Vegan German Currywurst Recipe: A Great Easy and Delicious Classic
Get ready for some vegan German food, specifically, my Easy Vegan Currywurst!
After 4 long years of working hard, I graduated from Colorado State University with my Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering. As a reward, my parents gifted me a trip to Europe! I had been to Barcelona, Spain before for soccer, but this was the first time I truly got to explore outside of the United States.
My boyfriend’s family all live in a small town in Austria just outside the border of Germany, so we started our trip there. On our very first night, we were taken to a bar to get some drinks. I had a great time learning new drinking games and learning new ways to take tequila shots!
Near the end of the night I could smell something cooking and it smelled amazing. When I went to scope it out, I saw there was a small cart cooking up currywurst. Being vegan, I couldn’t fully enjoy it, but I asked if I could just have the bread with some sauce. I got some strange looks, but wow was the sauce fantastic. Later in my trip when I was in Berlin, I finally was able to get some vegan currywurst and it was amazing!
Ever since then I knew I had to try and recreate this dish. My boyfriend, being full Austrian, was mainly in charge of developing this recipe. It took some time to figure out how to get the texture of the sausage right, but I am so happy we were able to “veganize” this amazing dish.
The More You Know
Vital Wheat Gluten
Vital Wheat Gluten is very similar to flour in terms of texture, but it helps to bind everything together and when steamed it develops a “hot dog” or “sausage” like texture.
Agave Nectar
Agave is a great liquid sweetener to use in replacement of processed sugar. There are many other types of sweeteners you can use instead such as Maple Syrup or Stevia. I prefer using Agave because it has a very neutral taste and I use it in a lot of my desserts!
Thanks For Reading
I was honored to be able to help recreate this traditional German dish and was happy to be able to collaborate with my boyfriend and his native cuisine. If you aren’t able to visit Germany or Austria one day I hope this recipe gives you a taste of these two amazing countries. ENJOY!
– Janelle
Vegan Currywurst
Ingredients
Vegan Sausage (Wurst)
- ½ tbsp Canola Oil
- ½ White Onion diced
- 1 Garlic Clove
- ¼ cup Cooked Chickpeas
- 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
- ½ tsp Thyme
- ½ tsp Paprika
- ½ tsp Cumin
- 1 tbsp Soy Sauce or liquid aminos
- ¼ cup Sparkling Water
- ¾ cup Vital Wheat Gluten
Curry Sauce
- 1 tsp Olive Oil
- 2 cup Ketchup
- 1 Large Yellow Onion
- 3 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 tbsp Agave Nectar
- 2 tbsp Yellow Curry Powder
- 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- ½ tsp Soy Sauce or liquid aminos
- 1 tsp Tomato Paste
- 1 tsp Water
General
- Hoagies, Baguette, or your favorite bread roll
Instructions
Vegan Sausage (Wurst)
- Chop up the vegetables into medium size pieces.
- Sautee the white onion and garlic with the canola oil until the onion is golden brown.
- Add everything but the vital wheat gluten to the food processor.
- Run food processor until everything is smooth.
- Add the vital wheat gluten to the food processor.
- Run the food processor until a ball forms.
- Take the ball out of the food processor and knead for about 5 minutes. This works the gluten and creates a better texture for the sausage.
- Cut the ball into 4 equal size pieces.
- Roll each piece into a sausage form and wrap first in parchment paper and then in tin foil. This will help keep the shape when cooking.
- Steam the sausages for about 35-40 minutes. Make the curry sauce during this time.
- Remove sausages from the wrapper. Either eat as is or grill for an even better texture!
Curry Sauce
- Chop the onion into medium-small pieces.
- Sautee the onion in the olive oil until fragrant. Add in the tomato paste and water and sautee until the onion is soft.
- Add the ketchup, balsamic vinegar, and agave nectar and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add the soy sauce and spices.
- Move mixture to the food processor and blend until smooth.
- Transfer back to pot if needed and simmer until desired texture is reached. Add water if needed. Traditionally, the curry sauce is thicker than ketchup but not too thick.
Assembly
- Lightly coat both sides of the hoagie with curry sauce.
- Place the vegan sausage into the hoagie.
- Drizzle curry sauce over the sausage.
- Voala! you now have Vegan Currywurst!
Sauce is great, but the consistency of the wurst left a lot to be desired :(. Mine came out really really gummy and chewy which is exactly the opposite of what a good wurst should be like in my opinion.
Love the idea overall though and I’m inspired to play with the recipe to something that works better for me.