My neighbor recently asked me for recommendations for veggieburgers, and my SO and I started writing up this list and I thought I’d share it here, hope that’s okay. It’s a bit more commercial than a lot of the stuff I post here, but meat substitutions are honestly the easiest way I’ve found to get friends and relatives to try vegetarian stuff. It’s easy to cook, guilt free, and with any luck, at least some of these options fit easily into their existing routine. From conservative relatives to friends on camping trips, we’ve gotten good results with these.
By it’s nature, this list will be tailored to American brands accessible in my geographic reach. If you have any recommendations of your own, I’d love it if you shared them.
Hamburger:
- Impossible/Beyond Burger for closest fit to the real thing. They’re even better if you pour a little worcestershire sauce (turns out this has anchovies in it whoops) on them
- Trader Joe’s Quinoa Cowboy Veggie Burger - really good breaded veggieburger. Crisp them up so they don’t fall apart, good with pickles and cheese. Personal favorite, try seasoning them like you would chili.
- Trader Joe’s Veggie Masala Burger - good basic bean burger.
Chicken:
- Quorn’s Meatless Homestyle ChiQin Cutlets are like chicken breasts, good on their own or chopped up in sandwiches, stir fry, pasta, or soup
- Quorn makes a breaded, cheese-and-pesto-stuffed version which is awesome on its own, sort of like the premade Stuffed Chicken Cordon Bleu from the freezer section.
- edit: Daring. Plant Chicken Pieces
Nugs (you really can’t go wrong here, they’re all good):
- Morningstar Farms Vegan Chicken Nuggets (regular and buffalo): closest I think to the real freezer-section thing (minus the gristly bits) and probably the cheapest
- Impossible Chicken Nuggets - also very close, sometimes more expensive
- Trader Joe’s Chickenless Crispy Tenders - a little bit their own thing but very good
- Gardein Breaded Turk’y Cutlets - my personal favorite. These are a bit small so I’m counting them as nugs
Bacon:
- Morningstar Veggie Bacon Strips, it’s not super close but it’s a similar experience, a little easy to burn if you like it crispy
Deli meats:
- Tofurky brand Hickory Smoked Deli Slices
Sausage:
- Morningstar Breakfast sausages - good in breakfast sandwiches, omelets, rice, or just on the side
- Trader Joe’s Soy Chorizo - this is awesome in all kinds of stuff, including soups, rice, pasta, and fauxganoff
- Field Roast Classic Recipe Plant Based Sausage Breakfast Patties - great in soups and rice dishes, especially spicy ones
- Impossible Sausage - these are apparently the closest fit to grilling sausages though I haven’t tried them yet
Steak:
- Trader Joe’s Beefless Bulgogi - This stuff cooks up more or less like steak tips and goes great in stir fry, and especially in soup, where it even holds its shape and texture and lends a nice flavor
Turkey (Thanksgiving style):
- Quorn Meatless Turkey-Style Roast - my SOs recommendation
- Trader Joe’s Breaded Turkey-less Stuffed Roast - my recommendation
For a bacon alternative, I’m a fan of tempeh. Cut thin and then fry in oil with some soy sauce and smoked paprika.
I came here to post something similar. Except, instead of paprika I would use nutritional yeast.
I would slice the tempeh thin, and fry with a small amount of oil. Then when they’re nice and crispy, I would splash them with tamari. And while the tamari and oil are sizzling together, I would toss them repeatedly with the nutritional yeast. You gotta be quick with that part tho.
The end result is this crispy umami awesomeness that goes great with a bunch of dishes. Tacos/burritos, on top of a stir fry, pasta dishes, or even just served on their own next to whatever other side dishes you’d like.
I’ll try that one
Honestly I’ve found that my meat-eating friends and family members find a well-made seitan superior to the majority of commercial vegan meats! As an example, the best vegan burgers I’ve ever made used washed-flour seitan simmered in a simple dark/mushroom soy sauce, onion, garlic, pepper, and bay broth for a couple hours before being barbequeued.
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That sounds great
The Stella McCartney duck shreds (made of setien, soya and seasonings) are my favourite fake meat. They’re delicious, don’t need cooking (defrost first tho obv) and you get a good sized bag for a couple of £, which is cheaper than most other fake meat products where I live.
I eat these in wraps with chilli oil, cabbage, cucumber, spring onion and hoisin sauce. Or I chuck a handful on rice and season it with some chilli oil, crushed garlic, mushroom soy sauce and add whatever vegetable I have in the fridge, usually cabbage or a finely diced ripe tomato.
This sounds great
There are vegan brands of worcestershire sauce, such as Annie’s
Here in NZ the cheap Pam’s brand has an accidentally vegan Worcestershire sauce (that’s like half the price of the fishy imported stuff)!
I should read labels next time I’m in the store. I bet there are other brands too. I just thought of Annie’s because my food co-op carries it.
Good to know! Thanks!
Daring chicken is amazing. They sell a breaded, but the original flavor unbreaded is kind of shocking in the right use. It’s best when sautéed (it browns well), but too much of it in stir-fry or sandwich feels a bit rubbery. It’s so tasty that you might be tempted to use it for something like orange chicken, but again, rubbery.
Also, if you’re interested in making your own alternatives, I love a kneaded seitan. You’ll need a really good stand mixer or a huge amount of stamina, but it’s worth it. Frontier’s no-chicken broth powder is one of my go-to seasonings for everything, but it particularly shines for seitan. https://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Broth-Powder-No-Chicken-1lb/dp/B0001M0YT4/ref=asc_df_B0001M0YT4/
Thank you! I forgot Daring chicken (we got it recently and really liked it, I’ll add it to the list if that’s okay with you!) and I’m loving all these home made recipes, I’ll definitely try this one too!
I haven’t tried a huge amount of plant based meat alternatives (I tried making a burger with Impossible meat and really disliked it), but I recently discovered Butler Soy Curls, and so far have been extremely impressed with them. They’re different from TVP since they’re minimally processed, and use the entire soy bean so they’re a complete protein (TVP is not).
I tried them as directed on the packaging (rehydrate in warm water) and was unimpressed, as they had quite a grain-like cereal taste that was unpleasant.
However, if rehydrated in a concentrated flavorful broth (like double the dose of bullion cubes for a given amount of water) of whatever meat you’re trying to imitate, and then the excess liquid squeezed out in a strainer with a spoon, they can then be used as normal in any recipe that calls for meat, and taste fantastic! I made some stuffed peppers with them and had a meat loving friend of mine try it. They couldn’t really discern that it wasn’t meat, and it had virtually no weird taste. The texture is extremely meat like as well.
Also, I don’t know if they always do this, but when I ordered from them directly, they included a package of their soy jerky (gonna be honest it has that dog-food jerky smell, not a big fan), and taco crumble for free, which was pretty swank.
So yeah, highly recommend soy curls!
Lots of great suggestions in this thread already but I just wanted to add that Gardein “Ultimate” chick’n tenders and filets are super tasty and easy. They are thicker and the breading is crunchier than the normal Gardein tenders.
That’s good to know! I haven’t tried their chicken yet
Eggs: I didn’t like the product called “Just Egg” at first, made from mung bean, but it grew on me and now I miss it. Try it! I especially liked it on top of toast with peanut butter.
Cheese: haven’t found anything tasty. I think that’s a long ways off.
I love the other vegan alternatives especially soy burgers and the chiqn products (they’ve come a long way over the years)! That said, I prefer naturally vegetarian or vegan food that isn’t trying to mimic something. Cheaper, healthier, and tastier.
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