How to Make Plant-Based Sausage Crumbles
This post will show you how to make Plant-based Sausage crumbles from sweet potatoes, quinoa, cauliflower, steel-cut oats, and chickpeas. I think it’s gonna rock your world. It sure has mine! If you like my vegan “How To” series, be sure to check out How to Make Vegan Coconut Whipped Cream or How to Make Cauliflower Rice.
I could have called this post How to Make Plant-Based Sausage Crumbles five ways, but I thought that might be too limiting…because you don’t have to limit this to five! In fact, I share some ideas below on even more plants you could use to make your crumbles.
In reality, it’s all about the spices. Once you get that right, you’re going to find a number of ways to create plant-based sausage crumbles.
DIY Your Veggie Sausage Crumbles
It’s nice to make your own veggie crumbles. Why? Great question. Because sometimes you don’t have time to run to the store for the kind in the frozen packages.
Or sometimes you go to the store and they’re out of your favorite kind.
Or sometimes you just want a little more control in your day, including knowing exactly what’s in your food. There’s no shame in it, I can be that way too. Some might call us control freaks, but maybe they’re the freaks and they just don’t want to admit it. Ha!
And sometimes you just want to be a purist and go completely plant-based (in other words, nonprocessed).
This recipe meets the needs of all of the above.
I’m not done yet. There are more benefits. Because another reason you might want to DIY your veggie sausage crumbles is if you want to save money. And who doesn’t want to do that? Or maybe you want to eat local. Or maybe you want to have veggie crumbles with lower calories (if so, check out the cauliflower sausage crumbles below). Or maybe you want that Girl Scouts purple badge. You know? The one that shows what an awesome person you are!
What purple badge? OK. I’m not sure. It’s possible I made that up, but if there was a purple badge for being an awesome person, you and I totally deserve it.
The thing is, I’ve learned over the years you can take a whole variety of plant-based ingredients, add the right seasonings, and you’ve got yourself some Plant-Based Sausage Crumbles.
Here is my basic staple recipe for Vegan Sausage Seasonings.
Vegan Sausage Crumbles Spice
Ingredients
- ½ to 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
- ½ teaspoon caraway seeds
- 1 teaspoon ground dried sage
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger (optional, see note)
- A turn or two from a black pepper mill
Instructions
- Pour these seasonings into a bowl. Stir to combine.
- Place in an airtight container and store until ready to use.
- Make plant-based sausages by combining this seasoning mix with ground chickpeas, cauliflower rice, cooked quinoa, cooked steal-cut oats, cooked minced potatoes and more. Adding a little bit of olive oil when combining with these plant-based ingredients will make the final product more palatable.
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Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Double this recipe and keep it on hand so the next time you want to turn some chopped sweet potatoes into sausage, you can sprinkle and bake and voila!
How to Use Plant-Based Sausage Crumbles
All of these plant-based sausage crumble recipes below create crumbles that you can use in a variety of dishes. Here are some of my favorite ways to use them:
- Sprinkle plant-based sausage crumbles on your next pizza
- Use them in pasta recipes such as my Vegan Garlic Pasta
- Add this to your next Tofu Scramble to add a delicious sausage flavor!
- Sprinkle them over a salad
- Add them to your next baked potato
There are so many ways you can use plant-based sausage crumbles to add to your other recipes.
Of course, there are some ways I would NOT use these veggie crumbles. For example, don’t expect them to hold their flavor or have a crumbly texture in soupy dishes like chili or stews. for that you might want to go with a store-bought processed vegan sausage crumble.
OK. On to the veggie crumbles recipes.
Plant-Based Sausage Crumbles Creations
Below are some of the different variations I made with this recipe. You’ll see recommendations for how much spice to add to each and how to bake or sauté the flavor just right.
All of these freeze well and I recommend making a big batch and having some plant-based sausage crumbles in the freezer so you can quickly sprinkle some on your next meal. It’s SO perfect!
Sweet Potato Sausage Crumbles
Wash and dry a sweet potato. Finely chop into evenly sized pieces. You can even use a food processor to pulse it into rice-size bits. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon olive oil and place in the microwave for about 2 minutes (or bake at 350F for 10 – 15 minutes or so), until the pieces are tender. Add the Vegan Sausage Seasonings and drizzle with just a tad of additional olive oil. Toss to coat. Microwave for an additional minute (or place back in heated oven and bake an additional 5 minutes). Remove from oven.
If you’re going to freeze this, place on a tray and spread the pieces out. Place this in the freezer. Once frozen, pour into a freezer bag.
Note: You could also use carrots or just about any variety of potatoes here. A 5″ sweet potato has around 115 calories and is loaded with nutrients like beta carotene, fiber, and more!
Quinoa Sausage Crumbles
Prepare a half cup of quinoa according to instructions. Add 1 – 3 teaspoons of sausage seasonings. Stir to combine. Drizzle with a half teaspoon olive oil. Toss to combine. Bake for about 10 minutes at 350F.
Note: Use the freezer tips provided above to freeze the quinoa sausage crumbles. One cup of cooked quinoa has 222 calories plus quinoa is one of the few grains that is a complete protein!
Cauliflower Rice Sausage Crumbles
Chop 10 – 20 cauliflower florets and place in a food processor and pulse for a few seconds until cauliflower is about the size of cooked rice. You should have around 1 cup of cauliflower rice. Add 1 – 3 teaspoons of sausage seasonings. Stir to combine. Drizzle with a half teaspoon olive oil. Toss to combine. Bake for about 10 minutes at 350F.
Note: If you like a stronger sausage flavoring, feel free to add more! Cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable which means it’s loaded with nutrition. And one cup of chopped cauliflower only has 27 calories. Sweet!
Steal-Cut Oats Sausage Crumbles
Prepare a half cup of steal-cuts oats according to instructions. Drain any remaining fluid. Place in a bowl and add 3 teaspoons of sausage seasoning. Drizzle with a half teaspoon olive oil. Toss to combine. Place the seasoned oats on a baking sheet and spread evenly across the pan. Bake for about 10 minutes at 350F.
Note: You can bake a little longer to get an even crispier texture. Also, steel cut oats are a great source of fiber and iron and have been known to lower cholesterol.
Chickpea Sausage Crumbles
Drain a 15 oz can of chickpeas and place in a food processor. Give it several quick pulses until the chickpeas are crumbly (see photo above). Add the chickpea crumbles to a skillet and drizzle with a tablespoon of coconut oil and sausage spice. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally. The chickpea crumble should turn golden.
Note: Chickpeas are loaded with protein and fiber!
There you have it, at least 5 ways to make plant-based veggie sausage crumbles. I serve this on pizzas, over pasta, and even on salads. It adds lots of great flavor with minimal calories and lots of plant-based nutrition.
Can you think of other ways you can create plant-based sausage crumbles? I can. For example, what about brown rice? Or jackfruit, or even nuts, like roasted almonds.
This is the way I love to cook and I hope you will, too!
Health + Happiness,
Marly
My favorite is the sweet potatoes because the spices taste so good with it. Thanks!
Wow! This is an interesting recipe! Would love to try this!