These meatless walnut meat vegan sloppy joes will blow your mind! Super easy to make and perfectly similar to the traditional version.
When we originally made our vegan walnut taco eat, I knew it had so many possibilities. After that, I knew I had to turn it into delicious vegan sloppy joes.
It’s a childhood classic and a family favorite for so many and it’s just so simple and easy to make.
It’s also eerily realistic looking to what the traditional meat version looks like, so it’s a great transition meal or something to make when trying to convince someone to go vegan.
And it’s a meal that is good for meal prepping.
You also have the choice to make it spicy or not depending on your preferences.
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What ingredients do I need to make walnut meat vegan sloppy joes?
There really aren’t a lot of ingredients that go into the dish. Most are spices and seasonings components.
Full amounts listed in the printable recipe card below.
The ingredients that you need are:
- sweet onions
- garlic
- red pepper (or other color bell pepper)
- canned diced tomatoes
- liquid smoke
- soy sauce (can sub coconut aminos or noy soy soy sauce)
- walnuts
- garlic powder
- chili powder
- smoked paprika
- yellow mustard
- ketchup
- brown sugar
- Optional: Sriracha or red pepper flakes to make spicy
How do you make walnut meat vegan sloppy joes?
The first step is letting your walnuts soak. You can do this by letting them sit in boiling hot water for 30 minutes or let them soak in an air tight container for up to 5 days. We usually let them sit for 24 hours and then use them.
Once your walnuts have soaked, drain them and you are going to put them into a food processor and pulse until you have meat like crumbles.
They should be small in size. Be careful not to over process or you will end up with walnut butter.
Then, chop your onions, garlic, and peppers.
Add a small amount of oil to a skillet (you could also do vegetable stock), and saute your onions and peppers until translucent (about 2-3 minutes). Add in the garlic for 1 more minute. Sprinkle your seasonings across and stir to combine.
Add in the crumbled walnut and stir very well.
Pour in your canned tomatoes, soy sauce (or substitute) and liquid smoke. Stir well.
Cook until the liquid has evaporated, stirring every few minutes. This will take 20-30 minutes.
Add in the ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar.
Stir and cook until the dish is heated throughout.
Take off the stove and serve.
Can this be Top 8 Allergen Free vegan sloppy joes?
This recipe is made with the base ingredient of walnuts, so unfortunately It contains nuts. If you are allergic to nuts, we encourage you to try our vegan lentil sloppy joes.
The soy sauce is the only other ingredient that we are concerned with.
Depending on the allergies you have, you can replace the soy sauce with gluten-free tamari, coconut aminos or a Top 8 no soy sauce (click links to see each).
Otherwise this recipe is allergen free!
Can I prep this vegan dinner ahead?
Yes! Once made and cooled, this walnut vegan sloppy joes recipe can be stored in an air tight container for up to 5 ays.
What are other vegan dinner ideas I should try?
Once you try our vegan pizza dough without yeast, you may be wondering what other delicious vegan meal ideas you should try. We’ve rounded up a few that we love ourselves and think you will too!
- No Yeast Vegan Pizza Dough
- Vegan Pizza Casserole
- The Best Vegan Black Bean Burger
- Cashew, Chickpea, and Broccoli with Garlic Sauce Skillet
- Best Vegan Chickpea Burgers
- Vegan Cauliflower Coconut Curry
- The Best Vegan Lasagna
- Vegan Walnut Taco Meat
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Walnut Meat Vegan Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 4 cups walnuts, soaked
- 2 sweet onions, diced
- 8 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 red bell pepper (other colors work too)
- 1 tbsp avocado (or olive) oil (can sub vegetable stock if oil free)
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 15oz can diced tomatoes (not drained)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (can use coconut aminos or no soy soy sauce)
- 2 tsp liquid smoke
- 2 cups ketchup
- 1/4 cup brown sugar (can sub coconut sugar)
- 4 tsp yellow mustard
- 1-2 tbsp sriracha (Optional. Only add if wanting it spicy)
- 8 hamburger buns
Instructions
- Soak walnuts first if not already soaked. *You can do this by letting them sit in boiling hot water for 30 minutes or let them soak in an air tight container for up to 5 days. We usually let them sit for 24 hours and then use them.
- Drain soaked walnuts and put them into a food processor and pulse until you have meat like crumbles. Scrapping down as needed.*Do not over process or you will end up with walnut butter.
- Chop onions, garlic, and peppers.
- Add a small amount of oil to a skillet, and saute onions and peppers until translucent (about 2-3 minutes).
- Add in the garlic for 1 more minute.
- Sprinkle garlic powder, chili powder, and smoked paprika across and stir to combine.
- Add in the crumbled walnut and stir very well.
- Pour in canned tomatoes, soy sauce, and liquid smoke. Stir well.
- Cook until the liquid has evaporated, stirring every few minutes. This will take 20-30 minutes.
- Add in the ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar. If wanting it spicy, add the sriracha.
- Stir and cook until the dish is heated throughout.
- Take off the stove and serve on buns
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Wonderful and so so so delicious! This is such a creative way to replace meat with simple ingredients. I didn’t have canned tomatoes so I just used more bell papers and grated carrots and it turned out wonderfully. Also, very understandable and easy steps. Will be sure to check out more recipes!!
We’re so happy to hear you liked it! Thanks for taking time out of your day to leave a review. We really appreciate it.
Is 4 cups walnuts really right? It sounds like a lot and the video shows a lot less.
it’s really right, in the video we are making half the recipe