Fresh and Vegan Thai Jackfruit Salad
This Thai jackfruit salad hits your mouth with salty, sour, and spicy all at once, paired with the freshness from mint and cilantro, and the crunch of bell peppers and shallots. Perfect in sandwiches, wraps, spring rolls, salads, and more, this is a great salad to meal prep at the beginning of the week and use in multiple meals over the course of your week.
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All About Jackfruit
Jackfruits are native to Southern Asia, where the large, spikey, fruits hang from trees, almost like imaginative illustrations of dinosaur eggs. Each jackfruit can weigh up to 40 pounds, with a mature tree baring up to 500 fruit per year. The scale of that is just massive to imagine! Unripe, or green jackfruit, has a mild flavor and stringy flesh that tears apart in a meat-like texture. Ripe jackfruit can also be found canned in syrup, and has a bit of a tropical banana flavor and is more suitable for desserts. Fresh fruit can also be used green or ripe, but I have personally found that it isn’t worth the money or effort to get fresh fruit, especially when using green jackfruit. The seeds of jackfruit can be roasted and used as a chocolate alternative. Jackfruit is eaten widely in Indonesia, the Philippines, Southern India, and more. In the United States jackfruit is typically available canned, and is generally used by vegans and vegetarians as a meat substitute. Just makes sure you get green jackfruit, and not ripe jackfruit, for the purpose. Nutritionally, jackfruit has 3 grams of protein per cup, which is high for a fruit, but low compared to a meat. Compared to meat, it is much lower in fat, lower in calories, and high in several vitamins and minerals, such as potassium, vitamin C and A, manganese, magnesium, and copper. Most importantly to me, when comparing jackfruit to meat, jackfruit did not have to be killed in a slaughterhouse before making it to your table. If you’re looking for jackfruit, you can get some here.
Looking for Thai-Inspired Recipes? Try one of these!
- Thai Rice Noodle Salad with Vegan Chick’n
- Galangal Cookies with Lime and Coconut
- Spiralized Radish Thai Noodle Salad (Yum Woon Sen)
- Thai Red Curry Sweet Potato Dip
- Bittersweet Pomelo Jam with Thyme
- Chicken of the Woods Vegan Pad Kee Mao
- TVP Vegan Larb
- Tempeh and Pomelo Salad with Avocado
- Vegan Fish Sauce (Fish-less Sauce!)
Looking for Jackfruit Recipes? Try one of these!
- Pipián Verde with Mexican Jackfruit and Tofu
- Vegan Brown Rice Congee with Jackfruit and Mushrooms
- Buffalo Jackfruit Vegan Air Fryer Spring Rolls
- Spicy Jackfruit and Black Bean Stew with Bananas
- Vegan Tuna Salad (Made with Jackfruit, not Chickpeas!)
How to Make Thai Jackfruit Salad
This dynamic salad is actually pretty easy to make, and is great to have in the fridge to add to salads, sandwiches, and wraps- it’s especially good in fresh rolls! The first step is to flavor your jackfruit, since it has very little flavor on its own. We did that by making a brine with soy sauce, seaweed, garlic, miso paste, and dried mushrooms in water, and boiling the jackfruit in the brine so it soaks up those salty, umami flavors. I let mine cool down in the brine before straining the excess liquid off. The flavor in the jackfruit actually makes up a lot of the dressing for this salad- the rest is made up with a small amount of sugar, neutral-flavored oil, chili flakes, and lime juice. The tablespoon of oil we added to this salad brings the flavors together, but if you prefer not to eat oils this recipe is still great without it. Finally, we add bell peppers for sweetness and crunch, shallots, and cilantro and mint for a real burst of freshness. And that’s it! Your not at all authentic but super delicious Thai jackfruit salad is ready! Make all the sandwiches and salads that your spice-craving self desires.
Fresh and Vegan Thai Jackfruit Salad
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. miso paste
- 2 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1 large piece of kombu
- 2 cans of green jackfruit, (around 10 oz. per can, canned in water)
- ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro
- 2 tbsp. finely chopped mint
- 1 medium sized shallot
- 1 large bell pepper
- 2 limes
- 1 tsp. Thai chili flakes
- 1 tsp. granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp. neutral flavored oil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Add the soy sauce, miso paste, shiitake mushrooms, garlic and kombu in a saucepan, along with 2 cups of water. Whisk to combine, and bring to a simmer. Open the jackfruit cans, strain the liquid, and rinse. Gently break apart larger chunks of jackfruit, and place them into the simmering brine. Let simmer for 15 minutes, and then let the jackfruit cool down in the pot.
- While the jackfruit cools, finely chop the cilantro and mint, and dice the shallots and bell pepper. Combine the juice of two limes along with the chili flakes, sugar, and oil in a small bowl.
- Once the jackfruit has cooled, strain to remove the liquid. Pick out the kombu, garlic cloves and mushrooms, and discard (you could also dice them and mix them in, if you prefer!) Add the jackfruit, herbs and vegetables, and sauce together in a large mixing bowl. Stir well, and serve right immediately or chilled.
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