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meatless sausage, homemade sausage, vegetarian sasage, depression era recipe

Depression Era Sausage Patties

This recipe is a quick oat, meat substitute used when meat was scarce and expensive in the 1930's and beyond. With some simple variations you can make breakfast sausage, burger patties, chicken nuggets or patties, Italian meatballs or fish sticks... The sausage recipe can be pared with maple syrup or the gravy that you make if you'd like sausage, biscuits and gravy; or be creative and crumble it into a casserole. The main recipe we're using is for breakfast sausage but we'll include some of the other options in the notes section.
5 from 2 votes
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total time includes refrigerating overnight 10 hours
Total Time 10 hours 35 minutes
Course Breakfast, Main Course
Cuisine American
Servings 2 (2 patties per person)

Equipment

  • 1 8-12 inch frying pan
  • 1 medium saucepan or pot
  • 1 medium bowl

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup Quick Oats
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp fennel
  • 1 tsp onion flakes or minced onion
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup water

Broth

  • 2 cups water
  • 2 tbsp brown gravy mix

Instructions
 

  • Mix ingredients in appropriately sized bowl until thoroughly blended
  • Cover bowl and let sit in refrigerator 2 hours or overnight
  • Remove from refrigerator and form into desired shape (4 large sausage patties or 8 small sausage patties)
  • Start broth to boil in a medium pot
  • In your frying pan, add oil to just cover bottom of pan, lightly brown patties on both sides (about two minutes per side)
  • Once lightly browned, transfer to the pot of broth, cover and reduce to simmer for 20 minutes
  • ** Remove from broth and pan fry another 2 minutes per side.
  • **If storing for later use, remove from broth, allow to cool and lightly dab dry them -do not pan fry before freezing in your method of choice. After removing from freezer, allow to thaw and pan fry on each side for the final 2 minutes.

Video

Notes

Below are the listings for options with your base oatmeal, egg, oil and water with varied seasonings to create different meat substitutes.  For each listing below start with your 1 cup oatmeal, 1 egg, 1 tbsp oil and 1/4 cup water then mix in the appropriate seasonings and use the noted broth. Also, shape the patties, balls, sticks however works best for you.
Burger Patties (4 patties):
1 tbsp bacon bits
1 tbsp onion flakes
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp salt
Broth: 2 cups water, 2 tbsp brown gravy mix
Chicken Nuggets/Patties (about 8 nuggets / 4 patties): 
1 tsp onion flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Broth: 2 cups water and 2 tbsp chicken gravy mix
Italian Meatballs (about 8 meatballs):
1 tbsp onion flakes
1 tbsp parmesan cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
Broth: 3 cups Spaghetti Sauce -NOTE- skip both pan fry's and place the formed balls directly into the sauce for 20 minutes
Fish Sticks (about 8 sticks):
1 tsp onion flakes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bay seasoning
Broth: 2 cups water, 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce, 2 tbsp lemon juice -NOTE- battered and fried after the broth bath makes these even more amazing.
Ground Beef Substitute (equivilant to 1 lbs. ground beef):
1 tsp onion flakes
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
Broth: 2 cups water, 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce, 1 tbsp Soy Sauce. -NOTE- There is no need to brown this before boiling. Break up the patty into crumbles after boiling and brown in a pan with oil.
Keyword depression era recipe, egg, meatless, oatmeal, sausage, vegetarian