Vegan Turkey Pockets

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These delicious, Vegan Turkey Pockets are perfect for your holiday feast! Filled with jackfruit “turkey” around a layer of stuffing — wrapped in tofu skins and topped with the very best gravy!

I’m so excited to finally make these. I got the idea last year, close to Thanksgiving, and it’s just been sitting in my head. My husband always insists on having a fake turkey, but the poor guy is gluten intolerant. All those holiday roasts are loaded with wheat gluten. I’m glad to have finally created a gluten-free alternative so he can have a happy tummy both during and after dinner!

As I said, I got this idea last year. It was getting close to Thanksgiving and l hadn’t tested it out yet, which left me nervous. I didn’t want our holiday dinner to be a flop, and Michael didn’t want me stressing out trying to put something together last minute, so this recipe got put on hold.

I must admit, this was one of those moments that when I got in the kitchen, I got a little nervous. I knew it had to be perfect, but l wasn’t certain I could do it. My first worry was that the jackfruit wouldn’t be “turkey” enough.

I made sure to buy jackfruit in water, not brine. The brine works for recipes drenched in sauce, like a barbecued pulled “pork,” but I was worried the brine would overpower the turkey seasonings. Also, when bought in water, the jackfruit is much more tender, which makes it easier to work with.

I find my jackfruit at an Asian market here in San Diego County, south of where I live. If you can’t find it locally, I’ve also ordered it online in the past. This, however, tends to be more expensive. If instead, you try this in brine, let me know. I’m curious to know whether it works.

First, I drained and rinsed my jackfruit well, then patted it dry. After that, I went through every piece, removing any seeds. If you can’t find them all, it’s not a big deal. They’re soft and can still be eaten.

The next step in preparing your jackfruit is to slice off the hard, triangular “core.” I saved about half of these, chopped them up into small slices, and placed them with the rest of the jackfruit. I tossed all saved jackfruit into some poultry seasoning with a little celery salt and garlic powder mixed in.

In a large skillet heated over medium heat, I now sautéed some onion and celery, both which had been chopped very small. Once soft, I added chicken flavored vegetable bullion to the skillet with a little water. The bullion cubes I buy are for two cups of water, meaning each cube will make two cups of broth. I used three cubes and only 3/4 of a cup water, so it would be highly concentrated. If your bullion is one cube for one cup of water, you will want to use six cubes, and still only 3/4 of a cup of water. I dissolved my bullion in the water before adding it to the skillet. To do this, I made sure the water was hot.

After adding the bullion and water, I stirred in the jackfruit. I then covered it and turned the heat down to low, allowing it to simmer for 30 to 35 minutes while I prepared the stuffing. I’d lift the lid and stir it every once in a while, but not often.

I think I’ve only made homemade stuffing twice before in my life, and one of those times was before I was vegan. This made me a little nervous because it needed to be good — I needed it perfect — and I only half knew what I was doing. That being said, I was incredibly happy when it turned out not only to my liking but when my husband said it was, “The best stuffing he had ever had.” Umm… wow! I let out a deep sigh of relief with that one, followed by a smile of success!

For the stuffing, I diced five cups worth of vegan, gluten-free bread, and covered a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I put the diced bread in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, for about 20 minutes, stirring after 10, and frequently after that (every 5 minutes), until all the cubes were firm.

While the bread cubes were in the oven, I sautéed onion, celery, and garlic in some vegan butter. Once soft, I added them to a large mixing bowl with fresh sage, parsley, dried thyme, sea salt, and black pepper. When the bread cubes were done, I dumped them into the mixing bowl, and poured two tablespoons of melted vegan butter and a half cup of chicken flavored vegetable broth over them. I stirred this all together, and it was now ready to be used.

By now, the jackfruit was good and tender and ready to be finished. Leaving the heat on low, I used two forks to pull apart the shreds, and smashed the hard pieces with the back of a fork. Once I’d gone through it all, I added more water with bullion. This time I dissolved one more cube (which is for two cups broth) with a half cup water. I turned the heat up to medium and stirred frequently to prevent sticking until all the liquid was absorbed.

