Meat Alternatives for Your Favorite Recipes

You might think that giving up animal products means saying goodbye to your favorite recipes. Good news: this couldn’t be further from the truth. During my time as a plant-based recipe developer and eater, I’ve found that almost any dish can be successfully veganized if you know how to make the right swaps.

Here’s a guide to the MVP ingredients you need to take any recipe in a plant-based direction.

Instead of tuna, try chickpeas

Just like lentils, chickpeas are a great way to increase the nutritional value of a meal by swapping out meat. When coarsely mashed, they make a surprisingly good substitute for tuna in the classic tuna salad sandwich.

They also offer a convenient way to veganize succulent chicken dishes. For example, in this cacciatore, start with step 2. When you get to step 4, add two 16-ounce cans of chickpeas in place of the chicken. Voila.

Try mushrooms instead of beef

With their rich umami flavor and meaty texture, mushrooms can often replace beef, especially if you’re thinking outside the plate. Large mushrooms or those that grow in dense clumps (think maitake, lion’s mane, grouse) can turn into steaks if you sear and weight them in a well-oiled hot pan. As the water boils and they compress, the mushrooms become flat, dense, and distinctly steak-like.

Smaller mushrooms like cremini and shiitake can be shredded and used in place of ground beef. And a grilled or fried portabella mushroom is the original replacement for a beef patty in a burger.

Instead of stewed beef, try braised seitan

Instead of chicken breast, try tofu

Like chicken breast, the world’s most versatile plant-based protein offers a blank canvas for flavor. Bread and fried pieces to recreate fish tacos. Sauté it with vegetables and serve over rice. Crumble it up and cook like scrambled eggs to recreate brunch classics. You can spend a lifetime learning all the things you can do with tofu.

Instead of ground beef, try lentils

Lentils are low in fat, high in fiber and a good source of protein. They are every nutritionist’s first choice for swapping out meats in their recipes. And they’re a surprisingly good addition, especially to ground beef dishes like tacos, lettuce wraps, and “meat” sauces.

If you want to improve your game, you can To really mimic the flavor of meat, mix your cooked lentils with chopped mushrooms and walnuts; Mushrooms add a savory depth of flavor while walnuts contribute mouthfeel and fat.

Instead of shredded pork or chicken, try jackfruit

In recent years, jackfruit has become a plant-based go-to thanks to its bland flavor and unusual texture. It shreds like pork or chicken, making it a good choice for vegan grilling. You want to buy the green fruit in a can (like the ones available at Trader Joe’s). Rinse and then sauté until moisture is expelled before basting with sauce or seasoning to ensure the best texture.

It’s a good filling for tacos and barbecue sandwiches.

Instead of ground chicken or pork, try soy curls

Butler Soy Curls should be more popular and better known than they are. They can be a bit tricky to track down. I order them in bulk online from Butler. They have one ingredient: non-GMO soybeans. When properly prepared, they bear an uncanny visual and textural resemblance to chicken.

If they are sold dry, you should soak them in a tasty liquid (e.g. vegetarian chicken broth) and squeeze them dry before using. Soy curls make excellent vegan fajitas and stir-fries. They can be breaded with breadcrumbs and fried like chicken fingers. Grind them up in a food processor and they’re a perfect substitute for ground chicken or pork.

Instead of ground beef, try plant-based ground beef

This category has boomed in recent years with high-tech newcomers like Beyond Meat. Engineered to look, taste and cook like the real thing, these products do an incredible job. They’re on the expensive side and typically contain almost as much saturated fat as regular beef, so there’s reason to look past Beyond and Impossible. I reach for the Hungry Planet, Lightlife, and Trader Joe versions. They’re great-tasting ground beef subs with zero grams of saturated fat.

Instead of sausage, try plant-based sausage

There are many premium plant-based sausages out there. Field roast is my favorite – I always have it in the freezer. With these products, dishes such as sausage rolls, sausage and kale soup and pasta dishes with sausage can be easily veganized. It’s as simple as using a herbal version instead.

Thanks to the lively spices, soyrizo is particularly good at filling in for the chorizo ​​wherever it’s needed.