Serves 4 to 6
Time: 45 minutes
Oi vey has life been hectic over the past few weeks! I’ve been traveling a ton, as well as working on a new solo cookbook and wrapping up the desserts for the Forks Over Knives cookbook. On top of that, I’m working on a few other projects that I’ll talk about soon. Point being, I’ve been a little remiss in my blogging duties, but this is a good one and just might make up for my month of silence.
My recent travels took me to NYC and Austin, Texas where I was spoiled to death by all of the amazing vegan food. From migas to tamales to dumplings to curries, my palate was blessedly overstimulated and I arrived back home in Omaha with some major cravings for big flavors. This was the first meal I cooked as soon as I settled in. It combines my love for sauteed callaloo and West Indian jerk sauces (which I miss more than anything!) with my love for sloppy, saucy midwestern sandwiches. Callaloo comes from the leaves of the taro plant, which is virtually impossible to find in the midwest, but spinach makes a great stand in. This Sloppy Joe, made with seitan, is stick-to-your-ribs spicy and tangy, and the spinach is cooling and creamy with coconut and the ethereal sweet licorice flavor of star anise, which is a component in lots of Jamaican curry powders.
To time everything right, start the spinach when you add the tomatoes to the seitan. Of course, you can just enjoy the Sloppy Joes on their own sans spinach (but don’t you love your veggies?) or enjoy the spinach alongside any other jerk sorta’ recipe. And if you don’t feel like having sandwiches, this would be pretty awesome over rice, too.
Oh and I was considering calling these Sloppy Jerks or Jerky Joes, so in the privacy of your own home, feel free to call them whatever you like!
For the Sloppy Joe:
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon coconut oil, divided
1 medium onion, diced medium
1 pound seitan, chopped into bite sized pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Several dashes fresh black pepper
14 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
For the spinach:
2 teaspoons coconut oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 lb spinach, washed well, stems removed
1 cup coconut milk (regular or light)
2 star anise
1/4 teaspoon salt
To serve:
4 to 6 big sandwich buns
Prepare the Sloppy Joe:
Preheat a large, heavy bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Saute onion in one tablespoon coconut oil and a pinch of salt, until translucent, 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the seitan and cook for about 10 minutes, until nicely browned, stirring often. Push the seitan and onions to one side of the pan so that you have space to quickly saute the garlic and ginger. Put the remaining teaspoon of coconut oil in the pan and toss in the garlic and ginger, stirring as it sizzles, for about 15 seconds. Then mix it up with the seitan and onions.
Add thyme, paprika, salt, allspice, red pepper flakes, cinnamon and black pepper and toss to coat everything and cook the spices a bit.
Add the tomatoes, and cook for about 10 more minutes, tossing often. Lastly, mix in the maple syrup, lime juice and mustard. Let cook for a minute or so, then taste for salt and seasonings, and serve.
Prepare the spinach:
Preheat a large, heavy bottomed pan over medium heat. Quickly saute the garlic in coconut oil, just so it sizzles for a few seconds, being careful that it doesn’t burn. Add the spinach in batches, tossing with tongs, until it is all wilted and fits in the pan. Cook for about 3 minutes, until a lot of moisture is released.
Now we’re going to get rid of the excess moisture, but try not to lose any garlic or spinach in the process. Shove the spinach off to one side, and carefully (don’t burn yourself, dummy!) lift the pan and drain the excess water into the sink. The spinach might all just behave itself and stay on one side of the pot, but use the tongs to keep it from falling into the sink just in case.
Now return to the heat, add the coconut milk, star anise and salt. Bring coconut milk to a boil and stir often, for about 5 minutes, so that the star anise releases its flavor. Turn the heat off and let it rest for 10 minutes or so, soaking up the coconut milk yumminess.
My fiancé and I made this last night for dinner – it was AMAZEBALLS. We served it with homemade cajun seasoned baked french fries. We used the steamed white seitan from Viva Vegan. I didn’t have any star anise for the spinach (Whole Foods was out – shenanigans!), so I substituted a teaspoon of freshly ground fennel seed. I ate the leftovers on top of mac ‘n cheeze for lunch today. This is definitely going to be put in our dinner rotation now!
This was heartbreakingly delicious and it’s even better the next day, when the flavors have had more time to marry. I’ll be making the creamed spinach by itself as a side dish for other meals in the future. Thanks for another delicious vegan wonder!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
I think this sound amazing, but I HATE star anise (anything licorice-y makes me yak). Besides fennel, do you have any suggestions for a substitute?
Would kale be an ok substitute for the spinach? Or would that throw off the flavors?
I just have to try these for my family!!
I also wanted to lick the screen as I’m on day 22 of my 30-40 juice cleanse. Always looking for inspiration for meals to fix my family. Thank you!!
http://healthyveganlife.blogspot.com/
This was an awesome dinner and lunch. I served it with your corn Johnny cakes and my husband couldn’t stop talking about this meal! The best part was he thought I slaved for hours in the kitchen. Not hours, but it did take a while to assemble.
My boyfriend and I had these for dinner and I thought they were amazing! Definitely a new addition to our favorites. I did use kale instead of spinach- aside from the extra crunch, I don’t think that the substitution detracted from the dish.
wow! nuff said 🙂
I made these for dinner tonight, and they were super easy to make. I’m doing the June Salad Challenge issued by Oh She Glows, so this was a perfect way to eat a salad with dinner too! The boyfriend loves everything resembling pizza, so he obviously loved it. Home run. More please. 😉
It appears I’m on a PPK roll – flatbreads two nights ago, and these last night (mac and shews tonight!). REALLY good stuff here. Unfortunately I didn’t have any allspice so I put in a teeny extra cinnamon and a teenier bit of nutmeg; also I couldn’t find star anise around me but I threw in a few anise seeds; and I used lite coconut milk and it was still rich and delish. It was all amazing – sweet, tangy, and spicy, but not too much of any one of those things. Thanks for another killer recipe!
