Vegetarian Sausages for Delivery or Pickup

Sausages have been around for ages, typically made from pork, chicken, or beef stuffed into a casing. These sausages were then smoked to preserve them and stored for later consumption. Because sausage makers made these original sausages from meat, they were high in fat and cholesterol, not necessarily part of a healthy diet. Yet sausage as a storable food was necessary for survival, in large part because of the fat it possesses. Thus, meat that contained a high amount of fat and could last days, weeks, or months was considered good food, if not good for you.

Our understanding of nutrition has grown immensely to the point where vegetarian diets are mainstream. A vast array of vegetarian products are available as substitutes for traditional food, including vegetarian sausage.

The evolution of sausage takes a winding road. During famine times, sausage makers added grains like rice, barley, and buckwheat to sausage meat to stretch the limited resource. After the First and Second World Wars, food shortages led sausage makers to add fillers like potato, bread crumbs, flour, and cornmeal, among others, again, to stretch the resource.

During the late 20th century, vegetarian sausages became more popular, both freshly made and pre-packaged frozen varieties. The process was simple and modeled after the hotdog. Vegetarian sausages contain emulsified ingredients stuffed into a casing. They look like hotdogs, but early versions didn't taste much like them. 

The difficulty in creating a genuine vegetarian sausage made with vegetables lay in the binding of the ingredients. It was much harder to control the texture so that it didn't crumble when sliced. Once chefs solved the problems of binding and texture, vegetarian sausages still had to overcome the flavor obstacle. The early goal was to make a vegetarian sausage taste like meat. This goal was probably a mistake. A vegetarian sausage made from ingredients like tofu, vegetable protein, flour, potato flake, and other starches simply has a different flavor than meat, no matter how much you season it.

Once people embraced vegetarian food's health benefits, the idea that these vegetarian dishes had to taste like their conventional counterparts went out the window. Now, vegetarian dishes, including sausages, are created with their flavor profile in mind. You can find unique ingredients like apples, plums, raisins, nuts, and more showing up in a vegetarian sausage.

Forward-thinking chefs have learned to use vegetarian ingredients to maximize their flavor and texture. A traditional meat sausage maker would never consider using peanuts or lentils. Not because they don't taste good, but because you just don't make a sausage that way. Vegetarian sausage makers have no such pre-dispositions. They are free to explore the possibilities with the only goal of creating something delicious.

Most vegetarian sausages are edible right out of the package, although they may not taste as good cold. Cooking them heats them to make them more palatable, as most people enjoy their food hot. You can grill vegetarian sausages, pan fry them, and bake them in the oven. They take about five to 10 minutes to heat, and if you're grilling them, you'll want to turn them often to prevent unwanted char.

You can save time by shopping for vegetarian sausages on the Instacart app. Select the vegetarian sausage you like and add it to your cart. Upon checkout, an Instacart shopper will prepare your items in as little as 2 hours! In some cases, same-day delivery is available!