Vegan Vietnamese Beef Stew (Bò Kho) is a comforting and satisfying stew with a flavorful broth. It is served with fresh herbs and a crispy baguette that will keep you coming back for more. In this recipe, the jackfruit makes a wonderful plant-based alternative to beef. It has a tender, pull-apart texture that just melts in your mouth.
Vegan Vietnamese Beef Stew
Bò Kho is a Vietnamese beef stew dish with meaty, tender beef slices and a flavorful broth. Memories of my childhood include the meaty, tender beef stew, umami broth and crispy baguette slices that are dipped in the flavorful broth. Yum yum, I'm drooling!
When recreating a plant-based version of Bò Kho, I saw many creators use TVP or soy chunks to make the beef. While these are all a good ideas, I was looking for a soy-free alternative to beef and got the idea to use young jackfruit. Young jackfruit is a plant-based ingredient that has a wonderful texture similar to beef - tender, pull-apart. Whereas young jackfruit has a mildly sour taste, boiling or stir-frying in oil or water can help soften the jackfruit's taste. This also allows it to absorb more flavors. For this recipe, I use Nature's Charm sriracha jackfruit.
Fortunately, this idea becomes a success and I loved the taste of this vegan Bò Kho so so much! The jackfruit becomes so soft and tender after making the stew, with a herby, umami flavors of the broth and match perfectly with the crispy baguette slices.
Ingredients
This recipe uses a variety of vegetables, tofu, and aromatics:
- 200g mushrooms of choice
- 3 carrots
- 5 stalks lemongrass (use 3 to cut into chunks, and mince the remaining 2)
- 200g fried tofu
- 2 cans of Nature's Charm sriracha marinated jackfruit
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 shallots
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 red chili pepper
- 300ml coconut water
- Water
- 1 medium yellow onion (or 2 small yellow onions)
To make the Bo Kho seasoning, use a variety of spices:
Instructions
Step 1: Prepare the vegetables
Wash the vegetables. Cut the mushrooms, carrots, and lemongrass into equal-sized pieces. Smash the lemongrass with the back of your knife to release aroma.
Wash the vegetables and peel the carrots
Cut the vegetables into equal-sized chunks. Cut the fried tofu into thin slices.
Add the mushrooms, carrots, lemongrass chunks and tofu to a big bowl. Add the seasoning ingredients: curry powder, 5-spice powder, vegan fish sauce (or soy sauce), mushroom seasoning (or salt), sugar, sriracha, and black pepper. Marinate for 30 minutes.
Add the vegetables and tofu to a big bowl and the seasonings.
Mix the seasoning until well-incorporated.
Step 2: Make the vegan beef stew
Finely mince the remaining lemongrass, shallots, garlic and chili pepper. In a big pot, add the oil, the minced lemongrass, shallots, garlic and chili pepper. Stir fry for 2 minutes.
Add the marinated vegetables, tofu and stir fry them for 2-3 minutes.
Add the coconut milk and enough water to cover the ingredients on the pot.
Bring this to a boil, then add the marinated jackfruit. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Finally add in the yellow onion slices and (optional) corn starch slurry to help thicken the vegan beef stew. Boil for another 5 minutes then serve.
Step 3: Assemble the vegan Vietnamese beef stew
Serve the vegan Vietnamese beef stew in a big bowl with a few slices of baguette, fresh herbs.
If you have a chance to try it, please leave me a review or tag me on my IG (@veggieanh). That would help me greatly, thank you for supporting me!
Print📖 Recipe
Vegan Bo Kho - Vietnamese Beef Stew
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 people 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Vegan Vietnamese Beef Stew (Bò Kho) is a comforting and satisfying stew, served with fresh herbs and a crispy baguette that will keep you coming back for more. The jackfruit makes a wonderful plant-based alternative to the beef, it has a tender, pull-apart texture that just melts in your mouth.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the vegan Beef Stew
- 200g mushrooms of choice
- 3 carrots
- 5 stalks lemongrass (use 3 to cut into chunks, and mince the remaining 2)
- 200g fried tofu
- 2 cans of Nature's Charm sriracha marinated jackfruit
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 shallots
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 red chili pepper
- 300ml coconut water
- Water
- 1 medium yellow onion (or 2 small yellow onions)
- 2 tsp corn starch (optional)
Seasoning:
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 2 tsp 5-spice powder
- 4 tbsp vegan fish sauce or soy sauce
- 1 tbsp mushroom seasoning or salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp sriracha
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Optional Toppings
- 1 French baguette (or 2-3 Vietnamese baguette)
- Coriander
- Thai basil
- Chili slices and lime wedges
Instructions
Prepare the vegetables
- Cut the mushrooms, carrots, and lemongrass into equal-sized pieces. Smash the lemongrass with the back of your knife to release aroma.
- If using pre-fried tofu: cut the tofu into slices.
- If using tofu: cut the tofu into slices, then fry the tofu slices in oil until golden brown on both sides.
- Add the mushrooms, carrots, lemongrass chunks and tofu to a bowl. Add the seasoning ingredients: curry powder, 5-spice powder, vegan fish sauce (or soy sauce), mushroom seasoning (or salt), sugar, sriracha, and black pepper. Marinate for 20 minutes.
Prepare the Stew
- Finely mince the remaining lemongrass, shallots, garlic and chili pepper.
- In a big pot, add the oil, the minced lemongrass, shallots, garlic and chili pepper. Add the marinated vegetables, tofu and stir fry them for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the coconut water and enough water to cover all the ingredients. Bring to a boil.
- Add the marinated jackfruit and simmer for another 30 minutes.
- If you want the stew thicker: Cut the yellow onions into thin slices and add to the stew. Make a corn starch slurry by mixing 2 teaspoon corn starch and 6 teaspoon water in a separate bowl. Add this to the stew and boil for another 10 minutes until thickened.
Assemble the vegan beef stew
- Assemble the vegan beef stew in a big bowl with fresh herbs and a few slices of baguette.
Notes
If you don't have pre-marinated jackfruit, after draining them from the can, pat dry the jackfruits, then marinate with the vegetables and tofu.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Meal
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: vietnamese
Hannah Alexander says
Thanks for your recipes. As a vegan, living with a meat eating Vietnamese exchange student, it’s difficult to find Vietnamese recipes we’ll both enjoy. She asked for this stew so I’ll soon find out if the vegan version is acceptable to her.
Veggie Anh says
Thank you so much, I hope your friend will like it Hannah!