These vegan sausages are so good! They have the perfect ‘meaty’ texture and heaps of flavor. They’re also really easy to make.
We really enjoy seitan recipes around these parts. We’ve made vegan steaks, vegan chicken, vegan bacon, vegan pepperoni and vegan salami.
And we’re just getting started.
These vegan sausages are so delicious (and easy) that they may well become weekly favorites in your house just as they are in ours.
Enjoy them alongside some vegan mashed potatoes (bangers and mash) or on hotdog rolls with mustard, ketchup and fried onions for some awesome vegan hot dogs.
Ingredients You’ll Need:
Ingredient Notes
- Vital wheat gluten – this is pure gluten powder. It is responsible for the meaty texture of these vegan sausages. There is NO substitute for this.
- Chickpeas – we used canned chickpeas in this recipe, but any cooked chickpeas will work fine.
- Vegetable stock – can be replaced with vegetable broth, whichever is easiest.
How To Make Vegan Sausages
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add chickpeas, soy sauce, maple syrup, tomato paste, vegetable stock, dijon mustard, liquid smoke, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, coriander powder, oregano, smoked paprika, salt, ground black pepper and cayenne pepper to the food processor and process until well mixed.
- Transfer it to a mixing bowl and add in vital wheat gluten.
- Stir in briefly with a spoon.
- Now get in there with your hands and form it into a dough. Don’t knead it. You just want it to be mixed and form into a dough.
- Transfer the dough to a wooden board.
- Cut it into four pieces and roll each piece roughly into a sausage shape (it doesn’t need to be perfect, the shape forms really well while they are steaming).
- Now roll each sausage in parchment paper and then in foil and close up the foil on each end. Don’t wrap them too tight, they need a little room to expand while they’re steaming.
- Place them into a steamer basket over a pot of boiling water (or any kind of steamer that you have) and steam for 20 minutes.
- After steaming place them back onto the wooden board and open the tinfoil (be careful of the steam escaping).
- Heat up a grill pan and brush it with a high heat oil (we used grapeseed oil).
- Place the sausages onto the hot grill pan and let them cook for a few minutes so that the grill lines sear into the sausages before turning them and cooking on the other side.
- In the last minute of grilling, brush the sausages with vegan barbecue sauce (optional).
Recipe Tips
There is no need to knead. You don’t need to knead the dough. Mixing the ingredients briefly, forming it into a dough and then the minimal handling of the dough while you cut it into four pieces and form those pieces into sausage shapes, is enough to activate the gluten sufficiently to get the perfect texture for these sausages. They are firm and ‘meaty’ without being too chewy. If you do want firmer sausages then you can knead the dough just a few times and that is sufficient to firm them up even more.
Steaming. The best way to steam these sausages is in a steamer pot, which is a steamer basket that fits over a pot of boiling water. The water must already be boiling when you place the steamer basket on top and then you start your timer for 20 minutes of steaming.
Grill pan. You can fry these on a grill pan as we did to get the pretty grill lines seared into the sausages. OR you can just fry them up in any frying pan or skillet. The sausages are actually cooked after steaming, so if you just want to slice them up at that point and place them on pizza or use them in another dish, that works too.
Recipe FAQ
What is seitan? Seitan is also called ‘wheat meat’ and it’s made from the gluten found in wheat. The starch in the wheat is removed, leaving just the gluten behind. You can do this yourself but it’s a very time consuming and complicated process. Vital wheat gluten is pure gluten powder that has already had all the starch removed. It has a meaty texture that works great in making vegan meats.
Can you make these sausages gluten-free? Since these are seitan sausages it is not possible to make them gluten-free. The main ingredient is vital wheat gluten which is pure gluten powder. If you’re looking for a good gluten-free vegan sausage recipe then I recommend this recipe from Ela Vegan.
How to store vegan sausages? Keep leftover sausages stored in a covered container in the fridge for up to a week.
Can you freeze them? You can freeze the sausages after steaming them. Let them cool completely and then transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Let them thaw in the fridge and then use them as you like, grill them, fry them, slice them etc.
