Unboxed: 5 plant-based jerky brands that deliver
Vegan consumers get more savory, sustainable snacking options
![Unboxed: 5 plant-based jerky brands that deliver Unboxed: 5 plant-based jerky brands that deliver](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt09e5e63517a16184/blt6958c4c076807e00/64ff1f89c3215788a3786812/jerky_promo.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
A nuanced, smoky flavor developed with coconut aminos, this chewy paleo and vegan product is crafted with young coconut meat—a novel way to consume this red-hot ingredient. You likely won't mistake Cocoburg for meat-based jerky (it's too thinly sliced for that) but it's a delicious, savory and clean label treat nevertheless.
Soft, chewy and very similar to meat jerky, Lightlife's version features soy protein isolate and a bevy of savory-sweet add-ins such as mirin, soy sauce, wheat gluten, yeast extract, ginger, cider vinegar and more. These ingredients create a deeply satisfying experience. Each serving contains 9 grams of protein.
Sure, these heavily spiced curls look like chicken wings. But they're actually a vegan concoction of baked textured soy protein marinated in tamari, sriracha chili sauce, maple syrup, olive oil, spices, vinegar and natural smoke flavor. At 7 grams of protein per serving, they make a filling savory snack.
This unique jerky company based out of Inglewood, California, has one very unique ingredient: eggplant! Sliced into snackable strips, the eggplant is marinated and dried, making a tasty, veggie-forward option. Power Plant will debut new packaging soon.
Classic vegan jerky strips packaged like the real thing. Each 100-ish calorie strip feature vital wheat gluten and a flavorful sauce. The Teriyaki version contains a blend of soy sauce, licorice root, evaporated cane juice, sea salt and spices—no MSG. The best part about this cool product? 11 grams of protein per serving.
Classic vegan jerky strips packaged like the real thing. Each 100-ish calorie strip feature vital wheat gluten and a flavorful sauce. The Teriyaki version contains a blend of soy sauce, licorice root, evaporated cane juice, sea salt and spices—no MSG. The best part about this cool product? 11 grams of protein per serving.
Jerky: so hot right now. From clean-ingredient beef sticks to responsibly sourced bison jerky, the meat snack category has recently charged forth, posting "compound annual sales growth of more than 7 percent over the past four years, with sales growth of 3.5 percent" for the year ending February 25, 2017, according to a Nielsen report. Remarkably, meat snacks have expanded into a $2.8 billion category.
But these ain't the sodium-laden, nitrate-containing meat snacks of late-night gas station visits. Invigorated category sales are a result of natural brands—EPIC Provisions, Mighty Bar, Wilde, Lawless Jerky, Perky Jerky and Little Red Dot Kitchen, to name a few—cleaning up the category. Blame it on paleo inclinations to snack on protein instead of excess carbohydrates such as pretzels and chips.
This is all great, but a certain subset of consumers who eschew meat (yet love clean-label ingredients and protein and fat and salt and savory flavors) are left out of the jerky parade. Thankfully, there is a hotbed of innovation stirring for vegan jerky—a seemingly contradictory product. Instead of meat, nuanced new brands are putting plant-based ingredients such as soy protein, seitan, eggplant and even coconut through the jerky-making process to craft delicious, protein-rich snacks that maintain flavor, but leave the steer, pig, turkey or chicken out of the equation. Here are a few notable examples.
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