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Easy Pulled Jackfruit Sandwiches. Shredded Jackfruit seasoned with bbq seasoning and bbq sauce, baked and served with slaw. 6 Ingredient Vegan Pulled Pork. Nutfree Recipe. Can be gluten-free soy-free
Unripe Jackfruit, a huge fruit commonly found in tropical climates, has a string like shreddable texture which works great in some applications to make vegan version of meaty meals. It is often used to make a pulled “pork” to fill up sandwiches or tacos.
While trying out my soycurl mango bbq tacos, I felt that this short method of directly baking works out best for me. No additional pans, no additional kitchen standing time! Just shred, mix bbq sauce + seasoning, spread and bake. And done! It cannot be simpler than that!
Change it up with different seasonings such as a mix of bbq and cajun, jamaican jerk, taco seasoning etc. This slaw is a basic one with some vegan mayo, pepper, vinegar and sweetener. Make a double helping of the jackfruit and add to sandwiches, tacos or wraps!
More Jackfruit Recipes
- Crispy Jackfruit Tenders So Good
- Easy Jackfruit Curry
- Vegan Tinga bowl with Hearts of Palm, Chickpeas, Spanish Rice – Sub hearts of palm with shredded jackfruit.
- Jackfruit Meatballs Tacos
- Jackfruit Chickpea Coconut Stir Fry
- Jamaican Jerk Jackfruit, Caribbean Bean Wraps.
Step by Step Photos:
Squeeze the jackfruit in a kitchen towel. Then shred with hands or a fork or knife and add to a bowl with onion, garlic, ginger.
Add the bbq spice and bbq sauce and mix. Spread on parchment lined baking sheet and bake.
Tips to make amazing Pulled jackfruit
- Young green jackfruit texture and flavor can be an acquired thing. Adjust the baking time based on your preference of texture. Add more bbq sauce and bake for less time for moist, and bake longer for crisp caramelized.
- Jackfruit is available as ripe as well as unripe. Ripe jackfruit is packed in syrup and is sweet. We need green unripe jackfruit here. It can be found in Asian stores, Indian stores and online on amazon.
- I make my own bbq seasoning/rub. The other seasoning I like is from world spice which is just spices. So use 2 tbsp and add a tbsp of sugar. You can also add a bit of liquid smoke for smokey profile.
- You want to squeeze the jackfruit as much as possible to remove the brine flavor. Then mix and marinate for a bit if you wish in the bbq sauce + seasoning. Add a bit of broth for additional moisture if needed, then bake.
Vegan Pulled Jackfruit Sandwiches
Ingredients
Pulled Jackfruit
- 2 20 oz cans young green unripe jackfruit , (packed in brine or water not syrup). Each can is 20 oz. you need 2 cans. So a total of 40 oz , it’s white or beigeish white
- 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1/4 tsp salt, or more, depending on taste
- 2 to 3 tbsp bbq seasoning, , add 1 tablespoon sugar if the seasoning is just spices. Use 3 tablespoons if the seasoning already contains sugar. See notes for recipe
- 3/4 cup bbq sauce, , plus more for dressing
Easy Slaw
- 3 cups slaw mix, (I use shredded cabbage, carrot, brussel sprouts, baby kale mix)
- 1/4 cup vegan mayo
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice
- 1/2 tbsp maple syrup, or sugar to taste
- dashes of salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Drain the jackfruit. Place in a thick kitchen towel, fold and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. This will shred some of the jackfruit. Slice the rest using a knife or separate using hands until somewhat shredded. Remove any hard seeds if any (There are rarely hard seeds in the canned version. The tender seedbox and stem area are all edible).
- Add the jackfruit to a large bowl with sliced onion, garlic and ginger. Add bbq seasoning and sugar mixture, and salt and mix well.
- Add 1/2 to 2/3 cup bbq sauce and mix. Add 2 tbsp veggie broth if the bbq sauce is too thick and mix in (I use 2 tbsp of broth to clean out the mixing bowl after transferring to the baking dish). Spread the mixture in a large baking dish (parchment lined).
- Bake at 400 deg F For 30 minutes. Shred some of the larger pieces by pressing with a spatula. Taste and adjust salt, sweet, heat at this point. Add some salt, sugar/maple syrup and cayenne for heat if needed and mix in and move the jackfruit around.
