Last night I decided to try to make Vegetarian Sloppy Joes with the Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) that has been sitting in my cupboard for months. Sloppy Joes remind me of summer and eating outside. The funny thing is, I’m pretty sure I get that picture from commercials or some kind of marketing because I’ve only had a handful (if that) of sloppy joes in my life. Coming from a family with a Filipino mom cooking dinner let’s just say it wasn’t really on the menu.
This recipe uses Textured Vegetable Protein aka TVP. If you don’t know what that is, it’s basically a substitute for meat that almost looks like crunched up cornflakes until you rehydrate it. It doesn’t really have any flavor and is a pretty good substitute, I think, as long as you aren’t actually looking for a meaty flavor and you’re going to add seasoning. Plus, it’s really cheap and has a decent amount of protein which, as you know, is the first thing people ask me about when they find out I don’t eat meat.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Textured Vegetable Protein
- 7/8 Cup water
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
- 1 can sloppy joe sauce
- olive oil
- hamburger buns
- any type of cheese (optional)
1. Rehydrate the TVP by boiling the water, turning it off and then mixing in the TVP crumbled. Allow to soak for 5-10 minutes.
2. Coat a pan with olive oil and cook onions for 1-2 minutes then add mushrooms. Continue cooking until onions are translucent.
3. Add the re-hydrated TVP and the can of sloppy joe sauce. Mix and cook for a couple of minutes until everything is mixed well and heated.
4. Set some buns on a plate, add your sloppy joe mix, top with cheese (optional) and enjoy!
This was seriously one of the easiest recipes I’ve done in a while. I like to cook from scratch most of the time because I’m crazy like that so most of the time dinner takes an hour or more between prep and cooking. This Vegetarian Sloppy Joe recipe took me about 10 minutes from start to finish. Done and done!
I’ll definitely be making this again since Blaine loved it. He loves food like this, sloppy joes, chili, etc. If you try this out let me know how you like it!
(TVP link is an amazon associates affiliate link)
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