Seitan Bratwurst – Juicy Vegan Sausages

This seitan bratwurst is a vegan version of the original bratwurst. It retains the delicate spices of the original and has the moist, juicy texture you find in authentic bratwurst.

The great thing about these seitan bratwursts is that they are completely plant-based so you can enjoy them even if you are vegan.

Seitan For Sausages

Seitan is a plant-based protein that is derived from wheat. It is the gluten that is found in wheat that we can use to create the texture that really is meaty.

Wheat protein gives us that meaty texture we need for vegan meat to seem authentic. We can then add flavourings and spices to the seitan to give us the flavour we want.

Seitan is great for making sausages because we can shape it really easily without using casings and it retains moisture after cooking which results in a nice juicy sausage, or in this case bratwurst.

Vital Wheat Gluten

Seitan can be made from ordinary wheat flour like the stuff you use to make a loaf of bread.

It is made by washing the starch out of flour with water leaving behind just the protein. It is a simple but slightly laborious process.

Fortunately, we don’t always have to process flour like this to make seitan (although you can if you want). You can buy a type of flour called vital wheat gluten that has already had the starches removed at the mill.

Vital wheat gluten is exactly like flour but it is around 80% protein. We can then add liquid to the vital wheat gluten along with herbs, spices and fats to make a protein-rich meat substitute.

Flavouring Our Seitan Bratwursts

To flavour our seitan we need to think of two aspects we need to capture. 

First, we need the seitan to taste meaty, i.e. savoury, salty and have an umami quality.

Secondly, we need to flavour the seitan to taste like bratwurst. This involves using the herbs and spices that flavour bratwurst sausages. We also need to keep in mind that we are making vegan bratwurst so our flavourings need to be vegan and plant-based.

To give the bratwurst its meaty character we use flavourings that are high in glutamates to replicate the savoury or umami flavour of meat.

• Miso paste
• Onion powder
• Garlic powder
• Vegan broth/stock powder

The bratwurst flavouring themselves are pretty much the same as the spices used in bratwurst sausages:

• Ground ginger
• Ground Mace
• Ground nutmeg
• Caraway
• White pepper

Shaping The Bratwurst

Seitan is great for making any kind of sausage because of the way it can be shaped and how it cooks.

You don’t need sausage casings like meat sausages because when the seitan is cooked it will hold its shape and texture.

Using vital wheat gluten we are essentially making a dough that, although quite elastic, can be shaped and moulded.

These bratwurst use quite a wet mix to make the sausages juicier but they are still quite simple to shape and you don’t have to be too precise because the bratwurst is wrapped in foil and when cooked the sausages expand slightly into the tightly wrapped foil creating uniform sausages.

Finishing The Bratwurst

Once the bratwurst is steamed in its foil wrappings they will expand to the shape of the wrapper. The sausages can then be left to cool and kept in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.

To finish the bratwurst we need to simply brown the outside and heat them through in a pan. Heat a little oil in a skillet or pan and cook the bratwurst over a medium-high heat until browned all over and heated through. The sausages can then be served once hot throughout.