Looking for a quick and easy okara recipe? Try some vegan okara meatloaf on for size (or eat them at least).
What's this okara stuff?
Okara is the soy pulp you are left with in the process of making soy milk. To make soy milk, soaked soy beans are ground with water. The water then filters out to make the "milk" and the pulp left in the mesh or strainer. Essentially, okara is what you are left with after the milk is made.
I've had my Soyquick for a few months now, and while I love it to bits I have been feeling a little guilty throwing all of the okara out time and time again. Waste not, want not and all that. I started thinking, "what can I do with this stuff?"
So for anyone looking for Soyquick recipes, specifically for an okara recipe, this vegetarian meat loaf is both easy and tasty (and gives you a great way to use what you might otherwise toss in the bin).
Vegan Okara Mini Meatloaves
- Directions/Method
- Ready, set, pre-heat! 190 C (375 F) should do the trick.
- Mix all of the ingredients together in any order you see fit. Yes, I know, my recipes are tricky.
- Grease two 9.5cm x 6.5cm mini loaf tins and pack 'em full of the mix. Bake for about 20-30 minutes, or until nicely browned on top.
- Serve with something yummy, like new potatoes (Jersey Royals, how I love thee!)
- Come back here and leave a comment to say what you think...
sharon says
what is vegetarian mince (ground beef)??
Kip says
Sharon,
It's generally made of soy protein and is a substitute for beef mince...
Kristi says
Thank you for posting your recipe. I haven't seen too many for Okara, so a veggie one was a refreshing find. My "meatloaf" didn't exactly solidify. It is still liquidy. I also found it to have a bit too many spices, but still very tasty and I'm sure it has more nutritional value than most other everyday recipes.
All from a bland-looking bean! says
I used your dandy recipe as a springboard and gleefully put into my mixing bowl probably over 5 cups of still-wet okara (3 days old, still good), oatmeal for "hold together" consistency, some of my cooked black bean soupy stew (had onions and muchos herbs/spices), then tossed in the typical flavorings I use to bring life to tasteless okara. What I think helped the most was a packet of dehydrated onion soup mix. I also added vegetarian worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, ketchup, barbeque sauce, and powdered spices (curry, chili, cumin, coriander, oregano, celery salt, e.g.). I added appox 1/4 teaspoon of salt and I've probably forgotten a couple of ingredients. I mixed it, adding soy milk as needed to hold its shape, and put it into an 8x4 inch loaf pan. The only thing I would change about what I did was that I cooked it at 350 Fahrenheit for well over an hour: this very dense and moist recipe next time will be cooked at 375 degrees and I will keep doing the knife-probe to check for doneness. So far, so very, very palatable--and I consider it just about free! What began as an assertion of jobless reality, a need to find ways to stretch my dollars (I started making my own soymilk about 2 months ago) has become a venture into a land where I derive great pleasure and satisfaction from experimnenting and creating good-quality meals. THANK YOU for the recipe and Power to the (cooking) People!
kippygo says
I'm glad it gave you some inspiration! I always have such huge amounts of okara and never get to use it all. There's some epic guilt for throwing it away. I'll have to try something like this too!
Joolz says
Sometimes i cook my nutroast for half an hour covered with foil then the next half hour uncovered and it works a treat!
Miniatur Drum says
looks delicious
yidaki_mark says
Totally yummy recipe but I enhanced it by doubling the amounts of herbs and using "fresh" instead of dried. I also added a few shitake mushrooms which I had simmered in soy sauce for a few minutes. Totally delish!
kippygo says
The mushrooms are a great idea!
william says
Hi, MessyVegetarianCook,
I really like your site. Today, I defrosted some Okara I have had in the freezer for months (bought at the store, but now I'm really interested in buying a soymilk maker, too!), and really want to try this meatloaf recipe asap, it sounds so good.
Not sure why I'm the only one who seems to be confused, but should I use dry oatmeal and dry vegetarian mince? Or do I need to prepare them/reconstitute them first? I assume they're both dry since you don't say so, but I'm not sure how they're going to kick without much moisture in the recipe.
