Vegan Ground Beef

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Servings:4 servings

Author: Lori Rasmussen, My Quiet Kitchen

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.

Ingredients
US Customary | Metric

4 ounces dry soy curls (half of a bag) - or sub 1⅓ cups TVP
1¼ cups vegetable broth
1 large onion, chopped
8 ounces baby bella or portobello mushrooms, sliced
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1½ teaspoons smoked paprika
½ cup raw sunflower seeds or walnuts - walnuts create a beefier color
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
black pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons tamari

For the final saute:

1 tablespoon corn starch or arrowroot

Instructions

Preheat a large saute pan over medium heat.
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 liquid, 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 your vegan ground beef as is, or as part of another recipe.

Notes

Batch Size - the recipe makes enough for 3 or 4 servings, depending on appetites and how it's served. So if you're cooking for more than just a few people—or you want leftovers to freeze for another day—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 I'm sure brown or black lentils would be great! See this lentil meat for inspiration.
Mushrooms - if you avoid mushrooms, increase the amount of soy curls by about 1 cup, or substitute cauliflower rice to replace the volume.

Store - Once cool, transfer to a storage container and keep refrigerated up to 5 days. Vegan ground beef can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Nutrition