Apple Sage Seitan Sausages

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These vegan seitan sausages are smoky, subtly sweet, and super meaty. With 28.9 grams of protein per serving, these sausages are perfect for a hearty dinner. Serve these vegan sausages on a bun with your favorite toppings, cut them up to use in a dish, or eat them on their own. Approved by vegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters!

Apple Sage Seitan Sausage

This vegan sausage recipe was inspired by Field Roast’s Smoked Apple Sage Sausages. If you’ve ever eaten Field Roast’s sausages before then you know how “meaty” they truly are. This is because Field Roast sausages are seitan-based!

What is seitan?

Seitan is a high protein, low fat vegan meat alternative made from vital wheat gluten. Vital wheat gluten is made from wheat flour that is processed to form a fine powder that is all gluten and almost no starch. When used in baking, vital wheat gluten adds elasticity to flours that are naturally low in gluten to improve the texture and chewiness of the baked good. And when used to make seitan, vital wheat gluten provides that firm, chewy texture that is very similar to meat.

People with soy allergies may feel defeated by plant-based protein sources, since tofu is soy-based and tempeh is most commonly made with soy beans. But remember that there are loads of soy-free vegan protein sources like beans, legumes, and seitan. Sometimes store-bought seitan is made using soy, so check the ingredients before you purchase it, or make a soy-free seitan at home (like this recipe!)

Why seitan makes the best vegan sausages

As far as texture goes, I don’t think most mock meat sausages will ever be as meaty as a seitan sausage. There are some bean-based sausages I’ve tried before, and while the flavor is nice, the sausages tend to be soft and fall apart easily. The vital wheat gluten in these seitan sausages keep them firm and meaty.

I will say that vital wheat gluten doesn’t have much flavor on its own, which means means it is really, really important to load up on the spices to achieve a flavorful seitan. If it looks like this recipe uses a lot of spices – it does. Trust.

How much protein are in these seitan sausages?

One of these seitan sausages has 236 calories, 1.6 grams of fat, 28.9 grams of protein, and no cholesterol. Holy moly. Where do you get your protein from?

From a quick google search, I see that a meat-based (beef or pork) sausage has 229 calories, 20 grams of fat, 9 grams of protein, and 54 mg of cholesterol.

Dang, I just love it when vegan food is the obvious winner. I don’t even care about macros, but come on. It makes me want to do a little dance to celebrate.

Ingredients to make Seitan Sausage

• Vital wheat gluten: the main ingredient to make seitan. This ingredient is responsible for the elastic texture and the high protein content of seitan.
• Chickpea flour: vital wheat gluten is very dense, and chickpea flour lightens up the texture of the seitan dough.
• Nutritional yeast: used to lighten up the dough and for umami flavor.
• Vegetable broth: or water, to add moisture to the dough.
• Apple: for that sweet, crisp apple flavor.
• Onion
• Maple syrup: or any liquid sweetener of choice
• Liquid smoke: for that deep smoky flavor. Omit, if you don’t have it.
• Ground sage
• Smoked paprika: for a little extra smokiness. Sub with regular paprika.
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Salt

How to make Apple Sage Seitan Sausage

Make the seitan dough

To make seitan, all you really need is vital wheat gluten and water. Mix it together, cook it up, there you have it. A disgusting, flavorless ball of extremely firm seitan. No bueno. I like to add a lot of flavor to my seitan recipes!

Start by cooking your apples, onions, and maple syrup in a pan over medium high heat. Cooking the apples and onions will help bring out their flavors, and the maple syrup will help to caramelize them a bit so the sausages have a subtly sweet taste.

Add the cooked apples and onions to a blender along with the liquid smoke, vegetable broth, and spices. Blitz until smooth – this is your wet mixture.

Now, add the vital wheat gluten, chickpea flour, and nutritional yeast to a mixing bowl. Whisk until well incorporated. Slowly stir in the wet mixture. Once the dough is combined, you can start kneading it with your hands. The dough will be soft but you should be able to pick it up to knead it. If it is too soft, add more vital wheat gluten 1 tablespoon at a time until it comes together.

How long do you need to knead seitan for?

It depends on the recipe and desired texture. Just like in baking, we knead the dough to activate the gluten. The longer you knead seitan, the chewier and tougher it will be. Some recipes will tell you to knead for 20 minutes or more, but I never needed to do that. Other recipes will tell you that kneading is not required, but I have tested many seitan recipes with and without kneading, and I do think it is important for texture.

To make these seitan sausages, I like to knead them for 5 minutes with a 5 minute rest period. The kneading will activate the gluten, and the rest period will let the gluten relax so the dough is easier to roll out into sausages. The dough should be slightly more elastic but still soft. If you press a finger into the dough, you will see the indent slowly take it’s original shape.

Form the seitan sausages

Separate your dough into 5 equal parts and roll them into sausages. Tightly roll them in aluminum foil and twist the ends closed like a candy wrapper. If you are concerned with aluminum foil touching your food, you can line the seitan with parchment paper before wrapping it in aluminum foil. The aluminum foil is necessary for the seitan sausages to keep their shape when cooking.

How to cook seitan sausage

Bake the seitan at 350 F for 30 minutes, then let them cool in the foil for 10 minutes before serving. It is important to note that this recipe was created for baking only. Please do not steam or simmer these sausages – the dough is too moist and steaming or simmering will yield a much softer sausage.

Once the seitan sausages are baked you can eat them straight away, or you can brown them on each side in a pan or the grill. I highly recommend this step, because the crispy edges make these sausages extra delicious.

How to serve these Apple Sage Seitan Sausages

I served my seitan sausages on a bun with some sauerkraut and mustard. I love the mustard combo with the apple sage flavor, but these would taste great with whatever toppings you’d like.

You can also use these seitan sausages as a substitute in any recipe that calls for meat-based sausage.

I also like to cut these up and add them to a vegetable stir fry or a pasta dish!

How to store seitan sausage

These sausages keep in the fridge for around 7-10 days if stored properly. Seitan dries out over time, so I keep each sausage wrapped in aluminum foil and placed inside an airtight container to retain as much moisture as possible. If your seitan gets dry, you can always rehydrate it by simmering it in a bit of vegetable broth or water, or by cooking it with a sauce.

More seitan recipes

• The Easiest Seitan for Beginners
• Vegan Chili Cheese Dogs

If you make this recipe, please leave it a rating and a comment. You can also tag me @Daughter_of_Seitan on Instagram so I can see all your delicious food!

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