Over the summer, I got obsessed with Mina Harissa, a prepared Moroccan red pepper sauce. I’ve purchased harissa before (notably DEA Harissa), but Mina’s consistency felt more like a sauce and less like a paste. And for that reason alone, I found myself adding it to dishes for a little extra punch of flavor. And so, it’s not too surprising that it became a key ingredient in this easy vegan sweet and spicy sloppy joes recipe with seitan crumbles, dried apricots, fresh ginger and so much more. My obsessions have a way of inspiring my creativity!
This recipe makes enough for ~4-6 sandwiches.
A few things…
- For this recipe, I placed two 8 ounce packages worth of Upton’s Traditional Seitan in a food processor and pulsed until it was crumbled. If you’d prefer to make your own seitan, you’ll need ~3 cups of crumbles.
- As a gluten free alternative to ground seitan, you can swap in textured vegetable protein (TVP). Add 1½ cup dried TVP and 1½ cups of boiling water to a mixing bowl. Let it to reconstitute. Drain off any excess liquid and proceed. Remember, TVP is essentially flavorless, so you’ll likely need to add seasoning at the end. Also, make sure to swap in gluten free reduced sodium tamari for the soy sauce!
- I tried making this sweet and spicy seitan sloppy joes recipe with two types of harissa. If you’re not really into “spicy”, the mild could work for you, but you’ll need to add more of it to the sauce (~3-4 Tbsp). When I used the mild harissa, the entire dish ended up having a sweeter flavor profile, but it was still pretty good.
- Does it have to be Mina Harissa? Other brands pack more or less heat. If you use another brand start with less in the blender, maybe 1 Tbsp? Once you add the sauce to the seitan in the skillet, you can always add more. Taste it and make adjustments until it works for you. Let your taste buds be your guide.
- My dried apricots were really soft and easy to smash. If yours are on the drier and chewier side, you may need to add a little more water (1-2 Tbsp?) to the blender.
- Don’t just limit yourself to enjoying this filling on sweet and spicy sloppy joes. Try it on waffle fries with some vegan feta? Or maybe use it as a taco filling? Get creative.
Please enjoy! And check out other UVK recipes, like Tex-Mex Vegan Black Bean Sloppy Joes, Roasted Carrots and Chickpeas with Harissa Dressing, Almond Apricot Muffins, Tempeh Sausage Marinade, Cold Corn Soup and more.
Sweet and Spicy Seitan Sloppy Joes
3 cups ground seitan (see notes above)
⅓ cup diced dried apricots
2 large garlic cloves
½ tsp ground coriander
2 tsp peeled minced fresh ginger root
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
2-3 Tbsp spicy harissa (I used Mina Spicy Harissa. See notes above.)
4 Tbsp olive oil
⅓ cup water
¾ cup finely chopped onion
Salt, to taste
4-6 burger buns
Vegan feta, to top – optional
1. First, you’ll make the sauce for the sweet and spicy seitan sloppy joes. Add the dried apricots, garlic, coriander, ginger root, lemon juice, soy sauce, harissa, 2 Tbsp olive oil and water to a high speed blender. Blend until completely smooth and set aside.
2. In a skillet, add the remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil, the onions and a dash of salt. Sauté over medium heat for ~7 minutes or until golden. Add the seitan and turn the heat down to low. Stir around for ~5 minutes. If it sticks to the bottom, add a little water.
3. Stir the sweet and spicy sloppy joes sauce from the blender into the seitan crumbles in the skillet. Stir around over low heat for ~5 minutes or until cooked through. Taste and adjust seasonings (more harissa? soy sauce? lemon juice?). Serve on buns with vegan feta on top (if you like).