If you’ve heard anything about jackfruit, then it’s probably something along the lines of, “It’s vegan pulled-pork!”. Sorry, what? How can a fruit be anything like pork? I found it hard to understand at first that jackfruit, being a fruit, can have a “meaty” texture. Surprisingly it does, and it’s very convincing at that! Although, you do need to be aware that its meatiness could deceive anyone into thinking it’s full of protein, which it’s not. The fruit’s flesh is around 1.7g of protein per 100g which is fairly low when compared to something like tofu, which is 8g of protein per 100g. Despite this, I’m still a big fan of jackfruit. Where it lacks in protein it makes up for it with great texture and ability to absorb flavour. It’s tender and stringy, and it makes a perfect vegan meat replacement in dishes like tacos or burgers.
Jackfruit has become simple to get your hand on too, the larger supermarkets often stock it in cans, which are usually unflavoured, and also in sauce pouches like the ones we’re reviewing here. They’re a great time saver for when you’re up against it, excellent for throwing together an effortless weeknight meal. These pouches from Tesco, at £2 each, come in 3 flavours; BBQ sauce, Tex-Mex sauce and Thai Green sauce.
SHREDDED JACKFRUIT IN BBQ SAUCE
Rating: 4/5
We made this packet into a simple pulled-pork burger. The BBQ sauce is perfect for this American classic. For my taste, the BBQ sauce was a touch too sweet, but Freya thought it was perfect. We added a tangy homemade vegan coleslaw to pair with it and had some homemade french fries on the side. Each packet is one portion, so to have the burgers on their own you’d want 1 packet per person. However, with all the extra sides, the 1 packet was enough to fill us both up.
SHREDDED JACKFRUIT IN MEXICAN INSPIRED SAUCE
Rating: 5/5
I love Mexican food, so it’s no surprise that I loved this! This Tex-Mex style jackfruit was more Mex than Tex, which is a plus in my books. We served ours in a fajita with red pepper, little gem lettuce, pickled cabbage, and avocado. It worked really well in this combo; there was a delicious smokey spiciness that cut through. The sauce is also made with kidney beans, which adds a delicious earthiness. We found the pouch was enough to make 2-3 decent sized fajitas, perfect for 1-2 people.
SHREDDED JACKFRUIT IN THAI GREEN SAUCE
Rating: 3/5
I wasn’t much of a fan of this packet sadly. The Thai Green Sauce is okay, but it’s a little too floral for my taste. I can see how the other two packets could be added to and bulked up, but a single packet of the Shredded Jackfruit In Thai Green Sauce is on the small side for me. To have it like we did, on brown rice with extra veggies, it got a bit lost into the rice and didn’t shine above any of the lovely fresh veg. It wasn’t all bad though, I liked that I could taste lemongrass in the sauce and it was lovely and creamy. It’s not a bad offering really, I just can’t see myself choosing this over making it from scratch.
Although I think they’re all mostly delicious, my favourite is the Mexican one. I can totally see myself making super quick and easy fajitas with these again. All the packets have a great shelf-life too, you could keep a couple of them handy in your cupboards for whenever you’re short on time. In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with these Tesco jackfruit pouches.
Have you tried Tesco’s jackfruit pouches? We’d love to know! Let us know in the comments below, or on any of our social media channels.