Seitan, tempeh, tofu and TVP replace meat’s protein; jackfruit and mushrooms replace its texture. Upton’s seitan gives 18 g of protein in a 2 oz serving, while Upton’s jackfruit gives 1 g in 75 g. Beyond and Impossible sit in between and are made from plants, though Impossible’s heme was tested on rats.
That jackfruit figure is the one to remember before you swap it into a pulled pork recipe. A 75 g serving of Upton’s Original Jackfruit has 25 calories and 1 g of protein, and the ingredient list is just young jackfruit and water. It shreds like pork and takes a barbecue sauce well, which is what it is sold for, but a sandwich built on it is a vegetable sandwich. If the plate needs protein, the protein has to come from somewhere else on it: a side of beans, or a substitute from the first four below. Mushrooms, cauliflower and the other vegetables people use as stand-ins work the same way. They solve the texture, and the protein question stays open.
So the useful question about a meat substitute is which job it does. The seven below are sorted that way, and each one is read from its maker’s own page, front to back, the way our guide to reading a food label sets out.
Seven substitutes, read from the label
| Substitute | Made from | Protein, per the maker | Vegan, per the maker |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upton’s Naturals Traditional Seitan | Vital wheat gluten | 18 g per 2 oz (57 g) | Yes, all products |
| Lightlife Original Tempeh | Cultured organic soybeans, brown rice | 18 g per serving | Plant-only list; lactic acid “from plant sources” |
| Bob’s Red Mill TVP | Defatted soy flour | 12 g per 1/4 cup dry (23 g) | Vegan badge |
| Nasoya Organic Extra Firm Tofu | Water, organic soybeans, mineral coagulants | Not in the page text | Plant-only list |
| Beyond Burger | Pea and rice protein | 20 to 21 g per patty (the page gives both) | Called vegan in the page title |
| Impossible Burger | Soy protein, heme | 19 g per 4 oz | “Made from plants”, no vegan claim |
| Upton’s Naturals Original Jackfruit | Young jackfruit, water | 1 g per 75 g | Yes, all products |
Upton’s Naturals Traditional Seitan
The densest protein here. Upton’s lists water, vital wheat gluten, soy sauce, whole wheat flour, sea salt, garlic and onion, and a 2 oz serving gives 18 g of protein for 90 calories. Seitan is wheat gluten, so the allergen line reads wheat and soy, and it is the wrong substitute for anyone avoiding gluten. Upton’s says all its products are 100% vegan. Upton’s says to cook it to an internal temperature of 165°F; it slices like a cold cut or browns in a pan.
Lightlife Original Tempeh
Tempeh is whole soybeans fermented into a firm cake, with more chew and a nuttier flavor than tofu. Lightlife lists cultured organic soybeans, water and organic brown rice, and it specifies that the lactic acid in the culture comes from plant sources, a detail worth having on a fermented food. It claims 18 g of complete protein per serving. The page doesn’t give the serving size in its text, so check the pack before comparing it gram for gram with the seitan. Steam or simmer it before frying if you find the flavor bitter.
Bob’s Red Mill TVP
TVP is defatted soy flour, pressed into dry granules, and Bob’s lists nothing else. A quarter cup dry, 23 g, gives 12 g of protein for 80 calories, and the bag carries vegan, kosher pareve and gluten-free badges. TVP is also a brand name: Bob’s notes that TVP is a registered trademark of Archer-Daniels-Midland. It rehydrates in hot water or broth and gives a ground-meat texture in chili or a sauce. Skip it if you want something that holds together as a slice or a patty on its own; it needs a binder for that.
Nasoya Organic Extra Firm Tofu
The ingredient list is water, organic soybeans and, at under 2%, calcium sulfate and magnesium chloride. Those coagulants are minerals, which is why there is no vegan question with tofu, only a texture one, and our guide to nigari and gypsum explains what each does to the block. Nasoya’s product page describes it as plant-based protein but gives the nutrition panel only as an image, so read the protein figure on the pack. Extra firm is the one for slicing and frying; silken is for blending.
Beyond Burger
Beyond’s page calls its patties vegan in the title and lists pea and rice protein as the protein sources. It gives 21 g of protein per patty in one place and 20 g in another. The badges shown are plant-based protein, Non-GMO Project Verified, no soy, no gluten and kosher, and we found no Certified Vegan mark on the page. It is the soy-free option of the two burgers here.
Impossible Burger
The protein is soy and the meaty flavor comes from heme. Impossible says every 4 oz serving has 19 g of protein, “the same as 80/20 ground beef,” and that its products are made from plants. The page doesn’t use the word vegan.
The reason some vegans won’t buy it is in a 2017 letter from Impossible’s own founder, Pat Brown. When the FDA had questions about its heme ingredient, soy leghemoglobin, the company ran additional tests on rats, using what it called the minimum number necessary, and Brown wrote that it chose “the least objectionable of the two choices available”. One position is that the ingredients are all plant-derived, the test is in the past, and buying the burger keeps beef off the plate. The other is that an animal test is an animal test, and Vegan Action’s Certified Vegan standard rules out animal testing of ingredients for exactly that reason. Our line: the burger contains no animal ingredients, and the rat test is a fact you should have before you choose it. We would reach for one of the other six first.
Upton’s Naturals Original Jackfruit
The texture substitute, with the numbers in the opening: 1 g of protein and 25 calories per 75 g serving, from young jackfruit and water. Upton’s says all its products are vegan. Buy it for pulled pork, carnitas or tacos, and plan the protein separately. Don’t buy it if the reason you wanted a meat substitute was the protein.
Beans, lentils and vegetables
Beans, lentils, chickpeas and split peas are the meat substitutes that come with almost no label to read. They stretch or replace ground meat in chili, burgers and loaves, and a can or bag of plain beans has nothing to check beyond the ingredient list. Vegetables used as stand-ins, from portobello caps to cauliflower steaks, do the jackfruit job: they bring the shape and the browning, and the protein comes from whatever you serve with them.
Reading a meat-substitute label
Look past the front. “Meatless” and “plant-based” on a pack describe what is missing or what most of it is made from, not whether it is vegan; Quorn’s Meatless Grounds, for one, lists egg white. The allergen line will catch egg and milk, which are among the nine allergens a US label must declare, so read it on any pack that doesn’t say vegan. Some substitutes on the same shelf fail for exactly those reasons, and our list of foods that aren’t vegan includes a veggie burger that does.
Sources
- Upton’s Naturals, Traditional Seitan (ingredients and nutrition)
- Upton’s Naturals, Original Jackfruit (ingredients and nutrition)
- Beyond Meat, Beyond Burger
- Impossible Foods, Impossible Burger (ingredients and FAQ)
- Impossible Foods, Pat Brown, The agonizing dilemma of animal testing (August 2017)
- Upton’s Naturals, FAQs (are your products vegan?)
- Lightlife, Original Tempeh
- Bob’s Red Mill, TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein)
- Nasoya, Organic Extra Firm Tofu
- Vegan Action, Certified Vegan certification standards
- Quorn, Meatless Grounds (ingredients)
- FDA, Food allergies: what you need to know about labeling
