Go to the Recipe: Plant-Based, 100% Vegetable Taco “Meat”
What adjustment if any should I make to dehydrate in my oven at 170F. Do I need to extend the time frame?
I would say you would need to double the time, and you need to regularly stir it up. The air flow is pretty key for this to dry out and not just roast to mush.
I’m planning to make this tomorrow but I’m a bit confused about the extra step of dehydrating the veggies and then rehydrating them in the pan by adding water in the finishing step. I’ve seen other similar recipes where you just cook the minced veggies in the pan. Is there a benefit to the long dehydration for texture and flavor vs a quick 30 minute roast and then pan cooking without adding water?
Hello Sid, The dehydrating step is key for texture. Roasting will not release enough moisture and you will still end up with "mushy like" vegetables. The cauliflower and mushrooms are around 80% water and desiccating the vegetables is the magic touch and makes all the difference. Your mix will still be delicious even if you skip that step but texture is what we were after here. The water in the last step is to help and activate the corn starch in the taco seasoning mix while still leaving the vegetables with some tooth, as well as giving you the "taco meat" consistency.
Thanks Matthew. Perfect chefstepsy response. I did try a shorter higher heat roast at 375 for 30 minutes and although tasty, texture was still to mushy so dropped temp to 250F for 1.5 hours and then turned off the oven and just let the mixture chill out and texture is quite close to ground meat. I’m sure proper dehydrator would be better but I’ve been snacking away on this stuff all day leading up to dinner.
Help! It says the first step is to make the Three-Ingredient Plant-Based Ground “Meat, but I can't find the recipe for that.
Same here, can't find the "meat" base on this or the bolognese recipe or when clicking over from the promo email
There is a link in Step 1 and in the top ingredient block as a hyperlink. Or here. https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/our-epic-hack-for-plant-based-ground-meat
The links weren't working when I replied but now it seems to be up and running again. I should mention that this has happened a couple times from ChefSteps links (like links within notifications) but I thought that was just me/my browser/etc.
Thanks for acknowledging and fixing it!
I needed a plant-based taco filling for a party this summer, so I tried yours. I have to admit that my expectations were pretty low. I was pleasantly surprised. My wife and I (both meat eaters) think this is great. Kudos to you folks for developing this recipe! One of you needs to start eating keto so you can focus all that knowledge and experience on low carb living that tastes like something ;-)
For those of us who make our own taco seasoning, about how much is used, measurement-wise? (I haven’t bought a pkg of taco seasoning in years).
Approx 2 tablespoons or 28 g per packet.
