I’ve been on a mission to make vegan croissants for an upcoming article, so it’s been a week of all pastry, all the time. Multiple days at a time of laminating yeasted dough hasn’t left me with much time or desire to cook. So I’ve been relying on the quick, simple meals, with as many shortcuts as possible.
These BBQ soy curl and cabbage apple slaw sandwiches have suited me perfectly while I master the art of puff pastry. They feature what’s probably my favorite vegan meat alternative, Butler Foods soy curls. Soy curls are inexpensive (about $0.75 per serving when you order a bunch at a time), easy to prepare, have a great texture, and somehow, magically, they’re made from a single ingredient: whole, organic soy beans.
When I make soy curls at home, I usually turn them into a simple plant-based chick’n using the recipe included in this chili. For that, I use vegan bouillon and spices. For this recipe, since I knew I was mixing the soy curls with barbecue sauce, I just rehydrated them with hot water and bouillon.
You can warm the soy curls up with your sauce and put them in the sandwich that way, nice and saucy. If you have an air fryer, you can go an extra step and air fry them after you mix them with the barbecue sauce. This makes them dryer and a little chewier. I like them both ways: initially I didn’t bother to air fry them, but I ended up reheating them in the air fryer as I finished the leftovers, and I really liked the result.
The rest of this sandwich is simple: a quick purple cabbage and apple slaw that’s just the right balance of tangy, salty, and sweet.
This meal has all of the satisfaction of eating a vegan burger, but it feels a little more textured and colorful and—for me, anyway—different. Admittedly, I didn’t contribute much: the ingredients did most of the work for me. But sometimes that’s exactly what we need when it comes to food, and I couldn’t have been more thankful for a few days of protein-dense, tasty, and practically hands-off lunches.
Wishing you all a gentle end to this week, and I’ll see you back here for the weekend update!
xo
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Hi Gena, do you think I could double this recipe? Thank you!
Cari, definitely. I know the half package of soy curls is an odd measurement—I just found that I had way too much on my hands for a single person when I used the whole bag. Double away!