Meatless Monday: Tomato Italian Herb Seitan Sausages

Tomato Italian Herb Seitan Sausages

Makes: 8 sausages
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Total time: 50-55 minutes

Photos and recipe by: Angela Tucker

Do you know what is great? Brunch. I love a good brunch complete with tofu scramble, pan-fried potatoes, fruit, and veggie sausages.

There are so many different kinds of veggies sausages on the market, and I never realized how easy it would be to make my own. I always thought it would be a complicated process with lots of weird ingredients. Little did I know, that they are actually quite simple to make yourself!

Behold, the Tomato Italian Herb Seitan Sausage!

I have made these a couple of times for my meat-eating family, and they have approved. And the best part (aside from them tasting good), is that they are pretty easy to make. You could even double or triple the recipe and freeze them for use later.

One serving has 12.5 g of protein and 1.3mg of iron, which isn’t bad for the portion size. If you are concerned about sodium, I would suggest decreasing the salt and using a little more of the Italian herbs and/or balsamic vinegar.

Ingredients:

1 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup chickpea flour
½ cup dehydrated or sun-dried tomatoes, chopped or broken into pieces
½ med onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp Italian herbs
3/4  tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 cup warm water

Instructions:

1. Measure out the wheat gluten and chickpea flour into a medium-sized bowl and stir to combine.
2. Place the onion, garlic, nutritional yeast, Italian herbs, salt, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and warm water into a food processor and puree.
3. Add the dehydrated tomato to the food processor and pulse a few times to break up the pieces a little more and get it incorporated.
4. Form a well in the middle of the gluten and chickpea flour, and pour in the mixture from the food processor. Mix until all the ingredients are combined, then use your hands to knead it for 3 minutes. It will feel like a soft dough.
5. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces.
6. Roll each piece in aluminum foil (the aluminum foil should be large enough to cover the piece at least twice, and there should be at least 1.5 inches of space on both sides). Don’t worry about rolling it tightly, they will expand as they cook. Twist each end of the aluminum foil and fold under.
7. Prepare a steamer or steaming basket and place the rolled sausages inside. (If you can’t steam them, you can boil them, but they might take on a bit more water that way)
8. Steam them for 40 minutes, then remove from heat and allow to cool before unwrapping.

My favourite way to enjoy them is frying in a little oil until they are nicely browned.

You can refrigerate them in the aluminum foil for a few days, or for longer storage they can be frozen.

Nutrition Info
(per sausage, if making 8 total)

Calories: 110
Fat: 4g
Trans fat: 0g
Saturated fat: 0g
Carbohydrate: 6.5g
Fibre: 1g
Protein: 12.5g
Iron: 1.3mg
Sodium: 295mg
Potassium: 170mg

Nutrition analysis complete using eatracker.com

Angela Tucker is a Registered Dietitian from rural Manitoba. Angela first became vegan for compassionate reasons but soon realized other ways a vegan lifestyle and plant-based diet positively impacts the planet and health. To learn more about her philosophy on food, visit her blog PrairieSprout. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram.