Vegan sausage crumbles that are soy-free, gluten-free, nut-free, and oil-free? I know what you’re thinking – these can’t possibly taste good. But they DO! Made entirely out of vegetables, seeds, and spices, and FULL of flavor!
15 years ago if you’d told me I’d be sitting on my couch at 11pm on a Monday night typing up a recipe post for vegan sausage crumbles, I probably would have checked to see if you had taken your grandmother’s glaucoma medicine again. Someone, anyone, please get this reference.
But seriously, I didn’t even really understand what eating vegan/plant-based was at that time. I wouldn’t have gone so far as to confuse vegan with gluten-free (yes, I’ve experienced that more than once), but it would most certainly have been a foreign concept to me. And yet, here I am, all excited to tell you about how you can grind up vegetables and seeds and spices in a food processor, roast them in the oven, and get something that tastes sausage-y. I am weird. We can all agree on this, right?
Anyway, vegan sausage made from whole foods. Let’s get into it.
How to Make Vegan Sausage Crumbles
The base for vegan sausage is my vegan ground meat recipe. It is like a blank canvas just waiting to be painted with spices and stirred into vegan gravy. That might be the strangest simile ever.
Basically, collect these vegetables and seeds, and shred them up using a food processor:
- Cauliflower
- Mushrooms
- Carrots
- Onions
- Garlic
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
This base makes a lot of vegan ground meat. As in, enough for three batches of these sausage crumbles. But this is a good thing, in my oh so humble opinion, because you can season the other two batches separately (like with taco seasoning, for example), and have a building block for future meals stashed in the freezer. But, if you only want to make one batch, I’ve got you covered in the recipe (check out the Notes section).
Next, it’s time to get spicy.
Spices for Vegan Sausage Crumbles
There are two main types of sausage seasonings that I wanted to cover here, because they seem to be the most common. Breakfast sausage and Italian sausage (sweet or spicy). There are a lot of similarities between the two, and you can certainly use your own spice blends. These are just a jumping off point. Also, yes, of COURSE I will be doing a chorizo version at some point. (salivates)
First, vegan breakfast sausage seasoning. We’re using salt, fennel seed (super important for that sausage flavor), poultry seasoning (or a blend of sage/thyme), crushed red pepper flakes, paprika, garlic powder, and black pepper.
The Italian sausage seasoning is very similar, except we use basil and oregano instead of poultry seasoning (if you have Italian seasoning, that works too). Then I usually bump up the crushed red pepper flakes a bit to make it extra spicy. If you want it to be a little sweet as well, you can add some sugar or maple syrup. You’ve got options, people! But I would argue that a non-negotiable is the fennel seed. If you leave it out, I cannot vouch for the sausage flavor. You’ve hereby been notified.
Ok, so once you’ve decided which seasoning blend to go with, it’s time to make vegan sausage crumbles! Add three cups of the vegan ground meat base back to the food processor fitted with an s-blade. Add the spices and pulse into a coarse, crumbly texture. Be careful not to puree the mix, this step basically incorporates the spices and makes the texture even throughout. It also crushes some of the fennel seeds which will release their flavor. P.S. If you don’t like seeing the fennel seeds in the mix, just use ground fennel powder. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Now transfer the uncooked sausage crumble mixture to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and roast in the oven at 400F for 20-25 minutes, stirring partway through.
When the sausage crumbles are done roasting, they’ll look like this. And your kitchen will smell amazing.
While the sausage crumbles are roasting, you’ve got just enough time to whip up some biscuits and gravy. YEP. This happened.
If you don’t know what to do next, I can’t help you. Just kidding. I can help you by giving you the recipe for these oil-free vegan biscuits and this protein-packed vegan white gravy. I’ll be sharing a simpler white gravy recipe soon, too. Hang in there, I’ve got your healthy comfort food needs covered. You’re welcome.
P.S. Please, somebody comment that you get the glaucoma medicine reference, PLEASE. I need to know I’m not alone. Thank you and goodnight.
