Homemade vegan haggis is a truly delicious and nutritious recipe. But don’t just think of it as a dish to celebrate Burns Night, it’s great comfort food whenever the weather’s cold. Luckily, it’s fairly easy to prepare. Mostly made with store cupboard ingredients, it has a crispy top and a distinctive and appealing chewy texture.
As a meat eater back in my youth, I used to enjoy a good haggis dinner when visiting family in Scotland. As I’ve been a vegetarian now for thirty years or so, it’s not something I’ve had in a very long time.
However, Burns Night is nigh and I have a yearning for haggis, so I thought I’d better make myself some. Only my haggis is a vegan take on the original. It is Veganuary after all.
Dive Right In
- What Is Haggis
- Why Make Vegan Haggis?
- Easy Vegan Haggis
- Ingredients
- How To Make Vegan Haggis
- What To Do With Leftover Haggis
- Other Lentil Recipes You Might Like
- Keep In Touch
- The Recipe
What Is Haggis?
Haggis is a savoury pudding made with sheep’s offal, usually the heart, liver and lungs. It’s combined with onion, oatmeal (pinhead oats or steel cut oats) and spices and boiled in the animal’s stomach. With its satisfying chewy oaty texture and delicious umami peppery flavour, it’s perfect comfort food for cold winter nights.
Standard accompaniments are neeps and tatties. The word neeps is short for turnips, which is what swede (rutabaga) is called up north. And tatties is short for potatoes. Both are usually served mashed. It’s also common to serve it with whisky sauce or gravy.
Haggis is traditionally consumed on Burn’s Night, which is the 25th January. This is the day that Robert Burns was born. ” Rabbie” is Scotland’s national poet and much revered there and around the world, both as a poet and for his social commentary.
Address to a Haggis and Auld Lang Syne are two of his poems that get a regular airing on the night. He died in 1796 aged just 37.
Why Make Vegan Haggis?
Even if you don’t celebrate Burns Night, it’s well worth making vegan haggis. It’s filling, satisfying, nutritious and full of flavour. But there are other good reasons to make it too.
- Cultural Appreciation – Making and eating haggis is a great way to explore and appreciate traditional Scottish cuisine in a vegan-friendly way.
- Easy and Accessible – The recipe is quite a straightforward one. It’s also mostly made from store-cupboard ingredients. Oatmeal is the only ingredient that might be tricky to source. If you need to get ahead, you can prepare the haggis up to twenty four hours in advance and then bake it just before you’re ready to serve it.
- Full of Flavour – Don’t think just because it’s vegan, it lacks flavour. On the contrary, it contains lots of ingredients, such as spices, vegetables and yeast extract which give it a rich and savoury taste profile.
- Healthy – Vegan haggis includes nutritious ingredients like lentils, oats, pumpkin seeds, mushrooms and vegetables, all of which provide essential vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. It’s a healthier alternative to traditional haggis, which often contains high levels of saturated fats.
- Inclusive – Pretty much everyone can tuck in and enjoy vegan haggis. It’s good for those with dietary restrictions or preferences and it’s great for vegetarians and those on a plant based diet. As long as you use the right oats, it’s gluten-free too.
- Make Ahead – It’s a great dish to get ahead with. Prepare the day or a few hours before you need it then bake just before you’re ready to eat it.
- Repertoire Expansion – Vegan haggis is a fairly unusual recipe, so it’s a really good one for expanding your cooking repertoire and making life interesting. And if you’ve never cooked with oatmeal before, this is a very good place to start.
Easy Vegan Haggis
To my shame I appear to have only posted one Scottish recipe here on Tin and Thyme and that was a very long time ago. It’s one for cranachan, which also used oatmeal as one of its ingredients. It’s very good. However, it’s time for a few more, so I’m starting with this recipe for easy vegan haggis.
Instead of boiling the haggis, as is traditional, I bake mine. This is not only easier, but it gives a lovely crispy top, which you wouldn’t otherwise get. It also means you can serve it in a loaf form as a centrepiece for the table. Although this doesn’t preclude dolloping it on the plate, if you prefer.
We ate the one you can see here over three days. Yes it’s that good and we didn’t get bored of it at all. In fact, it gets better on days two and three as the flavours have a chance to meld and it crisps up in the air fryer wonderfully. You can reheat it in the oven too.
It serves six to eight people, depending on how generous the portions are. You can serve it in slices, or crumble it up if you prefer. Traditionally, it would be a pile on the plate rather than a slice.
Gravy or whisky cream sauce are traditional accompaniments, along with neeps and tatties, of course. I make my standard vegan gravy, but add a little whisky to it. It’s very delicious.
