What Is Beyond Sausage (Original Brat)?
Beyond Sausage is Beyond Meat's plant-based take on a classic pork bratwurst — a fresh, uncooked sausage link sold in the refrigerated case (not frozen) that's meant to be grilled, pan-fried, or air-fried straight out of the package. It comes in a handful of flavors, including Original Brat, Hot Italian, and Sun Sausage, and it's one of the older, more established products in Beyond's lineup, having gone through at least one visible reformulation aimed at improving juiciness and reducing the "processed" aftertaste that dogged earlier plant-based sausages.
Unlike Beyond's burger patties, which lean on a beet-juice-based "bleeds" gimmick, the sausage's whole appeal is texture: a snappy casing, a coarse-ground interior, and enough fat content to stay juicy on the grill without turning into a dry, crumbly puck. That's a harder trick to pull off in a sausage than in a burger, since so much of what reads as "sausage" to your brain is the specific mouthfeel of the casing and the way the fat renders. This review looks at whether the Original Brat variety actually delivers on that promise, plus the ingredients, nutrition, and how it holds up against other established vegan sausage brands like Field Roast and Tofurky.
It's also worth noting where this product sits in the broader Beyond Meat catalog. The brand has continued to expand its sausage offerings beyond the original Brat and Hot Italian flavors, adding options like Sun Sausage in more limited retail distribution. That expansion suggests the sausage line has become one of Beyond's more durable product categories, even as some of the company's other SKUs have been discontinued or reformulated over the years — a sign that the texture engineering here is working well enough to keep the category alive.
Ingredients
Beyond Sausage's ingredient list is considerably longer than a lot of Beyond's other products, which tracks with how much engineering goes into replicating a sausage's snap-and-juice texture rather than just a ground-meat crumble. The full ingredient list for Original Brat is:
- Water
- Pea protein
- Avocado oil
- Rice protein
- Natural flavors
- Methylcellulose
- Inulin
- Oat bran
- Sunflower lecithin
- Vinegar
- Yeast extract
- Oat fiber
- Lemon juice concentrate
- Rice starch
- Vegetable juice color
- Pea starch
- Salt
- Spices
- Apple extract
- Potato starch
- Calcium chloride
- Citric acid
- Potassium salt
- Pomegranate concentrate
- Onion powder
- Paprika extract
- Sodium alginate (used for the casing)
That's a long list by whole-foods standards, and it's fair to call this a processed food — methylcellulose acts as a binder and gives the sausage its snap when bitten into, and the sodium alginate forms the outer casing instead of the collagen or hog casing used on a traditional bratwurst. Beyond states the product is free of soy, gluten, GMOs, added hormones, and antibiotics, and pea protein is the primary allergen concern rather than the more common soy or gluten found in a lot of meat alternatives.
Is Beyond Sausage Vegan?
Yes — Beyond Sausage Original Brat is 100% vegan. Every ingredient in the list above is plant-derived: pea and rice protein for structure, avocado oil for fat, plant-based fibers and starches for texture, and sodium alginate (a seaweed-derived compound) rather than an animal-based casing. There's no gelatin, no dairy, no egg, and no honey anywhere in the formulation. Beyond Meat's entire Beyond Sausage line, including Hot Italian and Sun Sausage, is vegan, and the product also carries Halal and Kosher certifications, which some traditional meat products can't claim.
As with any packaged product, it's worth glancing at the label before you buy if you're managing a specific allergy or intolerance rather than just checking for animal ingredients — pea protein in particular has become a more common allergen as plant-based meat has grown, and cross-contact with facility allergens isn't addressed on the marketing copy. If you want a quick way to double-check any specific product's ingredient panel before you buy, the spvegan.com ingredient checker is built for exactly that.
Nutrition Facts: Beyond Sausage vs. Field Roast and Tofurky
Beyond Sausage lands in the middle of the pack nutritionally compared to the other major vegan sausage brands — higher in protein than a typical Beyond burger patty, but also carrying more sodium and fat than some competitors, which is fairly standard for a seasoned, casing-formed sausage rather than a plain ground patty.
| Product | Serving Size | Calories | Protein | Total Fat | Sat. Fat | Sodium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond Sausage (Original Brat) | 1 link (92g) | 210 | 17g | 13g | 2g | 460mg |
| Field Roast Italian Garlic & Fennel | 1 sausage (92g) | 240 | 25g | 10g | 1.5g | 720mg |
| Tofurky Italian Sausage | 1 link (99g) | 260 | 24g | 15g | 1.5g | 440mg |
Field Roast and Tofurky both edge out Beyond on protein per link, largely because both brands build their sausages around wheat gluten (seitan) and legume proteins layered together, which tends to pack in more protein per serving than Beyond's pea-and-rice-protein base. Beyond, on the other hand, comes in lowest on calories and roughly mid-pack on sodium — Field Roast's Italian variety is noticeably saltier at 720mg per link, nearly a third of a full day's recommended sodium intake in a single sausage. None of the three is a "health food" in the sense of being minimally processed, but Beyond is the leanest of the three by total fat and calories if that's what you're optimizing for.
