HOT DOGS! GIT YER HOT DOGS! These are not the bland tofu dogs of yesteryear, my friends! These high-protein vegan hot dogs have a hearty sausage bite and burst with savory flavour. Best of all, they are ridiculously easy to make. Click here to skip to the printable recipe.
Video Tutorial for Vegan Hot Dog Recipe / Scallion Seitan Sausages
The Inspiration for these Vegan Hot Dogs
I actually posted this recipe on YouTube last summer but neglected to type it up here for the blog so apologies to my video-adverse readers! Back then, there was a bit of a thing between our food labeling requirements in Canada and Fieldroast so we had to go Fieldroast-less for a while. It was a sad time as Fieldroast made/makes some of my favourite vegan sausages and their frankfurkers are the best! That was one of the main reasons why I came up with this recipe. It isn’t based on any one of their sausages, but more inspired by the fact that they put whole cooked veggies into their products. The scallions in this recipe help to break up the texture of the seitan, yielding a softer bite than some of my other seitan recipes.
What is seitan? Not to be confused with the lord of darkness, seitan is a high-protein food made from wheat gluten (ie. not for those with gluten allergies). As traditional as a mock meat can get, it has been made by Buddist Monks since the 7th century by rinsing wheat dough with water. Now, we can get the gluten without rinsing anything! You can find Vital Wheat Gluten in the baking sections of grocery stores, at health food stores, or online. Recently, I’ve been buying mine from Bulk Barn. It can also be labelled “gluten flour” or “pure gluten.”
How to Make Easy Vegan Hot Dogs (Scallion Seitan Sausages)
To start, blend up a bouillon cube with hot water. This makes a very concentrated broth. If you’re working with liquid broth, you’ll want to reduce the volume by half. Remember that the more flavourful the broth, the more flavourful your hot dogs so choose a good one that you like! Then add all the other ingredients except for the gluten flour.
You can’t tell, but that liquid is full of flavour!
The cashews in this recipe help to keep the sausages juicy and moist without the use of refined fats. However, if you’re allergic to nuts, you can replace this with a tablespoon of refined coconut oil or experiment with other fats.
More Seitan Recipes:
Get rid of the wheaty flavour of gluten
The apple cider vinegar helps to cut the distinct wheaty flavour of gluten and adds to the meatiness. If you can’t get apple cider vinegar, try a nice balsamic. Use regular white vinegar only as a last resort as it can be a bit harsh.
Mix in the Vital Wheat Gluten
After blending everything up, transfer the liquid-y puree to a bowl where you’ll add the gluten flour bit by bit. Gluten flour is super light and kicks up easily so this method helps to avoid a mess, plus you can scale back the gluten if it looks like the dough is getting too stiff. You want to end up with a soft, slightly loose dough. Just mix enough to eliminate any dry bits. Over mixing will make your hot dogs rubbery.
Shaping the vegan hot dogs dough
Divide up the dough into six portions and roll them up in foil, parchment, or cloth squares. I found that 6″-8″ by 6″ pieces of foil worked well. You can grease the foil on one side so ensure that the seitan doesn’t stick. You won’t have to do that with parchment/cloth. Twist the foil ends to secure. Use twine to secure if you’re using parchment/cloth.
Steam the scallion seitan sausages
Finally, steam the wrapped up seitan over medium high heat for 45 minutes. Let them cool before you unwrap because they will be super hot. If you are using cloth wrappers though, you’ll want to use tongs and unwrap them as soon as possible. Otherwise, they might stick terribly.
Finish up!
Once there are cool enough to handle, you can dig right in! They are super delicious and juicy just out of the steamer. But if you can also grill or fry them to get a bit of charring. If you do though, you’ll want to brush with some oil so make sure they don’t dry out.
And that’s it! Enjoy!
Need some buns with that?
Simple Homemade Hot Dog Bun Recipe
Printable Recipe for Vegan Hot Dogs / Scallion Seitan Sausages
Vegan Hot Dogs | Scallion Seitan Sausages
HOT DOGS! GIT YER HOT DOGS! These are not the bland tofu dogs of yesteryear, my friends! These high-protein vegan hot dogs have a hearty sausage bite and burst with savory flavour. Best of all, they are ridiculously easy to make.
Ingredients
- 1 cup hot water (237ml)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup chopped scallions (green onions)
- 1 cube / 2 teaspoons vegetable bouillon paste/powder*
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or your choice of vinegar)
- 1/4 cup cashew pieces
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (less if freshly ground)
- 1 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten (150g)**
Instructions
- Blend all the ingredients, EXCEPT for the vital wheat gluten, until smooth. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
- Add about a third of the vital wheat gluten flour and mix in with a fork. When it's totally incorporated, slowly add the rest of the flour until a soft dough develops. The dough should be fairly loose. Do not over mix or the dough may become overly stiff. Divide the dough into 6 even pieces.
- Tear 3 pieces of aluminum foil, about 6-8 inches wide, from the roll. Cut/tear each one in half so that you have 6 wide rectangles. Grease each piece lightly with oil so that the sausages won't stick to them. Leave about an inch of ungreased space around the sides and top end (side farthest from you).
- Place one piece of seitan dough in the middle of a greased foil sheet and roll up starting from the greased end closest to you, and roll up. See the video for demo. Secure the ends by twisting.
