Vegan Breakfast Sausage

Click HERE to order our new cookbook, The Chubby Vegetarian: 100 Inspired Vegetable Recipes for the Modern Table (Susan Schadt Press, November 2016). The recipe below is featured in the book!

This is a vegan version of our Vegetarian Breakfast Sausage. Many TCV readers love it and depend on it, and while we sure are blushing and aw-shucks-ing about that recipe's popularity, we're still never satisfied. Simplifying and veganizing our original recipe also improved the texture and flavor. Who knew that could be done? 

These are great served alongside some eggs or scrambler or use them to make a stellar vegetarian sausage and biscuit using our 3-2-1 Drop Biscuits. You could also get creative and crumble the cooked sausage into the filling for stuffed bell peppers or crumble a little on a pizza with peppers and onions. Basically, you can use it anywhere you'd usually find regular sausage.

Vegan Breakfast Sausage

1 teaspoon canola oil (like Whole Foods 365 brand)

1/4 cup finely diced shallot

3 cloves garlic (finely diced)

8 ounces crimini mushrooms (finely diced)

1 cup finely diced celery (about 2 ribs)

1/2 cup finely diced carrot (1 medium)

1 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon clove

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon soy sauce (like Bragg's)

1 tablespoon maple syrup

sea salt and cracked black pepper (to taste)

1 1/2 cups uncooked quick-ccooking oats (like Whole Foods 365 brand)

Heat the canola oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallot, garlic, mushrooms, celery, and carrot to the pan. Stir consistently and sauté until all of the liquid has released and then evaporated; this should take about 5 minutes. Add the sage, red pepper flakes, clove, nutmeg, soy sauce, and maple syrup to the pan. Stir to incorporate and remove from heat. Allow mixture to cool. Add the uncooked quick-cooking oats and knead the mixture until everything is well incorporated. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and set aside in the fridge for at least 15 minutes to allow the moisture to distribute.

Next, pinch about 2 tablespoons of the mixture off, roll it into a ball, and flatten it to for a patty. Repeat. In a medium pan over medium heat, pan-fry disks in enough canola oil to coat the bottom of the pan until nicely browned. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot.

This recipe makes about 2 dozen sausage patties. Freeze uncooked patties in a single layer then store them in a food storage bag in the freezer for up to 3 months.