George Foreman Gone Vegan?! Well, the Grill Anyway

I went vegan about 6 years ago, and have moved from one state to another twice in that time.  During my first move, as we downsized, the George Foreman Grill we got for our wedding was an easy give away.  We had used it primarily for chicken and fish before going vegan, and the idea of keeping it around seemed silly.

Fast forward 4 years and as I was looking at vegan burger recipes on Pinterest I realized that the biggest veggie burger problem is that without eggs as a binder, many vegan burgers fall apart when you flip them.  In going through binder ideas, I thought, "What if I didn't have to flip it?  If it cooked on both sides without a flip...  And then I realized that the perfect answer was my good old George Foreman grill!  They have gotten even better, and I found one with a big grill space and ceramic coating instead of teflon so that it doesn't chip- win win!  I've included a link to it at the bottom of this post (trying not to be too spammy).  

The first thing I made when I got it wasn't a burger, though.  I made jackfruit.  Most vegans have now heard of jackfruit, which is making it's way to commercial applications of faux meat these days with Upton's Naturals making a seasoned jackfruit "BBQ" and "Chili Lime Carnitas" that is preseasoned and ready to use as an alternative to pulled pork.

I get green jackfruit online, through Amazon, and it comes quickly and I don't have to search for it.  I used to get it at a local Asian market when I lived in Anchorage, AK, but haven't found a store like that in South Louisiana just yet...  See the link at the bottom to order your own.  My biggest pet peeve about cooking jackfruit is that to get that browned bit to make it pass as a meat-like consistency, you have to use quite a bit of oil.  The grill solved that.

Anyway, I drained a can of jackfruit and put it in a ziplock with some avocado oil and the "Organic No-Salt" from Costco.  It tastes like not-so-salty taco seasoning.  I also added garlic salt because... salt.  I smashed it up so the big chunks of jackfruit broke apart somewhat like pulled pork or chicken, and then put it in my grill.  Mine is hotter on the bottom than the top, so after a while I flipped it.  Beautifully browned jackfruit with lots of seasoning!

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Affiliate links to order this cool stuff:

George Foreman Removable Plate Grill, Platinum/Black

Jackfruit in Brine 20oz (Pack of 3)

Kirkland Organic No-Salt Seasoning-14.5 oz