Author: These Pulled Jackfruit Sandwiches offer a vegan twist on a classic BBQ favorite, using only 6 simple ingredients. Featuring young green jackfruit in brine or water, this recipe delivers a meaty texture and a savory flavor similar to pulled chicken or pulled pork. This super-simple vegan recipe is perfect for those craving a hearty, meaty, plant-based sandwich that's bursting with flavor and is easy to prep. Get ready to indulge in a satisfying and delicious meal with Pulled Jackfruit Sandwiches!
This BBQ Jackfruit Sandwich is a vegan-ized version of a traditional BBQ pulled chicken or pulled pork sandwich and, when the jackfruit prepared this way, it has a super-meaty texture that makes for the perfect meat-substitute.
Common Questions:
What is jackfruit? If you are new to jackfruit, it is indeed a fruit. It grows on tropical trees in regions spanning southeast Asia, Africa, and South America (most notably Brazil). When packaged, you can often find it covered in sticky syrup in cans, but in this recipe the key is to use young green jackfruit that is in brine or water (not syrup).
Are jackfruit sandwiches gluten free? If you were to use a gluten-free bread and check that your BBQ sauce is free of gluten, yes! This sandwich can be made gluten-free!
What does pulled jackfruit taste like? Ripe yellow jackfruit tastes slightly sweet - sort of like a blend of banana, apple, and mango. When the jackfruit is young (and not fully ripe), it's called "Young Green Jackfruit" and it is much starchier and not sweet... It actually doesn't taste like much to be honest. The cool thing about it is that once the young green jackfruit is cooked, it has this pulled, shredded texture that is totally fun. Toss it with some BBQ sauce, and you are on your way to one of the best vegan sandwiches I have ever encountered.
How long does pulled jackfruit last in the fridge? Once cooked, jackfruit can last up to 4 days in your fridge if stored in an air-tight container (or wrapped tightly).
Where can I buy Jackfruit? I'm lucky enough that I can find jackfruit in my local discount grocery store in the Asian section. If you can't find it in your grocery store, check out Indian or Asian grocery stores, or order it online.
How To Prepare the Jackfruit:
I had a look at what a few other bloggers did with their jackfruit, and was horrified to see that many had written in the instructions to chop off and discard the core and seeds. DON'T DO THIS! You're just wasting precious delicious jackfruit. Why oh why would you do that!?
Drain and rinse the jackfruit, then cut into smaller pieces. For optimal texture, cut the slices from core to the outer edge as seen in the picture above, which breaks up the tougher core as much as possible, and makes for the best "pulled" texture.
Sauté onions and garlic in a bit of oil, and once tender add in the chopped jackfruit. Add in the vegetable broth and cover and simmer for another 8 to 10 minutes until the jackfruit is tender enough to mash.
Once it's mashable, take a potato masher and mash it all up until the desired amount of mashedness is reached. How many times can you put "mash" in a sentence?
Spread in an even layer on a lightly greased baking sheet and pop it in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour over ½ cup of BBQ sauce, and stir so that the jackfruit is evenly coated. Pop it back in the oven for another 10 minutes to make it all sticky and delicious. Stir in ¼ cup more BBQ sauce before serving, if desired.
How to Make a Pulled Jackfruit Sandwich:
Pile onto a bun with a simple coleslaw of shredded red cabbage, carrots, and red onions tossed with my Coleslaw Dressing. Perfection! This would also be super satisfyingly scrumptious in tacos, jackfruit carnitas, on pizza, or nachos as just a few ideas! Don't be surprised if you see these recipe ideas coming up in the future.
This Pulled Jackfruit Sandwich is...
- Easy to make - just 6 ingredients
- Meaty and full of flavor
- The vegan version of a pulled pork sandwich
- Ooey gooey, drippy, messy in all the right ways!
More Vegan Jackfruit Recipes You Might Enjoy:
- Easy Vegan Jackfruit Tacos
- Easy Vegan Buffalo Jackfruit
- Vegan Jackfruit Salad Sandwich
- Vegan Chicken Nuggets
If you try this recipe let us know by leaving a comment, rating it, and don't forget to tag @itdoesnttastelikechicken on Instagram.
Bon appetegan!
Sam Turnbull.
(click stars to vote)
6 Ingredient Pulled Jackfruit
Servings: servings
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Ingredients
- 2 20oz cans young green jackfruit, in brine or water (not in syrup!)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ yellow onion,, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic,, minced
- ¼ cup vegetable broth or water
- ¾ cup BBQ sauce
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400F (200C). Lightly grease a baking pan.
