My tofu-based vegetarian take on a traditional American dish. My recently vegetarian boyfriend raved over them and said the sauce was even better than store-bought. We sincerely hope you savor them as much as we did. The leftover Sloppy Joe mix from this recipe tastes even better. I offer a side of salad and fresh corn on the cob with them.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 sloppy joes |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
- 1 (12 ounce) can tomato sauce
- ½ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup water
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons barbeque seasoning
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce (such as Frank’s RedHot®)
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 pound firm tofu, drained and crumbled
- 2 medium zucchini, diced
- ½ (12 ounce) package vegetarian ground beef crumbles (such as MorningStar Farms®), thawed
- 12 (6 ounce) whole wheat hamburger buns, split and toasted
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add diced onion. Cook until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add cumin and salt; saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Add tomato paste and break up in the skillet, 1 to 2 minutes. Add tomato sauce, ketchup, water, brown sugar, barbeque seasoning, mustard, hot sauce, and paprika. Bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Set aside.
- Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a separate pan over medium-high heat. When heated, add tofu and zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add vegetarian crumbles and sauce mixture and bring to a low simmer. Cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
- Assemble Sloppy Joes on toasted buns.
Reviews
This was delicious and the zucchini and tofu felt so healthy and tasted great in this. Even my fussy 8yo ate it. I made a few changes: I eliminated the fake ground beef, and increased the tofu to 1 ½ lbs. (could maybe even have done a full 2 lbs.) plus 1 cup chopped walnuts. I also reduced the dijon mustard by almost half. We got two meals for 4 out of this. A family hit, we will make it again, thanks! 😀