As a native Scotsman with a vegan food blog, this occasion is nothing short of momentous. After much trial and tribulation – and lots of meals to use up the leftovers of experiments gone wrong – it gives me great pleasure to share my recipe for the ultimate vegan haggis.
There are few things more Scottish than the hallowed haggis, and upholders of tradition will no doubt have steam coming out of their ears at the thought of veganising it. But times change, and all I’ll say is don't knock it until you’ve tried it.
If you have any leftovers, why not treat yourself to a vegan haggis toastie, haggis fritter, or haggis quesadilla?
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What is haggis?
Often described as Scotland’s national dish, traditional haggis is a meat pudding that consists of sheep’s heart, liver, and lungs, together with oatmeal, suet, and spices, all cooked inside the stomach of the animal itself. It is usually served alongside neeps (mashed swede or turnip) and tatties (mashed potato).
Haggis is eaten throughout the year in Scotland, but its popularity spikes around 25th January when it plays a central role in Burns Night celebrations.
The truth about haggis
Want to know a secret? Most modern Scots don’t prepare haggis from scratch themselves. Like sausages, they either get it from a local butcher or – as is much more common – straight off a refrigerated supermarket shelf.
Fair enough. Even as a meat-eater, I rarely had sheep’s heart, liver, or lung lying around the house to make haggis with.
And while you could make the same argument about vegans or vegetarians buying their meat-free versions from a supermarket, at least there’s a viable alternative here to create your own from scratch.
What’s in vegan haggis?
It’s quite straightforward to recreate the texture and flavour of traditional haggis, with the key ingredients of pinhead oats, pepper, and nutmeg (just like in this vegan white pudding).
Beyond that, different recipes call for different lentils or beans to substitute the offal, and nuts or seeds to add some fat and texture. I include portobello mushrooms and yeast extract to cover the umami side of things.
Is vegan haggis healthy?
The oats, lentils, and sunflower seeds in this recipe are packed full of plant-based protein. In fact, one serving of this vegan haggis will provide you with over 50% of the recommended daily amount of protein.
Pulses like lentils are nutritional powerhouses, offering fibre, vitamins, and minerals in a way that won't break the bank. Want to learn more? Check out my Beginner's Guide to Pulses.
Using the right oats
To get the right consistency, it’s important to use pinhead oats a.k.a. 'steel-cut' oats. I played around with several versions that used normal rolled porridge oats, but this resulted in a completely different texture (they're better for porridge or things like easy oat cookies).
I managed to track down pinhead oats in a local wholefood shop, where I also picked up the black beluga lentils.
How to make haggis gluten-free
Oats are a gluten-free ingredient, however they are sometimes processed in environments where there's a risk of cross-contamination.
If you're wanting to ensure that this recipe is 100% gluten-free, use pinhead oats, a yeast extract, and a vegan stock that are certified gluten-free.
How to make vegan haggis
Start by frying the onion and carrot together in a pan, followed by the mushrooms, lentils, and spices.
Then it's in with the pinhead oats, Marmite, and veg stock. Cook this together for 15 minutes until you have a very thick porridge mix, before turning off the heat and stirring through the chopped sunflower seeds.
Spoon the mix into a greased loaf tin and bake in the oven for approx. 30 minutes. To make the outside extra crispy, turn up the heat slightly towards the end.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to stand for five minutes before serving.
What to serve with vegan haggis
Haggis is traditionally served alongside neeps (mashed swede or turnip) and tatties (mashed potatoes), as well as greens such as cabbage or kale. The neeps and tatties are both very easy to veganise – simply use plant-based butter and plant-based milk when mashing.
If you want to take your haggis game up a level, I'd highly recommend pairing it with this vegan whisky cream sauce. Featuring a creamy cashew base, subtle sweet whisky notes, and hints of mustard and lemon, it's the perfect way to top it all off.
Other suggestions for sides include vegan cauliflower cheese, vegan roast potatoes, and sprouts with tofu bacon.
Variations/tips for vegan haggis
- Quantity: If making larger quantities of the haggis, make sure you have large enough tins/dishes to bake it in the oven.
- Lentils: I'd highly recommend the black beluga lentils if you can find them, but tinned or pre-cooked cooked brown, green, or Puy lentils would also work.
- Oats: It's important to use pinhead or 'steel-cut' oats for this – rolled porridge oats simply don't work in the same way. You could swap out some of the pinhead oats for cooked pearl barley.
