Spicy TVP sloppy joes recipe🌶 - James Strange (2024)

Sloppy Joes were one of the first things my brother and I learned how to cook. For me, sloppy Joes are comfort food. But the traditional way of making them with ground beef is not very gout friendly. To make this a gout friendly recipe, the ground beef is replaced with Textured Vegetable Protein or TVP.

Bob’s Red Milltextured vegetable protein is the easiest brand to find, and it’s a good product. Some health food stores sell TVP in the bulk section for the best prices. I travel for work, and in some areas, it can not be found locally. In that situation,Amazonis my go-to source.

So what is TVP? The technical term is “defatted soy flour product.” Sounds delicious? In reality, when the oil has been extracted from soybeans, the process leaves behind the protein as an inexpensive byproduct.

When purchased, it is in dry form, which makes it great for long term storage. If you’re a doomsday prepper, this is a perfect protein to store.

To use the TVP first, we want to rehydrate it. To rehydrate, place in a bowl and cover with water and let it sit for fifteen to twenty minutes. It really is that simple. But At this point, it will still have a slightly raw soy taste. To remove the raw taste, take a handful at a time, and squeeze out the water. The picture above is after the TVP was rehydrated and the excess water squeezed out.

For this recipe, we used two cups of TVP. The TVP was added to a large bowl (to allow for expansion) and covered with water. Allowed to sit for twenty minutes, then the excess water was squeezed out.

TVP is a great source of protein, but taste-wise is boring. However, since we squeezed out the water, it will absorb liquid and take seasoning. To make this more of an adult version, we will make this more of a Tex Mex version of a sloppy joe.

Onion: Finely diced so that it cookes quickly.

Red bell pepper: Finely diced. Used red since its sweet. But any color works.

Jalapeno pepper: Finely diced. This is to add some spice; the seeds were left out. You can add the seeds or use green bell pepper.

Tomato sauce: El Pato brand was used it does have some spice to it. But feel free to use plain tomato sauce.

Vegan Worcestershire sauce. To add some color and depth of flavor. Regular Worcestershire sauce is made from anchovies and is not gout friendly.

Italian seasoning: Yes, a premade blend was used but feel free to adjust to your taste.

Garlic powder: For this recipe, I prefer powder over fresh but let your taste buds decide which to use.

Salt: The tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce have lots of sodium, so you may need to adjust the salt to your taste.

Smoked paprika: To add more depth of flavor and color. A great substitution would be chipotle powder.

Chili powder: Use a brand that you like.

Black pepper:

The cooking time is actually quite short. By adding the spice ingredients to the tomato sauce during prep allows them to rehydrate and combine. You do not have to do this, but it is recommended.

To a pan on medium-high heat, add one Tablespoon of oil. Add the onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno. Cook until the onion turns translucent. This should take about two minutes.

Increase the heat to high and add the rehydrated TVP. Cook until the TVP starts to get some color. This will dry it out more, so it will soak up more of the sauce.

The picture above is how it looked before the sauce was added. Toasting the TVP took about five minutes.

After the TVP has been toasted, reduce the heat to medium, then add the sauce with the seasoning. Cook until the TVP has absorbed most of the sauce. This should take three to five minutes. It is now ready to serve with your choice of bun.

• TVP pasta sauce recipe 🍝
• The best vegan chili recipe 🥑
• Fried Green Tomatoes 🍅
• Vegan / Gout Friendly Gumbo
• Lentil Salisbury Steaks 🍲

Please pin this recipe for latter.