One of the most common quests that new vegans (as well as experienced ones) must face is the search for replacements for old favorites. My biggest tribulation seems to be the search for yummy vegan cheese and that have good texture and taste. Sadly, there’s a lot of things I just can’t stomach and the search continues.
While looking for I happened to find – even when I wasn’t vegan I never ate much pork. I may have had riblets once or twice in my life but I remember the taste and texture, and at one point I liked it. Anywho, I’m always keeping an eye out for new things to try out so I figured I’d give these a whirl. Specially since the faux meat market seems to be overflowing with but not with other types of meat.
But I won’t bore you with stats – if you care to see it for yourself.
When I first opened the package I wasn’t too impressed with the size of the riblets. They’re pretty small, but a grown adult may be satifisfied with just one and lots of sides!) They come individually wrapped in plastic with the bbq sauce already in the pack. One thing I liked about them is you can either cook them in the microwave (which only takes a few minutes) or you can bake them (which takes significantly longer – the label says 20-25 minutes, but I’d recommend around 30 based on what happened to me). Not being a huge fan of nuking my food, I baked them instead. I was concerned that there may not be enough sauce, however when I pulled them out they were soaked in BBQ sauce and smelled absolutely delicious.
On to the taste! They are delicious!!! The texture is so close to real meat that my boyfriend even questioned if they were actually vegan (they are – there’s a big vegan label on it)! He even went on to say he felt guilty for liking them so much because he felt like he was eating real meat.
Health-wise these are not perfect (but when it comes to processed food, what is), however with some faux meat products having so many preservatives and other junk that’s hard to pronounce these don’t seem too bad. My main concern is that there’s a lot of sodium in these (34% daily value!).
In a nutshell:
Pros
- Deeelicious!
- Great texture (not soggy like many soy meat products)
- No or preservatives
- Very easy to make
- 15% (per serving)
- 10% (per serving)
Cons
- They’re kind of small (one box won’t feed more than two adults)
- 26% daily sodium value
- They do not seem to be made with organic ingredients
- Contains wheat
Overall, a big thumbs up for . You can find the Morningstar Farms BBQ Riblets in most stores, or get them directly from
