Quorn is not just for people who want to go meat-free. It is a brand that works towards a happy, healthier planet.
We love Quorn. We’re not vegetarian or vegan but we do love the genuine taste of Quorn products. That’s the thing about this brand. It is not just for people who want to go meat-free. This is one of the many brands working towards a happy, healthier planet. Their products can form part of a healthy diet, whilst in the meantime moving towards the consumption of foods which produce less carbon emissions.
Did you know that 58% of all global greenhouse gas emissions of food come from animal products 70% of agricultural land is used to rear animals for meat consumption and 14.5% of total carbon footprint comes from animal products. By going meat free, you are helping to lower this amount by a great deal.
If you are concerned about the carbon footprint of the products you are consuming, look into the ‘carbon dioxide equivalent’ (CO2e) which is the amount of emissions produced. As you can suspect, the lower the better. Most Quorn product ingredients include a protein known as mycoprotein which helps give the food a meaty taste whilst remaining meat free. It is high in protein, low in saturated fats and low in CO2e. Information on the carbon dioxide equivalent of these products is readily available on either Quorn or Whatsinstore websites.
These meat free products are versatile, full of taste, healthy and sustainable towards our planet. Some products are vegan but all of their items are vegetarian. They also have a large range of gluten-free options as well. Most products are also low calorie and low in fat making them perfect for low diet diets.
We tried out nine of their range of products, and here are our favourite Quorn recipes.
Quorn Crispy nuggets
Vegan/Vegetarian: Vegetarian
Gluten Free: No
Calories per 100g: 190 cals
Fat per 100g: 8.3g
CO2e: 0.4kg
Quorn crispy nuggets are a fun, meat-free snack. As you can probably tell, this is based on the chicken nugget recipe but without the meat. The taste is actually very close to what you would expect from chicken nuggets, all the while being meat free. We were impressed!
Every 100 grams of the crispy nuggets has 190 calories and 8.3g of fat. This is considerably less than chicken nuggets which have around 296 calories and 20g of fat. They are also low in ‘carbon dioxide equivalent’ (CO2e) which is great news for our planet!
Check out our meal of Crispy nuggets with fries. An alternative for the kids (or us adults; we won’t tell if you don’t!) are the Quorn Roarsomes vegan dinosaurs.
Quorn Vegan Pieces
Vegan/Vegetarian: Vegan
Gluten Free: Yes
Calories per 100g: 99 cals
Fat per 100g: 1.4 g
Quorn Vegan pieces were a fantastic alternative to real meat for our fajitas. Some of you Liverpool supporters may already be aware that Quorn are official partners of the Liverpool Football Club. A quick Youtube search will give you a feature with three Liverpool players cooking up their favourite recipes using their products. We were inspired by Kostas Tsimikas’ fajitas recipe with Quorn Pieces and tried our own hand at it. Take a look here.
Quorn vegan pieces have the right texture and taste to imitate meat. You can get your meaty fix without harming any animals or the environment. Apart from this, these pieces are low in calories and fat, making these the healthy choice to include in your diet.
We thought this product worked really well and we also made use of Santa Maria Medium Fajita Seasoning Mix which is another brand we love using in our recipes. This Fajita Seasoning Mix has the perfect mix of the right amount of flavours to give your fajita recipes the perfect kick!
An alternative if you want to try something else are the Quorn Vegetarian Steak Strips but we feel that this recipe works best with the vegan pieces!
Quorn Meat Free Mince
Vegan/Vegetarian: Vegetarian
Gluten Free: Yes
Calories per 100g: 92 cals
Fat per 100g: 1.7g
CO2e: 0.16kg
This recipe was mainly for Jon. Jon loves a bit of chilli / spicy flavour in his dishes and absolutely loves chili con carne. Quorn Meat Free Mince was a great meat free alternative to the chilli con carne dish. Even though it is meat free, it is a perfect alternative. It feels and most importantly tastes like beef mince. This dish gained a seal of approval from both our ends and both feel that it was hard to tell that this is a meat free dish. You’ll love this dish with Santa Maria’s Nacho Chips as we did.
Let’s consider the alternative. If you opt for beef mince instead of this Meat Free Mince, every 100 grams of beef mince contains 22.1kg of CO emissions. Let us remind you that 100grams of Quorn Meat Free Mince has 92 calories. 100g of beef mince contains 332 calories. You can eat more than 3 times the amount of this Meat Free Mince than beef mince for the same amount of calorie intake. Whereas beef mince has 30 g of total fat, Quorn Meat Free Mince has only 1.7g. No wonder Quorn Meat Free Mince is a favourite in Quorn recipes!
Quorn Quarter Pounders
Vegan/Vegetarian: Vegetarian
Gluten Free: No
Calories per 100g: 184 cals
Fat per 100g: 9g
CO2e: 0.5kg
If you take one look at the OMG Quorn Burger (we nicknamed this one as such as we feel it is fitting…I mean, just look at it. It’s magnificent). Now tell us if you can tell that this burger is vegetarian! We think this looks and tastes just as great as a Beef Burger. Considering that these quarter pounders are vegetarian and not vegan, we allowed ourselves to include a healthy amount of cheese. We used Emborg American Cheddar Slices for this recipe. We absolutely loved this Quorn Burger recipe.
