We Tried Beyond Meat!

Well, we crossed something off our 2021 bucket list this week because we finally tried Beyond Meat! Gary had been wanting to try plant-based meat alternatives for quite some time, so I figured that it was time to make it happen! For the record, I cannot even remember the last time we made a hamburger with ground beef. We always make turkey burgers, so ground beef really only comes into play in the occasional pasta bake or on a taco night. Nevertheless, we’re always excited to consider more environmentally friendly food options!

Before committing to this endeavor, I scouted out prices at our local grocery stores. Honestly, Beyond Meat is kind of pricey (probably at least twice as expensive as ground beef or turkey), so I waited until it went on sale at our local Sprouts. Luckily, the pre-formed patties were on a BOGO special, so I was able to get two packs of two patties for $5.99. I must say, it probably would have been cheaper to by the 16 ounce package and form our own patties, but it did not look like that would have been a good time, and I didn’t want to ruin our first experience before we even tasted it!

Let the record show that I made Gary pose with our Beyond Meat package to commemorate the occasion 🙂

First impressions

I’ve looked at my fair share of raw meat in the kitchen, but there’s something about the color of these patties that just looked unappetizing! They almost had a pink look similar to Spam. Then, we opened the package and I forced Gary to take a nice big whiff. I should have videoed his reaction because it was one of straight fear. Ha!

Cooking our Beyond Burgers

We seasoned both sides of the patties with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Then, we heated about 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a stainless steel frying pan over medium-high heat. We plopped the patties down, covered them with our splatter screen, and set a timer for four minutes per side. As they were cooking, it did not smell like meat at all. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. When we took them off the frying pan, they looked like they had gotten a nice char just like a burger made with real meat would.

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How did they taste??

We wanted to treat Beyond burgers like we would treat normal burgers, so we put our usual mayo, mustard, ketchup, cheese, tomato, and onion on them. This is what Gary said after he took his first bite: “It definitely tastes a little different.” Then he paused his thought, took another bite, and continued with, “but I don’t think it’s bad.” That’s a pretty lukewarm review, right? I felt like the texture was pretty spot on, but that the burger itself didn’t really taste like meat. It almost tasted like more of a black bean burger. I feel as though it only really tasted like a burger because of the toppings we put on it.

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Our experiment wasn’t an epic failure because we both finished our burgers. We weren’t necessarily sold on Beyond Meat after night one, but as I mentioned earlier, I bought it on a BOGO so we had to give it one more shot!

Round 2…

On night two, we seasoned and cooked the patties the same exact way, but for some reason they got so smokey on the pan! The char on them ended up being delicious, but we were in serious danger of setting off the fire alarm in our apartment! We also decided to go with slightly different toppings on night two. We added tomato, cilantro, cheese, BBQ sauce, and a tiny bit of ranch. Let me tell you, the BBQ sauce made all the difference! We both agreed that our burgers were just as good as regular burgers. Success!

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Would we buy Beyond Meat again?

Overall, yes. I’m intrigued by the prospect of using Beyond Meat instead of ground beef in tacos and pasta bakes. However, given the price in comparison to ground beef or turkey, and the fact that it took us two nights to appreciate the flavor of it, I don’t foresee this becoming a staple in the Peiffer household. If it goes on sale, though, I’m not beyond grabbing some to keep in the freezer…see what I did there? 😉

Alright, that’s all I have for today! Have you tried Beyond Meat or any of the other brands of plant-based meat? What were your impressions? Do you have any cooking tips or recipes to share? Let me know!

xoxo

Jennifer

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