tropit

With all of the recent hoopla about the vegan, fake, meat products that have hit the market lately, I thought that I'd bring up TVP, (Textured Vegetable Protein.) It's been around for a long time. TVP is not as glamorous as those vegan hamburger patties that, "bleed," or sausages that taste just like Jimmy Dean, but it's a great alternative to ground meat, if you are trying to go for a meatless meal.

TVP comes packaged as a dry product, like a grain, or bag of pasta, so it stores easily and doesn't spoil. It's made out of soy, is nutritious, 100% vegan, gluten free, low in fat and high in protein. It's also relatively inexpensive compared to fresh ground beef, or turkey. You can find it online and sometimes, in your local supermarket. I'm pretty sure that Bob's Red Mill and Nuts.com both carry it.

The texture is pretty good for an, "analog meat." I've served it as a taco filling before and no one even knew that it was not ground beef. My favorite way to use it is in chili. I pour some straight into the chili, without rehydrating it and it thickens up the chili nicely. It's also good in stuffed peppers, enchiladas, tacos...anything that calls for ground meat. It takes on any taste and seasonings that you choose.

If you are familiar with TVP, please share any recipes that you may have.

tropit

Here's a site that has quite a few TVP recipes and tells you more about the product. The site also mentions, "Soy Curls," which are similar to TVP crumbles, but more in the shape of chicken strips, rather than crumbles, or ground meat.

Also, while looking for TVP recipes, I came across a site that warns about TVP containing MSG. That's the first time I've heard of that. I looked on my package of TVP from nuts.com and it only lists Soy Flour as it's sole ingredient...no MSG at all.

SusieQOH

Two of my sons are vegetarian and I'm sure they are familiar with that. Do you ever have Beyond Burgers? I heard they're really good. I want to try them.

tropit

They're good, but expensive. You can make your own vegan burgers for a fraction of the cost.

tropit

Just had lunch...homemade vegan burger with the fixings...so good! I'm always changing up my vegan, burger, patty recipe and with this last recipe, I used TVP, along with some vital wheat gluten, mushrooms and veggies as the main ingredients. I really like the texture that the TVP gave the finished burger. I swear, most people would not know that this was not a meat-based burger. It even smells like meat when I grill it in the pan. It's also ridiculously cheap to make.

ladyinpurple135

Tropic - it’s interesting that you just posted about TVO as I’ve been thinking about trying it again (after many years). I ate at a vegetarian/vegan restaurant when I was in college a looong time ago and their tacos were fabulous. I would have never known it wasn’t ground beef. My DIL is vegetarian and I’ve had wonderful items when we visit them out in CO. I had no idea it came packaged dry and I’m going to look for it next time I shop! I’m actually looking for a substitute for ground beef as for some reason hamburger doesn’t taste good to me anymore. I do love a really good hamburger (my husband makes them so good!) but most meats don’t seem to interest me much. Thanks for all the hints.

Sandy in Mooresville, NC

Tartan

I don’t do plant based meat substitutes as they can have salt/sugar/fat to make them taste better. Have you seen the TikTok recipe for pasta? I don’t Tik Tok but YouTube has it as well. It calls for feta cheese, cherry tomatoes, pasta and herbs. I haven’t tried it but it does look interesting and I love feta cheese.

Mkotch

Tartan, if you could post a link to this recipe, I'd love it. I really like feta, too, and am always looking for interesting, new, vegetarian pasta recipes. Thanks!

Tartan

I can’t do links but if you go to YouTube, put Feta pasta recipe tiktok in the search, several will come up.

tropit

Tartan, if you are trying to cut back on salt, don't do the feta cheese. It's one of the saltiest cheeses out there. TVP is not flavored, or salted. You add your own seasonings to your liking, so no worries about that.