- Texture: If you want a meatier texture, try adding some plant-based mince.
- Sauce: I personally like this dish without any sauce, but you could add gravy or vegan whisky cream sauce. Some people like to pour a dram of straight whisky over their haggis, but I'll leave that decision entirely up to you...
How to store vegan haggis
Refrigerate: Store this haggis in the fridge for up to four days. The easiest way to reheat is in the microwave, but you could also reheat in the oven (covered with foil to prevent burning).
Freeze: Store this haggis in the freezer in sealed containers or resealable bags for up to six months. Defrost before reheating in the microwave or in the oven (see above).
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More vegan recipe ideas
If you liked this recipe, you may also enjoy:
- Ultimate Vegan Fish Pie
- Vegan Biryani with Chickpeas
- Vegan Goulash (Hungarian Stew)
- Black Bean Burgers
- Vegan Cranachan (Scottish Dessert)
- Vegan Skirlie (Oatmeal Stuffing)
- Jackfruit 'Beef' Stew
- Ultimate Vegan Lasagne
You can also check out my full list of Scottish vegan recipes.
Full recipe
Ultimate Vegan Haggis
Ingredients
- 20 g plant-based butter or margarine
- 1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
- 2 portobello/flat cap mushrooms, finely diced
- 1x 400 g tin black beluga lentils, drained (you could also use cooked brown, green, or Puy lentils)
- 1 level teaspoon white pepper
- 1 level teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 250 g pinhead oats (affiliate link – it's important to use pinhead or 'steel-cut' oats, see notes below for gluten-free option)
- 1½ tablespoons Marmite (or other yeast extract if GF)
- 400 ml veg stock (plus more water if needed)
- 30 g sunflower seeds, chopped
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a pan. Add the onion and carrot and cook for 5-6 minutes.
- Add in the finely diced mushrooms and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
- Add the lentils, white pepper, and nutmeg and stir through for a couple of minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F).
- To the pan, add the pinhead oats, Marmite, and veg stock. Cook for 15 minutes on a low heat, stirring regularly. The mix should become quite thick, but add a splash more water if it seems too thick.
- After 15 minutes, turn off the heat and stir through the chopped sunflower seeds.
- Spoon the mix into a greased loaf tin and bake in the oven for approx. 30 minutes. To make the outside extra crispy, turn up the heat slightly towards the end.
- Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to stand for five minutes. Serve with neeps, tatties, cabbage or kale, and vegan whisky cream sauce. If you have any leftovers, why not treat yourself to a vegan haggis toastie, haggis fritter, or haggis quesadilla?
Notes
- Ultimate Vegan Fish Pie
- Vegan Stovies (Scottish Potato Stew)
- Easy Vegan Scotch Broth
- Vegan Cranachan (Scottish Dessert)
- Smoky Mushroom & Red Lentil Pâté
- Vegan Cottage Pie
- Easy Vegan Scalloped Potatoes (Dauphinoise)
- Ultimate Vegan Lasagne
Nutrition
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Naomi
This is absolutely gorge, loved it, I made it with normal oats and put lentils, and left out the 15 min cooking time for the oats in the hopes they’d keep more integrity. 10/10 and my Scottish housemate also fully approved
The Pesky Vegan
Good stuff, and good idea reducing the cooking time for normal oats! Would highly recommend also trying with pinhead/steel-cut oats if you can get them.
Ann-Marie
Update:
I just made this and stuck to your recipe, just adding extra nutmeg, black pepper and some ground cloves.
This is too good just for Burns Night!
Other change: I divided the mixture between 6 large muffin tin and baked for an hour so I could get a crispy top.
I have had vegan haggis before and it was nice but didn’t taste like this! Thanks for posting!
The Pesky Vegan
Glad you enjoyed! Haggis muffins - why didn't I think of that before?!
Sam
I know this needs steel cut oats but it was lockdown, Burns Night and hence an emergency! I switched in a smaller amount of standard oats, tinned brown lentils and pumpkin seeds instead of sunflower. I cooked it in the pan only briefly and the texture was a bit porridgey but could be worse and the outside crisped up nicely. The flavour was great. Only thing I’d add less of is the nutmeg, but I may have put in too much. It was too overpowering. Otherwise, winner! Washed down with Amaretto. Yeah Ok. I failed to get myself a wee dram too 🤦🏼♀️
The Pesky Vegan
Thanks for the review Sam! With the nutmeg, it should definitely be a level teaspoon rather than heaped, but glad it turned out well overall. If you get the chance to try with steel-cut oats I'd highly recommend it!
