Beyond Meat's New Vegan Steak Bites Just Hit Shelves, And As Someone Who Is Actively Trying To Eat Less Meat, I Have Plenty Of Thoughts
Earlier this week, Beyond Meat's first-ever plant-based "steak" substitute hit grocery store shelves. Though it's not the first steak substitute on the market, Beyond Meat is probably the most well-known brand to launch one — so it's a pretty huge deal if I do say so myself.
In a press release, the brand says the product is for all — including meat eaters and flexitarians. Now, listen: I don't know about this "flexitarian" stuff, but even as a meat eater, I've been known to order a plant-based burger every now and then.
In my humble opinion, the advances that companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have made on the burger front are pretty darn remarkable. Honestly, sometimes I even prefer a plant-based burger to the real thing. But STEAK?! Replicating the texture alone feels a lot more complicated when compared to ground beef, so I was really curious (and excited) (and nervous) to try and review this new product immediately.
Just FYI: BuzzFeed was sent an early sample of Beyond Steak, but we were under no obligation to provide a positive review of the product (or any review at all).
Let's start with the elephant in the room: No, you're not getting a product that looks like a slab of actual steak. Beyond Meat's "steak" more closely resembles steak tips, or chopped-up pieces of steak.
If you're bummed out, you're totally entitled to your feelings. But TBH, the more I thought about a heavy slab of plant-based steak that, you know, resembled a cut of actual meat, the more and more nauseous I became. So personally, I don't really mind the tips route they took.
In terms of nutrition facts, one serving of Beyond Steak has approximately 35 fewer calories than the same amount of sirloin steak (according to the USDA). Cholesterol is where things get really interesting, though: As a plant-based product, Beyond Steak contains no cholesterol whatsoever, while the same serving of sirloin would contain approximately 78 milligrams.
In terms of protein, you're looking at pretty similar amounts. The "real" stuff clocks in at around 23 grams per serving while Beyond Meat boasts a very comparable 21 grams.
When it comes to the ingredients, I've got good and bad news. The good: As the "plant-based" descriptor would suggest, Beyond Steak is 100% vegan. The bad: If you have a gluten intolerance or allergy, you should know that it's...basically made of gluten.
Wheat gluten, the second listed ingredient, is effectively the same thing as seitan, which has been used as a high-protein meat substitute in China, Japan, and several other Asian countries for centuries. It offers a slightly chewy, bouncy texture that's not unlike real meat, so I'm actually not shocked to see wheat gluten pop up so high on this ingredient list. But alas — gluten-free it is not.
Beyond Steak is meant to be cooked from frozen, as indicated on the storage and prep instructions on the back of the packaging. So upon opening a package of Beyond Meat, you'll pretty much see a pile of frozen steak nuggets.
(And though this has absolutely nothing to do with the steak itself, I'd be remiss not to mention the honestly genius concealed zipper that allows you to seal the bag between uses. More of this, please!)
At first glance, the "steak" pieces definitely vary in size. I'd say that most were fingertip-sized, with a few here and there being larger or smaller. Even frozen, I was pretty impressed with how meaty the pieces appeared, almost like the kind of steak you'd find in a cheesesteak or taco.
The directions on the back of the package list two cooking methods: skillet and air fryer. (They also state that they do not recommend microwaving or traditionally baking Beyond Steak.) For the sake of science, I decided to officially test both methods to see if there was any discernable difference.
For the skillet-cooked steak, I placed a cast iron skillet over medium heat and lightly oiled it, per the instructions. Then I added the frozen Beyond Steak pieces to the hot skillet and cooked them for five minutes.
I stirred them around every minute or so, and I've gotta say I was VERY impressed with the sear I got. Looks like actual steak, no?
Another impressive element was the smell. I guess I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this stuff smelled like I was cooking a literal slab of beef. How they did it, I have no clue, but I was truly shocked.
Once the pieces were cooked and beautifully seared, I removed them to a plate until I was ready to try them.
As easy as it was to sear up the steak pieces in a skillet, cooking them in the air fryer was even easier. I set my air fryer to 350ºF, let it preheat, then popped the steak in for five minutes.
