Vegan Southwestern Jackfruit Bowl! This delicious vegan, meat-free alternative, Jackfruit, has been taken up a notch with aromatic saucy goodness.

Bringing all those amazing Southwestern flavors together in this delicious, hearty, and oil-free Southwestern Jackfruit.  Perfectly spiced jackfruit combined with zesty onions, earthy garlic, spicy jalapeños, crisp red and green bell peppers, rich tomatoes, sweet corn and filling black beans all coming together in perfect South of the border medley of flavors. Serve this flavorful dish with steamed rice, baked potatoes, tortilla chips or inside of tacos with avocado slices, fresh cilantro, jalapeños, and a squeeze of lime! Versatile and comforting, this simple dish is sure to please!

Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.

Hi there, Ameera here!

Mom has an aversion to jackfruit!  Even though she loves it now, she can’t help but think of the time many years ago when we bought our first fully ripe jackfruit from the store, opened it up and cooked it.  Of course, we had no clue what we were doing at the time. It was a beast to open as jackfruit is super sticky, then we cooked an overly ripe jackfruit.  OMG! The whole house stunk to high heaven.  Dad and Michael were like “What the heck did you guys cook?”  It stinks so bad!” 

Mom and I still laugh over that escapade to this day!

We have several tasty jackfruit recipes on our blog made from canned young (green) jackfruit which makes for delicious dishes!

Jackfruit Skillet

We wanted to shred the jackfruit so it would resemble carnitas.  We pan “fried” it in spices to give it a lot of flavor as well as somewhat dry it out.  Make sure you thoroughly rinse the jackfruit as it is preserved in a brine liquid.  You want to remove as much of that brininess as possible.

This dish is designed to be a low-fat dish. It is delicious when balanced properly when served. It is a dish meant to be served with a flavor balancer such as rice, baked potato, taco shells, burrito shells, etc.  Think of eating plain pasta without the marinara sauce.  Eating pasta plain without any sauce is rather unexciting, but when you put a marinara sauce with it, it’s fabulous.  This recipe is the “sauce” and it needs a “vehicle” to make it fabulous.

Tips for Success:

• Jackfruit: Be sure to thoroughly rinse the jackfruit as it is somewhat brined.  In other words, it can be salty, so you need to rinse it off really well.  There will still be somewhat of a “tang” to it even after you rinse it off.
• Sautéing the Jackfruit: You want to eliminate the water from the jackfruit.  Sauté it in a dry pan, then sprinkle the spices over top of it to coat it well.  A little bit of the jackfruit will start to stick to the bottom of the pan, that’s OK, keep stirring until lightly toasted (dried out).  When you remove it from the pan, some of the jackfruit and spices will stick to the bottom of the pan which is fine, just make sure you don’t burn the jackfruit or spices.  After you remove the jackfruit, you can add the onion, bell peppers, and jalapeno to the same pan.  You will more than likely need to add a splash of water to sauté them to prevent the leftover jackfruit and spices from burning.  Scrape the bottom of the pan to pull up those tasty pieces of jackfruit and spices.
• Low-Fat Dish: We designed this dish to be low fat.  Keep in mind that canned/brined jackfruit has a certain “tang” flavor to it.  We used a lot of spices to make the dish super flavorful but without adding fat.  The “tang” from the jackfruit is tempered by the spices.  We recommend eating this dish with toppings or by using the serving ideas (rice, baked potato, taco shells, burrito shells) to balance the tang from the jackfruit and strong spices.  It is delicious when balanced properly when served. It is a dish meant to be served with a flavor balancer such as rice, baked potato, taco shells, burrito shells, etc.

Leftovers and Freezing:

Leftovers will generally keep for 5 days in the refrigerator.  Store in a covered container.  Reheating can be done on the stovetop, or in the microwave.

This dish can be frozen. If frozen, for best results, thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.

Pantry Products Used:

• Young Jackfruit: We used Native Forest Organic Young Jackfruit.  If you do not want to use jackfruit, then substitute with a can of pinto beans.

Kitchen Products Used:

• Large non-stick skillet or similarly large skillet: Ceramic/Enamel Lined Cast Iron Skillet

We certainly hope you give this deliciousness a try.

If you try this tasty dish, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us!  We would love to hear from you.

Vegan Southwestern Jackfruit Bowl

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star No reviews

• Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
• Prep Time: 15 Minutes
• Cook Time: 25 Minutes
• Total Time: 40 Minutes
• Yield: 6 Servings 1x
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: Southwestern
• Diet: Vegan

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

---

Description

Bringing all those amazing Southwestern flavors together in this delicious, hearty, and oil-free Southwestern Jackfruit.

---

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Jackfruit Skillet Ingredients:

• 1 – [ 14 oz. can ] young jackfruit, drained, rinsed and shredded *
• ¼ teaspoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon regular chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
• Pinch chipotle powder

Base Ingredients:

• 1 cup yellow onion, fine dice
• 1 red bell pepper, fine dice
• 1 green bell pepper, fine dice
• 1 jalapeno pepper, fine dice
• 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• 1 – [ 14.5 oz. can ] petite diced tomatoes

Spice/Herb Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 Tablespoon dried minced onion flakes
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• ¾ teaspoon regular chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon chipotle powder
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground mustard powder
• Pinch coriander
• ½ to 1 teaspoon sea salt (+/- to taste) *
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper 

Other Ingredients

• 1 cup corn
• 1 – [ 15 oz. can ] black beans, drained and rinsed

Optional toppings:

• Tortilla chips
• Chopped fresh cilantro
• Pickled or fresh jalapeno slices
• Avocado, sliced or diced

Serving Ideas:

• Tacos
• Baked potatoes
• Rice bowl
• Nachos
• Burritos

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

1. Drain and rinse the jackfruit really well, then shred the jack fruit pieces with your hands by pulling them apart. Then place the shredded jackfruit into a nonstick skillet over medium heat and sauté for several minutes to remove any liquids. Sprinkle the Jackfruit Skillet Spices over top and stir to coat the jackfruit. Continue to saute for several minutes until the jackfruit is toasted, dry, and nicely coated with spices.  Then remove the jackfruit from the skillet and set aside.
2. Place the Spice/Herb Ingredients into a small bowl, mix, set aside.
3. In the same nonstick skillet or large ceramic/enamel lined skillet, add the onion, bell peppers, and jalapeno pepper, sauté over medium-high heat for 7 to 9 minutes until the onions are tender. (If needed to prevent sticking, add a splash of water).
4. Add the minced garlic and sauté for one minute, then add the Spice/Herb mix, , stirring constantly for 30 seconds. Then add the remaining Base Ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then lower to a simmer. Simmer for 4 minutes.
5. Then add the corn, black beans, and cooked seasoned jackfruit, simmer for 5 minutes to allow the flavors to marry.
6. Serve over a baked potato, in a rice bowl, as nachos over tortilla chips, in a burrito, or in tacos with some freshly chopped cilantro, avocadoes, and/or pickled jalapenos (or fresh jalapenos).

---

Notes

*Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used.

*Sea Salt:  Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.

*Servings:  6

This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.