- Drain and rinse the jackfruit. Cut the jackfruit into smaller pieces by cutting it from core to the edge for the most pulled texture (see photos).
- Add the olive oil to a large frying pan or skillet over medium-high heat, and when hot add the onions and garlic. Sauté until the onions are tender and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add in the chopped jackfruit and vegetable broth. Cover and continue to cook another 8 to 10 minutes, until the jackfruit is soft enough that it can be mashed. Mash the jackfruit with potato masher, until it breaks apart and looks pulled or shredded.
- To finish the jackfruit spread in an even layer across the baking pan and then pop it in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and pour over ½ cup BBQ sauce and stir to combine. Toss it back in the oven for about 10 minutes, until it looks delicious and golden and even a few strands get a bit burnt. Remove from the oven and if desired stir in the remaining ¼ cup of BBQ sauce to make it even saucier.
Nutrition
⭐ Did You Make This Recipe?
I’d love if you left a rating and comment, it helps others find the recipe and makes my day! 💕More Meaty Vegan Sandwich Recipes You Might Enjoy...
Chrissy says
Love this recipe! It's delicious, quick and easy. My favourite kind of meal!! Even my omnivore boyfriend loves it!!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful! So happy you enjoyed!
Valencia Davis says
Made this tonight! Soooo good I seasoned the jackfruit and added a couple dashes of liquid smoke. Your recipes are always so BOMB! The similarities to the real thing is so close to spot on
Sam Turnbull says
Aww that's wonderful, so thrilled you are enjoying my recipes so much, Valencia 🙂
Lex says
BBQ sauce is not 1 ingrediënt. Acutally the BBQ sauce takes up
most of the time. What was your other recipe with 20 ingrediënt like? Despite this I like the way you prep the jack fruit. I smoked it before use too which was great!
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Lex! Not sure where you're from but here in Canada, BBQ is easily available premade in any grocery store. You can, of course, make your own if you prefer. My recipe for homemade BBQ sauce is in my cookbook. Enjoy!
Molly says
Made it...LOVED IT!
Even my meat eating husband loved it!
Thank you so much for the recipe.
Sam Turnbull says
Haha! Brilliant! So thrilled you both enjoyed it, Molly 🙂
Jana says
I've been vegan for 9 months and had yet to try jackfruit. I tried a recipe a few weeks ago that made it like a pot roast and the jackfruit tasted terrible. I came across your recipe yesterday and decided to give it a try because every recipe I've made of yours always turns out great. I was so surprised by how good this was! My husband really liked it as well. This was even better than I remember BBQ sandwiches being. Keep up the great recipe work! I look forward to trying even more recipes.
Sam Turnbull says
Wow that's amazing!! So very happy you have been enjoying all my recipes so much, Jana 🙂
Darlene says
Awesome recipe. I made it as it was written with a homemade BBQ sauce. We devoured it. Thanks Sam.
Sam Turnbull says
Yay!! So happy you loved it so much, Darlene.
Hazel says
I LOVE this recipe! I use Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce. It’s so easy! I made it a day ahead and then warmed it in a crock pot for an office Nacho party. People who tried it loved it so much they asked me to make it when we had another Nacho party this year. I didn’t label it this time and some meat eating snobs actually tried it and told me that they could not believe it wasn’t meat. It was a HUGE hit. I make it all the time for myself because it freezes so well. I use the green jackfruit in water.
Sam Turnbull says
That's awesome!! So very happy you love the recipe so much 🙂
Tiffany B. says
I made this the second week of December and it was so good .Especially when you toast those buns! I added a bit of smoked paprika because I amobsessed with it lately. I will make again. I can't wait for summer so that we can have BBQ too!
Sam Turnbull says
Oh that's so awesome, Tiffany! So happy you loved the recipe so much 🙂
Brian says
Where can I find the original 1.5 hour recipe?
Sam Turnbull says
It has been deleted as this updated version of the recipe is MUCH better. 🙂
Alicia says
I get 2.2g of protein per serving if your using 4 servings. What bbq sauce are you using that is getting your protein that low? ...we have a strict diet for my sons medical condition so all recipes are analyzed in our app so curious why my amount is double the protein. I used sweet baby ray bbq sauce.
