The Best Easy Vegan Seitan Sausages, made from chickpeas and vital wheat gluten, with the perfect texture and taste. These plant-based sausages are a healthy alternative to processed meat and super easy to make!
Why These Are The Best Easy Vegan Seitan Sausages
If you’ve been plant-based for a while, or are trying to reduce meant in your diet, you’re likely tired of the over-processed fake meats out there. They’re pricey, and often full of additives such as a lot of extra sugar, sodium, oil, and calories. After a while you may have, like me, found their processed ingredients have started to make you feel gross.
A lot of people go plant-based in part to be healthy. Vegetables are nutrient-dense and a diet rich in vegetables and fruits can lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, prevent some types of cancer.
So if you’re eating plant-based for the health benefits, it’s a good idea not to pollute your diet with a ton of processed vegan meats. The veg community has of late been creating new and exciting vegan meats that are nutritious and made from real ingredients. This recipe for The Best Easy Vegan Seitan Sausages lets you make nutritious vegan meat at home.
Making your own healthy, non-processed plant-based sausages is cheaper, and much more delicious than the store-bought kind. If you’re a beginner vegan, it can seem daunting to start making your own homeade mock meats. I promise you, it’s easy and I wish I would have started earlier in my plant-based journey.
What is Vital Wheat Gluten?
Vital wheat gluten is the central ingredient in this recipe. It’s what makes your vegan sausages meaty, and gives them the perfect texture. This nutritious flour is the main ingredient in the popular meat substitute seitan. Wheat gluten and spices added to water make a dough. When the gluten dough is steamed, baked, boiled, or otherwise cooked, it becomes chewy with a very meat-like texture. Vital wheat gluten is a nutrient-rich flour that does not exist on its own in nature. It is made by rinsing away all the starch from kneaded wheat flour dough or by rehydrating powdered vital wheat gluten with water.
So, yes it is technically processed, but it is still your friend! Vital wheat gluten is high in protein, is an excellent source of many vital minerals such as selenium and iron, low in carbs and extremely low in fat. Because of this, it may not contribute to obesity like other ultra-processed foods.
Combining simple, wholesome, real ingredients with this nutritious flour makes a much healthier meat substitute than store bought sausages. I suggest you use Bob Mill’s Vital Wheat Gluten flour.
The Best Easy Vegan Seitan Sausages
Ingredients
Vegan Sausages
- 1/2 tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 large white onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 1/4 tsp basil
- 1/4 tsp sage
- 1/4 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/4 tsp cayenne (optional)
- 1/4 cup cooked chickpeas
- 1 tbsp tomato paste (or strained tomato)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 cup sparkling water
- 3/4 cup vital wheat gluten (CANNOT be substituted for any other flour)
Instructions
Vegan Sausages
- Add canola oil to a pan and sautée your chopped onion and garlic until soft. Add the fennel seeds, thyme, sage, and basil. Let it cook for another minute.
- Using your immersion hand blender or food processor, add the chickpeas, onion-garlic-spices mixture, tomato paste, salt, smoked paprika, soy sauce, and sparkling water. Pulse until it’s saucy.
- Add the vital wheat gluten flour and pulse again until it comes together in a ball. (Since gluten flour is so fine, I like to mix it in a quarter cup at a time. This keeps your flour from flying into the air and making a mess).
- You should now have a somewhat sticky dough. Divide it into 4 equal chunks. Roll each seitan chunk into a sausage shape, then roll each sausage tightly in aluminum foil. (you can use a layer of parchment paper between the sausage and foil, but this is personal preference). Twist the ends so that the seitan is completely covered in foil.
- Fill a large pot with a couple of inches of water and place a steam basket in it. Make sure the water does not go past the steam basket or your sausages will get wet! Bring it to high heat.
- Place the seitan sausages into the steaming basket. Try not to stack them, but a bit of overlap is okay. Let them steam for about 40 minutes, flipping them after 20 minutes.
- Remove them from the foil and parchment paper (they will be hot)!
- Now you can use them however you’d like! Pan frying with a touch of oil is my favourite. Slice them and put them in a tomato or creamy pasta sauce, use them in a sausage paella, or grill them and serve in a fresh bun. You can store them in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Make a full on vegan brunch! These Easy Vegan Seitan Sausages are delicious alongside my Vegan Buttermilk Pancakes!
Try this vegan sausage in a hearty Italian meal like my
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