Going to try this with crumbled tempeh.
I did a slight variation of this, using a little more coconut milk than recommended, fake meat instead of seitan, and no coconut oil. I must say, it was ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I HAVE EVER EATEN. No hyperbole. Caps so very, very necessary. Thank you for this recipe.
This was such a good 4th of July dish. Thank you!
This looks really good. Is the seitan you use gluten free? Thanks!
This looks delicious! Do you think it is a good idea to prepare those Sloppy Joes for a picnic? I’d put them together once we arrived to the beach to be sure it’s not all mushy, but it means the dish would be served almost cold… Any thoughts?
These look amazing Isa!
I’ve made seitan a few times bafore using the recipe from your website.. so easy and tasty :p
but i brought nutritional yeast POWDER instead of flakes this time.. can I still use it?
I’m guessing i’d need to use less as its denser, how much do you think i should use?
Sorry to ask so many questions.. just itching to try these !
Thanks,
Leanne from UK 🙂
Omg. Two-month vegan here. Ate this in whole-wheat pita bread pockets Holy shiznit. One of the top five things I’ve eaten as a vegan thus far. 🙂 🙂 :-)! Can’t thank you enough. Will be in my regular rotation.
Great recipe. I made the Seitan yesterday from your Veganomicon book and put the Sloppy Joes together today. I will be eating it tonight at work over rice and my vegan co-worker and I will be singing your praises!!! Will be making the spinach soon, but substituting fresh kale from the garden (hope that works too) Love your ideas!!
Really want to try these this weekend but don’t want to use the oil. What else might work to give similar flavor?
Seems yummy! I’ll be trying this out!
Wow, I made this a couple months ago. Ive been using recipes from here nonstop for the past year….while tweaking the recipes and adding some things of my own. Im not fully vegan yet, but i do cook nothing but vegan. THESE SLOPPY JOES ARE SO INCREDIBLE.! I love making the spinach on it its own as well. Thank you!!!!!!!! <3
I made this last night for my vegan boyfriend and it was amazing. I couldn’t find seitan, so i subbed medium firm tofu, cut into small cubes and it was perfect. It takes longer to brown the tofu. I also made a few other subs ; no maple syrup so I used a dash of honey, no red pepper flakes so I used chili powder for some kick.
The coconut cream spinach is devine. Thanks so much for this recipe!
I just made this with frozen (and defrosted) firm tofu – for a wheat-free version with a nice chewy texture. It is amazing.
Oh God! This burger is mouthwatering! i will cook it this weekend. Thanks for the recipe!
This was such a delightful surprise! I was amazed at just how delicious this dish was. I must admit that I am (was) somewhat skeptical of seitan. I approached this dish with the complete expectation of it tasting like a meat substitute, but was so pleased at just how good it tasted. Isa, your recipes are great. My transformation to vegan has not been as difficult as I had originally anticipated.
My husband made this for me as a surprise for dinner. It was the best sloppy joe ever!!
Deeeeeeelicios!! We just made these and yum yum yummmm!! So flavorful! We didn’t’ have seitan, so we subbed TVP, agave for maple syrup, and a dash of allspice and cloves for star anise. Amazing!
Yep like everyone says these were really great!! I used jackfruit instead of seitan and highly recommend it turned out super flavorful and filling.
I made these a couple days ago and they were an instant hit! The meal was not too spicy for my young daughter to eat- in fact she scarfed it down!!! My only thing was that the coconut milk never cooked down to being “creamy” so I still had to drain it before I placed the spinach on my sandwich but it was still pretty good 🙂 I am not usually a fan of seitan but have since changed my mind since using Upton’s Naturals brand. It cost more than the usual brands but the texture can’t be beat and it worked well with this sandwich.
I will probably use Jackfruit next time and see how that goes. Overall, the flavors complimented each other perfectly and I will probably make this again really soon!
I made this recipe for lunch today and it was AMAZING. My boyfriend said it was the best meal I had ever cooked for him!
This was an amazing dish! My whole family devoured it! The seitan was so so tender and flavorful.
I used tempeh because my grocery store does not carry seitan… soooo delicious. I think the spinach is some of the best spinach I have ever made, and is definitely going into regular rotation. What a fantastic treat!
Do you think I could substitute mushroom for the seitan?
Made this the other night! One of my favorite sandwiches ev-A!
Just made this for dinner. Wow!! Thank you so much for this recipe, it is delicious and so easy to make. I used ground seitan which turned out great. I will definitely be making this again. Will be great as a summer dish with some good mojitos!!
Holy yum. Made this with half lentils (2 cooked cups) and half seitan (only 8 oz). So good!! The flavor is unreal, I love it.
My god…Isa, I just made this and it has made my day, my week, possibly my year. I’m not sure yet. If something better happens this year, then maybe I’ll change my mind then. But holy guacamole, it was good. It tasted like it was bad for you.
I do need to say that I subbed lentils, rather than seitan, only because I didn’t have any. I don’t think I could even try seitan since the lentils were so good.
This was the kind of dish that when I was scooping the leftovers into a container for work tomorrow, I was shoveling it into my mouth still.
This was fantastic. I used chicken-seitan because a 1lb pkg cost almost half 2 unflavored 8 oz seitans. Also used smoked paprika and peanut oil because that’s what I had. Delish.
Just made this for the first time–AWESOME. Thanks for another great recipe!
My husband and I honeymooned in Jamaica and this dish took us back! Now if only we could really be on the beach with a cocktail in each hand and our toes in the sand….This meal will definitely be a make again, and again! Thank you!