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Veggieful Sloppy Joe’s

Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Servings: 4
Author: Kate Hesse

Ingredients

  • 2 cups TVP plus 1 Tbsp Vegetable Better than Bullion or 1 vegetable bullion cube and 2 cups boiling water
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 small onions, finely diced
  • 2 large carrots, finely diced
  • 1 bell pepper, finely diced
  • 2 celery stalks, finely diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 15 oz can tomato sauce
  • 5 Tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • ¼ cup coconut sugar
  • 3 Tbsp worcestershire sauce (use vegan worcestershire sauce for the vegan option)
  • 1 Tbsp yellow mustard
  • 1½ tsp onion salt
  • ½ tsp paprika
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • Sauerkraut (cold or room temperature, not heated)
  • Buns/thick slices of bread (gluten-free based on your diet)
  • Butter spread of your choice (dairy or vegan)

Instructions

  • Place the dried TVP and bullion in a heat proof bowl and pour the boiling water on top. (I use my tea kettle to heat the water.) Give a quick stir to evenly distribute the bullion, and then cover the bowl with a plate or lid to keep the heat and steam inside.
  • In a large pan, use the olive oil to saute the onion, carrot, bell pepper and celery. Once they begin to soften, add the garlic and cook another 2-3 minutes.
  • While the veggies are cooking, mix the tomato sauce through the black pepper in a bowl.
  • Add the reconstituted TVP (all of the water should be absorbed) to the vegetables in the pan.  Stir in the tomato sauce mixture and 1 cup water. 
  • Cover the pan and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring periodically to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom.
  • When you are getting close to the end of your simmer time, toast your bread/buns and spread them with a generous layer of butter. Spoon the sloppy joe mix on top of the buttered bread and then pile on about half as much sauerkraut as you used sloppy joe mix. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Notes

The sloppy joe mix reheats well if you are meal prepping or have leftovers - just stop at the end of step 5. When you are ready to eat the meal (or leftovers) reheat the sloppy joe mix in a pan on the stove or in the microwave and proceed to step 6.
If you use a green bell pepper, you may want to add an extra 1-2 Tbsp of coconut sugar to account for the difference in sweetness between green and colored bell peppers.
This makes four generous servings, you could easily feed six with this recipe if you add an additional component like a salad to the meal.