Homemade Vegan Hot Dogs

Make your own vegan hot dogs! These delicious veggie hot dogs (made with almond meal, tofu, and vital wheat gluten) are great if you want a break from the various store bought ones. You can even add some more spices if you want to kick it up a bit. Recipe and photos contributed by Julie Balutis. Visit Julie’s blog Baked In for more recipes and tips.

Homemade Vegan Hot Dogs

Makes: About 8

Ingredients

• 9 oz firm tofu
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 5 tbsp almond meal
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• ½ medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika, or several generous dashes liquid smoke
• 1 ½ tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• ¾ tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 ⅛ cup vital wheat gluten
• 1 tsp cornstarch

Instructions

1. Crumble tofu into the bowl of a food processor.
2. In a liquid measuring cup, measure the 2 tablespoons soy sauce and add enough water to get to the 100mL line. Add to food processor.
3. Add almond meal, oil, onion, garlic, paprika/liquid smoke, sugar, salt, pepper, coriander, mustard, nutmeg, cardamom, and cumin to the processor and pulse until smooth, about two minutes. Pour into a large mixing bowl.
4. Add vital wheat gluten and cornstarch to the mixture and stir to combine. Knead gently – the mixture will be soft but you’ll see strands of gluten forming.
5. Divide the dough into eight equal pieces. Roll each into a rough hot dog shape (doesn’t have to be perfect). Wrap each dog in parchment paper and then aluminum foil. Twist ends of the foil shut.
6. In a large pot with a steamer insert or basket, bring enough water to just under the steamer to a boil. Arrange your hot dogs in the steamer—close together is fine, and it’s okay if they’re touching.
7. Cover and steam for 45 minutes. Turn off heat and let cool in the pot, uncovered.
8. To cook, unwrap hot dogs and simmer in water for five minutes, or fry in a frying pan, or throw ‘em on the grill until hot and pretty with grill marks!
9. Serve on buns with ketchup, mustard, relish, diced onions, or your favorite hot dog topping.

Notes:
Special equipment: a food processor, parchment paper, aluminum foil and a pot with steamer.

Additional note on ingredients: if you can’t find almond meal, grind up slivered almonds in the food processor before you add the tofu. As for spices, the only make or break ones in this recipe are the smoked paprika/liquid smoke, cumin, mustard, and salt & pepper. If you don’t have coriander, nutmeg, or cardamom, these will definitely not make or break the recipe—just kick up everything else a little bit.

• Here are lots more easy tofu recipes.
• Explore more of VegKitchen's Vegan sandwiches and wraps.