KATHRYN says
Hi,
I'm looking for a good vegetable broth and a good mayo to buy. What brands do you recommend? It's all I can do to put your recipes together, (cooking is not in my genes), so having the condiments ahead of time is a help.
I have your book and enjoy the emails,
Kathryn
Sam Turnbull says
I have a veggie broth recipe here, and a mayo recipe in my cookbook but if you want storebought Vegenaise or Helmann's vegan are both good mayos. And any brand of veggie broth should work just fine. Enjoy!
Robert Isidro says
Hi Sam,
Stumbled upon your page randomly and made the vegan dressings. Tried the thousand island already and they are good! Will try one dressing weekly and will try this next week. I'm just curious how long does this pulled jack fruit keep in the fridge? Since I meal prep most of my meals so I wont have a hard time prepping since I have minimal cooking skills. Again, Thank you so much for making vegan recipes easy and yummy making someone like me (with no cooking experience) a chance to enjoy vegan food!
Robert Isidro says
Also where can I get your cook book with the barbecue sauce?
Sam Turnbull says
And you can get my cookbook on Amazon or almost any major book retailer. Here's a list. 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you are enjoying my recipes, Robert! I would say this should last about 4-7 days in the fridge. Enjoy!
Noam says
I tried it, and it came out a bit sweet, and... not so good. (the can says "Young green jackfruit in brine", just to make sure 😛 ) I felt that the sweetness comes from the fruit itself.
Where did I go wrong? 😛
Sam Turnbull says
If the sweetness comes from the fruit then it's likely the jackfruit was canned too ripe. Young green jackfruit tastes almost sour if anything. Hope that helps!
Megan says
How did this recipe do as leftovers? I’m sure popping it back in the oven would help, but have you tried it reheated in the mircrowave the next day? Wondering so I can decide how big of a batch to make!
Sam Turnbull says
I have served it as leftovers and reheated it in a pot on the stove and it was great!
Megan says
Hi! Love this recipe but the link to your origInal is no longer posted and I liked to use t as a reference for making bbq sauce ... can you fix the link so both are available?
Sam Turnbull says
Thanks so much! The original has been deleted, but I do have a BBQ sauce recipe in my cookbook Fuss-Free Vegan. 🙂
Joanne says
This is the second time I made this recipe after watching you make it. I didn’t make it sooner because prior to listening to your instructions, I was chopping off the tough part of the jackfruit and removing the seeds. It was a time consuming, messy process, resulting in a much smaller amount of jackfruit. So, in addition to being a GREAT recipe, it is so much easier and faster,
This will be my new favorite tailgating recipe, BTW, I use a barbecue recipe from the amazing vegan Candle Cafe in NYC. So good! If you are ever in NYC, check out one of their three restaurants.
Sam Turnbull says
Sounds delish!! So happy you are no longer wasting the precious jackfruit!! 🙂
Patricia says
Just wondering if I can freeze leftovers. I bought a young jackfruit and want to do a big batch at once.
Sam Turnbull says
I haven't tried it myself but I can't see why it wouldn't work well. Enjoy!
Deborah Zak says
One question. Jackfruit doesn't have protein right? How can we vary this recipe to add protein to this dish?
Otherwise, like I just said.....terrific recipe.
Sam Turnbull says
Actually, all plants have protein. The whole "need more protein" thing is a huge myth. Unless you are calorie deficient (aka starving) it's actually impossible to be deficient in protein. There is no protein deficiency wing of the hospital! Haha. The average vegan gets about 70% more protein than they even need in a day. I highly recommend checking out this video and this video to learn more. 🙂
Kim says
Wow, I love your comment and the videos you shared to explain this myth. Thank you 🙂
Deb says
I made this for Memorial Day and my husband was in heaven. This recipe is a winner. Topped it with spicy coleslaw on home made bread. Love you Sam!
Sam Turnbull says
Yay! Thrilled you enjoyed it so much! 😀
Suzy says
I topped mine with pickled red onions and served with a side of vegan potato salad. My tummy is very happy! And hubby went back for seconds and asked for a repeat performance. Win win win!! Thank you!!!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful!! So happy you both enjoyed 🙂
Robert says
How about that cal slaw recipe?
Sam Turnbull says
You can find it in my cookbook 🙂 http://bit.ly/FussFreeVegan
Mary says
Love this recipe! Making it for a second time in a week. Thanks!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful! Thrilled you are enjoying it so much, Mary 🙂