Buffalo Tempeh Nachos

Posted on by llbalanced
Buffalo Tempeh Nachos
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    [post_date] => 2014-10-13 19:55:28
    [post_date_gmt] => 2014-10-14 01:55:28
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    [post_title] => Buffalo Tempeh Nachos
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    [post_modified] => 2018-10-16 09:14:26
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10.13

Everyone has their food thing. My food thing is underbaked chocolate...anything. Give me chocolate and descriptions like "molten", "fudge", or "lord have mercy", and chances are I'm a huge fan.

For my fiancé, it's aaaall about nachos. Max will find nachos where nachos might not meet the eye. And every Monday night, our regular ole' fajita order somehow transforms into a DIY nacho platter.

Who can blame him? Nachos are spectacular.

However, as we approach football season, it is my health foodie-duty (??) to provide him with an LL Balanced version of his favorites that are crazy delicious and totally satisfying.

To healthify nachos for my guy, I immediately tackled the primary nacho offenders—ground beef and dairy (cheese, sour cream). Tempeh, a fermented form of soybeans, is my go-to as a meat replacement, and I've used it several times before on this website. It soaks up whatever you throw it in, and I decided that buffalo sauce was a perfect extra layer of football-appropos flavor. This buffalo tempeh has such a tasty punch, you won't miss the fat from greasy, poor-quality ground beef.

Dairy was a little trickier, but I used an age-old method from the vegan world and created a cheesy flavor using soaked and pureed nuts, plus a generous scoop of salty nutritional yeast. When I combined this "cheezy" base with leftover Buffalo Marinade, it became an addictive, umami-packed sauce that you can drizzle daintily over your nachos, or use as a straight-up dip.

Although, you can definitely grab store-bought pickled jalapeños, I thought it would be fun to flex my quick-pickling muscles. They take absolutely no time to make, and you can customize the spices to suit your liking.

If you're looking for healthy game day recipes that won't leave you or anyone else clutching their belly and scrambling for alka-seltzer, this is your new best friend. Don't be off-put by the number of moving parts here. There are a few pieces to put together, but it's a all super easy and comes together quickly.

buffalo nachos 1

This recipe is also fun because you can use the different elements in various recipes. The Buffalo Tempeh would be great in tacos, over a salad, stuffed into a squash, or even mixed with the Cheezy Buffalo Sauce and used as a dip for crudite. The Cheezy Buffalo sauce would be fabulous tossed over pasta into vegan mac and cheese.

What is your y'alls food "thing?". If it's something you'd like a healthier version of, email me and I will do my best to create it for you!

 

 

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TOTAL TIME :
INGREDIENTS
  • Nacho Assembly
  • 1½ packages tempeh crumbled (12 ounces)
  • ¾ cup Buffalo Marinade
  • 2 cups Shredded lettuce
  • Cheesy Buffalo Sauce
  • 1/3 cup spicy quick pickled jalapenos
  • ½ cup pitted oil cured black olives
  • 1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves
  • ¾ cup salsa of choice
  • 1 bag tortilla chips I used Garden of Eatin’ blue corn chips
  • Buffalo Marinade
  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil red palm oil or dairy grass-fed butter (can also use half olive oil, half coconut oil for less coconut taste)
  • ½ small white onion diced
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup Frank’s Red Hot original
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • 1 tablespoon gluten-free tamari
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Cheezy Buffalo Sauce
  • ¾ cup Buffalo Marinade
  • 1 cup raw almonds soaked overnight and drained
  • 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
  • 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon onion powder
  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • Spicy Quick Pickled Jalapenos
  • ½ cup white balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • ¼ teaspoon cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon chili powder
  • 2 jalapenos cored and seeds removed, thinly sliced
DIRECTIONS
Nacho Assembly
  1. Crumble tempeh into a bowl and cover with 3/4 cup Buffalo Marinade. Stir to incorporate. Refrigerate for three hours-overnight.
  2. Heat a saucepan to medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil.
  3. Add marinated tempeh and sauté for 10 minutes until slightly brown around the edges. Set Buffalo Tempeh meat aside for assembly.
  4. Scatter chips evenly over the surface of your serving dish. The smaller the dish, the less you will get some toppings on each chip, so I recommend something around 16 x 9 or so.
  5. Cover chips with the following ingredients, in this order: Buffalo tempeh, Avocado chunks, Quick Pickled Jalapeños, Olives, Cheezy Buffalo Sauce—drizzle as much of this as you like, Dollops of salsa, Cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.
Buffalo Marinade
  1. Heat a large sauté pan to medium-high. Add oil or butter. When oil is shimmering or butter is melted and starting to bubble, add diced onion.
  2. Saute until translucent and add garlic. Saute another 30 seconds.
  3. Add Frank’s Red Hot, apple cider vinegar, molasses, tamari and salt. Stir to combine and turn down to medium heat.
  4. Allow mixture to simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Pour into a heat-proof bowl. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before adding ¾ cup to the blender to make your Cheezy Buffalo Sauce.
Cheezy Buffalo Sauce
  1. Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.
Spicy Quick Pickled Jalapenos
  1. Combine white balsamic through chili powder in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Add jalapenos and stir. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours before draining and serving.
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