At the end of the five minutes, the steak pieces were hot and just beginning to crisp up on the outside, though they did lack that traditional sear of the skillet version since they weren't, you know, seared.
Here are the side-by-side results of the two recommended cooking methods. (Spoiler alert: I preferred the look and taste of the skillet version to the air-fried stuff, but we'll get into specifics shortly.)
I gave them a second or two to cool down before anxiously diving in for a first bite, and...
...I was surprisingly thrilled with everything going on in my mouth. By my fourth or fifth taste, I was actually pretty darn shocked.
If for some reason you don't believe me, just know that at some point, my very-skeptical-of-plant-based-meat partner ended up stealing a few pieces. He exclaimed that he "kind of loved it" and that it "wasn't freaky like some other vegan meats," so if that's not a glowing review, IDK what is.
In terms of the two cooking methods, I'll be real with you: The skillet is definitely the way to go here.
The skillet-cooked Beyond Steak was shockingly crispy on the outside — like any good steak — and definitely benefited from the hint of extra richness from the addition of cooking oil. The insides were juicier than I expected them to be and had a slight chew, though admittedly not as much as an actual slice of beef.
Air-frying was certainly the easier cooking method of the two, but I didn't love the texture as much. It still tasted good, but it reminded me of a steak nugget...which doesn't feel like the product they're going for. I also felt like the pieces were more dried out than the skillet version, so IMO, I'd try the skillet method first if I were you.
Though I was mostly obsessed with the product, there were also a couple of details that I mostly loved — and one that I didn't love very much at all.
LOVED: The smell. If my eyes were closed, you couldn't tell me I wasn't searing or eating a real steak. (I'm dead serious.)
They nail the beef smell hard, folks. And considering the fact that smell is actually a really important factor in the way that we, as humans, detect flavors, this element made me really happy.
LOVED: It sears reaaaaally nicely.
These pieces sear way better than I expected them to. The crust that developed on the skillet-cooked pieces easily rivaled that of a legit steak, albeit in much smaller pieces. Unlike the air-fried pieces, the hard sear made them incredibly satisfying, and that caramelized crust boosted the overall flavor in a really delicious way.
MOSTLY LOVED: The texture of the "meat" itself.
For a product made of wheat gluten and faba bean protein, I must say that the texture was objectively meat-like. With a crusty exterior and a tender, just-chewy-enough texture on the inside, it mirrored biting into a forkful of steak more closely than I thought it would.
Here's my caveat: The smaller pieces are far more texturally satisfying than the larger pieces. And considering the decent mix of sizes of the pieces themselves, textures can be a little inconsistent. The larger pieces looked better, but their interiors were also softer than I would've preferred — not in a freaky way, but I can't say it was ideal.
MOSTLY LOVED: The flavor.
TBH, I think they nailed the flavor of real steak as much as they could have. The only reason I didn't outright love the flavor is because there was definitely a slight "taco seasoning" thing going on, and while it was tasty, I do wonder how it would hold up in a dish that uses an entirely different flavor profile — like a copycat beef and broccoli or even beef stroganoff. Again, I tasted ~steak~ far more than I registered the faint taco seasoning flavor, but IMO, it was definitely detectable.
DIDN'T LOVE: It's hard not to break the pieces up when cooking them in a skillet.
Though the skillet method is the way to go for the most steak-like texture, don't expect the steak pieces to stay whole. The "layers" of...protein (?) in the pieces like to flake apart, and while it ultimately didn't end up making any sort of difference to the flavor, it's certainly not the prettiest thing to look at. But if you're adding them to a dish where you normally serve chopped-up steak in the first place, like a taco or cheesesteak, it shouldn't really matter at all.
THE VERDICT: While Beyond Steak wouldn't necessarily trick anyone into thinking they're eating an actual slab of beef, they come pretty darn close. Honestly, they come almost as close to real steak as their Beyond Burgers come to actual beef burgers, and that's saying something.
If you want to give Beyond Steak a try, my personal recommendation would be to start with a dish where you'd expect smaller, chopped-up pieces of steak instead of hoping it's going to taste like a ribeye. In a dish where steak is just one component of many, like a cheesesteak, I honestly don't think I'd be able to detect that I was eating plant-based meat.
