This high-protein vegan ground beef is made with healthy, whole-food ingredients and is a great base recipe for everything from lasagna to burritos! Rich in protein and fiber and so satisfying. Oil-free with a nut-free option.Yield: makes about 4 cups. Double the recipe if serving more than a few people.
Place soy curls in a large bowl and cover with the broth. Let them soak for 10 to 15 minutes. After soaking, reserve ¼ cup of the broth, and drain the rest. Lightly squeeze the soy curls to remove excess moisture, then set aside.
In the preheated pan, dry sauté the onion and mushrooms until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, rehydrated soy curls, and smoked paprika, and cook until the soy curls are heated through, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
In a large food processor combine the nuts or seeds, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Pulse until the nuts/seeds are chopped. Spoon the soy curl mixture into the food processor and drizzle with vinegar and tamari. Pulse 7 or 8 times or until it resembles ground meat.
Return the mixture to the same sauté pan, and cook over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Dissolve the corn starch in the reserved ¼ cup broth. Pour into the pan and continue to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. It should now look more moist, slightly clumpy, and lightly browned. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as desired. Enjoy vegan ground beef as is, or use in other recipes.
Notes
Batch SizeThe recipe makes enough for 2 to 4 servings, depending on your appetites and how you're serving it. So if you're cooking for more than just a few people I recommend doubling the recipe.Substitutions
Gluten-Free - the recipe is gluten-free as written. Just make sure your broth and tamari are certified gluten-free.
Soy-Free - since the base of this recipe is soy curls, unfortunately I don't have a tested, soy-free option to share with you. But if you feel like experimenting I suspect brown or black lentils would be great!
Mushrooms - if you avoid mushrooms, increase the amount of soy curls by about 1 cup, or substitute cauliflower rice to replace the volume.
StorageOnce cool, transfer to a storage container. Refrigerate for up to 5 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in a microwave. Can also be frozen for 1 to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.