Hiya! Me and Meave made vegan “pulled pork” sliders with Upton’s Naturals new jackfruit! They have two flavors: BBQ and Chili Lime Carnitas. Meave and I never really had meat sliders, so we deferred to the expertise of her boyfriend Kas. KAS IS A SLIDER GENIUS.
First thing Kas said we had to do was make coleslaw. We let him make if for us as we sat by and taste-tested, because we are so nice to him. Coleslaw is apparently v easy to make. You just sliver cabbage, onion, and carrots, and then mix that with veeg mayonnaise, vinegar, and maybe a little vegan milk if you like it runny. Then you just top with salt and pepper and you’re done! So simple. (I also found several vegan ‘slaw variations on Happy Healthy Life you can try too.)
Since we had most of a giant onion left over from the coleslaw, Kas said we should sauté it up to put on top of our sliders. And the final topping: spicy pickles.
Upton’s jackfruit is pretty much good to go, you just have to heat it up! We pan fried it a bit until hot. Here’s the BBQ flavor:
Meaty-looking! Not the prettiest shot but I wanted you to have a good look. And here’s the Chili Lime Carnitas:
As you can see, the BBQ flavor is in bigger chunks. The carnitas flavor is more shredded-looking, and lighter in color.
After we heated the jackfruit, we toasted the buns* and made our sliders! To cut to the chase: THESE ARE SO DELICIOUS! Like, so good. And Kas, as our only participant with pull-pork slider experience, said these had “everything you want in a slider!” He was v pleased, as were we.
Here’s a detail shot of the BBQ jackfruit slider:
I definitely prefer the BBQ flavor. The lime was pretty strong in the Chili Lime Carnitas and I’m also not super into chili flavoring. But we did like the texture of the carnitas one a bit more than the chunky BBQ. But, for me, the BBQ wins out. Perfect flavor! Not too tangy, not too sweet, just right. And there is no weirdness to these. Like, you know sometimes you get meat substitutes and there’s just something off about it? Not the case with this stuff. Just tasted yummy! Honestly, I’ve been craving another Upton’s slider ever since. And it’s super convenient and easy to make, even for a lazy b like me. We also like that you don’t need to store this stuff in the fridge, and my packs at least were good until December 2016–you know what that means! VEEG BOMB SHELTER SUPPLIES!
Our official word is: highly recommended. In fact, I’ve been telling everyone about them. If you want to find in your area, check Upton’s Where To Buy page.
*Note: We got slider buns by Vermont Bread Company…and I SWEAR TO GOODNESS when we read the package, the ingredients were vegan…but then when I went online to get a link for you guys, the ingredients said egg. We already threw the packaging out so I can’t check. I’m so confused. I wrote the company to find out what the deal is, I’ll update you. But until we find out: read the label! (duh, I know, we always do)