With Veganism on the rise, plant-based meats and proteins have become increasingly popular due to the high demand for more options. Cherie Tu, cookbook author, food blogger at @thrivingonplants and vegan lifestyle advocate, breaks down for us a complete guide with the best plant-based meat substitutes you can easily include in your diet.
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“Back when I first went Vegan in 2014, the main sources of plant-based proteins available at grocery stores were tofu and legumes (chickpeas, beans, lentils…), except for a few vegan meat alternatives.
Nowadays, the fridge/freezer aisles are packed full of a variety of alternatives, including plant-based mince, chicken, sausage, bacon and even duck,” Cherie says.
But if you’re vegan, why would you want to eat something that tastes like meat?
This is a question that people often ask when it comes to vegan meats. Cherie’s answer is simple; most people don’t go vegan because they don’t enjoy the taste of meat/animal products. They simply want to be able to consume products that are just as tasty without them coming from an actual animal. If you prefer to avoid these, then that’s totally up to you as an individual! She personally really enjoy them from time to time, especially to change it up. Even as a tofu-lover, there are times where she just feels like using something different in some of her dishes.
Plant-Based Meat Substitutes
In terms of the best plant-based meat substitutes, Cherie thinks that this depends on each individual as we all have different tastes. As a side note, when creating Cherie’s recipes, she generally tries to opt for options that are more accessible to everyone (e.g. using mushrooms or tofu as a meat substitute). However, plenty of incredible products are now stocked in Woolies or Coles, which she also enjoys and recommends to others!
From what she has tried so far, read below Cherie Tu’s recommendations.
Ground beef/mince substitute:
Before anything, she’d highly recommend using either tofu or TVP (textured vegetable protein, also a soy-based product). The way you would prepare them both are quite different! With tofu, you need to choose firm tofu to hold its shape when being prepared and cooked.
How to prepare tofu mince?
All you need to do is remove it from the packaging and drain out any excess oil, crumble up using clean hands and fry and season on a pan however you wish for that particular recipe. For example, “I love doing this to make my popular ‘Chinese Green Beans and Tofu Mince’ dish from my cookbook! Often people avoid using tofu because they are under the impression that it’s bland and flavourless, but guess what? You’re right, it is! But this means that you are then able to season it and flavour it however you wish for the dish you are making”. Cherie says.
How to use TVP as a mince substitute?
All you need to do is pour as much as you need into a bowl and pour boiling water over it to let it reconstitute. Also, keep in mind that since it’s a dry product and will expand, don’t pour too much out at once, as you may end up with an excess of the TVP.
You can also add a spoon of your favourite vegetable stock powder to help it soak in all of that flavour as it reconstitutes. she’d recommend using the Massel beef stock powder as it’s really tasty but is also vegan! You can then add it to a pan to fry off for whichever recipe you want to make. Also, on a side note: TVP comes in various forms (shape-wise); the slices are great for making stir-fries.
Plant-Based Meat Brands in Australia
- Beyond Beef Ground: Probably the most similar out of all of the mince alternatives, it’s soy-free and gluten-free as it’s actually made from pea protein! Perfect to make home-made burgers and it tasted amazing.
- Vegie Delights Vegie Mince: Great for nachos and spaghetti bolognese and it tasted delicious in both. It’s also a good source of iron and B12 and gluten-free for those who are coeliac or gluten intolerant.
- Naturali Plant Based Mince: When this first popped up into Woolworths, everyone was freaking out because of how similar it looked to actual animal-based mince! Taste-wise it’s pretty good, not too overpowering and works well to make pasta sauces, shepherds pies, lasagnes… You name it! Just note that it doesn’t actually brown as you fry it, so keep this in mind so you don’t overcook it.
Chicken Substitute:
Many people have made home-made chicken using vital wheat gluten (aka seitan) to create a delicious high-protein vegan chicken. Would definitely recommend searching up a recipe for this and giving it a go as it’s relatively easy to make but also really delicious.
Plant-Based Chicken Brands in Australia
- Next! Foods Plant-based Chicken Chunks: Cherie really likes this particular brand because the chicken chunks have great texture (they’re stringy when torn apart!) and you can easily cook them in your favourite herbs/spices and sauce.
- Tofurky Chicken Lightly Seasoned: This product is perfect if you want a good substitute for chicken to add into your salads. It can definitely be cooked or fried as well but she loves adding it into pasta salads as it tastes great straight from the packet.
