These protein-packed sausages have a taste of Italy about them because of the fennel seeds, but feel free to try different herb combinations to suit your taste buds. Slice and add them to a hearty autumn soup or casserole towards the end of cooking, says Mary Llewellin of Snapdragons

Homemade vegan sausages and burgers have a tendency to fall apart because of the lack of egg, but here the xanthan gum helps to bind the mix.

Xanthan gum is commonly used in gluten-free bread to help make the dough more elastic.

Nutritional yeast is commonly used in vegan recipes to add depth of flavour and vitamin B12, which is lacking in a vegan diet.

Ingredients

Makes 8 sausages

½ red onion, finely diced

8 mushrooms, finely chopped

400g tinned butter beans, drained

1 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 dsp fennel seeds

1 dsp oregano

4 sun-dried tomatoes, drained and blitzed

1 tbsp xanthan gum

70g plain wholemeal flour

3 tbsp nutritional yeast

Method

  • Heat the oil and gently fry the onion, mushrooms and garlic until they soften and any liquid is cooked off and the mixture looks dry.
  • Add the herbs and spices and cook for a further minute.
  • Blitz the sun-dried tomatoes (use a spoonful of tomato puree for a cheaper version) in a food processor then add the drained butter beans and pulse a few times to roughly chop them.
  • Combine the mushroom mixture and the beans in a mixing bowl then add the flour, xanthan gum and nutritional yeast.
  • Mix everything together well, then shape into sausages.
  • Wrap each sausage tightly in tin foil and steam for 15 minutes.
  • Leave to cool then unwrap the foil. You can freeze the sausages on a tray then place them in a zip-up freezer bag and take them out individually when you need them.

The sausages can now be used as you would a Quorn sausage.