Nicola
WOW! So easy! Smells just like any premade veggie haggis. Had to leave some in the pan to 'scrape' after I filled the loaf tin. I may have slightly overdone the yeast extract but will definitely be making it again. Assuming everyone else in the house likes it for tea tonight.
Happy Burns Day/Night
The Pesky Vegan
Thanks for the review Nicola!
Amber
Thank you. I made this today and it was perfect. Nailed it!
The Pesky Vegan
Cheers Amber, great to hear!
Leslie
Big win for my first ever vegan Burns Night! Even my 5 year old tried it and ate a little. Next time I make it I will probably cut the black pepper in half because the kiddo thought it was "a little spicy." Texture is perfect. I love it!
The Pesky Vegan
Congrats on your first vegan Burns Night - thanks for the review!
Anna
This is a brilliant recipe! I lived in Scotland for 4 years and fell in love with veggie haggis. I now live in the US (where it's virtually impossible to even find a person who knows what haggis is) but I wanted to make haggis for Burns night. This absolutely hit the spot! Thank you for the recipe, I will definitely be making this again. And now I never need to worry about what to do when I get a craving for haggis. (Even my American flatmate thought it was delicious)
The Pesky Vegan
Hi Anna, thanks very much for the review - glad to hear you enjoyed it and that your flatmate did too!
Anna
Just made it this evening. My neighbours also got a taster portion. They are meat eaters, but loved it and asked when I'm next making it.
Thr black beluga lentils compliment the pepper flavour so much.
And next time, I may try using buckwheat kernels (as suggested by a friend). I got oat kernels and tried to make Steel cut oats in my grinder. But many kernels were still whole. It gave a lovely crunch nonetheless.
Thanks for a fab recipe. Sticky just like the real thing!
The Pesky Vegan
Thanks for the comment Anna! I've never tried cutting my own oats so I'll look into that. As for buckwheat, I haven't tried that myself but would be keen to hear how you get on if you give it a go!
Avril Flood
Happy Burns night -1!
Made this a night early but there was such a generous amount we’ll be able to enjoy it again on 25th.
Recipe was easy to follow, foolproof & the end result was delicious.
As a Scot & lifelong haggis eater (both regular & vegetarian) I feel well qualified to rate this & I do - highly. It replicates all the flavours & textures of haggis so well, you wouldn’t miss the usual “offal” ingredients.
Don’t keep it just for Burns night ......
The Pesky Vegan
Cheers Avril - glad you enjoyed!
Jane
Made for a Burns Night on Zoom, I didn't even have all the right ingredients and it was still delicious.
The Pesky Vegan
Great to hear, thanks Jane!
Margaret
I haven't tried it yet, but want to. Will stone ground oats work, or do they really need to be cut?
The Pesky Vegan
Hi Margaret, thanks for your comment. I'm assuming that 'stone ground' means oats that are ground into a fine oatmeal, as opposed to pinhead (a.k.a. steel-cut) oats, which are much more coarse. If you use fine oatmeal (or rolled oats / porridge flakes), the final product will be quite mushy/spongy and not similar to haggis. The taste won't change much, but it will be lacking the trademark texture that makes this recipe great. I did several experiments when developing it and would say it's well worth sourcing pinhead oats if possible! Hope this helps.
John
Looking forward to trying this next week, I just wondered if you thought bulghur wheat instead of steel cut oats would be ok to substitute? Not sure I've seen steel cut oats before.
The Pesky Vegan
Hi John, thanks for your comment. I haven't tried substituting the oats for bulgur, so I can't say for sure how that might turn out. It might be an idea to cook the bulgur separately and then combine with the other ingredients before baking, and using a lot less stock than stated in the recipe. Also, the texture may not be the same as I find the pinhead oats help to 'stick' everything together as a loaf. Sorry I couldn't be of more help - let me know how you get on if you try it out.
Margaret
Thanks so much -- it's wonderful to receive a personal response
The Pesky Vegan
No problem!
Edward
Oh wow, I just made this following your original recipe, with the mashed potato and kale. I put everything in the slow cooker on low for 5 hours instead of the 15 minute cook in the pan, and then in the oven as per your recipe after so it took slightly longer but I think it's one of the best haggises I've ever had!
