Are you sure this vegetarian sausage doesn’t have meat in it?

This vegetarian sausage recipe is so good it will change your life, not only is it a great option for any night of the week, it’s also perfect for when your meat-eater friends come over for dinner!

Vegetarians tend to fall into two camps – those that miss the taste of meat and those that don’t.  For those that miss it there are a lot of packaged and frozen “meat alternatives” out there, although they are expensive and highly processed so not something you want to eat too much of.  I fall into the latter camp of never having loved meat to begin with so not missing it now, but I do miss how fast and easy it is create a meal around meat – being able to just cook it up in a pan and boom you’re done.

Versatile and carnivore-friendly

One of the best things about this vegetarian sausage recipe is it’s meat-like versatility, I like to saute them in onions and peppers and serve next to my Mama-Style Mac & Cheese, but they also work great as a hot sandwich (saute in onions and peppers and add spicy yellow mustard or mozzarella cheese and put in a crusty hero roll), on the grill, or as a side to your breakfast the next morning.

My vegetarian sausage recipe was taken from the Vegan Dad who in turn took it from the Post Punk Kitchen, so it’s definitely made the rounds in the vegetarian community as a staple for your vegetarian lifestyle.

Have all of your ingredients prepped in advance and the recipe comes together in a flash!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup cold vegetable broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, grated or very finely minced
1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed, crushed
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Several dashes fresh black pepper

RECIPE

Before mixing your ingredients, get your steaming apparatus ready, bring water to a full boil. You’ll be done with this recipe before you know it, it literally comes together in minutes.

1.  Have six sheets of tinfoil pulled out and ready to go in advance.

Have your tinfoil prepped in advance so you don’t have to fiddle with it later.

2.  In a large bowl, mash the pinto beans until no whole ones are left (I use a fork, I find it easier then using a potato masher). Throw all the other ingredients together in the order listed and combine with a fork.

All you need to mix this up is a bowl and a fork!

3.  Divide dough into six even parts; mold each into a log about 5″ long, then place each into a sheet of your prepared tinfoil.

4.  Fold foil around vegetarian sausage and wrap it up like it’s a tootsie roll. I try and keep them relatively proportionate – not too long and skinny and not too short and fat.  But do whatever suits your taste, there is no right or wrong vegetarian sausage.

5.  Place wrapped vegetarian sausages in steamer and steam for 40 minutes.

Have yourself a cup of tea while your vegetarian sausages steam to perfection.

Your vegetarian sausages are now “done” and can be used however you’d use “real” sausage.  My favorite way to prepare them is to saute onions, green and red peppers in a pan for about 10 minutes on medium heat before adding in the sausages to brown with them.  I saute with a tiny bit of butter but if you want to be more healthy use olive oil.

Sauteing my peppers and onions…

Once the peppers and onions have softened I add in the vegetarian sausages and saute some more until they are nicely browned, about another 5-10 minutes.

The vegetarian sausages brown up nicely on their own or with some sauteed onions and peppers.