317 (calculate the calories per serving using https://cronometer.com/)

The birdies made these breakfast bird nests by carefully crafting their nests out of hashbrowns and filling them with mini vegan sausage eggs. You too can be a mama birdie and makes these for your baby birdies for easter brunch.

This recipe makes 12 nests with 3 plant-based sausage eggs in each one.

Table of Contents

(click the links below to skip to the section you’re looking for)

• Vegan Sausage Recipe
• Hashbrown Nests Recipe
• Tips and FAQ
• Ingredient Substitutions
• Contact Me with Questions
• Similar Recipes

This cruelty-free version of egg nests is for the animal lovers out there. When you choose to eat chicken eggs, you are supporting a slew of cruel practices happening every day in the egg industry. I know you don’t want to support that, so make these instead. They’re just as yummy and they’re better for you. (I’m not even kidding. I have been vegan for 25 years and had my labs done recently. My doctor was shocked at how good my cholesterol was.)

Ingredients you need for Vegan Sausage Eggs

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• ½ an onion, finely diced or processed
• 2-4 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 small carrot
• ¾ cup cooked, canned, or refried pinto beans
• ½ cup of water
• 3 tablespoons tamari
• 1 tablespoon organic tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons sage
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ⅛ teaspoon hickory smoked salt
• 1 cup vital wheat gluten
• ⅓ cup rolled or quick oats
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds

How to make Plant-Based Sausage

prep time: 45 min | cooking time: 1 hour

Sauté the onion over low-medium heat in a splash of oil until soft.

Process the celery, garlic, and carrot in food processor. Add to softened onion.

Add the sautéed veggies back to the food processor along with the beans, water, soy sauce, tomato paste, and spices.

Process until smooth.

Combine gluten, oatmeal, flax, and nutritional yeast in a large mixing bowl.

Add the processed ingredients to the dry ingredients and knead for a few minutes or until you have dough. You want it to have some elasticity when it’s done being kneaded.

Boil a few inches of water topped with a steamer basket.

Line the steamer basket with cheesecloth.

Divide mixture into pieces that are around 1 teaspoon of dough each.

Roll and shape the dough pieces between the palms of your hands until you have an egg shaped piece.

Place it on the cheesecloth and repeat with the rest of the dough.

Steam covered for 45 minutes. They should expand.

Fry in a pan with some olive oil until sausage eggs are lightly browned.

Serve inside of the bird’s nests.

Chill leftovers and reheat in a pan or in the oven.

Ingredients for Hash Browns

• 3-4 al dente baked potatoes
• avocado oil
• salt and black pepper (to taste)

How to make Crispy Potato Bird’s Nests

Preheat the oven to 425°.

Peel and grate the partially baked potatoes into a large bowl.

Mix the shredded potatoes with salt and pepper.

Cut 12 squares of parchment paper in as equal sizes as you can.

Press each square into each muffin cup of a cupcake pan (muffin tray).

Oil each square of parchment paper lightly with cooking spray. I use an oil sprayer or a silicone brush.

Press ¼ cup (around 4 tablespoons) of the potato mixture into each cubby, forcing them to stick up over the edges.

Spray the tops of the potatoes with coconut oil, and re-salt and pepper. If you don’t have an oil sprayer on hand, you can use a silicone basting brush to apply coconut, sunflower, or safflower oil to the nests. Don’t skip this step if you want crispy potato bird’s nests.

Bake the nests in a preheated oven at 425° for 20-25 minutes. Remove the muffin tin from the oven when the nests start to turn golden brown, but not burnt.

Remove the little nests carefully so as to not damage what the little birdies worked so hard to build.

Tips, Troubleshooting, and Questions and Answers

Can I make the homemade vegetarian sausage 4 days prior to cooking it?

You sure can! You can make the vegan sausage up to 5 days in advance of when you want to cook them. Just store it in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.

Do I have to make the sausage into these little egg shapes?

You can just make the vegan sausage into links if you’re not into the bird nest theme I’ve got going on here. Just roll them into links instead of egg shapes before steaming them.

Ingredient Substitutions

• Onion: I always prefer yellow onions because they’re more flavorful than other onions IMO. However, you can use whatever kind of onion you have. If you’re out of onions, replace the half a diced onion in this recipe with 1 ½ teaspoons onion powder or onion granules. Just add it when you add the other dry ingredients. If you do this, skip the first step and start with sautéing the other veggies instead.
• Olive Oil: If you avoid oil completely, this might not be the recipe for you. The sausage can easily be made without oil by sautéing the onion and veggies in water. But I’ve never tried making hashbrowns without oil, so I don’t know if that’s possible. You can however, substitute other oil in place of the olive oil. Use any plant-based oil you have.
• Garlic: If fresh garlic isn’t something you keep in the house, I get it. Peeling garlic is my nemesis. Don’t worry though. You can replace the 5 cloves garlic with 1 teaspoon of garlic powder. Just add it when you add the other dry ingredients.
• Celery and Carrot: Feel free to substitute other veggies if you don’t have these.
• Tamari: Tamari, soy sauce, and Braggs liquid aminos will all work in this recipe. If you avoid soy, San-J makes no-soy sauce and Ocean’s Halo makes soy-free sauce.
• Tomato Paste: You can replace the tablespoon of tomato paste with 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce. If you do this, you’ll want to reduce the water by 2 tablespoons. You can also just omit this ingredient in a pinch.
• Smoked Sea Salt: In lieu of this, you can use ⅛ teaspoon of pink sea salt and a few drops of liquid smoke.
• Ground Flax Seeds: Feel free to use chia seeds in place of flax if that’s easier for you.
• Potatoes: Use russet potatoes for this recipe if possible. They’re a starchy potato which will help these nests stay together. It will also ensure you end up with crispy potato nests. You can use yukon gold if that’s all you have. I’ve done it before and it worked.

Comments or Questions?

If you make this creative recipe, I would love it if you’d snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. It seriously makes my day/week/month!

Please message me (instagram or email) if you have any questions or feedback about the recipe.

Similar Recipes

If you like creative ways to serve plant protein, you might also like my hot dog on a stick recipe and my corn dog nuggets. Both are cute ways to serve hot dogs.

For other brunch food ideas, check out my vegan bacon recipe and my bacon leek frittata recipe.

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This post links to items I mention. If you click on one, you will go to a website (like Amazon) where you can buy the product. Sometimes, the store you purchase from (Amazon, Etsy, etc.) will pay me for referring you. This costs you nothing extra, and I would never recommend a product that I don’t use. These affiliate programs help me buy ingredients to create recipes for you. Read more about this in my privacy policy.

I mostly cook with organic ingredients, but only specify organic when it’s necessary to ensure the item is vegan.

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