Make Craft Game

To start making the vegan meatloaf, I wanted to prep all the ingredients before starting to cook anything. The start was cutting up the mushrooms, onion, and garlic. Since these were getting cooked down, I wasn’t really attempting to reach any standard cutting consistency.

I did end up blitzing the other ingredients more consistently since this was the only prep for them. I put oats, cashews, and sunflower seeds into the food processor and blitzed them into a breadcrumb-like texture. This will be their final form, so I was looking to make it relatively consistent.

I then added ground spices, cornstarch, and herbs into the mixture. I used the food processor to mix everything just to avoid creating more dirty dishes. It’s able to work quite nicely as a bowl. But it made it difficult when it came to blitzing the beans. It was a very full food processor.

Then it was time to cook the vegetables. Cooking the mushrooms before putting them into the vegan meatloaf is necessary. It ensures that they are fully cooked by the end of the baking time. But, more importantly, cooking beforehand removes a lot of excess water. Having too much water/liquid in the meatloaf will prevent it from binding properly.

In a large skillet, I added mushrooms, onions, garlic, and salt. I wanted to brown the onions and remove as much water as possible. I brought the pan to a relatively high temperature to kickstart the evaporation process before reducing the heat and letting the mushrooms cook. Or simmer. The amount of water that comes out of a mushroom is truly fascinating.

Once I was satisfied with the amount of water left in the pan, I added some soy sauce and tomato paste to help deepen the flavor. Then I removed it from the stove and set it aside to cool. I decided to place the mixture into a bowl to help the ingredients cool down. The residual heat of the pan would have kept it hotter for longer.

Then it was time to mix all the ingredients! This includes the cooked brown rice as well. The rice should be prepared as instructed on the package. I was really intrigued watching the liquid residue and cornstarch bind everything. I used a silicone spatula as my mixing tool. Quite a bit of arm strength is needed to get the mixture evenly distributed. It was like a very thick dough.

Then I placed everything into a loaf pan. The vegan meatloaf will take on basically any shape that you push it into. I liked the idea of making it a classic shape. The lentil-meatloaf was cooked in a skinnier loaf tray, which leads me to use a classic loaf tray for this recipe.

While meatloaf is quick to prepare, it does take quite some time to cook. This is due to its density. Getting the heat to penetrate to the center will naturally take time. There is science behind that statement, but let’s just work off instinct. The long cooking time will also crisp up the edges of the loaf as they will be more exposed to the heat. It’s a really yummy outside layer when combined with the inside. Adds a crunch.

Before putting the meatloaf into the pan, there is a window to taste the vegan meatloaf. This will help you adjust the flavor profile up front. Making a meatloaf is effectively making the base for meatballs as well. I took a small amount of the meatloaf and shaped it into a ball. Then I heated a skillet and cooked it off with a bit of olive oil. This truly emulates the result, so spices can be adjusted before committing to the entire vegan meatloaf.