These Vegan Breakfast Sausages with Apple, Maple and Lentils are packed with fibre are 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. These maple infused vegan breakfast sausages are 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.
what do i need to make Vegan Breakfast Sausages
These vegan bangers are surprisingly easy to make. Here’s what you will need to make this recipe:
- Cremini mushrooms
- Canned lentils
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Garlic
- Maple syrup
- Apple
- Gluten free low sodium tamari
- Sage
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Oat flour
If you want to ensure these bangers are gluten free, make sure to choose a gluten free tamari and oat flour.
how do i make Breakfast Sausage patties without meat or soy
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. SQUEEEEEEEEZE those babies out. I like to use a cheesecloth and get my workout in!
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. Now if you weren’t as meticulous about getting the liquid out, you may need to add a little extra flour. No biggie!
Then I bake them in my whoopie pie pan and enjoy!
what whoopie pie pan do you suggest? what if i don’t have one?
This is my go-to whoopie pie pan (#affiliate), but you can also totally just carefully form these into patties and pan-fry them.
how do you suggest serving these plant based maple sausages
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.
can you make these vegan sausages ahead of time and freeze them?
Yes! I made a big batch of these vegan breakfast sausages 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.
Do you have any other great vegan breakfast recipes?
What are some of your favourite breakfast memories? Let me know your thoughts below!
Vegan Breakfast Sausages with Maple & Apple
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 June 29th, 2020
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.
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!