These Vegan Breakfast Sausage Links are amazing! Full of flavor and oil-free, smokey, spicy, and slightly sweet, they’re a perfect addition to your vegan breakfast!
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This recipe for Vegan Breakfast Sausage Links was the first vegan recipe I created and documented. That was way back in 2012 – and we’re still making them today.
I began by looking online and trying several vegan breakfast sausage link recipes. Each one seemed to be lacking something. After analyzing the recipes, I knew that I needed to maximize the flavors to achieve the taste we were looking for. After several tries, I came up with a recipe that is out of this world!
Back then, the stores were not full of the vegan meat substitutes we have today. Now there are several vegan brands available, but even today, I prefer to make my own.
These sausages are amazing! Smokey, savory, sweet, with just the right amount of herbs and spices. Not the fat bombs of animal based breakfast sausages, and tastier than most commercial brands I’ve tried.
We usually form these sausages into breakfast links. But sometimes we form them into larger sausages. The larger sausages can be sliced into sausage patties, ground up into sausage crumbles for pizza, or to mix into some sausage gravy.
How to Make Breakfast Sausage Links
In a small bowl, mash the white beans with a fork until there are just small bits.
In a large bowl, mix together the vital wheat gluten and the dry seasonings. Then mix the beans into the dry mixture until you have small crumbles. I find this is easiest to do with a pastry cutter.
Whisk together the vegetable broth, soy sauce, and maple syrup in a small bowl.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. Knead the mixture for about three minutes.
Form the dough into sausage links or larger sausages and wrap them in parchment and then in foil. Make sure the foil wraps around the sausage at least two times. The sausages will expand as they cook, and if there is not enough foil wrapping, they will burst.
When I make the breakfast links, this recipe yields about 18 links. The nutrition calculations in the recipe box are based on two of these breakfast links.
Place the sausages in a large steamer and steam for 30 minutes for small sausage links and 45 minutes for larger sausages.
Serving suggestions:
- These sausages are a great accompaniment to my Tofu Scramble and some hash browns or roasted potatoes.
- Serve them alongside my Vegan Pancakes and Berry Sauce.
- Add some diced sausage to a potato and veggie Breakfast Hash.
- Dice or grind up some of the sausages and stir them into some gravy made with my Vegan Country Gravy Mix. Spoon this over some biscuits.
- Add slices to a Vegan Breakfast Casserole.
Explore our Vegan Staples cookbook
For more meat substitute recipes, see:
- Vegan Italian Sausages
- Vegan Pepperoni
- Vegan TLT (Tofu Bacon, Lettuce, & Tomato) Sandwich
- Glazed Vegan Ham
- Easy Vegan Andouille Sausage
- BBQ Tofu
- Vegan Bacon Bits
- Vegan Beef Seitan
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Breakfast Sausage Links
Ingredients
- ½ cup cooked white beans smashed with fork
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup vital wheat gluten
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons sage
- 1 teaspoon fennel seed
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup veggie broth
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 tablespoons soy sauce
Instructions
- Place the white beans in a small bowl and smash them with a fork.
- Crush fennel seeds, rosemary, thyme, and red pepper flakes with a mortar and pestle.
- In large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients, including those you just crushed with the mortar and pestle.
- Mix in the smashed beans. The easiest way to do this is with a pastry cutter.
- In a small bowl, mix together all wet ingredients.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing and kneading for about 3 minutes.
- Form sausages and wrap each in a layer of parchment paper and then a double layer of foil. Twist the ends of the foil tootsie roll style. My sausage links are approximately 3 to 3 1/2 inches long and about 3/4 inch diameter. If you make larger sausages, you will need to adjust the cooking time.
- Cook in steamer 30 minutes (45 minutes for large sausages).
- Let the sausages cool completely.
- To serve, fry in a non-stick pan to brown.
Nutrition
Nutrition calculations are approximate.
My meat eating boyfriend said that it tastes like sausage. Win win. I was very good but I did add extra of the red pepper flakes and I also add chipotle powder to it aswell and I used a vegan chicken stock.
Everything else was the same and it was so yummy. Am going to be adding it onto some pizza.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for the great review!
Can you make sausage crumbles with this recipe?
Yes, you can! I make sausage crumbles by taking the cooked sausages and chopping them up in my food processor.
Thanks for the recipe, is there a way of steaming the sausage links without wrapping it?
Not that I know of. Wrapping them helps them keep their shape. When I don’t want to wrap so many, I make larger ones and steam them a bit longer. Then I just cut them up to heat and serve.