Taste and Texture
This is the category where Beyond Sausage has genuinely improved over the years, and where it's earned a fair amount of praise even from people who eat real pork sausage regularly. The current formulation has a snappy, casing-driven bite when it first hits your teeth, followed by a coarse, meaty grind rather than the smooth, almost pâté-like texture that plagued a lot of early plant-based sausages. Cooked on a grill or in a hot pan, it browns and develops a bit of char the way a real bratwurst does, and reviewers have consistently noted that it releases noticeably less grease than a traditional pork sausage while frying — a genuine advantage if you've ever had to deal with sausage grease splatter.
Flavor-wise, the Original Brat leans herby and mildly sweet, built around garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika rather than the fennel-forward profile of the Hot Italian variety. It holds up well with mustard and in a bun, and multiple side-by-side taste tests against pork bratwurst have come down in Beyond's favor on juiciness, largely because the product is engineered specifically to avoid drying out on the grill. The texture isn't flawless — a small minority of tasters still pick up on a faint processed, slightly springy quality compared to a butcher-made sausage — but it's a meaningfully different, better product than the plant-based sausages sold five or six years ago.
Cooking method matters more with this product than with a lot of plant-based meat. A hot grill or a well-preheated cast iron pan gets the casing to snap and char properly; cooking it low and slow, or microwaving it as a shortcut, tends to leave the exterior soft and undercooked-looking even once the interior is fully heated through. Slicing it on a bias before serving, the way you would a real bratwurst, also helps mask the slightly uniform crumb structure that's the one remaining tell compared to a butcher-ground sausage.
How Beyond Sausage Compares to Other Vegan Sausage Brands
| Product | Base Protein | Format | Best For | Approx. Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond Sausage | Pea & rice protein | Fresh, casing-formed link | Grilling, closest snap/juice to pork | ~$6–$7 / 4-pack |
| Field Roast Sausages | Wheat gluten (seitan) | Fresh, casing-formed link | Higher protein, bold fennel/spice flavor | ~$6–$7 / 4-pack |
| Tofurky Italian Sausage | Wheat gluten & tofu | Fresh, casing-formed link | Budget-friendly, mild flavor | ~$5–$6 / 4-pack |
If grill-day texture is your priority — the snap of the casing, the juiciness, minimal grease — Beyond is the strongest pick of the three. If you want the highest protein count and don't mind a more assertive, fennel-heavy Italian sausage flavor, Field Roast is worth a look, though you'll be taking on considerably more sodium per link. Tofurky sits as the value option, generally a dollar or two cheaper, with a milder flavor profile that works well if you're planning to smother the sausage in peppers, onions, and sauce anyway.
Who Should Buy Beyond Sausage?
Beyond Sausage makes the most sense for people replicating a specific cookout or bratwurst-and-bun experience and who care more about grill texture and juiciness than squeezing out maximum protein per link. It's also a reasonable pick for anyone who's tried plant-based sausage before and been put off by a dry, crumbly, or overly smooth texture, since the current formulation addresses that directly. It's a weaker fit if you're prioritizing protein density above all else (Field Roast and Tofurky both edge it out there), if you're watching sodium closely, or if you're avoiding highly processed foods in general — this is not a minimally processed product, whatever else it gets right.
Final Verdict
Beyond Sausage Original Brat is a legitimately vegan product with a solid, if unremarkable, nutrition profile and a texture that has genuinely closed the gap with real pork bratwurst — the snap, the juiciness, and the reduced grease are real, tested improvements rather than marketing claims. It loses some ground to Field Roast and Tofurky on raw protein numbers, and the long, additive-heavy ingredient list means it's firmly in "processed plant-based meat" territory rather than a whole-food option. For anyone looking to grill something bratwurst-shaped without dairy, egg, or animal casing, it's one of the more convincing options currently on shelves.
Rating: 8/10
