High Protein Fajita Bowl

If you’re looking for a tasty high-protein, fiber-filled meal, this High Protein Fajita Bowl is perfect! It’s super easy to make and takes less than 30 minutes total! It’s also pretty versatile, because you can add whatever veggies and beans you want and make it a bunch of different ways! I used TVP as the base, instead of rice, quinoa or another starch in order to add more protein to the dish! You could still add rice or your favorite starch as well, if you want some extra carbs! I think this is a great recipe that the whole family would love including kids and picky eaters because it’s a pretty controversy-free recipe!

If you are not vegan yet, but are looking to incorporate more plant-based meals into your life, this would be a really good and easy one to start with! It’s perfect for a Meatless Monday (or Meatless Monday – Sunday 🙂 ) dinner. It doesn’t use many specialty ingredients or ingredients that are intimidating to work with, so I think this is good for anyone that’s new to plant-based cooking. If you haven’t used TVP before, it’s short for Textured Vegetable Protein, and is basically just de-fatted soy flour. You can find it at nearly any grocery store and you can also buy it online. Since it’s soy based, it doesn’t really have its own flavor, which makes it a great base for this dish because we can make it taste however we want! I use TVP as a substitute for rice (or whatever starches you might normally see in a fajita bowl), because the texture of TVP when it’s cooked like this is very similar to like a soft rice. I like to use it as a rice replacement in some recipes like these High Protein Stuffed Peppers, as an easy way to get in some extra protein! TVP is also super easy to cook with. For this recipe, we just add water to it and mix in all of our seasoning and cook it in a pan!

You could make this High Protein Fajita Bowl WFPB (Whole Food Plant-Based) by omitting the vegan shredded cheese on top. I think it would be just as good, and if you still want that cheesy flavor, you could just sprinkle on some extra Nooch!

This is a really easy meal for meal prepping. You could either make a really large batch during the weekend (or whenever you have a free day from work or school), and eat it for lunch or dinner throughout the week. Or what I like to do so that I don’t get burned out on the same meal over and over again all week, is to make a double batch for dinner, and then take the leftovers for lunch the next day. This way, I only have to cook one meal everyday (because I meal prep breakfasts as well).

Ingredients

Seasoned TVP

• Textured Vegetable Protein – TVP – this is one of my favorite ingredients that I’ve discovered since going vegan. TVP is a shelf stable plant-based protein source that you can find at most grocery stores near the gluten-free flour options. You can also buy it online; it even comes in 25 pound bags! It’s super easy to cook with and really hard to mess up, which is why I like it so much 😉 If you’re hesitant about buying a new ingredient, don’t worry about this one, you’ll definitely find lots of ways to use this! I like to use TVP in all kinds of recipes – from sweet (like these blueberry muffins) to savory. It’s also one of the cheapest protein sources on a gram of protein per dollar basis! For this recipe, will be using TVP like we would rice or quinoa or another starch option. When cooked in this recipe, the TVP has a similar texture to really soft rice. Since it’s soy based, it doesn’t have its own flavor and will just take on any flavor we give it. Hopefully, I have convinced you to give TVP a chance, or if you’re already a TVP-lover like me, maybe I’ve convinced you to buy the 25 lb bag – trust me, it’s a great deal! TPP, textured pea protein, is a great option if you’re soy-free!
• Nutritional Yeast – you may have also heard this called Nooch. This is another shelf-stable ingredient that we use in a lot in vegan cooking. You can find it at most grocery stores and online. Some of the brands I really like are Frontier, Bob’s Red Mill, and Braggs. But they’re all about the same. Nutritional Yeast adds a really great cheesy and savory flavor to plant-based cooking, or any cooking actually. It also has a surprising amount of protein on a calorie basis, so I like to incorporate it where I can. This is one of those too-good-to-be-true ingredients that I can’t believe non-vegans don’t use more!
• Garlic powder, onion powder, taco seasoning – these are the seasonings that I used in order to flavor the TVP. If you already have a favorite seasoning combination that you really enjoy, feel free to use that! I always use very mild taco seasoning, and still not a ton of it because I’m very sensitive to spicy foods (aka I’m a little bitch). So if you like spicy stuff, you can definitely add more taco seasoning or more spices!

Other Ingredients

• Green Bell Pepper, Red Bell Pepper, Onion, Baby Bella Mushrooms – these are the vegetables I chose for this high protein fajita bowl. If you have other favorite vegetables that you would rather use, feel free to sub them in! This is a bit like Subway – High Protein Fajita Bowl your way!
• Black Beans – I like to use canned no salt added Black Beans, mostly because I’m lazy. If you like to use dry beans, you’ll need to cook these ahead of time. Or if you would prefer a different bean variety, or to not have beans at all, that’s always an option as well! I’m not going to force you to eat beans; I’m not your mom!
• Taco seasoning, garlic powder – I also seasoned the vegetables and beans a little bit. Feel free to adjust the spices to your taste.
• Vegan Shredded Cheese – my go to is always Violife Mexican blend shreds. There are a lot of other really great brands out there, but this is the one my grocery store has most often that I personally enjoy. So feel free to use your favorite brand, or if you’re trying to make this a WFPB recipe, you can omit the vegan shredded cheese and just add more Nooch to get that cheesy flavor!

Instructions

• In a low-medium heat skillet, stir the TVP, water, taco seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, and nutritional together until well mixed. I like to stir all of these things together before the water starts to cook off so that all the seasoning gets evenly distributed on the TVP. Another thing I like to do when making this is use a wooden spoon. When the TVP is wet and cooking, it can get kind of sticky on the bottom of the pan. The wooden spoon allows us to scrape the TVP off the bottom of the pan before it burns without damaging the pan. Even if you spray oil, I think you’re still gonna have this issue, or at least I do. You want to make sure you’re stirring pretty regularly so you don’t end up with blackened TVP :). I’ve also made this TVP in a rice cooker to save some me-over-the-stove time.
• We cook the seasoned TVP for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring pretty regularly. You’ll know it’s done when it has like a soft rice like texture. If you don’t like this texture, you could always cook it longer, to get more water out of it and have it be a little bit more firm. Since I’m using this is more of a rice substitute in the dish, I like it softer, but if you want to think about it as a meat substitute, you could cook it longer to get it more firm.
• While you’re waiting on the TVP to cook, wash your veggies and cut them. Since this is a fajita bowl, I like to cut them into thin, long pieces like you would find in a fajita.
• In a separate medium heat skillet, cook the sliced peppers, mushrooms, and onions. (Or whichever vegetables you chose.) Season these with onion powder and taco seasoning. Throw in the black beans after about five minutes or so, and continue cooking for another five minutes until the vegetables are well cooked and the beans have been heated. You could also just season the veggies and toss them on a parchment paper-lined baking tray and cook them in the oven for 20 minutes or so; this will save you some in the kitchen time!
• I like to serve this with this seasoned TVP on the bottom, acting like kind of a starch base, then throw on the cooked vegetables and beans on top of that. I really like topping it with vegan shredded cheese, but if you want to leave that off, that’s also cool. Vegan cheese is sometimes awkward to get to melt, so depending on how warm your vegetables are when you’re serving this meal, you might need to throw it in the microwave for like 20 to 30 seconds to get the cheese to melt!

Silly Little Haiku

TVP as rice

I’m a TVP Pusher

Twenty Five Pound Bag