I also like to serve mine with some sort of greens. Kale is the obvious choice as that’s the one most likely to be available in Scotland in January.
Vegan haggis is also a good make ahead dish. You can prepare
Ingredients
Vegan haggis requires a fair few ingredients, so I’m only going to refer to the key ones here. They’re mostly store cupboard ones and a few common vegetables. All bar the oatmeal are easy to source, both in the high street or supermarket.
Lentils
Although black beluga lentils will give a good dark colour, they’re quite expensive and relatively hard to get hold of. I use brown lentils which are cheap and easy to get hold of.
You can use green lentils at a push, but you’re haggis may look a little odd colour wise. However, don’t use split red lentils as these are way too mushy. As well as bulk and nutrition, whole lentils add a slightly chewy element which combines well with the oatmeal.
It’s best to soak the lentils overnight, if possible. This not only makes them more digestible, but reduces the cooking time quite significantly. I add a bay leaf when cooking lentils as this adds flavour and reduces flatulence, a common byproduct of consuming pulses.
If you’re really stuck for time, you can use a tin of lentils instead, but I highly recommend cooking dried ones from scratch.
Marmite
Marmite is a thick dark yeast extract first made in Burton-on-Trent in 1902. It’s either beloved or reviled by the British public. There doesn’t seem to be much neutral territory. I happen to love the stuff, though I don’t like it spread too thickly on my toast.
It’s a by-product of the beer brewing industry and is made with leftover brewer’s yeast. Vitamin B12, so crucial to those on a vegan diet is added. One teaspoon of Marmite provides one quarter of the RDI (Recommended Daily Intake). It also contains high levels of other B vitamins, crucially thiamin, riboflavin and niacin. To boot, folic acid and magnesium feature quite strongly too.
You can swap the Marmite for tamari. This gives plenty of umami flavour and is also nutritious, but it doesn’t contain any vitamin B12.
Mushrooms
You can use whatever type of mushrooms you like for this recipe, but portobellos are particularly good. They’re quite “meaty” in texture and have a good dark colour. This helps to make vegan haggis look and feel similar to traditional haggis.
Oatmeal
For this dish, oatmeal is sort of key. It’s the ingredient that makes haggis truly unique. You’re looking for oatmeal, otherwise known as pinhead oats or steel cut oats, not rolled oats.
Oatmeal comes in three grades, fine, medium and course. It’s course oatmeal you need here, though medium would do at a push.
Oatmeal not only gives flavour, but crucially provides texture. It’s what makes haggis deliciously chewy. Rolled oats (porridge oats) turn to mush when cooked and won’t give much to chew on.
Oatmeal can be tricky to find outside of Scotland, though it’s easily available online. I bought mine in my local health food shop. If you can’t get hold of any oatmeal, try jumbo oats. They won’t be as good, but should give some texture.
Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin seeds are little power houses of nutrition. Regular consumption gives many potential health benefits. They’re a particularly good source of omega-3 fatty acids, fibre, protein and a whole host of minerals and antioxidants. (Ref: Healthline)
They also give additional flavour and texture.
Garlic
Instead of two cloves of straightforward garlic, I used one clove plus a clove of black garlic. This isn’t at all necessary, but if you have some, it makes a good addition.
Black garlic contains more antioxidants and more S-Allylcysteine (SAC), which helps the body to absorb allicin. It also has a different and sweeter flavour profile. (Ref: Healthline)
How To Make Vegan Haggis
My baked vegan haggis is easy to make. It’s a lot easier than boiling it in the traditional manner.
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions and quantities of ingredients used.
Step 1. Prepare Lentils
Whilst you can use a tin of lentils to make my vegan haggis, I highly recommend soaking and cooking dried ones. Not only do they taste better, they’re easier on the gut and a whole heap cheaper.
Place them in a bowl, cover with tepid or cold water, then cover the bowl with a plate. Leave to soak overnight if you can. This makes them more digestible as most of the anti-nutrient compounds inherent in lentils are deactivated by soaking. It also makes them a lot quicker to cook. I often leave mine for twenty four hours. (Ref: NetMeds)
Rinse the lentils a couple of times to get rid of any anti-nutrient compounds in the soaking water. Drain them in a sieve, then place in a saucepan which has a lid. Add just enough water to cover them and pop the bay leaf in.
If using tinned, just leave in the sieve until you need them. You can also cook dried lentils straight off, but they won’t have the health benefits of soaking and they will take longer to cook. They’ll also need more water. Give them a good rinse anyway.
