Soy-free seitan sausages

Soy-free seitan bratwurst

I love homemade seitan sausages, but wanted to try a version that used beans instead of tofu. Tofu is kinda pricey here, and since the local supermarket stopped carrying it, it’s a car ride away to buy.

I’d tried seitan sausages using beans before, but didn’t really like them. The recipe I used at that time called for simply mashing the beans by hand, which meant there were bits of hard bean skin in the finished sausages, which wasn’t especially appetising. Also, I thought there was too high a percentage of gluten in the sausages, which left them a bit too rubbery and chewy. I like sausages that are more tender.

Since I really like my own seitan sausage recipes, I decided that instead of using 250g of tofu, I would use 250g (9 ounces) of cooked beans (haricot beans, specifically, which are small white beans). If you’ve tried other seitan sausage recipes that use beans, you’ll notice that I use about three times as many beans as some other recipes use. This results in a more tender sausage.

The sausages turned out fantastic. They had a nice tender texture and a great flavour.

I’ve made these bean-seitan sausages a few times now, including breakfast sausages, bratwurst and olive sausages. For the latter, I used the seasonings in Mihl’s recipe for Olive and chickpea seitan sausages.

I start with 110g (one generous cup) of dried beans for this recipe, which is approximately equivalent to a 400g/14oz tin, drained and rinsed. (This works out to around 250g of cooked, drained beans.) I usually let my Stanley thermos cook the beans.

I’ve gone back to using baking paper plus aluminium foil to wrap the sausages for cooking, instead of baking paper plus cheesecloth. I’m using a new baking paper which isn’t as stiff as the old one I was using, and combined with the cheesecloth, the sausages didn’t seem to cook quite as well as with the baking paper/aluminium foil combo. I still want to try using muslin to wrap the sausages for cooking, but have yet to find somewhere to buy it.

I now use beans in all my homemade sausages, as cooked from dry they cost about 80% LESS than the equivalent amount of tofu, and are indistinguishable in taste and texture. A very thrifty result!

16 Comments

  1. Of course the sausages turned out fantastic with great texture and taste….it’s made by YOU!

    You know I bought some hot dog buns a couple of nights ago cause I’ve been craving for hot dogs …but of course I have yet to make any…I wish I could just steal it off your website..hehe

    Speaking of thrifty results…I gotta start being more thrifty with my spending…I don’t know about you but vegetables are getting expensive!
    Either that or I gotta eat less…boo boo!

  2. that is so bizarre that they stopped carrying tofu. have you considered making it? I did that by hand a long time ago and it wasn’t that time consuming.

    mmmm… the sausages look really good.

  3. YUMMY!
    Sounds and looks awesome. I’ll have to try this recipe (along with the Bratwurst one!!).
    You can’t beat a tender Sausage!

  4. Denny — hehe, I’m blushing. Yer so sweet. We save money on veggies by shopping for the reduced deals at the end of the day (as well as growing our own, of course!)

    Bethany — I need to get back into soymilk making and then I can make my own tofu as well. I think I even have some packets of tofu coagulant somewhere.

    Jeni — Yep, the sausages rock!

  5. I use a lot of haricot beans too, I usually mix them with chickpeas. I have yet to try to make the vegan hot dogs, one of these days I’ll give it a go.

  6. I trust your sausage recipes and I have to try them asap as soon as mine are finished up in the fridge.Those are indeed a trifty meal because a pack of gluten can make up to 30 sausages and they can last a long time. I never added tofu to my seitan sausages before but thanks for the heads up
    Tay

  7. If you want to try gluten-free seitan there are plenty of redcipes at
    http://www.meatandeggfree.com/gluten-free-seitan.html

  8. You are always welcomed at my place for breakfast,elevenses, lunch, tea, supper, snacks…oh you get it, my friend!

    Anyway yea discounted vegs…sometimes they just look so sad:(
    But lucky you with the green thumbs added the sense of accomplishment of eating your very own produce!

  9. for dunces like me, can you post the recipe with your changes? this looks so good and I want to try it, but am worried I will mess it up without exact proportions…

  10. These look delicious. It’s a bummer there is no easily available tofu, but the upside is great if it inspires you to create things this wonderful! You impress me yet again.

  11. Talia — For the breakfast sausages or bratwurst, follow the recipe exactly except instead of 250g of tofu, use 250g of cooked beans. I’ll get around to posting my version of Mihl’s Olive sausages soon!

  12. like the idea of making sausages from bean directly very much , if a complete procedure or recipe be given along , that will help follow it accurately,shall be very happy.
    thanks

  13. Hi deepa – Follow the recipe for my bratwursts, except instead of 250g of tofu, use 250g of cooked beans.

  14. why cant i get on the meatandeggfree website? 🙁

  15. Hi stephanie — I’m not sure, the link still works for me. Perhaps it was temporarily down?

  16. THANK YOU!! You are awesomeness:) My omni husband is feeling the need for dogs so bad, that he just made me order some Loma Linda Linketts, even though the soy is SOOO bad for him (he is soy intolerant). I told him I was worried about him getting sick, and he said “It’s that or chicken!” So I have to try this recipe right away:) Thanks again

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