All I had left now was the skin. I had never used tofu skins which again made me a little nervous. When I first got the idea for this recipe last year, I’d been researching ideas for what to make for Thanksgiving. I came across a recipe for faux duck using tofu skins, also known as bean curd sheets or yuba. I wondered then if you could use it to do faux turkey rather than duck, and decided to look it up. What I found was that people would use it as the “skin” of their “turkeys,” but not the entire thing as they’d done with the “duck.”

This may have been how I thought of doing the pockets. Before seeing the “duck” recipe, I’d already been wanting to try using jackfruit, so wrapping it with the tofu skins would hold it all together. I also wanted to do the stuffing on the inside, because that’s what stuffing is, right? Something to stuff with? So I put it in the middle.

I was nervous about the skins because I really didn’t know how they tasted or how they’d cook. I was worried they’d get too crispy before the stuffing was done. Fortunately, everything was cooked just right and turned out delicious.

I did have one hang up. I bought dehydrated bean curd sheets so I could rehydrate them in broth to help the flavor. I heated up five cups chicken flavored vegetable broth and added it to a 9 by 13 baking dish. I then placed one and a half 6-ounce packages of bean curd sheets into the broth and waited for it all to become soft.

Unfortunately, a lot of the sheets didn’t stay whole. I ended up with a lot more than what I needed. Those I didn’t need weren’t usable but torn into tiny pieces. This I don’t know how to solve, but only can suggest doing what I did and soak, or at least have on hand, more than you will need. You can probably start with only one package and see if that works out, to eliminate waste.

Each sheet is pretty long so those that stayed whole I cut in half. I laid out a piece on the cutting board, topped it with about a quarter cup of the jackfruit, about another quarter cup of stuffing, and finally one more quarter cup (approximately) of jackfruit, Once I had my layers done, I wrapped these up like a tight burrito, folding in the top and bottom, and wrapping around the sides.

I continued this process until I had eight Vegan Turkey Pockets. I placed these in two baking dishes sprayed with cooking oil, to prevent sticking. Make sure the sides of your pockets aren’t touching so your skin can get crisp. I baked these in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the tops were slightly brown, carefully flipped them over and cooked them on the opposite side for another ten minutes, and finally flipped them back over once more to cook another five minutes and get the tops nice and crisp.

While the pockets baked, I made the gravy to pour over the top. The gravy was also made me unsure. I make a bomb mushroom gravy that’s great for dark gravy recipes, but hadn’t made one I loved for a light gravy substitute — until now!

For the gravy, I minced one half of a yellow onion in the food processor and added it to a skillet over medium heat with a quarter cup of vegan butter. I cooked the onion and the “butter” for 10 minutes to make sure the onion was really soft. My next step was to sift in three tablespoons of cornstarch while whisking and make a rue. Now I added chicken flavored vegetable broth along with white miso, dried sage, thyme, and black pepper. I whisked this together until I had a smooth, delicious gravy!

I poured the gravy over each Vegan Turkey Pocket as I served them. I was so very pleased! The jackfruit made a great turkey substitute, the stuffing and gravy turned out delicious, and the bean curd skins worked well for a faux skin, making an outer layer with realistic texture to the outside. What’s more, these are delicious reheated and make great leftovers (maybe even better). I microwaved one pocket for one minute. If you don’t like the crispy outer layer, they’re softer when reheated in the microwave.

I’m so excited to finally have a great gluten-free (and of course vegan) substitute for our Thanksgiving dinner, and perhaps again at Christmas! They came out exactly as I was hoping! What’s even more, they were taste tested by my omnivore friend, and even she said they tasted like turkey! I was expecting them to work well for us vegans, but was so very pleased that she loved them too!

If you try and love these as we do, please take a picture and tag me on Instagram @veggiesattiffanis, or leave a review or comment on my Veggies at Tiffani’s Facebook page. Happy Holidays!!!