- Spread well again and continue to bake for another 15 to 25 mins (depends on moisture content, pan/oven and preferred texture.) I like some edges caramelized and crispy)
- Prepare your buns tacos and slaw. Mix everything under slaw. Taste and adjust flavor. Chill for 15 mins and use.
- Mix in 2 to 4 tbsp bbq sauce into the baked jackfruit and assemble the sandwiches with generous layers of jackfruit, more bbq sauce, slaw. You can also fill this in wraps or tacos.
Video
Notes
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika or a mix of sweet and smoked or Use 2 tsp paprika and 1/2 -1 tsp Ancho chili,
- 1/2 tsp ground chipotle pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp oregano/parsley or half of each,
- 3/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp cumin ground /coriander
- 1/4 tsp celery seed cayenne, black pepper (optional add ins)
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar optional
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Richa, check your wording about adding the sugar. I think you meant add 1 T sugar if already has sugar and vice a versa? Cant wait to try. Have 2 cans sitting on the shelf.
the other way around. Some bbq seasonings are just spice while some are spice + sugar. If the seasoning doesnt have sugar, then add some sugar. If it has sugar, then dont and add later while tasting if needed
Can you share your BBQ seasonong recipe or did I miss it here?
Recipe links to this one https://fettabbau-trim.today/2017/08/bbq-sweet-potato-pizza.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
This turned out to be delicious. Thanks for the recipe! I’ll make it again.
yay!
This was a fun new try for us. Jack Fruit Wow! Our family thought this was an excellent recipe. The coleslaw is a perfect addition – don’t skip it!
awesome!
Hi! We are replicating this recipe bit with a whole fresh jackfruit. How do we measure the seasonings? Do we go add the specific measurements by each pound of jackfruit?
The drained jackfruit is 10 oz (280g ) per can. So you can peel and chop the jackfruit and then measure out 20 oz or 560 gm and use
Ok so this is a winner of a recipe for sure , so easy and so delicious . My fam loved it 👌
yay!
Is this in your advertised cookbook? I have the cookbook at home but it would be nice to know that it’s already in there…I’m at work and hate to waste paper printing this recipe out if it’s already in print at home! 😛
The book was written in 2016 and early 2017, so recipes after mid 2017 on the blog are all new and not in the book :). there are other jackfruit recipes in the book like jackfruit firecracker sandwich, tinga jackfruit etc
Hi Richa, I have a jar of jack fruit at home, but I will have a look if it’s in syrup or water. If I convert it with your metric, is it correct that 2 20 oz is 40 cans of jack fruit? That seems to me like a lot….
If I use a converter on Google, it says it’s around 60 ml?
no 🙂 its just 2 cans. 40 oz total since most cans are 20 oz cans. i’ll add more detail there
Love your cooking videos!
Suggest that you correct the recipe, which Barbra noted reads 2 cans 20 oz. (40 cans). As noted it should be (40 oz.).
updated it. the widget does the metric conversion and sometimes picks up the wrong qualifier. like cans instead of oz here. thanks for letting meknow. While editing, the metric conversion is a different tab so it isnt obvious to me until i see the published post on the blog.
what about using fresh jackfruit? I have noticed it on sale in my neighborhood but never cooked with it. would it work with this dish or other dishes of yours ? how woudl it be different?
yes definitely.You just wont need to squeeze it. If the fresh jakfruit is already peeled and hard stem removed, then just Shred and use!
The only thing with the fresh jackfruit is that it is usually ripe and then it is sweet and has an apple/ mango flavor. I don’t like that in my savory dishes but maybe try both. Thank you Richa! I really didn’t like it on the stove top and am grateful for your baking insights! I’ve had it prepared and it was perfect but making it myself has been a learning curve! Thank you!
These look great! I was pleasantly surprised to find these on the menu of a small town restaurant in Michigan, of all places. It was the only vegan thing on their menu. I love it now, but it’s definitely an acquired taste! I think they’re better the longer they cook.
yes i dont like the texture when cooked onthe stove top. The baked caramelized jackfruit is so much better!
I agree, if it is not prepared properly, it is an acquired taste. However thorough rinsing of the jackfruit and you CAN make it taste EXACTLY like BBQ pulled pork. I’ve had it made ‘right’ and I’ve had it made ‘wrong’. I sent it back when they get it wrong. Rinse rinse rinse the pulpy fruit!
yes definitely rinseand squeeze out all the brine. the brine is weird tasting