While I’ve never been a vegan and don’t plan to be anytime soon, I’m not against anyone who is and over the years I have tried the odd vegan food item here and there – and enjoyed them!
When I’ve tried vegan food, I can’t help but compare it to the meat versions that I’m used to.
As a household staple and very versatile food, I thought it would be a good idea to compare vegan sausages to a meat version and tell you how I ranked them.
I compared vegan sausages from four brands with one meat version (Image: Newsquest)
I tried vegan sausages and ranked them from best to worst
The vegan sausages I tried were from a variety of brands including This, Beyond Sausage, Quorn and Richmond.
They were all plain sausages with no added flavour to keep things fair. I compared the vegan sausages to Richmond’s meat sausages.
I cooked the sausages in the air fryer for eight minutes at 200C, flipped them over and then cooked them for another five minutes and this seemed to work well. I kept an eye on them since the packets gave slightly different instructions for each.
Without further ado, here’s what I thought when I tried them all.
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Quorn
The first sausage I tried was Quorn’s Brilliant Bangers and although I like some of the brand’s other vegan items, I thought the texture of the sausage was a bit strange.
The sausage was quite thick and felt a bit blocky when chewing it but the skin cooked nicely, adding a good level of crispiness.
Moving onto the taste, Quorn’s sausage was quite herby and tasted like stuffing that wasn’t quite cooked properly – strange I know, but that’s the best way I can describe it.
Beyond Sausage
I then moved on to Beyond Sausage’s original Plant-Based Sausages and was surprised at how crumbly and dry it was.
@uktoday_ I compared vegan sausages to meat sausages – watch until the end to see how they scored🤔 See my full review in the comments below #veganuary #vegan #veganfood #foodtok #foodreview ♬ Mystic – Shingo Sekiguchi
It had a decent taste but that was followed with an earthy aftertaste. It was also more chewy than the other options. Overall, it wasn’t awful but I think it was too dry for my liking.
Richmond
Richmond’s Meat-Free Tasty Sausages really surprised me.
When I tried this one, I thought it could pass as a meat sausage. It tasted very similar to a meat version and the texture and flavour were nice.
The sausages were all cooked in an air fryer (Image: Newsquest) If I hadn’t known that I was trying vegan sausages, I probably would’ve thought this one was meat.
I think it’s a great choice for any vegans who want sausages that are close to the meat version.
This
I then tried a plant-based sausage from a brand called This and it cut really nicely with no effort at all.
Despite this, it had a thick consistency and a strange flavour that unfortunately was too much for me.
The aftertaste was different to the original and overall, I thought it was a bit overpowering.
Richmond sausage with meat
Last but not least, I tried a meat sausage from Richmond so I could compare the vegan sausages to something I know and love – a sausage with real meat.
I knew I’d like this one – it was soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.
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So how did each sausage score? I put Richmond’s vegan sausages in the top spot as my favourite meat-free sausages. I can’t believe how similar they are to meat sausages! (And no, I didn’t get them mixed up with the brand’s meat sausages!)
In second place, I put Quorn since the taste was okay – I think I could get over the texture on that one.
Next up, I’d have to go for the Beyond Sausages since the taste was decent despite me not being keen on the dry, crumbly texture.
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So that means the sausages from This are in last place. I just couldn’t get over the taste of those sausages.
Would I swap meat sausages for vegan sausages?
Overall, I’d still be more than happy to eat meat sausages and won’t be buying vegan ones again anytime soon.
However, Richmond’s vegan sausages were by far the best of the bunch that I tried and I wouldn’t mind eating those again.