Thanks a lot in advance,
William
Kip says
Hi William,
I use dry oatmeal and pre-packaged frozen vegetarian mince in my recipe. If you're using the dried tvp stuff then I'd recommend adding some liquid to reconstitute. I've never used that for this recipe, but if you go that route then I'd love to know how it turns out!
The okara I use, as it's fresh, also has a fair amount of moisture in it (like a wet dough). If yours is really dry (I've never bought it before so don't really know how it's sold) then maybe add some liquid.
tokyovegan says
Thanks, a lot for the tip, Kip!
I am planning to use dried TVP as I assumed that's what vegetarian mince was...
Anyway, I'll let you know how it turns out.
William
tokyovegan says
Hello, Again.
Reporting in as promised with my results. I have now made the Okara meatloaf twice with storebought Okara and TVP, instead of mince. The 1st time was good but a little dry, so the 2nd time I left in about an extra 1/2 cup of water in the TVP, and it was much more moist and didn't crumble as much as the first time. Next time, I will try using fresh mushrooms as the next person suggests. Getting better all the time. Thanks!
Kip says
Thanks for reporting back; it's always good to know how things are turning out for other people. I'm wondering if the addition of another binding agent might keep it from being less crumbly, like perhaps an egg replacer or corn starch (or arrowroot or tapioca flour) mixed with water.
I didn't realise you were in Japan... I was going to ask how you found okara to buy, but in country which appreciates soy so much I'm not so surprised 🙂
William Santoro says
I have made your meatloaf recipe COUNTLESS times, each time with a little variation (please check out http://vegandietguy.com for the latest "variation"). Okara meatloaf has become one of our favorites meals, and a great way to use up our okara (I'm actually running out of okara lately and drinking more soymilk to compensate!). Can you please let me know if you would mind me reprinting your recipe (with permission), rather than the link, which may cease working if you ever rearrange your site.
Kip says
Hey William, I work online professionally and only ever use 301 redirects if things are re-arranged. But seeing as you've been awesome and tested this recipe so much, I don't mind if you re-print the recipe. I'd appreciate a site link somewhere if possible though? Thanks! I've got a bucketload of okara in the fridge I need to use up, so this afternoon is for more experiments.
Kip says
Hey William, I work online professionally and only ever use 301 redirects if things are re-arranged. But seeing as you've been awesome and tested this recipe so much, I don't mind if you re-print the recipe. I'd appreciate a site link somewhere if possible though? Thanks! I've got a bucketload of okara in the fridge I need to use up, so this afternoon is for more experiments.
William Santoro says
Thanks, Kip. I've added a site link to my homepage today. BTW, I'm not sure if I missed it before or it's that you've been doing a lot of work, but you have so many good recipes I want to try. The spinach borek for one. Unfortunately, I can't get pomegranate molasses or soy yogurt here (my attempts to make the latter--despite much effort to bring the vegan yogurt starter into Japan--far less than stellar). However, I plan to make your strawberry chocolate tarts, although it will have to be with American strawberries as this year's season has already ended.
William
Kip says
Thanks, William! I love that you give me so much feedback. Really, it's super appreciated.
Can you get cashews? In place of yoghurt maybe try making a cashew cream with something like lemon to add that tart flavour? The pom molasses isn't an absolute must in that recipe, just good, so you could again go with a bit of lemon plus a dash of something sweet...
tokyovegan says
Hello, Again.
Reporting in as promised with my results. I have now made the Okara meatloaf twice with storebought Okara and TVP, instead of mince. The 1st time was good but a little dry, so the 2nd time I left in about an extra 1/2 cup of water in the TVP, and it was much more moist and didn't crumble as much as the first time. Next time, I will try using fresh mushrooms as the next person suggests. Getting better all the time. Thanks!
Kip says
Thanks for reporting back; it's always good to know how things are turning out for other people. I'm wondering if the addition of another binding agent might keep it from being less crumbly, like perhaps an egg replacer or corn starch (or arrowroot or tapioca flour) mixed with water.
I didn't realise you were in Japan... I was going to ask how you found okara to buy, but in country which appreciates soy so much I'm not so surprised 🙂
axel g says
I'm a big fan of imitation meats!
Thanks for sharing the recipe +_+
Thailand Breeze says
Great idea! I tried okara cookies before and they're delicious. This okara meatloaf sounds evey better.