- Lamyong Vegan Soy Nugget: Asian mock meats are honestly some of the best ones around, this was one that she tried a few years ago which quickly become a new favourite/staple to have in her freezer. They come in bite sized “nuggets” and are perfect for stir-fries.
Sausage Substitute:
In terms of home-made recipes: There have been several variations of vegan sausages using a combination of beans, vital wheat gluten and tofu. There are a tonne of different recipes available online, depending on what ingredients you prefer to use!
Plant-Based Sausage Brands in Australia
- The Alternative Meat Co ‘The Alternative Sausage’: She absolutely love these because they’re most reminiscent of the sausages you would use in a BBQ. They even have the skin/casing on the outside!
- Vegie Delights Vegie Sausages: These give off more of a hot dog style sausage taste, they are also great meat substitute for BBQ but she also loves to dice it up and use it in fried rice or thinly slice them to use on pizza or in pasta as they hold their shape really nicely.
- Linda Mccartney’s Sausages: Another great brand with great products, these are actually found in the freezer aisle instead of the chilled/refrigerated section of Woolworths. They’re actually one of the first ones she purchased and tried as a vegan and she still enjoy them till this day.
Vegan Seafood:
“Vegan seafood was something that didn’t exist and didn’t seem possible, but once again, I have been proven wrong! ” Cherie says.
King oyster mushrooms are a great alternative to scallops. Surprisingly the texture is quite similar, and when sliced and scored, they look very similar to scallops too. You’d be surprised at how good they taste when prepared properly.
Also, you can use both firm tofu (marinated, encased in seaweed, then fried) and banana blossom (battered then fried) as a vegan fish alternative.
Vegan seafood brands in Australia
Gardein Golden Fishless Filets: If you’re after the typical battered fish, this is for you! They’re flaky on the inside but crispy on the outside and taste epic.
One of Cherie’s favourite vegan seafood alternatives is using konjac in place of squid. It’s beyond delicious, and you will probably fool every meat eater into thinking it is actually squid. It’s perfect when making salt and pepper squid, calamari, or even to use in a stir-fry. Generally, you can find these at most Asian grocers (e.g. from the brand Lamyong)
“Many brands are now making vegan prawns as well, which are also one of my favourites. I have no particular brands to list here as I’ve come across multiple different ones at my Asian grocer. They look like the real deal too, which is pretty cool!” Cherie says.
Vegan Eggs
Eggs in the world of vegan cooking have been a bit of an interesting one. There are so many different forms of eggs (i.e. scrambled, used in baking, egg whites for meringues, fried eggs etc.) Surprisingly, there have been incredible vegan recipes to cater for all of these!
As well as being able to use firm-tofu for tofu mince, you can also crumble it up to make scrambled eggs.
Depending on whether you want it to be more firm or soft/runny, choose a tofu that best suits your taste (e.g. medium-firm/extra firm…). Then, to add an extra depth of flavour, you can add in seasonings and herbs & spices (turmeric, garlic powder, nutritional yeast) and even a teaspoon of Maille Dijon mustard for a sharp, tangy flavour. Maille mustard is one of Cherie’s favourite vegan pantry staples that can help add instant flavour to anything!
Other vegan eggs alternatives:
- Aquafaba; aka the liquid from cooked chickpeas (either in canned form or from home cooked chickpeas) is such an incredible egg-alternative for a variety of different recipes. For example, it can be used in baking as an egg replacer or it can be whipped up and used to make meringue, pavlova, macarons and more.
- Rice flour and cornstarch. Recently there have been a bunch of vegan fried egg recipes emerging online, with the egg white component consisting of rice flour and cornstarch (as it crisps up nicely when fried) and silken tofu and pumpkin puree for the egg yolk.
- Kala Namak: If you want your vegan egg recipes to actually have that eggy taste, adding a pinch of Kala Namak (Indian black salt) does wonders due to the sulfur compounds!
“In terms of store-bought products, I feel as though there aren’t that many available in Australia yet. JUST Egg seems to be a very popular one in the US, so it would be great to try that someday”. Cherie Says
For delicious plant-based recipes from Cherie, follow her on Instagram @thrivingonplants, read her cookbook Thriving on Plants here, or download the free Maille Tour du Monde cookbook at maille.com.au to try Cherie’s new Vegan Tofu Banh Mi recipe.
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