to chew or gummy. Yes, warm broth does activate gluten so that could be the problem.
These are delicious! I’ve tried making other Italian sausage style things before, and I was disappointed. I think it was the steaming process that really set these apart! They were plenty moist without falling apart. The spice mixture on these is absolutely perfect for me. I used the tomato paste instead of oil, and I don’t miss any richness at all. Next time, however, I will put my beans and broth into a blender before I add the rest of the ingredients, because apparently I’m no good at hand mashing. I still have whole beans! I think the texture would be better if they were completely smooshed up. Oh, and I did a nutritional analysis on these, and each sausage has 225 calories and about 33 grams of protein (if anyone is interested!). I’ll be making these this summer for grilling!
Any idea what the cook time would be in the pressure cooker for these bad boys? I see a couple other commenters have mentioned it. I Googled for other vegan sausage recipes, and they seem to suggest about 15 minutes.
Thank you! I’m in America.. I’ll try whole foods.
Wow! MERCI BEAUCOUP!!! 😉 I live in Montreal, Quebec… It was my first time making vegan sausages and I can tell it’s a very ridiculously easy and delicious recipe!!! I use to by a lot of Tofurky italian sausages and the taste of yours is not so fa… ! Next time I’ll make smaller ones so they can fit in hot-dog breads 😉 Oh! and I’ll try a batch with some beer in it! Also, I’ll search for another way to roll them instead of using alu… too much waste for me. I’ll let you know if I find something effective… Bon appétit!
I put them in a soup with white beans and kale, topped pizza with them, made sausage sandwiches, and tonight was currywurst. Every time I cook these, I’m blown away by how amazing they are. Making a double batch was the best idea ever.
I really like these sausages! I made a double-batch, so I could make the seitan beef stew (awesome stuff!), chop some up for breakfast and to add to spaghetti sauce.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these sausages and have even made extra of the spice blend to keep on hand for the next time I make them (as I have done with your spice blend for tofu scramble from Vegan Brunch). Will try the Seitan & Porcini Stew tonight. Thanks so much for your delicious recipes.
I can’t get vital wheat gluten (I live in Malaysia). My local health food cafe say they make their seitan with ordinary flour but when I use this in these sausages they are pretty heavy. Any alternatives?
These were super easy to make and fabulous with peppers and onions! Great in pasta sauce, too! Thank you!
I’ve got these in the steamer, even as I type. This recipe is the bomb!!!! The only thing I add, is finely chopped fresh italian parsley. Also, Rachel Joseph: if you’re using regular flour, the process is much longer and very involved, but it can be done. Google (?) making seitan with all purpose flour?
Any problems with doubling the recipe? My steamer tray fits in a rather small pot… so I know if I doubled the recipe they’ll fit, but they’ll be cozy/crowded in there. Do I steam for the same amount of time, or longer? Move the sausages around? Or steam in two batches?
You can double. No need to steam longer. If you think they’re too crowded then yeah, move em around once.
I had no trouble with doubling the recipe. They were all consistently steamed/cooked! I don’t know why I thought it would work, but I put a few drops of liquid smoke in the water before dropping the sausages in to steam. Maybe next time I’ll add just a drop or two along with the vegetable broth to give it a smoky taste.
Is it smart to cool them completely before refrigerating, or doesn’t it matter? I was wondering if it would change the texture if I stick them right into zip locks and stored them in the fridge. I also don’t want them to dry out on the counter. Suggestions?
Can you use some other kind of flour instead of the vital wheat gluten???? Is that the actual name or are you saying that it is vital to use the wheat gluten??
Heidi, vital wheat gluten is flour with most of the starch removed, making it 75% protein. I don’t think there is a substitute, regular flour would be too starchy.
I can’t use nutritional yeast (it makes me ill) . What can I use in place of it? More wheat gluten?
Wow. I have tried SO MANY vegan sausage recipes and they are always lacking. This is by far the best sausage recipe I have ever made–I’m pretty sure the beans are the magic ingredient here. Yet, the sausages were still a bit on the bland side for me, so I will increase spice quantities in the future. I sliced and cooked some of the sausage in olive oil to crisp them up a bit and boy, oh boy were they delicious!
Thanks again for another hit, Isa! Or should I say….Old Reliable? 😉
Are you calling me old?!
ok
thanks! I have to get to the store , so I can try these sausages.
Is there some reason why I can’t eat these every day? I have been very attached to vegan sausages recently–it’s a bit scary!
The recipe seems easy and ‘global’ so what i would like to know is if you could recommend some good sauces that would go nicely with them. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Would you be able to advise spice modifications to make this a breakfast sausage?
