Hey all!
Today for Meaty Meatless Monday I want to do a bit of a tutorial/guide to cooking with Jackfruit rather than sharing a specific recipe (although I will definitely share some of my favorite recipes for it).
For those of you that don’t know, Jackfruit is a tropical fruit that is popular in regions of Asia, that happens to be, when in the right form, a fantastic faux meat substitute for vegans in terms of it’s texture. It can be used in vegan pulled pork type recipes, bbq, as a crab or tuna substitute, even in a recipe for Philly Cheese Steak, to name a few! It is rich in iron as a half cup has 25% iron, but otherwise has fairly neutral nutritional value. It is similar to tofu in that it can take on whatever flavors you cook it with, with a bit more of tangy, even sweetly sour taste.
I jumped on the jackfruit wagon as soon as I could find a way to get some, and at first that meant purchasing it from Vegan Essentials’ online store. You can find a link to the actual jackfruit here. However, since every vegan I knew in my small state had said they couldn’t find it locally, I at first did not question them, and assumed the Asian Markets had been checked thoroughly since people had said they had looked there. Well, one day I decided to question that and see for myself. And low and behold, The Chinese American Mini Market in Cranston, RI had a big shelf of them, and they were less expensive than Vegan Essentials at $1.35 a can, as well as no shipping costs were needed. Hurray!
Another mistake I see people making is that there are two different types (maybe more, I don’t know) of Jackfruit. One is a sweeter, more fruit-like kind. It typically (if referring to Chaokoh brand which is the most commonly found canned brand) comes in a yellow container, like so:
This can still be used for other types of recipes, but won’t work if you want to make a shredded meat-like recipe. Notice that the can also says it is in syrup.
Instead, you want to buy young green jackfruit in brine (or water if you find other brands). I am assuming based on the differences between the two, that this form is not as developed as the other, maybe even not quite ripe yet. Here is a picture of what you are looking for:
To make it easier to remember though, I made some handy graphics to keep in mind when looking for the meaty type of jackfruit:
When preparing the jackfruit, you typically want to drain and rinse it before using. The easiest and best way I have found to shred it is to pulse it a few times in a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, then it’s a good idea to simply follow the instructions the recipe usually includes that asks you to shred it with a fork, either before or after it is cooked.
Now, on to the recipes!
In books, my favorite recipes using jackfruit are from Bake and Destroy by Natalie Slater. She has a recipe for yummy bbq’d jackfruit in the crockpot (which I believe is called Cannibal Corpse Crock Pot) that she also uses on top of a yummy kale salad. She also has a recipe for a sweet potato and walnut jackfruit hash (which she calls “You Don’t Know Jack Hash”) which I absolutely loved. Check her and her book out!
The jackfruit salad from Bake and Destroy
The Vegan Girl’s Guide to Life by Melisser Elliott also has a really great vegan carnitas taco recipe in it.
The jackfruit carnitas tacos
As far as websites go, here are my favorite, tried and true jackfruit recipes:
The V-Word (a fellow Mofo-er) has a mind blowing recipe for Vegan Philly Cheesesteak.
Vegan Philly Jackfruit Cheesesteak!
Finally, one of my absolute favorite non-tuna salad sandwich recipes can be found here. It is amazing, and unfortunately gets gobbled up so fast every time I make it that I don’t have any pictures. It was a big hit by itself (without the melt part) at Girls Rock this past Summer amongst the volunteers!
And how could I forget? My very own Jackfruit Chick’un Noodle Soup!
So, in conclusion, do not be afraid to try jackfruit. It’s really fun to use and delicious, and there are many recipes you can find. I hope this settles some of the confusion you might have had if you are a jackfruit newbie looking to find it and don’t know much about it, as well.
Banana Curl, Vegan Girl 
Thank you for this! I see so many recipes using jackfruit, but never had any idea how to buy it or what to really do with it. I now feel confident about actually trying it!
i get my jack fruit next to my gym. it is a little Asian market that i only go to for jack fruit. the store is dingy and smells but it’s my only jack fruit connection!
I’m definitely gonna have to make that tuna melt some time. I’m usually lazy and just BBQ it (which rules!). The last time I was in Philly, I stumbled across whole, fresh jackfruit in a grocery store. I talked myself out of buying it because who am I to think I can guess what a good jackfruit looks like?! and also because they were enormous — probably 20 or 30 lbs each. I’m kicking myself, though, because I really want to find out what they’re like fresh.
I read that jackfruit are the largest tree growing fruits and can weigh up to 80 lbs! More fun facts for ya 🙂 it might be difficult to open, but if you can that’d be awesome! I wonder if it was the young green or the other kind? My guess is that if it was that big it wasn’t young green. But I don’t know.
I’m gonna guess they were young and green. But like I said, I’m shamefully ignorant about the fresh form of this utterly miraculous fruit in a can! One day, though, I will bring one home, and I will most definitely be channeling Gallagher.