Too bad that I don't have soymilk maker. Lazy to wash it. 😉 Do you think I can substitute the Okara with grated coconut meat? (That is what is left after after making coconut milk)
Kip says
Interesting thought to sub it with coconut meat. I've not cooked much with that, so I can't really say one way or another, but do let me know if you try it! You could sub tofu for the okara too, I'm sure.
Ravenrandy says
I tried this recipe two weeks ago and here I am again,,,it's fabulous, I'm vegan and make my own soya milk and this is a great option for my okara ,,,thanks
Kip says
Hey, glad you liked it and thanks for reporting back to say so 🙂
Tamie says
Well we liked it. I forgot the yeast, and used soysauce cause I had no warsauce. and a few other substitutes to try and make it like yours. Turned out great. Only been a vegan wanna be for one year, and just got the soyquick milk maker a few weeks ago. Glad people know what to do with the pulp. Thanks for your hard work.
Robin says
Wow! This was really good! Â Because of other food intolerances, and not having some of the ingredients on hand, I had to make some changes to it but it was excellent. I can't eat any grains so I used 1 tbsp of arrowroot powder instead of the oatmeal. Can't do the gluten in the W. sauce (gluten free seems to be not available here) so put in some Bragg's liquid aminos. Â I didn't have any of the vegetarian mince (I don't like it anyway) so put in some chopped (about 2 cups raw) mushrooms which I water-sauteed with the onions and some garlic before adding to the mixture. Â I also didn't have any tomato paste so used the same amount of organic ketchup and put more ketchup on top before baking it. Â It was a hit and I'll definitely be making it again. Â Thanks so much for the inspiration!
Kip says
Excellent! Thanks so much for reporting back. I'm totally going to try it with mushrooms next time.
Ethan says
I make my soymilk without a machine so my okara is raw - do you think the baking in this recipe will be enough or should I cook it by itself before making the loaf?
Kip says
How do you make it? I stopped using my machine a long time ago, but I heat the whole mass of water and pulp together before straining. That's enough cooking... Remember it cooks more in the oven too.
Nina says
Hi,
You keep mentioning feeling guilty about throwing away your soya pulp. There's no need to, you can just compost it :-).
Composting is much better for the environment than food waste going to landfill (cutting down on greenhouse gases, among other things).
Seriously, think about it. If you haven't got anywhere to keep a compost pile, ask if there is one in your neighbourhood, or if the local council do a collection. I don't have a garden but wanted to compost so I got involved with a local community garden. It was really surprising how much compostable waste we produce!
Enjoy
N
Kip says
I never throw it away these days because I cook with it, but thank you for the good advice! I should keep an eye out to see if there are any community composting schemes in my area.
Laura says
3/5
I found this recipe resulted in a "mushy" texture, when I would have preferred something more firm. It was difficult to slice as the knife squished it. I'll be adding some flour, ground flaxseeds or breadcrumbs next time I think.
It would be much nicer with the onion sauteed first, too.
I added soy sauce, mushroom powder and salt and I think that was a good idea, as the flavour was great.
Definitely going to try it again, it seems like a wonderful way to use up Okara.
Kip says
Hi Laura,
Thanks for your comments. For a more substantial texture try adding some vital wheat gluten.
Simone says
Thank you for the great “meatâ€loaf recipe. I make my own soy milk, yogurt and tofu so I always have lots of Okara to use up.
I replaced the mince with some chopped up Okara meatballs. Next time I will try with tvp (texturized vegetable protein).
This recipe is also great for US / Canadian Thanksgiving dinners. I sautéed some finely diced carrots and mushrooms and added them in. I also made a vegan gravy to go with it. Very yummy. I did not have mini loaf pans so I used muffin tins (2.75 inches / 7 cm diameter) and cut down the cooking time a bit. Gave me 5 meatloaf muffins.
Thanks again for a great recipe!
Kip says
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for reporting back to let me know.
Harold Burton says
I made this last night and it is delicious! Just wondering what is considered one serving for the nutritional information?
Kip says
Hi Harold,
Apologies for not seeing your comment sooner. I'm not a nutritionist and so I am not qualified to answer any queries about nutritional information.
I reserve the right to improve malicious and trollish comments.