- Steam the wrapped sausages over medium high heat for 45 minutes. Remove carefully with tongs.
- Serve immediately or grill/fry to brown them. To store, let cool before placing in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They will keep for 5-7 days. You may also freeze the sausages.
Notes
- *I used 1 cube of regular strength vegan chicken-style bouillon. One cube is meant to make 2 cups of broth. Some pastes or powders are more or less concentrated. So use the amount of bouillon concentrate that is supposed to make 2 cups of broth. Let me know if this doesn't make sense to you!
- **Vital Wheat Gluten, also known as PURE gluten flour, is not the same as the wheat flour used in baking. It contains mostly protein and does not taste or behave the same way. The brand that I buy most often is Bob's Red Mill. It is also sold as gluten flour at Bulk Barn.
- Nutritional yeast can be found in many health food and bulk stores, as well as in many major grocery stores and online. It is NOT the same as baking yeast or brewer's yeast. If you cannot get nutritional yeast, 2 tablespoons of good quality miso paste makes a good substitute.
- If grilling/frying, please be careful not to overcook. As there is not a huge fat content in these sausages, they will dry out faster than their non-vegan counterparts.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 233Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 137mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 2gSugar: 1gProtein: 39g
Nutritional Information automatically calculated by a plugin and may not be correct.
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Beautiful blog. No, this is not spam. I signed up for email updates and am glad I did!
Love the recipe, going to try this tomorrow!!! 🙂
Can you freeze these before or after steaming them so that you can have it ready whenever?
Yup!
Tried this recipe and it was so good! So much better than any store bought seitan I’ve eaten and so easy to make!
“vegan chicken-style bouillon” where does one find this?
At grocery stores. Many brands of “chicken bouillon” are actually vegan. McCormick’s has a “all vegetable” chicken style bouillon. Also Edwards & Sons and Better than Bouillon have no-chicken bases. Bulk Barn has “vegetarian chicken soup powder” which is vegan and will work in this recipe too. Here’s a link on Amazon if you want to buy online: http://amzn.to/2ct8LCQ
This looks like an awesome recipe and I can’t wait to try it. I would strongly recommend letting the liquid cool before sealing it up in an enclosed blender like that though. Hot liquid in an enclosed space with no air can build up a lot of pressure and can cause burns. Just speaking from experience.
Hi there! I’ve made this recipe before and it was delicious. I recently had groceries delivered and they gave me Organic Sprouted Wheat Flour instead of vital wheat gluten (they were supposedly out). Can I use this instead of vital wheat gluten? I’ve tried looking up if they’re the same/similar enough to use and couldn’t find anything. Thanks! 🙂
Hi Molly! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe. Unfortunately, vital wheat gluten cannot be substituted in this recipe. Vital wheat gluten is basically wheat flour that has had everything removed except for the protein (gluten). – Mary
Wasn’t really a fan of these but then I did substitute scallions for regular onion (is a scallion a spring onion?). I also found them a bit too dense though I probably rolled the tin foil to tight. It was however super easy to do and very quick so hopefully I can play around with the flavours until I get something I like more… Cheers.
Hi Dean, I see the issue! Scallions are also known as spring onions or green onions. Regular onions would make these taste totally different! Have fun with them next time 🙂
These are my favourite seitan sausages I’ve tried so far, and I’ve tried lots. I must have made at least 6 batches of these.
They go great fried up in a bun with some bbq sauce!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks, Alicia!
Oh man, I failed to notice that the hot water was for the bouillon and added hot water AND veggie stock. Well, it still tastes good…
Ah, you’ll know for next time. Glad to hear it wasn’t a complete waste!
I love ❤️ Mary and all of her Recipes !
Thank you so much, Mario! That’s so nice to hear 🙂
Hey Mary! I love this recipe, I have made it so many times and it’s just delicious. It is so good and I find it pretty simple to make. I was wondering if it would be possible to make these in patty form like for a vegan egg McMuffin? Hmm.
Yes! Form it into a patty shape and pan cook them instead of steaming. Or you can simmer in broth (but be careful not to let it boil) for about an hour. Pan cooking is quicker but gives you a drier product. Simmering gives you a juicy product. Up to you! HAve fun with it:-)
-Mary
I really like these sausages. I am picky about meat substitutes. I like the texture as well as flavors of this recipe. I did use regular onions (I have made this twice that way) and thoroughly enjoy it that way. I am a big onion fan. Anyway, keeping the base of this recipe the same, would anyone have any suggestions on seasonings that would turn this into a decent burger patty? I am not a fan of most patties because they have a strong “southwest” bean flavor to me; they use a lot of cumin, maybe. If anyone has tried it, I like the flavor of the Burger King veggie patty. It is like in flavor, almost like a chicken patty and I am looking for something light like that. I really don’t want to stray from this recipe, just change or add some seasonings. Thanks!
I made these tonight. They are so good! Thank you
Yay! I’m glad you enjoyed them 🙂 Thanks for the comment! – Mary
I didn’t think I could adore you more, but metric recipe included right on the page AND the realisation that someone might use cloth wrappers?!?!?!?! You’re a star!!!
Aww thanks so much, Mary! <3