The trick to these plant-based sausages is rolling them in rice paper wrappers before steaming and grilling them. The rice paper creates a translucent coating similar to sausage casing, but without pork. These are best served with grainy German mustard (preferably stone-ground) and sauerkraut (look for unpasteurized versions or make your own), but they’re also great sliced into pieces and cooked into a tomato-based barbecue sauce with curry powder—a traditional currywurst!
Best bratwurst tips
It might seem like a lot of steps to wrap the sausages, steam them, and grill them, but if you skip the steaming, the rice paper wrappers become brittle on the grill, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but isn’t very sausage-like. If you skip the grilling, the outsides will be gelatinous, which is definitely not sausage-like!
To steam bratwurst, wrap each rice paper-rolled sausage in parchment paper and twist the ends like party crackers, securing each with twist-ties or rubber bands. Or place rice-wrapped sausages directly on parchment-lined steamer basket, cutting extra strips of parchment to keep sausages from sticking together.
Chia tips and tricks
If you don’t have ground chia seeds, grind whole seeds in a spice grinder or blender, or crush them well with a mortar and pestle. This improves the texture of the sausage. You can also use ground flaxseeds.
Nut swaps
You can replace the walnuts with hazelnuts or make the recipe nut free by using sunflower seeds.
- 3 Tbsp ground chia seeds
- 1/4 cup water or beer
- 1/2 cup walnut halves
- 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 shallot or small onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1/4 tsp ground mace
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp dried marjoram
- 1/4 tsp mustard powder
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/8 tsp ground coriander
- 1/8 tsp crushed caraway seeds
- 1/4 tsp cayenne optional
- 1 1/2 cups cooked or canned white beans rinsed and drained
- 1 cup gluten-free bread crumbs
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp gluten-free soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 8 large rice paper rolls
- In small bowl, mix ground chia seeds with water or beer. Set aside to thicken.
- In large skillet, toast walnuts over medium heat for 5 minutes or until aromatic, stirring frequently so they don’t burn. Transfer nuts to plate to cool.
- In the same skillet, heat 1 tsp olive oil over medium-low. When hot, add onion and garlic and sauté for 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Add all spices and stir; cook for 2 minutes more. Add tomato paste, soy sauce, and 1 Tbsp water. Stir and scrape up sticking spices. Remove skillet from heat.
- If using canned beans, drain and rinse them, then dry gently in kitchen towel.
- In food processor or blender, pulse toasted nuts to rough pebbles. Add drained beans and skillet contents and pulse to fine pebbles. Some texture should remain.
- Stir in chia seeds and bread crumbs. Form into 8 sausages, place on plate, and chill in fridge for 20 minutes.
- Fill bowl with hot water and add one rice wrapper, massaging it until soft. Place wrapper on cutting board or oiled parchment paper and place a sausage horizontally in middle of wrapper. Fold bottom of wrapper over sausage, fold in sides, and continue to roll up the sausage. Repeat with remaining sausages, placing each on plate when done.
- Steam bratwurst for 20 minutes (see “Best bratwurst tips”).
- Preheat barbecue or grill. Brush grill with oil and unwrap steamed sausages from parchment. Grill for 2 minutes on each side, or until grill marks appear. Or pan-fry in large skillet with 1/2 tsp olive oil, turning regularly until golden, about 7 minutes.
Per serving: 135 calories; 6 g protein; 5 g total fat (1 g sat. fat); 18 g total carbohydrates (2 g sugars, 4 g fiber); 430 mg sodium
