Pepperoni Pizza Sally Buns | Vegan, High Protein

| PEPPERONI PIZZA SALLY BUNS |

What's a Sally Bun you ask? If I were to tell you in one word I would say my childhood. But if I were to tell you in detail, I would say...

Sally Bun was my parents cafe. It all began with their first restaurant, Sally. With it's years of success they eventually opened a second location (and then a 3rd, 4th, and 5th!), a smaller, more particular cafe: Sally Bun. It was named after well, the famous buns. Soft and fresh bread dough passed down from my grandma to my father, which he turned into stuffed buns of many varieties. Pepperoni pizza for instance, but some other favourites were tomato, bacon, cream cheese, spinach and feta, curry chicken, tomato artichoke feta, and the later additions - turkey havarti, roast beef pickle, and burgers. Yes, burgers wrapped and baked in dough. As you can imagine, they were magical. 

I grew up in a highchair in the back of the Sally. As I got older I started my first job there, and when I graduated, I had my first full time position there, working next to my mom and dad every single day. My brother worked there too, but with 7 years ahead of me, he was travelling the world by the time I was old enough to work.

As for the buns - as you can probably tell, they weren't vegan. Not even a little. The dough had eggs and margarine in it, and the fillings were cheesy and meaty. I didn't go vegan until long after my parents sold their last location. 

I went vegan 8 years ago now, and since then I've thought about making my family recipes into vegan comfort meals. Today, I did that. And that feels really special. 

While these vegan buns aren't the same, they're well.. vegan, but also whole wheat, and made with simpler ingredients like this 3 ingredient dough. They're healthier, and there's a place for that now, but I wouldn't change a damn thing about the originals.

I hope you give these a go and better yet that they offer you just a bit of the magic they do for me. I know it won't be quite the same experience for you, but maybe after sharing with you what they mean for me, you'll taste just a little extra love in the final product.

Now let's make them!

Recipe makes 8 Sally Buns (you can half the recipe if desired)

Macros per bun:

322 cals - 10g fat - 37g carbs - 21g protein 

 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, I used Anitas Sprouted Whole Wheat to up the nutrition!

2 cups vegan greek yogurt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 seitan sausages, chopped, I used Field Roast

1 cup tomato marinara sauce

1/2 cup vegan cheddar cheese shreds, I used Daiya Shreds (they melt the best!)

2 tsp coarse salt for the garnish, optional, but recommended!

 

Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 350 F and prepare a baking tray.

Chop each sausage in half, lengthwise, then chop them into 1/2 inch, 1/2 moons.

Add the chopped sausages to a mixing bowl with tomato marinara sauce, and vegan cheddar cheese shreds. Mix everything together well, then set aside.

To a large mixing bowl add: 2 cups whole wheat flour, greek yogurt, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

I like to get in there with my hands and mix everything together forming a dough. You can try to do this with a large spoon, but eventually you will have to get your hands in there to roll the dough.

Once you have a sticky dough, lightly flour a clean surface and add the sticky dough ball to it. Gently knead the dough, until you have a smooth dough ball.

Slice the dough ball into 8. 

Using the other 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, add just 1-2 tbsp onto the clean surface and roll a small dough into a flat circle. Pick up the dough circle and hold the centre in the palm of your hand. Using a big spoon, spoon the sausage/tomato/cheese mixture into the centre of the dough ball. Roughly 1/3 cup sausage mix. Now gently pull all the sides of the dough circle up, closing over the sausage mixture, pinching the seams so they stay closed.

Add the sealed dough ball back to the floured surface and gently rotate the stuffed bun around so it's a nice circle. 

Add the sealed bun to the prepared baking tray and repeat until you've used all the dough and sausage mixture.

Lightly oil the surface of each stuffed bun and top with coarse sea salt.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until browned on the bottom and golden on top.

Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before digging in.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Want to improve your nutrition and embrace more plant-based eating in 2025? Join the High Protein Vegan Community! We're creating protein-packed, meal-prep-friendly dishes that are loaded with fiber and bursting with flavour!

 

Need some more fun, high protein vegan recipes to add to your rotation? Check out the Top 100 Ebook for more flavour packed recipes.

Please note:

All macronutrients have been calculated to the best of my ability but may vary slightly.

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