May 2013 Post-Op Support Group

What is it?!

Textured vegetable protein is recognized – by vegetarians and meat eaters alike – as a low-fat, nutritious meat replacement and supplement. Commonly referred to as TVP, textured vegetable protein takes only about three minutes to prepare to replace ground beef and other ground meats in most recipes. You can also add the dry dehydrated nuggets directly to ground meat to stretch your grocery dollars without any loss to flavor or protein.

Meat Replacement: Textured vegetable protein (TVP) is dry when you bring it home from the store. The reason for this is because it has been dehydrated. In order to make it ready to use to completely replace ground meat, for instance, for vegetarian burgers, you will need to rehydrate it by adding hot water… or low sodium broth (if desired).

The process to restore moisture to the TVP is simple and only takes a few minutes. You will then be able to work with the textured vegetable protein in the same way that you do with ground beef or other ground meats. Just follow the easy steps listed at the bottom of this page to prepare TVP as a meat replacement.

Use dry TVP to add to ground meats to stretch your grocery money: If you want to extend your ground meat by adding textured vegetable protein, you won’t have to rehydrate the TVP first. Simply add the dry nuggets to the raw ground meat and mix together evenly with your hands or a cooking spoon. To double the amount of your ground meat, use about one part meat to one part TVP; you can adjust these amounts according to your own preferences. What’s nice about this method of using TVP to add to ground meat is that you can freeze the mixture just as you would plain hamburger or ground meat. Just place meal-sized batches of the meat mixture into freezer bags or containers and pop them into the freezer. When you’re ready to use some, just thaw the bag like you would normally.

*Add dry TVP as a crunchy topping: If you want some crunch, add to the top of your favorite yogurt or other food that needs some crunch and or some increased protein. For salads, I use dry TVP and rehydrated TVP to sprinkle on top. This is a great way to increase the protein and it is easy!!!