Bring the pan to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer with the lid on until the lentils are soft and have absorbed all or most of the water. This will take fifteen to twenty minutes, but longer if they haven’t been soaked first. Drain off any excess liquid into a measuring jug and retain it for later use.
Step 2. Fry Vegetables
Whilst the lentils are cooking, prepare the veg. Finely dice the onion, grate the carrot, finely chop the mushrooms and finely chop the garlic.
Place a large lidded saucepan over a medium heat. Add the oil, then onions and fry for a couple of minutes until translucent.
Throw in the carrot along with the salt and fry for three to four minutes until softened.
Add the mushrooms and garlic and fry for a further five minutes. Give an occasional stir to ensure even cooking and that nothing gets stuck on the bottom of the pan.
Add the spices and lentils. Stir then cook with the lid on until the lentils are hot. This will take about two minutes.
Whilst they’re heating, top up the jug of lentil water with water from a just boiled kettle. You can use hot veg stock instead if you like, but I don’t find it necessary. Stir in the Marmite.
Step 3. Cook Oatmeal
Finally, add the oatmeal to the pan along with the Marmite water. Give everything a good stir. Bring the mixture to the boil, pop the lid on, then turn the heat down and simmer gently for fifteen minutes.
You should have a thick porridge like consistency when done with no liquid left in the pan. Make sure you give a good stir from time to time or the oats will stick to the bottom of the pan.
Taste test at this point. Add additional seasoning or Marmite if you think it needs it.
Roughly chop the pumpkin seeds and stir them into the mix.
Step 4. Bake Haggis
Grease or line a large loaf tin. I tend to line mine with baking paper just to make sure the haggis turns out without breaking up.
Scrape the haggis mixture into the tin then level and press the top down with the back of a spoon. Pop it onto the middle shelf of your oven and bake until the top is nice and crispy.
Leave to settle for a couple of minutes, then turn out onto a platter, remove any lining paper and serve whilst hot.
Serve in slices or crumble the whole thing up and place in a serving dish. People can then help themselves. Eat with neeps, tatties and greens. Gravy or whisky sauce is optional, but recommended. For clean slices, use a large sharp knife, not a serrated one.
Top Tips
Prepare the haggis up to twenty four hours in advance, then bake it just before you’re ready to eat it.
For a crispy bottom and sides as well as top, turn out of the tin onto a lined baking tray. Then return to the oven and bake for a bit longer.
If you’d like to serve the haggis in neat slices, use a large sharp chef’s knife. It”s likely to crumble if you use a serrated one.
What To Do With Leftover Haggis
My favourite way to deal with leftover haggis, is to just reheat it and eat the same meal all over again. However, I appreciate that some of you prefer variety.
Homemade vegan haggis will store in the fridge for three days. To reheat leftovers, place in an air-fryer or hot oven and cook at 200℃ (180℃ fan, 400℉, Gas 6) for fifteen minutes. The outside will go deliciously crispy.
Haggis heated in this way makes a great burger. Just serve in a burger bun with all the usual accompaniments. Spiced apple chutney, mustard, carrot pickles, kimchi, vegan mayonnaise, tomato slices, slaw and lettuce are all good.
Alternatively, don’t reheat it straight away, just crumble it up and use it to stuff vegetables such as courgettes (zucchini), peppers or tomatoes. Then roast in a hot oven.
Or why not try a haggis and cheese toastie? Then again you could use it as the filling for these veggie sausage rolls.
Other Lentil Recipes You Might Like
- Barley lentil dinner with walnut gremolata
- Black lentil bowl with chimichurri
- Homemade vegan ravioli
- Pancake wraps with spiced lentils
- Roasted carrots and lentil curry
- Roasted tomato soup with lentils and carrots
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this easy vegan haggis, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or advice for making haggis?
Please rate the recipe. If you post pictures of your creations on social media, use the hashtag #tinandthyme so I can see them.
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If you’d like more vegan recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Easy Vegan Haggis. PIN IT.
Easy Vegan Haggis: Baked Not Boiled
Ingredients
- 125 g whole brown lentils soaked overnight if possible (can substitute for a 400g tin)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil or other neutral tasting oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 carrot grated
- ½ tsp sea or rock salt
- 250 g mushrooms diced (I used 3 portobello mushrooms)
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped (I used 1 clove garlic and 1 clove black garlic)
- ½ tsp black pepper freshly ground is best
- ½ tsp grated nutmeg freshly ground is best
- ½ tsp ground coriander or use ground allspice
- 250 ml water or veg stock
- 4 tsp Marmite can use tamari instead
- 150 g coarse oatmeal (pinhead oats or steel cut oats)
- 25 g pumpkin seeds roughly chopped
Instructions
- Drain and rinse the lentils a couple of times. Place them in a saucepan which has a lid. Add just enough water to cover them and pop the bay leaf in. If using tinned, just leave in the sieve until you need them.125 g whole brown lentils, 1 bay leaf
- Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer with the lid on until the lentils are soft and have absorbed all or most of the water. This will take 15 to 20 minutes, but longer if they haven’t been soaked first*. Drain off any excess liquid, but retain it for later use.
