This Vegan Breakfast Sausage Recipe with Apple, Maple and Lentils are packed with fibre and are 100% gluten-free, soy-free, egg-free and nut-free!
You know what one of my all time favourite food smells is? Maple breakfast sausages cooking up on a Sunday morning. Since I now try really hard to eat more plant-based meals, I have been experimenting with new ways to get my fix. This maple-infused vegan breakfast sausage recipe is made without any soy faux meat, but rather are packed with mushrooms, lentils, apples, sage and a hint of maple syrup to give that spicy cozy flavour experience without the meat.
Table of contents
Why This Recipe Works
I’m a big fan of this recipe for a couple of reasons!
- Allergen-friendly- gluten-free, egg-free, soy-free and nut-free.
- High in fibre (5g per serving)
- Freezer-friendly
- Perfect for meal-prep
Key Ingredients
These vegan bangers are surprisingly easy to make. Here’s what you will need to make this recipe:
- Cremini mushrooms – Mushrooms add an amazing umami oomph to plant-based recipes that simulates the savoury flavour of meat.
- Canned lentils – You can also cook dried lentils, but I love using canned for convenience
- Onion and Garlic – Our aromatics to make everything more delicious.
- Maple Syrup – You can try subbing for another liquid sweetener, but for best results I recommend sticking with maple syrup for the warm, sweet tones.
- Apple – For subtle sweetness.
- Gluten-free Low Sodium Tamari – Sub for coconut aminos or soy sauce, if you’re not gluten-free.
- Sage, Rosemary, Thyme – Together, these dried herbs add a delicious earthy flavour.
- Oat flour – I like oat flour for an extra punch of high-fibre whole grains. In this recipe, it serves as our binder.
If you want to ensure these bangers are gluten-free, make sure to choose a gluten-free tamari and oat flour.
How To Make This Recipe
The base for these meat-free breakfast patties is not “faux” meat, but rather lentils and mushrooms! Two of my all time favourite plant-based foods! I start by pulsing the mushrooms in a food processor until very fine. The next step is key – you MUST squeeze the hell out of these to remove excess moisture.
When you rinse your lentils, you also have to really do a good job at squeezing out the excess moisture. Ditto for the grated apple.
Then I puree half of the lentils and leave the other half whole.
I then cook the onion, garlic and mushrooms in a pan along with the apples, maple, tamari, sage, rosemary, and thyme and season with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Once any excess moisture is gone, I transfer to a bowl with my lentils, oat flour and some salt and pepper, to taste.
Then I bake them in my whoopie pie pan and enjoy!
Expert Tips
Squeezing out excess moisture is a key step in this recipe. When I’m doing this with the rinsed lentils and grated apple, I like using a cheesecloth. If you don’t have a cheesecloth, you can use a kitchen towel too.
Now if you weren’t as meticulous about getting the liquid out, you may need to add a little extra flour in the last step. No biggie!
Recipe FAQs
Don’t worry, you can also totally just carefully form these into patties and pan-fry them.
I love my sausages with toast and some fruit, but you could also easily serve these with a nice tofu scramble or on an English muffin like a McDonalds sausage sandwich.
Yes! I made a big batch of this vegan breakfast sausage recipe and kept them in the freezer and then I just pulled a few out and rewarmed them in the microwave for 30 seconds. Make sure when you’re storing them to put wax or parchment paper between layers so you don’t have them sticking together.
More Recipes You Might Like
If you liked this vegan breakfast sausage recipe, give these a try:
- Vegan Breakfast Casserole | Gluten-Free & Family Friendly
- Vegan Breakfast Burrito with Tofu Scramble (High Protein)
- Vegan Avocado Toast with Roasted Tomatoes (High Protein)
- Vegan Breakfast Sandwich with Tofu
What are some of your favourite breakfast memories? Let me know your thoughts below!
Vegan Breakfast Sausage Recipe | Gluten & Soy Free!
