Seitan Italian Sausage

Have you had these? No, not the store-bought, overly salted and oily ones. These. My friend, Gaia made these for us in a cooking demo. She made it look effortless, because it really is! The only tricky part is to make sure not to over-knead the seitan dough. Make sure to watch Gaia’s video for more tips!

Prep time: 10-12 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

Makes 12, 6″ sausages

Equipment:

  • large steamer pot, or steam basket
  • 1 medium mixing bowl
  • 1 large mixing bowl
  • 12 sheets foil

Ingredients

  • 1 cup pinto beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 cups cold vegetable broth
  • 2 Tbls. olive oil*
  • 4 Tbls. soy sauce (or tamari)
  • 4 cloves garlic, grated or finely minced
  • 2 – 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
  • 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
  • 3 tsp. fennel seed, crushed well
  • 2 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 2 tsp. sweet paprika
  • 2 tsp. dried oregano
  • Several dashes fresh black pepper

*If oil isn’t your thing, sub thick tomato paste in the same amount.

This recipe can be adapted by adding other seasonings of your choice. For a more ‘chik’n-esque type sausage or patty, use the basic recipe and add poultry seasoning, and chopped apple instead of the Italian seasonings.

Instructions

Before mixing your ingredients, have your steaming apparatus ready, bringing water to a full boil. Have 12 sheets of aluminum foil ready. The rest of the recipe comes together pretty quickly.

  1. In a large bowl, mash the pinto beans with a fork until no whole ones are left. Add in the garlic, vegetable broth, olive oil and soy sauce.
  2. In the medium bowl, add the 7 dry ingredients and spices and combine well.
  3. Pour the dry ingredients into the large bowl with wet ingredients and mix with a large wooden spoon until combined. Then, using your hands, knead the dough on your counter or a large surface for about a minute.
  4. Divide the dough into 12 even parts. Roll each smaller piece into a sausage and place in foil. Wrap the sausage in the foil and fold or twist the ends of the foil tightly, being careful not to tear it.
  5. Don’t worry too much about the sausage shaping at this point because they will snap into shape while steaming.
  6. Place wrapped sausages into prepared steamer, and steam for 25 minutes.