More Seitan Recipes
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Sausages
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup Chickpeas (55g) Canned, Drained
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- ⅓ cup Tomato Paste (87g)
- ⅓ cup Vegetable Stock (80ml)
- 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- ¼ tsp Liquid Smoke
- 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
- ½ tsp Onion Powder
- ⅛ tsp Cumin
- ⅛ tsp Coriander Powder
- ¼ tsp Oregano
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
- ½ tsp Salt
- ⅛ tsp Ground Black Pepper
- ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 cup Vital Wheat Gluten (150g)
For Grilling/Frying:
- ½ Tbsp Grapeseed Oil or other high heat oil
- Vegan Barbecue Sauce Optional, for brushing
Instructions
- Add chickpeas, soy sauce, maple syrup, tomato paste, vegetable stock, dijon mustard, liquid smoke, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, coriander powder, oregano, smoked paprika, salt, ground black pepper and cayenne pepper to the food processor and process until well mixed.
- Transfer it to a mixing bowl and add in vital wheat gluten.
- Stir in briefly with a spoon.
- Now get in there with your hands and form it into a dough. Don’t knead it. You just want it to be mixed and formed into a dough.
- Transfer the dough to a wooden board.
- Cut it into four pieces and roll each piece roughly into a sausage shape (it doesn’t need to be perfect, the shape forms really well while they are steaming).
- Now roll each sausage in parchment paper and then in foil and close up the foil on each end. Don’t wrap them too tight, they need a little room to expand while they’re steaming.
- Place them into a steamer basket over a pot of boiling water (or any kind of steamer that you have) and steam for 20 minutes.
- After steaming place them back onto the wooden board and open the tinfoil (be careful of the steam escaping). They are now cooked and ready to use! But if you’d like to grill them (as we did) then keep reading.
- Heat up a grill pan and brush it with grapeseed oil or another high heat oil.
- Place the sausages onto the hot grill pan and let them cook for a few minutes so that the grill lines sear into the sausages before turning them and cooking on the other side.
- In the last minute of grilling, brush the sausages with vegan barbecue sauce (optional).
Notes
- Chickpeas – we used canned chickpeas in this recipe, but any cooked chickpeas will work fine.
- Vital wheat gluten – this is pure gluten powder. It is responsible for the meaty texture of these vegan sausages. There is NO substitute for this.
- Vegetable stock – can be replaced with vegetable broth, whichever is easiest.
- There is no need to knead. You don’t need to knead the dough. Mixing the ingredients briefly, forming it into a dough and then the minimal handling of the dough while you cut it into four pieces and form those pieces into sausage shapes, is enough to activate the gluten sufficiently to get the perfect texture for these sausages. They are firm and ‘meaty’ without being too chewy. If you do want firmer sausages then you can knead the dough just a few times and that is sufficient to firm them up even more.
- Grill pan – You can fry these on a grill pan as we did to get the pretty grill lines seared into the sausages. OR you can just fry them up in any frying pan or skillet. The sausages are actually cooked after steaming, so if you just want to slice them up at that point and place them on pizza or use them in another dish, that works too.
- Storing: Keep leftover sausages stored in a covered container in the fridge for up to a week.
- Freezing: You can freeze the sausages after steaming them. Let them cool completely and then transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Let them thaw in the fridge and then use them as you like, grill them, fry them, slice them etc.
Great blend of spices. Thank you for developing and sharing the recipe. I know “no substitutions” on the vital wheat gluten, but I did not have the vital wheat gluten so I tried whole spelt flour in my “test kitchen” and it turned out great. I am looking forward to making more.
So happy to hear it worked well with that sub Rich! Thanks so much for sharing and the great review!
These sound delicious, I can’t wait to try them out. I have used Saran Wrap on vegan sausage’s in the past for steaming and it worked out great
The commercial hot dogs caused me gastro distress because of so many chemicals and flavorings and this sausage recipe is a perfect alternative. The flavor and texture are great. I made some nice whole wheat buns and it’s definitely a winner. However, I didn’t have parchment paper and used waxed paper instead and it stuck very badly to the sausages and it was a terrible chore to pick it off without wasting too much of the product. I’m wondering if I could dispense with the paper and foil and just lay the logs directly on the rack to steam them, or alternately to bake them instead. I would buy some parchment if I was convinced it would react differently from the waxed paper.
Hi Sally, so glad you enjoyed them! I must tell you though that I have used wax paper myself in the past accidentally (when baking) and it is TERRIBLE. It’s completely different to parchment paper, there is just no comparison. So I think if you make them again with parchment paper you will have a very different experience.
I made these yesterday. Another excellent recipe Alison – thank you. I did find after 20 minutes of steaming they were chewy so I steamed for an additional 20 minutes then sizzled them for a few minutes on each side. They were great! Any thoughts on why they needed longer in steamer?
Hi Susan, I’m not sure, it may be that it wasn’t steaming as briskly – we always place our steamer pot on once the water is already boiling so it goes at full steam from the first minute. If you did the same then I’m really not sure, but glad it all worked out well! 🙂
As a hobby I have been making brats and sausage. Guessing I have made over 1000 pounds and recently my dr has me moving towards more plant based foods. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. But after making these there is hope. I plan to tweak them a bit like add more heat but these are really pretty good.
So happy these made the cut Daryl! I think some extra heat would be delicious too! Thanks for the great review and all the best with your new food adventure.
This is the second recipe I’ve tried from “Loving it Vegan” and this is the second recipe that has been a hit in my house. I have the pickiest child ever who has just begun to relent and finally TRY things. Tonight I brought up your site and told her to pick something. This is what she chose. The anticipation rose as I served it to her and she started with her vegetables. Finally, she took a bite, and with actual enthusiasm, she said, “this is REALLY good.”
So thank you! Thank you for this site where I can always find a quick, easy, and suitably delicious dish to make to happily feed even the worst of critics!
That is awesome! Thanks so much Christine for the awesome comment and review!
These are wonderful! I didn’t realize how much I missed hotdogs! I wrap them in one layer of rice paper, then very lightly brush with oil, and re-heat in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes. That gives them a beautiful, crisp texture, just like I remember with sausages. I’ve been using 55g extra firm tofu instead of the chickpeas since I have some needing to be used up, and the texture is perfect.
That’s awesome Corinne! Thanks so much for sharing. So glad to hear tofu is working great with them as well. 🙂
I am a new vegan and have been slowly trying to find my new go-to “tried and true” recipes I will always come back to, and these turned out perfectly! I followed all instructions and ingredients as written.
We have campfires often, do you think these would hold up to being put on a stick and cooked over a fire instead of grilling?
Yes! After steaming they are perfectly firm and would hold up well to any kind of cooking.
Hi, made these, lovely taste but texture was too chewy, any tips on a less chewy texture
Thanks
Hi Kevin, if the texture was a bit too chewy then that is from a bit too much kneading or handling of the dough (see under ‘recipe tips’). Just the minimum amount of mixing and handling is needed for this recipe for the sausages to not be too chewy. Glad the taste was good though. If you make again, just be very sparing with how much mixing/handling of the dough for best results.
Hi! Can I use something else than foil? Thanks 🙂
You could wrap it in the parchment and then in cheesecloth.
So these came out absolutely great. Really great and simple. I had one sausage left, so the next day I cut it into thin slices and added it to the vegan carbonara instead of mushrooms. Excellent and no leftovers.
So happy to hear that! Thanks so much Silvia!
Hi Alison,
We love your recipes!!! Is there any substitute for chickpeas as l can’t have legumes.
Hi Julie, I think you could leave them out. They are for texture but I think the recipe would still work without them. IF the mix is a little wet after adding the vital wheat gluten (I don’t think it will be though), then just add a little more vital wheat gluten.
I made these for lunch today and they stuck horribly to the parchment paper 🙁 the flavor is amazing but any idea why they would stick so bad?
Hi Ashley, are you sure it was parchment paper? Wax paper looks the same but is super sticky! Parchment never sticks.
Amazing! I happened to have all the ingredients already so I made this recipe as soon as I got your email! They came out SO good! I love the taste and texture and thankfully had a couple of sausages left over so lunch today is sorted! Thanks for doing the work to bring us this awesome recipe.
So happy to hear that Layla! Thanks for the awesome review.
This is an excellent recipe but I wonder if using almond meal or gram flour instead of gluten powder would avoid the meatiness. Perhaps even chop some apples to add in the mix! I’d rather have it seem like a brand new texture to have for breakfast or on pizza. What do you think?
Hi Stefanos, we do link a recipe in the FAQ of the blog post that doesn’t use vital wheat gluten, so you’re welcome to give that a try. We love the texture of these, it’s really perfect. The ‘meaty’ texture is not a concern, since it’s not meat. The same can be said for mushrooms after all! And we love those too. 🙂