I didn’t see it anywhere, when do you freeze the sausages, before frying or afterwards?
I freeze them before frying.
I haven’t tried these yet, however; do you think they can be steamed in a Instant Pot? Do you have any ideas on how to go about doing them in an
Instant Pot?
I haven’t tried this recipe in the Instant Pot, but it will definitely work. I would suggest placing the wrapped sausages on a trivet in the Instant Pot. Add a cup of water, and pressure cook on high pressure for about 20 minutes with a quick release. I’ll be making some of these soon, and will try it in the Instant Pot. If you get around to testing it before I do, let me know how it goes.
Teresa I haven’t made this, yet I’m sure that after reading a gazillion recipes some resonate, make sense, and you know they’re going to be good. This recipe is one of them.
I truly hope you, or anyone with specific knowledge, answers my question…. is the vital gluten necessary? Here’s my one and only problem with it… I am a Christian man, and the name of this stuff…. NO, I cannot acquiesce. Plenty of recipes call for it, I cannot use it. Hopefully no one feels compelled to mock me because it will only make them look foolish.
I am very new to plant based. Sausage flavoring works for me. Your recipes are outstanding. Please let me know if the gluten is required.
Thank
Yes, the wheat gluten is a key ingredient in this recipe.
Hi Frank, I share your discomfort. However, it’s called gluten in english and as that is my native tongue, I call it gluten. I don’t refer to gluten using it’s Japanese name as I don’t speak Japanese. Call a spade a spade. It’s gluten, a vital part of the wheat grain. No discomfort in that. 🙂
You could call it “wheat meat” instead of the name that bothers you.
These turned out great! I steamed in my instant pot for 40 minutes with quick release. I used vegetarian refried beans instead of white beans cause that’s just what I had available. My picky young girls (2 & 5) and carnivore husband all loved them as well. Winner!! Thank you for this 🙂
I’m so happy to hear this! And good to know the refried beans worked. I’ll have to try that in some of my seitan recipes.
Hello!
I never leave reviews from Pinterest, but I had to thank you and give you credit for this. My husband and I eat mostly vegetarian these days, and I’ve been desperate for new ideas to keep food exciting. I’ve tried seitan recipes before, and the texture is never quite right for him.
He’s a big fan of breakfast sausage, and he loved these.
Thank you!!
Oh, thank you for your wonderful review! I’m so happy that you and your husband enjoyed this recipe!
I made these today and oh my goodness they are so good, I was frying them in a pan to have in a wrap with salad and my son came down asking what smelled so good so I made him 2 and he said they were amazing. He isn’t vegan, but Im working on that! This recipe is definitely a keeper. Thank you!
Wonderful! I’m so happy to hear that! Just keep showing your son the amazing vegan foods we get to eat – he’ll get there!
I absolutely LOVE these sausages!! The flavor is incredible and the texture is spot on. Your directions were perfect, thank you for the recipe.
Thank you for that wonderful review! I’m so happy to hear that you liked them. They’re definitely a favorite in my house!
Is there a substitute for the wheat gluten?
I don’t know of a substitute for gluten in this recipe, since this is a seitan recipe and wheat gluten is the main ingredient in seitan. I have seen some gluten free vegan sausages on the web, though.
Bill, curious if you found any replacement for wheat gluten?
Do you have instructions for using an instant pot?
I haven’t cooked them in my Instant Pot, but definitely should give it a try. Looking at other recipes, I believe you should be able to place a steamer basket in your Instant Pot and pour in a cup of water. Place your wrapped sausages on the basket, close and seal the lid, and set the pot to steam at the time listed in my recipe. Use a quick release when the time is up. I’ll try this next time I make them. But if you get to it before I do, please report back and let me know how it goes.
Thank you Teresa! Wow! I have a Ninja Foodie (similar) and I will use my dehydrating rack to steam them! Thank you for sharing!
I made these sausages recently and was surprised with the meaty texture and how tasty they were. They even brown well in the fry pan. I thought they were great!
I’m so glad to hear the recipe was a success for you and you enjoyed them.
Tried these yesterday, although very tasty the texture was spongy so a no no for me texture has to be right, did i do something wrong?
Oh, no! Sorry they didn’t work out for you. Not sure what might have gone wrong. Mine have always had a nice firm texture. Perhaps try cooking them a bit longer? Did you let them cool completely before unwrapping them, and fry them in a dry nonstick skillet (or if you’re not oil free, in a pan with a bit of oil) before trying them? I hope I can help you trouble shoot this.
I think over kneading can cause a sponge like textire
Good to know. Thanks for your tip, Jill.