Homemade Vegan Sausages with Chestnut and Apple

I have experimented with a lot of sausage recipes, but this has come to be my favourite! The chestnut and apple combined with all the lovely herbs gives them a festive edge, but they’re great any time of year and you can absolutely play around with the flavours.

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For me, a good meat-free sausage needs to be

  1. richly flavoursome

  2. bursting with umami deliciousness (that wonderful savoury-ness you get from ingredients like soy sauce, mushrooms or nutritional yeast!).

  3. firm enough to hold together and slice up

I can confidently say that these do the job! They are made entirely from whole foods and are free from gluten and nuts. You can also easily make them oil-free.

The ingredient list might look intimidatingly long (I think it’s the longest on my website!), but a majority of the ingredients are herbs and seasonings. For the most part, if you don’t have a few of them, it shouldn’t matter too much. You can always add in more of the herbs you do have.

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Chickpeas and oats form the basis of these sausages, so you can be sure you’re getting plenty of protein and fibre. They’re really filling and would work great in a sausage roll, or you could make mini versions and wrap them in “aubergine facon” to make vegan pigs in blankets!

Miso paste (I love this brown rice one from Clearspring), tamari, mushrooms and sun-dried tomato give these sausages an incredible amount of umami. Meaty but not freakishly so!

The more unusual ingredient on this list is psyllium husk. It’s a form of fibre which you may be familiar with for reasons other than cooking. Let’s just say it is often prescribed to get you “going”. Aside from that though, it makes a great binder in baking or cooking and helps to give a spongey texture. In many cases it makes a great egg substitute! You can pick it up in any health food shop or easily order it online.

To make these sausages we do

  • a little frying,

  • a bit of food processing,

  • some browning in the pan,

  • then finally some baking.

Simple!

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Ingredients

(Makes around 13 medium sized sausages)

1 onion, finely chopped

2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 cups roughly chopped mushrooms

1 cup oats (certified gluten free if necessary)

1 can cooked chickpeas

3 tablespoons aquafaba (the liquid in the can of chickpeas)

1 tablespoon tomato puree

2 teaspoons brown miso (or sub different miso)

2 teaspoons maple syrup

2 teaspoons tamari (or soya sauce)

A squeeze of lemon

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked if very tough (ideally not the ones in oil)

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 tablespoon dried sage

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon mild chilli powder

1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (optional)

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

A pinch of salt (optional as salty flavours come from other ingredients as well)

Black pepper to taste

3 tablespoons psyllium husk

1/4 cup cooked chestnuts

1/2 medium apple chopped into tiny chunks

Small amount of oil for frying (optional)

Method

  1. Heat some oil (a tablespoon or so) in a pan with your garlic and fry over a medium heat. Once the garlic starts to smell fragrant, add your chopped onions with a small pinch of salt (optional) and gently fry until the onions are completely translucent. This will take around 7-10 minutes.

    If you prefer to cook without oil, you can substitute it for the same amount of water.

  2. Once the onion and garlic are cooked, remove them from the pan. Without adding any more oil (or cleaning the pan), gently dry fry your mushrooms over a medium heat. After a few minutes, they will begin to release their water. Keep frying them until all of the water has evaporated and the mushrooms are soft, then remove from the heat.

  3. To your food processor, add the oats and chickpeas and process for a few seconds until they have broken down into a crumbly mixture.

  4. Add all other ingredients except chestnuts, apple and psyllium husk to the food processor.

  5. Process until everything is combined. It doesn’t need to be completely smooth, just no massive chunks. Don’t over-do it though.

  6. Add your chestnuts and pulse a few times to break them down a little. You want chunks of chestnut to remain in the mixture.

  7. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and stir in your apple chunks.

  8. Finally, add the psyllium husk and mix it in really well with a spoon. Leave the mixture to sit for around 5 minutes. During this time it will firm up a bit.

  9. Prepare a large plate or tray with a sheet of baking parchment.

  10. Take a small ball of your sausage batter and roll into a sausage shape. You may want to have slightly damp hands - but it will all get very sticky if your hands a too wet!

  11. Repeat until you have used up all of your batter.

  12. Preheat your oven to 175°c/345°F/gas mark 4

  13. While your oven is heating, heat a small amount of oil in your pan over a medium heat (if you’re oil -free, you can skip this step entirely) and then in 2-3 batches, add your sausages and fry for around 5-6 minutes until the outsides of them are lovely and browned.

  14. Transfer sausages to a baking tray and bake for 15-18 minutes.

  15. The sausages will be a little soft on the inside when they’re piping hot, but will firm up as they cool a little. If you save them until the next day they’ll be even firmer!

Store in the fridge for a few days (if you can resist eating them all!)

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