Vegan Sausage Patties (Gluten-free)

I love those little frozen veggie sausages that come in a box. I don't love buying frozen food from a factory, though. I'd much rather make it myself.

My first try at making my own sausages was this recipe. It was good! But it wasn't what I was craving, exactly. I tweaked the spices a bit, and it was closer, but still not quite right. Then I decided that the large amount of wheat flour in the original recipe, being used as a binder, was the problem. It seemed to be muting the spices too much.

I tried one more time, using a mashed potato and some chickpea flour in place of the wheat flour. This version is a bit more delicate than the first ones I made, and as such they need to be baked instead of pan-fried. But the flavor? Nailed it.

These use the Italian Sausage Spice Mix that I posted yesterday, but with the addition of sage, they taste like regular breakfast sausage, and they were exactly the flavor I was craving. Now I just need to find a biscuit recipe I love and I will have achieved breakfast nirvana.

Vegan Sausage Patties

1 medium potato, about 8-ounces

3/4 cup tvp

2 cloves garlic, put through a garlic press

1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon molasses (not blackstrap)

1 teaspoon Italian sausage spices

1 teaspoon sage

3/4 cup boiling water (I used water left over from steaming the potatoes)

2 tablespoons chickpea flour

Peel potato and dice into 1/2-inch pieces. Steam until tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and mash very well with a potato masher (lumps of potato will make these crumble.)

Combine the tvp, garlic, liquid smoke, soy sauce, olive oil, molasses, Italian sausage spices, and sage in a medium bowl. Pour boiling water over the top. (I used water left over from steaming the potato.) Set aside for 5 minutes so that the tvp will absorb the water.

Oil a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 375 F.

Stir the mashed potato and chickpea flour into the tvp.  Turn the mixture out onto a cutting board and press to about 1/2-inch thickness. Use a 2-1/2-inch biscuit cutter to cut sausages. Carefully transfer to the baking sheet and repeat with remaining sausage dough.

Bake for 20 minutes, turning over after 10 minutes.

Makes about 14 sausages for about 6 servings.