Vegan Sausage Crumbles
Equipment
Ingredients
Vegan Ground Meat (makes 3 batches)
- 1 head cauliflower, broken into large florets
- 8 ounces crimini mushrooms
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 1 medium yellow onion, quartered
- 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 cup raw pepitas or walnuts
Breakfast Sausage Seasoning (per batch)
- 1 teaspoon ground poultry seasoning (or 1/2 tsp ground sage and 1/2 tsp ground thyme)
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds (1/2 tsp ground fennel)
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (adjust up or down for your spice preference)
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
Italian Sausage Seasoning (per batch)
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (or 1/2 tsp dried oregano and 1/2 teaspoon basil)
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds (1/2 tsp ground fennel)
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (adjust up or down for your spice preference)
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika (smoked or regular)
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup or brown sugar, optional (for sweet Italian sausage)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- In a food processor fitted with an s-blade, process the pumpkin seeds (or walnuts) and sun-dried tomatoes until a fine meal forms, but be careful not to go so far as to puree into a smooth mixture.
- Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove the pumpkin seed and sun-dried tomato mixture to a large bowl.
- Remove the s-blade from the food processor and attach the grating disc.
- Shred the cauliflower, mushrooms, carrots, onions and garlic. If you don’t have a shredding attachment, pulse small amounts at a time using the S-blade until finely chopped but not pureed.
- Remove the shredded vegetables to the bowl containing the pepita/tomato mixture and stir to combine.
- Add the spices into a small bowl and stir to combine.
- Fit the food processor with the s-blade (no need to wash first). Add half of the mixture back into the food processor along with half of the spices.
- Pulse to combine the spices into the mixture, being careful not to puree (leave some texture).
- Remove the mixture to the prepared baking sheet and loosely spread out in an even layer. Repeat for the remaining mixture.
- Place both baking sheets in the oven and roast for 25 minutes, stopping halfway through to stir so the crumbles bake evenly.
- This recipe makes approximately 6 cups of sausage crumbles (after cooking), which can be further separated into 2 cup portions for freezing. One 2 cup portion is equivalent to 1 pound of sausage after cooking.
Notes
- The seasoning blend quantities work for one batch, which is ⅓ of the recipe (approximately 3 cups before cooking). This is designed to allow you to make differently seasoned batches for future meals if you wish. For example, you could make one batch of breakfast sausage crumbles, one batch of italian sausage crumbles, and then one batch with another seasoning, such as taco meat. If you choose to season the entire batch the same, triple the seasoning blend ingredients.
- If you do split up the batch and season each one separately, it is easy to do! Simply portion out 1/3 of the mixture and add it to the food processor with your desired seasoning and roast on a separate baking sheet. Quickly wipe out the food processor and rinse off the s-blade (to avoid the spices mingling), and repeat with the remaining two batches, switching out the seasoning as you wish. You may opt to roast the batches plain, in which case you have just made vegan ground beef that you can have on hand for future meals.
- This recipe stores for up to a week in the refrigerator, and a minimum of 3 months in the freezer. I do not recommend freezing prior to cooking, as it impacts the final texture.
- I use and recommend the sun-dried tomatoes that are not packed in liquid, and there is no need to rehydrate them before using.
- 6 ounces cauliflower florets (1/3 of a large head)
- 3 ounces crimini mushrooms (3-4 large mushrooms)
- 1 small carrot, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 1/2 small onion, peeled and quartered
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes
- 1/3 cup raw pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds) or walnuts
Yes, I got the reference. In Oregon it’s no big deal… Puff and stuff 😊
Thanks for the recipe. I was just asked by a friend to create or find a good biscuits and gravy recipe. I’ll try this…. but not right now, it’s nearly 1 a.m.
Ha, I like the way you think, but that’s not what I was referring to. 🙂 1 a.m. sounds like a great time for biscuits and gravy. 😉
You are not alone. I can’t remember the reference, but I know about Grandmother’s glaucoma medicine. I hear it’s great for relaxing… 😉 This recipe is going to be prepared in my kitchen soon! Thanks for sharing, and thanks for the videos you produce!
My pleasure, Christopher! I’m really excited to get back to making videos asap. I miss it! Would love to hear what you think when you make this. 🙂
I need to secretly try this out on my sausage loving husband, be a fun test!,,
Just re-read my sentence, and had a good laugh, ha!