After having tried this burger, you might want to branch out and try a Quorn vegan burger or a Quorn chicken burger. Some alternatives if you are looking for a vegan burger option are the Vegan Ultimate Burgers or for a bit more spice, the Vegan Hot & Spicy Burgers. If you’re looking for a Quorn Chicken Burger option, try the Southern Style Chicken Burgers. If you opt for a vegan burger option, there are plenty of vegan cheese brands you can choose from.
Quorn Swedish Style Balls
Vegan/Vegetarian: Vegetarian
Gluten Free: No
Calories per 100g: 130 cals
Fat per 100g: 4.6g
CO2e: 0.17kg
The Quorn Swedish Style Balls were perhaps our favourite recipe of the bunch. Apart from the beautiful appearance, these taste great. We cooked these in a delicious rich and creamy Swedish meatball sauce and served with Knorr mashed potato and some blackberry jam. It might sound like a strange combination but it’s actually lovely. We found this creamy Swedish meatball sauce a great opportunity to make use of Elmlea’s new plant-based double cream. At the same price of Elmlea Double Cream, you don’t have to pay extra to go dairy free and plant-based!
Apart from protecting the environment at a CO2e of 0.17kg, compared to the beef alternative with much higher CO2 emissions, these are truly delicious. We definitely recommend that you try these at least once. If you’re worried about your calorie or fat intake, don’t. These Swedish Style Balls contain 130 calories and 4.6g per 100 grams. Not bad at all.
Quorn Vegetarian Steak Strips
Vegan/Vegetarian: Vegetarian
Gluten Free: Yes
Calories per 100g: 105 cals
Fat per 100g: 2.8g
If you’re looking for a meat free version of steak which also happens to be high in protein, gluten free, low in saturated fat and high in fibre, then you might want to try Quorn Vegetarian Steak Strips. We tried these in a very autumn dish with roasted squash (‘tis the season to eat squash), potatoes, brussel sprouts and sunflower seeds. This dish was the perfect comfort food for autumn.
The Meat Free Vegetarian Steak Strips are not only vegetarian, gluten free and great for the environment, but they are great alternatives for many meat recipes. Although very tasty and we loved the texture, these were the least favourite of all Quorn products. If you’re looking for an alternative, we really enjoyed the Quorn Pieces. These taste like chicken and are quite enjoyable. They are also vegan!
Quorn Vegan Fishless Scampi
Vegan/Vegetarian: Vegan
Gluten Free: No
Calories per 100g: 197 cals
Fat per 100g: 9.2g
CO2e: 0.38kg
Quorn Vegan Fishless Scampi are a great family favourite with adults and kids too! These are low calorie, low in saturated fat, have low CO2e which is great for the environment, and they are vegan (which is great news for the fish). They are also a great source of protein, soy free and high in fibre. The main ingredients in these are rice flake, wheat flake and mycoprotein!
These Fishless Scampi taste just like fish fingers, making a great alternative to these scampi, the Quorn Vegan Fishless Fingers, depending on what you’re using them for. If you are offering these to your kids, the Vegan Fishless Fingers might be a great option for you if they are used to the shape of fish fingers.
If on the other hand, you want to make fishless tacos like us, why not try the fishless scampi. This recipe is VERY easy and quick to make, making it a very good weekday meal option. Save planet earth, one fishless scampi at a time!
Quorn Cottage Pie
Vegan/Vegetarian: Vegetarian
Gluten Free: No
Calories per 100g: 83 cals
Fat per 100g: 2.1g
It’s autumn and we love to enjoy the autumn weather with some great comfort food. Quorn Cottage Pie is a meat free alternative to the meaty beef cottage pie we are familiar with. Also may be referred to as Quorn Shepherd’s pie, this dish is warm, a great source of protein, low in saturated fat, a great source of fibre and has no soy. This is perfect for when you have no time to prepare a wholesome, healthy, vegetarian meal. Just pop it in the oven and enjoy!
We have to admit that this wasn’t as aesthetically pleasing as we had wished but coupled with some colourful vegetables such as red cabbage, green peas and carrots, this dish can look amazing. This dish was wholesome and tasted homemade. We honestly couldn’t tell that it was meat free. All the goodness you’d expect from cottage pie without the extra calories, fat or meat. Definitely one of our favourite dishes. If you are looking for other vegetarian, ready-to-eat freezer meals, you might be willing to try Quorn Lasagne as well!
Quorn Vegetarian Bacon Slices
Vegan/Vegetarian: Vegetarian
Gluten Free: Yes
Calories per 100g: 214 cals
Fat per 100g: 15.7g
A lot of people moving to a vegetarian diet often say they miss the taste and texture of bacon. Quorn Vegetarian Bacon Slices hopes to bridge the gap and make the move to a vegetarian diet a lot easier. Now, we have to admit, the taste of these Vegetarian Bacon slices is not even close to the typical bacon taste. Actually, it reminded us more of luncheon meat, but that said, it was pleasing all the same.
It is important that we consider the nutritional differences between Quorn Vegetarian Bacon Slices and Pork Bacon. Pork Bacon has 541 calories and 42g of fat for every 100g portion of bacon. Quorn Vegetarian Bacon Slices only has 214 calories and 15.7g of fat for the exact same amount. It is also meat free and kinder to our environment.
We enjoyed this vegetarian bacon in a grilled cheese, mushroom and bacon sandwich using Maltese bread. Delicious!