It’s amazing!
I just tried these yesterday, and they are amazing!
I already commented, but I just made these tonight again, and they are JUST SO WONDERFUL! The only difference I made from the first time I made them (Italian flavored, the second time I made them, I actually flavored them like hot dogs, and those were a HUGE hit) was using fresh garlic instead of granulated garlic. Seems like such a simple difference, but it’s the only thing I did differently, and they were way better this time. Can’t say why. I LOVE THESE SAUSAGES!! Isa, you are truly a (punk) rock star!!
Hiya! These look great!
I’m having problems tho with cups (i’m from the uk) I have your vegan with vengeance book and was so relieved it was in grams and oz, could someone help me out with how to convert or even use US cups?
It will make me a very happy lady!
Hope you’re all smiley 🙂
These are the bomb! So so good! My four year old daughter say : Oh! they taste much better than the sausages from the store. Says it all (those with children know what I mean)!! Thanks!
Might be a stupid question ,but here goes….Can i sub canned chickpeas for the white beans??Or will it ruin it?
You can! But mash very well because chickpeas are firmer than white beans.
I’ve tried the recipe with chickpeas and it worked fine (also added morrocan spice mix and tahini) I blitzed in the processor rather than mashing though.
I would add in the spices earlier, before adding the wheat gluten. I found it difficult to thoroughly incorporate the spices once the wheat gluten was in because the mixture was very “gummy” at that point. Overall, however, I was so happy with how these turned out after my first try!! So delicious! Can’t wait to make these again. I am going to double the recipe! Also, I might increase the spice amounts.
these were so easy to make- and so delicious!!! how long will they keep in the fridge- or in the freezer??? Will def be making these again thanks Isa !!!!
They keep in the fridge for 5 days or so. Freezer about a month.
Awesome- thanks so much I will def be making these again!!
These might be my very favorite recipe from your site, Isa! They’re so useful! The other thing I love about them is that I always make a double batch, and they last through many meals: in spaghetti, as a pizza topping (with caramelized onions…oh BABY), as a hash for breakfast… And for a pound of spaghetti, for example, I only use 2 or 3 sausages. WAYYY cheaper than the Tofurkey sausages, tastier, HOME-MADIER. They ROCK.
Dear Isa,
I’ve been making seitan for years and years, following a system of cooking it in boiling water which I learned from two different cookbooks. Having been a fool for sausage all my life, I have been on and off trying to make vegan sausage over the years (via boiling) and have never even come close. Then, surfing the web, I read something about steaming a seitan loaf. Steaming?!! Never heard of that! (I live on an island in the wilderness and don’t get out much…) Well that got me to searching the web about steamed seitan, wherein I tumbled into this blog entry of yours. Reading the success and innovations from your many commentators fueled well the initial excitement the recipe you gave generated. I couldn’t wait to try making these and thankfully had all the ingredients on hand so went right at it–and met with awesome success!!! Isa! You cannot imagine how HUGE a thing this is for me!!! My husband is now a sausage addict too (and relieved to not have to suffer the trials and failures from the boiled method attempts!)
Well, I also do a lot of cooking using a clay oven (a Romertopf) which basically steams food after the clay baker has been soaked in water and then put in a cold oven and then turned on to 400°F–typically for forty to fifty minutes depending on what’s being cooked. Of course, Isa–I had to try making these vegan sausages in the Romertopf. What do you think happened? PERFECTION!! The only difference is instead of steaming for 30 minutes in a traditional stovetop steamer, it takes 40 minutes (because you have to start with a cold oven and it needs extra time for the steam to build.) Even less bother than the stovetop method because once done, when the clay oven is cooled down, you simply put it away…no washing or drying necessary.
They say knowledge is power…well this vegan recipe has been truly empowering. My husband impressed upon me long ago to eschew the store-bought versions of vegan sausage, but I confess I used to pine away for good vegan sausage–no more–and this recipe (and its variants) is so easy and so superior in taste & texture, store-bought versions will never again catch my eye.
THANK YOU!!
In an experiment to find alternate wrappings, in the same batch I wrapped half the sausages in muslin/cheesecloth and the other half in alum foil. While the ones in the cheesecloth came out fine, they were a bit more rubbery than their foil counterparts and a little less tasty. So my conclusion is the foil wrapped have both better texture and better taste. I also sliced and fried each side by side to see if the differences waned. While it improved the cheesecloth sausages, I found the foil ones still better. Regarding someone’s concern about waste, the foil easily rinses for reuse.