Jackfruit, the world’s largest fruit grown on a tree, has a deliciously sweet bubblegum flavor. It also makes a KILLER bbq jackfruit vegan pulled pork sandwich! We’re seriously not kidding and it’s even easy to make.
You won’t believe your taste buds that you’re not eating pulled pork and actually eating a fruit! The consistency of jackfruit meat lends itself well as vegan pulled pork and we think you’ll agree after the first bite.
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Before we get into exactly how to make our bbq pulled jackfruit, you need to know how to cut jackfruit. Let’s dive in!
Jackfruit – The Tropical Wonder Fruit
If you’ve seen your share of tropical fruits such as durian or soursop, you might have come across this gigantic dragon egg looking thing called a jackfruit. It’s the largest fruit in the world that grows on a tree, conveniently called the jack tree.
Picking one of these babies up can be a little intimidating since the average jackfruit weighs in at fifteen to twenty pounds! They can even get up to a whopping one hundred pounds!
Every time I see Sarah carrying one of these crazy fruits through the grocery store, I just want part the aisles and yell, “MAKE WAY FOR THE MOTHER OF JACKFRUIT!” Inevitably people always stop us and ask all about it because it looks so crazy.
Years ago we could only find fresh jackfruit several hours away from us near Miami in South Florida, but surprisingly they just started showing up in our local Publix grocery store! We were shocked.
What does jackfruit taste like?
Jackfruit Fruit Pods
Jackfruit’s flavor can be described as a cross between a fragrant banana and juicy fruit bubble gum that has a slight crisp snap when you bite into the fresh fruit pods. And that’s only the fruit part.
Green Jackfruit Meat
The jackfruit meat or “green jackfruit” that surrounds the fruit pods also have a slight hint of bubblegum but are virtually flavorless. They’re actually pretty tough and trying to chew the pieces is not fun since they stick in your teeth like crazy. But if you do like a lot of other people do and throw the jackfruit meat away, you’ve made a terrible mistake.
Cooking the meat into vegan bbq pulled jackfruit is where the fruit really shines. Especially resting in between two toasted buns. Wow! You can find canned green jackfruit at Trader Joes that works well for a pulled pork replacement but we love fresh jackfruit the best.
Jackfruit Seeds
Lastly, there are large starchy seeds inside the fruit pods that you can cook. Jackfruit seeds taste a little like potatoes when boiled and slightly like chestnuts when roasted. Some people even make jackfruit seed hummus out of them! They’re a bit of work since after cooking you have to peel the skins.
Picking Ripe Jackfruit for Now or Later
You can tell an unripe from a ripe jackfruit a few different ways.
- Appearance – A green jackfruit will be bright green all over and a ripe jackfruit will start getting dark spots all over it.
- Softness – It’s ready to eat if you press on the outside and it has a slight give.
- Smell – The jackfruit smell is strong and heavenly when ripe. Lean in and you’ll smell the jackfruit giving off a scent that smells similar to bubble gum or candy.
Once a jackfruit is ripe, make sure to cut it quickly because it can go from ripe to bad fast! An overripe jackfruit smells strong, becomes dark, and gets very soft all over.
Cutting Jackfruit
Jackfruit contains a sticky white sap that will literally stay with you for days. Do yourself a favor and wear gloves coated in oil. You might even want to use inexpensive knives and also coat them in oil to make cleaning a lot easier if you don’t want to go through the hassle of removing all that glue later. You’ve been warned!
Grab a drink and put some music on because cutting up a jackfruit takes time. This nearly twenty pound jackfruit took us about 45 minutes to cut up into its three parts. Imagine if it fives times bigger at 100 pounds!
Get a few bowls for each part of the jackfruit and one for compost or waste.
You could cut it with the spiral method where all of the jackfruit meat is peeled away exposing the sweet fruit but this wastes so much of the precious jackfruit! It’s great for presentation, but we have a better way to cut a jackfruit to use every bit of it.
Cut the jackfruit lengthwise into four quarters or slices. You now have access to the inside of the jackfruit.
Cut out the hard core and throw it away since it’s not edible and has all that white sticky sap.
Bend one of the quarters of jackfruit backwards and roll it back and forth to loosen up the fruit and the meat. It makes it so much easier to remove.
Dig in with your gloves and pull out the sweet yellow fruit pods. For every pod you pull out, open it up and pop out the jackfruit seed.
Pull and cut the stringy flesh away from the thick peel and separate all the strands to its own bowl. This helps you get access to the rest of the fruit pods you might have missed.
This is the good stuff we’ll be making our vegan pulled jackfruit with. Yum!
Amount of Food Harvested from an 18 Pound Jackfruit
It’s amazing how much food you can get out of a single jackfruit! We weighed everything before and after including the fruit, meat, and seeds and then subtracted the weight of the waste and bowls and here’s how much we got:
Whole Jackfruit 18.27 pounds | 292.32 oz
42.2% Fruit ~7.7 pounds | 123.47 oz
(including ~1 pound or 16.87 oz we ate while cutting! ?)
8.5% Stringy Meat ~1.6 pounds | 24.8 oz
11.3% Seeds ~2.1 pounds | 33.15 oz
38% Waste ~6.9 pounds |110.9 oz
———————————————–
Total Edible Food (62%) ~11.3 pounds | 181.42 oz
We hit the JACKpot with this one since it was heavy in fruit. Sometimes we get more in jackfruit meat that we can then use to make our vegan pulled pork sandwiches.
Some people actually make pulled jackfruit out of the fruit part but this feels like a waste because it’s so heavenly to eat the fruit or use it in smoothies!
Okay, what you’ve been dying to see. Drooling to follow…
BBQ Jackfruit Vegan Pulled Pork Sandwiches
(Sloppy Jacks Recipe)
Makes 6-8 pulled jackfruit sandwiches
You might shed a tear after taking a bite of these barbecue pulled jackfruit sandwiches. It might make you think differently as to what’s possible with vegetarian cooking. Sweet, tangy onions along with flavorful spices combine to give this vegan pulled pork a mighty flavor. Enjoy on toasted buns.
Ingredients:
- 2 T coconut oil
- 2 onions, sliced
- 3 cups jackfruit meat, pulled
- 2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 3/4 tsp. cumin, ground
- 1 tsp. chilli powder
- 1 tsp. Paprika
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne powder
- Splashes off liquid smoke
- 2 T barbecue sauce
Heat oil and cook onion and pulled jackfruit meat together over medium heat in a pan for about 10 minutes until soft.
Stir in spices, cover, and simmer for another 10 minutes. Add water as necessary to prevent sticking.
Toast buns, top with bbq pulled jackfruit, and drizzle with barbecue sauce. Enjoy!
Check out another one of our interesting jackfruit recipes at our other site – Fermented Jackfruit Chutney.
Don’t forget that you can either boil or roast your jackfruit seeds!
You Don’t Know Jack (Fruit)
You can eat sweet jackfruit pods raw, add them to smoothies, and boil the seeds, but since you’re reading this blog you’re probably the adventurous type and want to get creative. Try out our vegan pulled pork recipe or maybe another like these vegan jackfruit tacos! ?
We’re probably only scratching the surface of what’s possible with this amazing fruit, but we think it’s jackfruit meat at its best. Take the taste test and let us know how you like it. If you don’t feel like going through all the trouble of cutting a jackfruit, it might be available packaged in the produce section of your grocery store, but fresh jackfruit is so much better!
Jackfruit is incredible and can be used in so many ways. Let us know in the comments below if you make this recipe or try another variation involving jackfruit. We’re always looking for tasty ideas!
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