A few weeks ago, I was perusing Pinterest in search of some food inspiration. I was eating the same 3 meals over and over again and needed to branch out and try something new. I stopped mid-scroll at these drool-worthy pulled pork sandwiches with a pile of slaw. Except these weren’t pulled pork sandwiches. Nope, they were BBQ jackfruit! What exactly is jackfruit, you ask?
Jackfruit is a fruit that grows on a tree and is commonly found in Southeast Asia. It also just so happens to taste very earthy and has the same pull-apart texture as pork. And you can find canned jackfruit in an aisle at your local Trader Joe’s for the very reasonable price of $1.99. I picked up a can of jackfruit the other week and thought it would go great with Trader Joe’s Mango Chipotle BBQ Sauce that I had in my fridge at home. Spoiler alert: It totally goes great.
While I saw a lot of BBQ jackfruit sandwiches on Pinterest, DC was in the midst of a serious heat wave and the idea of a heavy sandwich was less than appealing. I swapped out a roll for a bed of cool, crunch romaine lettuce and leaning into the whole fruit-as-pork thing, I chopped up fresh mango chunks to add some sweetness. To balance it out, I added spicy jalapeños (Trader Joe’s Hot ‘n Sweet Jalapeños will ruin regular jarred jalapeños for you) and some tortilla chips for extra crunch. While I was waiting for the BBQ jackfruit to cool, I whipped up a spicy avocado dressing. Yes, I know I’m a bit of a masochist when it comes to spicy.
This BBQ jackfruit salad is perfect for summer and can easily be turned into a BBQ sandwich, wrap, taco, burrito, you name it.
While the jackfruit doesn’t taste exactly like pulled pork, it’s definitely a great lighter alternative.
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 can jackfruit
- 1 cup BBQ sauce
- Romaine lettuce
- ½ cup chopped mango
- Crushed tortilla chips
- Optional Toppings: Jalapeños
- 1 medium avocado
- 1 jalapeño, diced
- 2 tbsp dried cilantro
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- Juice of 1 lime
- Drain and rinse jackfruit, pat dry.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and saute jackfruit for 5 minutes.
- Lower heat to medium-low and BBQ sauce, toss to evenly coat.
- Cover pan and let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Pull jackfruit apart with two forks once tender.
- While you let the BBQ jackfruit cool, pulse all ingredients for the spicy avocado dressing in a food processor.
- Build your salad, top with BBQ jackfruit and drizzle with spicy avocado dressing.
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