Vegan Sausage Patties

You can consider these either a great vegan substitute for breakfast sausage, or one of the most flavorful veggie burgers on the planet. The herb and spice blend used is pretty much identical to my turkey breakfast sausage recipe, only instead of measuring them out first and then grinding them up, I have switched to using pre-ground herbs for this recipe. You can either buy them pre-ground, or grind them yourself, in a small blade style coffee grinder, dedicated just to spice grinding. (grinding coffee in your spice grinder can make your coffee taste strange)

One of the great things about this recipe is that it can be made entirely from shelf stable ingredients, if you substitute ketchup packets for the bottled stuff.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp ground sage
• 1 tsp ground fennel seeds
• 1 tsp ground thyme
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp dried marjoram
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 cup textured vegetable protein (TVP)
• 1/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats (NOT instant or old fashioned)
• 3/4 cup water (almost-boiling)
• 2 tablespoons ketchup (or 3 ketchup packets)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce (or Liquid Aminos) (or 3 soy sauce packets)
• 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter (can also use tahini, or any other nut or seed butter)
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• olive oil (for frying)

Instructions

1. Combine the sage, fennel, thyme, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, marjoram, cayenne pepper, cloves, nutmeg, oats and TVP in a medium sized bowl, and mix well.
2. Add the hot water, ketchup and soy sauce. Mix well.
3. Let stand for 5 minutes, to develop the flavors.
4. Add the nut/seed butter and mix well.
5. Add the whole wheat flour and nutritional yeast, and mix well again.
6. Form 4 large burger sized patties or 8 small breakfast sausage sized patties, by hand.
7. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, and cook the patties over a medium to low flame, for about 3-5 minutes per side or until golden brown and somewhat crispy.