Will definitely be feeding to my bubble for Burns Night, plenty left over for me for now so will try your whisky cream tomorrow...
Would be interested to hear your thoughts on the slow cooker method?
The Pesky Vegan
Hi Edward, cheers for the review! I think you're the first person to mention using a slow cooker for this, great to hear that it still turned out well. I don't have a great deal of experience in using a slow cooker myself, but this is a very useful comment for anyone who wants to try it out. Might update the post in future to include this info - thanks!
Simon
Easy to follow instructions. Looks and tastes just as expected, perhaps better - delicious. All ready for the vegetarians at home on Burns Night. Thanks
The Pesky Vegan
Thanks for the review Simon, glad you enjoyed and great to hear you'll be making it again in a couple of weeks!
LibbyO
I enjoyed making and eating this. Can't get vegetarian haggis, as far as I know, here (in Sweden).
I used mushroom rather than veg stock and I had semi processed whole (hulled) oats as I haven't found pinhead oats in stockholm.
I forgot the sunflower seeds when I did the final mix. Oops!
It still tasted great 🙂 although I think the texture would have been better with the seeds.
The Pesky Vegan
Hi Libby, great to hear you enjoyed! The seeds do give it a little bit of extra texture, but I'm sure it's still good without! As for pinhead oats, I know they're not always the easiest ingredient to find. Hopefully someone in Stockholm will supply them soon! If it helps, I often find them in smaller, independent wholefood shops.
Barbara Miraftabi
To a fellow Nordic person. I live in Finland and after years of searching I finally found steel cut oats from a Finnish company called MyllynParas. Maybe you could order it or get someone to send it if they come to Finland, or maybe there are some stores that supply Finnish products. It's called "kaura rouhe" or "steel cut oats. I ordered it from Amazon.de in the past. Good luck....
The Pesky Vegan
Thanks for sharing!
Connie Faivre
Made this for New Year's Day...having been vegetarian for 30+ years and vegan for the last 6, I've never had meat-based haggis (and, frankly, my Scottish friends loved to tease me about its ingredients. I still love my friends! LOL.). I have purchased tinned versions and have found some good and some....well, not so good.
It has turned out absolutely beautifully...wonderful spices and texture, and the loaf came right out of the tin and held its shape. I'm going to use a little of it tomorrow in our tofu scramble! It will be delicious.
I served it with roasted neeps, tatties, parsnips, brussels sprouts, and carrots. And some of the Hoppin' John I made for last night.
Fabulously delicious. Thank you so much! Can't wait to try your other recipes.
The Pesky Vegan
Hi Connie, thanks so much for leaving a review and for the kind words! It all sounds great, especially in with the scrambled tofu - will have to try that myself!
Lisa Marshall
Delicious, great texture and so easy to make.
The Pesky Vegan
Great to hear, thanks!
Ross
Just made for our 'staying in New Year'
Great recipe and easy to follow
The Pesky Vegan
Thanks very much for the review - hope you had a nice evening and here's to a better 2021!
Ross Mallen
Likewise to you. Meal turned out to be very very tasty. Loving the rest of the website as well. Shopping list will be growing in order to make many of the dishes.
The Pesky Vegan
Thank you, great to hear - I'll carry on getting new recipes out there!
Lovethescents
Absolutely delicious and nutritious. Thank you. Our whole family loves this.
The Pesky Vegan
Great to hear, thanks for leaving a review!
Lijsterbessie
FAN-TAS-TIC and easy to follow recipe 🙂
The Pesky Vegan
Glad you enjoyed - thanks very much for leaving a review!
Angela
This recipe is great for those who enjoy haggis but want to avoid the meat. The texture is really good and is a fantastic hearty meal without all the unhealthy/unappealing ingredients.
The Pesky Vegan
Great to hear it went down well, thanks very much for leaving a review!
Jill Scott
Absolutely delicious. Best haggis I have ever tasted. Really easy to make too.
The Pesky Vegan
Great to hear Jill, thanks for leaving a review!
Steve
I'll be making this for a Scotch drinking night, along with some neeps n tatties. I'll report back how it turns out.
I wonder if steaming this would work also?
The Pesky Vegan
Great to hear! I haven't tried steaming it so can't say for sure how that might turn out - very keen to hear how you get on if you do give it a go!