💛Vegan Jackfruit Pineapple Tacos💛
It's time again for a new Fairy Foodie Feature! It has been a long time coming since my last FFF, so I am grateful to be back in it again!
This week's Fairy Foodie Feature is vegan jackfruit tacos. These tacos are simple, effortless to make, and oh-so-tasty. Here's a photo before I noshed on some of my own!
You will need:
I bought these ingredients from Trader Joe's but make use of what grocery and health food stores you have available by you. You will need Green Jackfruit in a can as the star ingredient of this recipe. Jackfruit is SO huge that it is rarely bought in store in full (unless you live in a more tropical location and shop farmers markets regularly). If you do, hats off to you while you are like:
Jackfruit is a large tropical fruit that has a yellow consistency on the inside that is naturally able to break apart into a stringy texture. When it is canned, it takes on more of a white-cream color. This makes it fabulous for appearing to look like pulled chicken or pork, without any of the animal cruelty or nasty factory farming chemicals.
Here's some other fun and fab facts about jackfruit:
💛 According to healthline.com, "it is the largest tree fruit in the world and can reach up to 80 pounds (35 kg) in weight". So epic!
💛 Originally from southern India, it is becoming more and more readily available worldwide and is in U.S.farmers markets in summer.
💛The part most readily eaten is the inside, fleshy part of the fruit, and its seeds are also safe to eat.
💛Jackfruit packs a powerful nutritional punch and includes nutrients like fiber, protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, riboflavin, magnesium, potassium, copper and manganese (source:healthline.com). It is also full of antioxidant power!
What is really cool about jackfruit is that like tofu, it can take on the flavor of what it is seasoned and marinated with. For this recipe you want to first rinse the jackfruit in water to clear off any residue from its canning. Then, take the jackfruit (most likely into sections already in the can), and using a knife or your fingers break it apart it into a stringy texture. It will be very easy to do; I assure you! You want to take care to remove the "seed pods" from the jackfruit Although edible, they have a different consistency and texture and shape than the rest of the fruit flesh and (at least for me) will kinda weird you out while you are eating your jackfruit mixture. Remove these more rounded, different shaped sections and focus on getting the rest of the jackfruity goodness.
I am a huge fan of my rice cooker for making many of my meals, so I took my "jackfruit strings" (as I will call them for this recipe here) and put them into my rice cooker with the BBQ sauce. You can also easily saute this on the stove. I used Trader Joe's Organic Siracha and Roasted Garlic BBQ sauce because I value things made organic and with less artificial ingredients. But you can certainly use any favorite BBQ sauce here. Since the BBQ sauce is thick, dilute with some water. Once the jackfruit strings are all evenly coated and tenderized with the BBQ sauce, remove from heat source. It should end up looking like this:
Next, I need to introduce you to my holy grail item for tacos. Meet...the taco holders:
I loved these so much I bought them for a friend too. They help your tacos stand up straight, and they work with hard or soft tacos both.
Now, you are ready to add your pineapple cubes to the fiesta. This will help offset the BBQ jackfruit and also give you credit towards your daily dose of fruit servings (about 400 grams per day, or 5 servings, healthline.com). I use pineapple cubed from frozen from Trader Joe's and then just defrost or microwave it for easy, simple prep. I would try and use fresh or from frozen fruit here, instead of canned again.
Layer the tacos according to your liking. I have used kale, lettuce, or arugula for my greens in the filling. You can top with a little bit of salsa and shredded vegan cheese (or regular if you are vegetarian). Below I have used Violife shredded mozzarella cheese which I got from Whole Foods.
💛And that's it! Crunch away and enjoy!💛
Julie Ann is a passionate plant based foodie who loves all things nature, spirituality, and playfulness. Following a plant based diet gives her health, energy wealth and vitality, and she loves encouraging and inspiring others to implement the same. Find her at julieannfae.com where she also chats all things astrology, angel cards, Wheel of the Year and more.
Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor or certified healthcare practitioner, and all nutrition, dietary,and lifestyle recommendations are based on my own experiences. As always, consult with your doctor when appropriate. Product links may be affiliate.