Ingredients
- 8 oz cremini mushrooms stemmed and quartered
- 1 19 oz can lentils drained and rinsed
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 small onion minced
- 3 clove garlic minced
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 apple peeled and minced or grated with liquid very well squeezed out
- 2 tsp gluten free low sodium coconut aminos or tamari
- 1 ½ tbsp fresh sage minced
- 1 ½ tbsp fresh rosemary
- 1 ½ tbsp fresh thyme
- 6 tbsp oat flour gluten fee if desired
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 F.
- Pulse the mushrooms in a food processor until they reach a ground meat like consistency. Transfer to a cheesecloth and ring out as much liquid as possible. Set aside.
- Drain and rinse the lentils and squeeze out any excess moisture. In the food processor, puree half the lentils.
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium low heat. Add in the onion and cook until lightly browned and caramelized, about 30 minutes. You can also save time and just saute them for 2 minutes before adding the other ingredients but caramelizing adds a lot of flavour.
- Add the garlic, squeezed out mushrooms, the grated and well squeezed apples, maple, tamari, sage, rosemary, and thyme and season with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until any excess liquid evaporates and the mushrooms are browned.
- Transfer to a bowl along with the lentils, pureed lentils, and oat flour and season with additional salt and pepper.
- Form into a greased whoopie pie mold. Spritz with olive oil in an oil atomizer and bake for 17-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Nutrition
Updated on March 16th, 2023
Abbey Sharp is a Registered Dietitian (RD), regulated by the Ontario College of Dietitians. She is a mom, YouTuber, Blogger, award winning cookbook author, media coach specializing in food and nutrition influencers, and a frequent contributor to national publications like Healthline and on national broadcast TV shows.
Robin says
Does it matter what kind of canned lentils you use? I have black lentils. Thanks!
Abbey Sharp says
That should work. Let me know how it goes!
Barb says
Hi! Mushroom allergy can I sub something else?
Abbey Sharp says
you can try omitting and adding more lentils to replace but it may not have the same texture.
Katherine Baker says
Delicious! I made these today with a couple quarantine adjustments (didn’t have mushrooms, so I omitted them completely and added some liquid aminos and coconut aminos for extra umami flavor), used Trader Joe’s pre-cooked French lentils instead of canned, was lazy and didn’t drain the apples (I just simmered until the liquid was evaporated) and formed them into 5 large patties with my hands instead of using a whoopie pie tray. And you know what? They were suburb! I love the apple/rosemary/sage/syrup combination. I really enjoyed them, as did my non-vegan mom. This recipe has inspired me to make more of my own veggie burgers/sausages with beans and lentils. Thanks Abbey! 10/10.
Abbey Sharp says
Awesome 🙂 I am so glad you liked them.
Trish says
These are a LOT of work, but delicious! My husband is on a low-sodium diet so I substituted 1 TB of vegan worcestershire and 2 tsps of liquid smoke for the tamari and brought down the sodium total to just 10 mg per patty. I got confused with the lentils though since I started with dried lentils, squeezed the water out, and then weighed them before it occurred to me that part of the weight of a 19 oz can is water. So I just took a guess and ended up at 11 oz. It still turned out great but I was wondering if you could include the approximate weight of drained lentils?
Thanks for the recipe! This is a lifesaver (literally) for my husband.
Abbey Sharp says
Thanks! So happy you enjoyed.
Gabrielle says
What temperature do you bake at?
Abbey Sharp says
425! sorry about that, not sure what happened!
Melody says
I was excited when I saw this recipe, but it has tamari in it, so it is not soy-free! Please change the description.
Abbey Sharp says
Oh they actually are, I just forgot to add the coconut aminos into the ingredients. You can use tamari or coconut aminos, we’ve tried with both!
Margot says
Such a wonderful, interesting recipe! I loved making them and they came together very nicely. I love that it made quite a few so I can pop them into the freezer for a busy morning. So yummy! Thank you!