Looking for tips on recipes to try with textured vegetable protein. It’s neutral in flavor and I have no idea on what to do with it. Someone suggested soaking it in a vegetable broth instead of water, but gosh that didn’t work and just ruined what seasoning I was adding onto it.
I always soak in broth instead of water, never had any issue with it.
I like doing TVP stuffed peppers: sautee onions and garlic in pan until translucent, add corn and TVP, add a little extra broth and taco seasoning (chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, msg), stuff filling into bell pepper halves, optionally top with cheese, bake.
Taco “meat”:
- 1/2 cup textured vegetable protein granules (TVP)
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- Pinch garlic powder
- Pinch onion powder
Make the taco “meat”: Combine the TVP, 1/2 cup water, soy sauce, olive oil, cumin, coriander, garlic powder, and onion powder in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes.
Put it in tacos, on nachos, in burritos (breakfast or otherwise), on a salad, etc. I make my own taco seasoning from this recipe to really get a punch of flavor. That site has a ton of vegan recipes as well!
This is the way to go, I use TVP the same way I might have used ground beef before going veggie. Works well with a tomato sauce as a fake bolognese too
Going to second this, can make al pastor or carnitas pretty easily with TVP (also works with jackfruit).
Thanks a bunch. No salt in the TVP itself?
I hate salt, and usually add it after I cook. If you’re gonna add it maybe start gradually with a pinch or two if you really think it needs it, since you’re getting a lot in the soy sauce
Oh of course. I don’t often use soy sauce so I completely missed it. Its probably not necessary to add salt at all.
I hate salt
wait, is that even allowed?
When it makes me sick, yeah
My favourite way to use these is frying them in a pan with a ton of spices and a stock cube and then adding the liquid.
My opinion is that the boiling in stock first just makes these soggy and bland. You can do that too, but really press the water out of them after the boiling with a spatula and pan fry them after that with good spices, it makes all the difference.
I’ve made salads, curries, lasagna, burritos, ragus and most other things you would use meat in by replacing the meat with these or the smaller dried soy granules that work so well as “mince”.
The trick is to really load them with flavour.
Tvp is somewhat common in Mexican American cooking. “Views on the road” YouTube channel has a few veg recipes that use tvp.
This recipe for vegan carne asada uses “soycurl” but you could use tvp instead I think. I can vouch for the soycurl recipe kicking ass.
Could cook it up like a basic ground beef and use in a “meat sauce” pasta
Swapping the tofu for TVP turned out really well in this chili recipe.
Soak the TVP in broth and spices (maybe a little soy sauce too) in a pan on low heat until its absorbed. Add it in to the pot after the onions and garlic have cooked for a little bit and sautee for a few minutes. After that proceed with the recipe as written. The texture works out perfectly and unlike the tofu in the original recipe it keeps pretty well in the fridge.