- Whilst the lentils are cooking, place a large saucepan which has a lid over a medium heat. Fry the onions in the oil for a couple of minutes until translucent.2 tbsp sunflower oil, 1 onion
- Add the carrot along with the salt and fry for 3 to 4 minutes until softened.1 carrot, ½ tsp sea or rock salt
- Add the mushrooms and garlic and fry for a further five minutes, stirring occasionally.250 g mushrooms, 2 cloves garlic
- Add the spices and lentils. Stir then cook with the lid on until the lentils are hot – about 2 minutes.½ tsp black pepper, ½ tsp grated nutmeg, ½ tsp ground coriander
- Whilst the lentils are heating, top up any water leftover from cooking the lentils with water from a just boiled kettle. You can use veg stock if you like, but I don't find it necessary. Stir in the Marmite.4 tsp Marmite, 250 ml water
- Set the oven to 200℃ (180℃ fan, 400℉, Gas 6).
- Finally, add the oatmeal to the pan along with the Marmite water. Give a good stir, bring the mixture to the boil, pop the lid on, then turn the heat down and simmer for fifteen minutes. You should have a thick porridge like consistency when done with no liquid left. Stir from time to time to prevent the oats catching on the bottom of the pan.150 g coarse oatmeal (pinhead oats or steel cut oats)
- Taste test at this point. Add additional seasoning or Marmite if you think it needs it. Stir in the pumpkin seeds.25 g pumpkin seeds
- Scrape the contents into a greased or lined loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes.
- Leave to settle for a couple of minutes, then turn out onto a platter and serve whilst hot.
scott winstone says
Very nice, my vegetarian love rated it …… I enjoyed it too. Green lentils looked fine
Choclette says
Excellent Scott, thanks for the feedback. It’s good to hear that it worked well with green lentils.
Elaine says
Made the vegan haggis yesterday and it didn’t disappoint. It was really very tasty and easy to make. I assembled it in the morning so I could just throw it in the oven after a day out.
It did take quite a bit longer to heat through than the stated time – the mixture was cold/the shape of the tin/a full oven? – but it was worth waiting for.
Can’t wait to reheat the leftovers and enjoy the nubbly crispy bits!
Thank you for posting this recipe Choclette, I think it’ll become a favourite. I’m eyeing up your mushroom pate recipe now….
Choclette says
Thanks so much for you feedback Elaine and I’m glad you enjoyed the haggis. Sorry it took longer to reheat than you were expecting. I will revisit that part. I may have been thinking of reheating slices of it rather than the whole tin. As for the mushroom pâté, I made a big batch earlier this month and stashed some of it in the freezer to use at the end of the month. I love it.
Erin says
This Easy Vegan Haggis is so delicious and perfect comfort food. Thanks for the great recipe!
Choclette says
I’m glad you like it Erin. Haggis is just perfect for this time of year.
annette says
sounds a winner. will give this a go on Thursday but I’ ve only got jumbo oats -do they need a quick whizz in the food processor first do you think?
Choclette says
I haven’t actually tried it with jumbo oats, but no I wouldn’t grind them up at all, you want a chewy texture. They might not need the whole fifteen minutes in the pan to cook and it’s possible they might need a bit more water. Try and soak your lentils the day before if you can. It would be great to get your feedback on using jumbo oats.
sherry says
this really does sound very tasty! Not easy to get real oats here; we usually only have the rolled kind…
Choclette says
Goodness I am surprised. It was hard to get lots of things when I was in Australia over 25 years ago, but I thought things had moved on a lot in recent years.
Mary says
This dish sounds delightful. It sounds so tasty.
As we get older we are eating much less meat and it’s so darned expensive as well.
When the weather cools (it’s jolly hot at present) and the need for hot meals comes round, this will be on the menu.
Thanks Choclette for these little gems. :))
Choclette says
Thank you Mary. Everything is so expensive now. It seems the prices go up every time I go shopping. But lentils and mushrooms are relatively cheap and the haggis is delicious.