Seitan Sausage Buns (High protein buns that taste like sausage)

My brother likes to make fun of my standard breakfasts: oatmeal + protein powder + spice/fruit + flax/chia. Not the oatmeal, the protein powder part. Why do I need that? That isn’t all natural. For me, it is one way to ensure I reach my daily protein needs and gives me a filling breakfast (oats alone do not do that).

It is true: I eat things that have been processed. I can’t make everything from scratch and sometimes I think it is necessary to tap into the best parts of what a plant can give me. I am anti-white flour because flour has been stripped of its nutrients, but what if I told you I found a fortified wheat “flour”? One filled with 75% protein. It is called vital wheat gluten. You strip away everything but the protein. Wheat protein powder! Instead of adding it to smoothies, like my regular protein powder, I bake with this one.

I have made seitan before. I liked these chorizo sausages, especially with cabbage, as well as Chinese Five-Spice Seitan with cabbage. I’ve also trying the boiling method to make seitan directly in a stew (the Iraqi eggplant stew was oh so good). However, always up for a new recipe, this time I tried a baked sausage. For some reason, I remembered seitan being a pain to make, with kneading and resting, etc. I wanted to see how a simpler recipe would compare. Just a bit of kneading, and then a simple bake. This one lacked chickpea flour and mashed beans (vital wheat gluten only) and used flavours from nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, mustard and tamari and was easy to make.

Seitan is also known as wheat meat. This recipe reminded me of that. It tasted more bread-like. I don’t think that’s how most seitan is supposed to be (maybe because I decreased the oil?) but I still thought it tasted good. And they were easy to make. Mix, knead, bake.

I rechristened these as sausage buns because they are buns that taste like sausage, not because there is a sausage in the bun.. HA! Most recipes tell you to let your seitan cool and an overnight chill in the fridge is recommended to enhance their flavour. Well, I ate these puppies straight from the oven, unadorned, only cooled so that I could unwrap them without burning my fingers. Delicious. A warm bun. A (super) filling high-protein bun. (I am not joking, if you make this into 3 buns, each bun is 50g of protein and only 315 calories). And super filling. Bready and chewy with a nice flavour from the smoked paprika and nooch. I found them a bit salty, which may explain why I liked them so much, so next time I would suggest decreasing the salt and/or tamari and add to taste.

What are your thoughts on seitan? Not too popular with anyone on an anti-gluten diet, but if you are not gluten-sensitive, definitely give it a shot.

This is my submission to this month’s Random Recipe for bread.

Seitan Sausage Buns
Adapted from Vegan Yum Yum

1.5 cups vital wheat gluten (this brand looks very reasonably priced on amazon, btw)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt (I would reduce this next time)
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard
1 tbsp low-sodium tamari (or reduce this, as I found it a bit salty)
1 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, smoked paprika and salt.

3. In a smaller bowl, combine the oil, mustard, tamari and water.

4. Pour liquid mixture into dry mixture and knead for 3-5 minutes, until well combined and elastic. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.

5. Shape entire batter into one log, or form into smaller sausage shaped blobs. Wrap in tin foil, twisting the ends loosely so there is room for the seitan to expand. Bake for 60-70 minutes. Allow to cool. Store in the fridge or freezer. Use in any dish that normally calls for sausage or eat warmed in the oven like a bun. 🙂

Serves 4.