4 Vegan Sausage Recipes – Seitan (2024)

FAQs

Is seitan sausage good for you? ›

In general seitan sausage is pretty damn healthy. They're packed full of protein, just two sausage will give you a whopping 38g of protein. Furthermore there's no weird over-processed ingredients in the sausages.

Ingredients to make Seitan Sausage

Vital wheat gluten: the main ingredient to make seitan. This ingredient is responsible for the elastic texture and the high protein content of seitan. Chickpea flour: vital wheat gluten is very dense, and chickpea flour lightens up the texture of the seitan dough.

Thanks to the nutritional makeup of vital wheat gluten — its main ingredient — seitan is low in fat and carbs and offers nearly as much protein per serving as beef.

The key ingredient in vegan sausage is typically either pea protein or soy protein, along with one or more oils (canola, coconut, sunflower), spices and other plant-based additions.

An Ultra-Processed Food High in Sodium

Most people aren't making seitan at home, but instead are getting it pre-made from restaurants and grocery stores. These ultra-processed foods tend to be higher in sodium, which can contribute to high blood pressure and a host of other health problems.

Seitan, another name for wheat gluten, is not gluten-free. Seitan (pronounced say-tann) is made by washing wheat flour dough until all the starch is removed and only the gluten protein remains. The protein is then cooked and served, often as a meat substitute in vegetarian and vegan dishes.

Sources of protein containing all nine essential amino acids are called complete protein. Seitan is therefore slightly incomplete but fear not – it's an excellent source of protein and usually seasoned with soya sauce, which conveniently adds the missing amino acid (lysine)!

No. Seitan is perfectly healthy for people who don't have genuine issues with gluten. If you are celiac, or have been diagnosed with gluten sensitivity, obviously seitan should not be part of your diet, since it is made by isolating the gluten in wheat flour, and using it as a protein or as a meat substitute.

The answer is, yes! —as long it's part of a well-rounded diet. A 100g serving of seitan has about 141 calories and 25 grams of protein, making it comparable to the amount of protein in chicken or beef. Because the starches are removed from the wheat when seitan is made, it has very little fat and carbs.

What is healthier seitan or tofu? ›

However, while seitan is an excellent plant-based protein alternative, tofu is a complete protein (seitan lacks the amino acid lysine). Unseasoned tofu is typically lower in sodium than store-bought seitan, which can be processed with salt, sugar or other flavors added.

There's some evidence in medical research that wheat gluten may increase the permeability of your intestines, leading to what some health authorities call "leaky gut syndrome." If you find you experience bloating, gassiness, or other digestive symptoms after eating seitan, you may want to avoid it next time.

Why is Vegan Meat Currently More Expensive? According to Specht, vegan meat is currently more expensive for a number of reasons. It's partly due to the fact that brands are operating in a “free market.” They must maximize their profit, and this means charging consumers more.

That's why ours consist of nothing but vegetables. They're a celebration of vegetables. Visible chunks of kale, lentils, quinoa, onion and carrot. Includes no animal ingredients, meaning a good choice for vegetarians and vegans.

Tofurkey (a portmanteau of tofu and turkey) is a plant-based meat substitute patterned after turkey, in the form of a loaf of vegetarian protein, usually made from tofu (soybean protein) or seitan (wheat protein) with a stuffing made from grains or bread, flavored with a broth and seasoned with herbs and spices.

While seitan provides similar protein and iron content as meat, animal meat is a complete protein, and seitan is not. In addition, iron found in animal-based products is generally more easily absorbed than iron from plant-based foods. Meat typically also has more fat than seitan.

Will there be any side effects after eating it every day? Eating seitan every day can be a part of a healthy diet for many people, especially those following a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.

Extra-lean chicken or kangaroo sausages tend to be the healthiest sausage option. Leaner sausages are also often lower in calories and salt.

The truth is, probably not. Plant-based sausages sold in supermarkets are likely to have just as much salt as their meat counterparts, so they're unlikely to make it onto a list of health-foods. However, vegan sausages are likely to have considerably less saturated fat making them a healthier option overall.