Name: Vegetarian Toad in the Hole
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Ingredients: 7/8 cup plain/all-purpose flour (100g); 2 large eggs; 2/3 cup semi-skimmed milk (150ml); 2 1/2 tbsp light olive oil; 8 vegetarian sausages; 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves; 5 or 6 fresh sage leaves; 1/4 tsp salt; 14 tsp cracked black pepper

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Vegetarian Toad in the Hole, classic comfort food! This vegetarian version of the classic is easy to make and perfect for a great Sunday lunch or weeknight dinner.

Who doesn’t love cosy comfort food this time if the year? Warming, filling and tasty toad in the hole is an English classic. And just because your vegetarian doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this classic meal too. There are plenty of options now for good vegetarian sausages that you’re really spoilt for choice. We’ve been having vegetarian toad in the hole for Sunday lunch for some time now, it took me a while to get the batter right but once I did this has ended up being a family favourite.

Toad in the hole is a classic English dish, first appearing in cookbooks way back in the 18th century. No one knows exactly why it’s called toad in the hole, the most common theory being that the sight of the sausages poking through the batter resembles frogs peering out from a hole. The first “in a hole recipe” appeared in Hannah Glasse’s 1747 book The Art of Cookery, “pigeon in a hole”, using pigeon in a Yorkshire pudding style batter. Thankfully there are no records of toads ever being used to make this dish!

How to Make Vegetarian Toad in the Hole

Make the batter, add the flour to a large mixing bowl then add the eggs and slowly whisk in the milk. Leave the batter to rest for as long as you can.
Cook the sausages, so this is different from your regular toad in the hole, traditionally made with meat sausages. Vegetarian sausages won’t release much fat when you cook them so I have found that frying them up is a better option.
Heat the oil, add about two tablespoons of oil to a large baking tray then put that in a preheated oven and leave it to get good and hot.
Add the sausages, carefully take that hot tray out of the oven then add the sausages to the tray. Pour the batter over and around the sausages then put it straight back in the oven and bake.

Tips for Making your Best Vegetarian Toad in the Hole

Rest the batter, the longer you leave that batter to rest the better. Overnight would be amazing but I have had great results with resting it for an hour. You could also get away with 30 minutes if you’re short on time.
Heat the oil, as I’ve mentioned above, vegetarian sausages don’t release much fat, so the traditional way of cooking the sausages in the tray and adding the batter doesn’t give the best results. So, you will need to heat the oil in the oven dish first, then add the sausages and then the batter. The batter needs to hit hot oil to get that crisp risen Yorkshire pudding effect.
The sausages, there are so many vegetarian sausages on the market now so just go with your favourite ones for this. I use a Lincolnshire style vegetarian sausage, which we’ve found tastes great in toad in the hole.
Herbs, I add fresh thyme and sage leaves to my batter but rosemary works very well too. I’ve made this with and without herbs and to honest the batter with the herbs always tastes better.

Making Ahead and Storing

You can make the batter a day in advance, I recommend doing that. The finished dish is best served immediately, I don’t recommend freezing this. If you have any leftovers I would keep it in the fridge for a day and reheat it in the oven, bear in mind that it won’t be as good as when it was first cooked.

How to Serve Toad in the Hole

We usually have this at the weekend and I serve this with broccoli, carrots, mashed potatoes and onion gravy. If we have it during the week I serve it with peas and mash. I always serve it with gravy so go with your favourite gravy for this one.

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