Vegan McRib
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Somehow McDonald’s screwed up a BBQ drenched sandwich, so let’s fix that and make a Vegan McRib! This is way better than the Original!
I first made a Jackfruit Seitan McRib a while back, and was curious if I could make a Vegan McRib that was a bit easier and less laborious using store-bought plant based meat, and turns out you can!
And let’s be honest, the original McRib is garbage! And I say that as somebody who used to eat the crappy burgers from AM/PM! Everytime McDon’s would release the McRib I would get one, and everytime I would be disappointed!
why you’ll dig a vegan mcrib
Not so with these however! Like with most my Fast Food Copycats, these are way better homemade. And because they are vegan you won’t feel heavy and lethargic afterwards. The McRib is great on paper, but McDon’s execution is poor, so we can easily fix that!
ingredients for a vegan mcrib
The ingredients are fairly simple but let’s go over a few things!
- Meat – The base of this is going to be some store-bought plant based meat and sausage, like Impossible or Beyond Meat. If you don’t want to use those kinds of products, check out my Jackfruit Seitan McRib recipe.
- Jackfruit – Speaking of, we’ll be infusing some jackfruit into this recipe to give them a more meaty and shreddy texture. I had the idea to do this as a way to make a quick and easy version of the Jackfruit Seitan McRib. You can also skip the jackfruit if you want, but I recommend adding it in! If you do use it, make sure to get the young jackfruit in brine and not syrup.
- Rolls – for the rolls, get something relatively soft. No baguettes for this! Soft French rolls work well.
- Onions & Pickles – Nothing accents a BBQ sandwich like raw onions and dill pickles!
- Aioli – While the original doesn’t have any kind of aioli, I found that it really kicks this up a notch! You can use my homemade Vegan Mayo recipe too!
- Dry Rub – You can also use your favorite store-bought dry rub, or make the one with the recipe I’ve provided!
- BBQ Sauce – You can use your favorite store-bought sauce or make my homemade BBQ Sauce!
how to make a vegan mcrib
These are fairly straight forward! If you are using jackfruit, simply steam and shred the jackfruit. Then mix that with the plant based meat and form your patties.
One big tip I can give you is to form your patties to match the size of the roll you’re using! One thing I learned is the longer or heavier the patty is, the more delicate it is. So keep that in mind and try to avoid making a giant patty.
Handle these with care. Because they are longer than a regular burger patty they will want to break apart. Once they are cooked they will be sturdier of course!
Then cover in the dry rub, and grill em up! Slather them in BBQ sauce and throw the sandwich together and dig in!
Can I BBQ a Vegan McRib?
Yes absolutely! While you can totally grill these indoors on a skillet, cooking them on a charcoal (or even gas) grill is the way to go if you can! There’s just something magically smoky about it that really makes this sandwich sing!
HANDY DANDY video here!
more mcdonald’s recipes
Vegan McRib
Ingredients
- 24 oz. plant-based meat like Impossible or Beyond
- 14 oz. can of young jackfruit optional but recommended
- Hoagie Rolls
- Dill Pickle Slices
- 1 Onion sliced
- BBQ sauce to taste
Dry Rub
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp chipotle powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp salt
- Black pepper to taste
Aioli (rough estimates as I made this to taste)
- 1/2 – 3/4 cup vegan mayo
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- Lemon juice to taste I used 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Dry Rub
- Prepare the dry rub by combining the ingredients. Adjust to taste and set aside.
Aioli
- Prepare the aioli the same way. I recommend starting off conservative with the lemon juice and adjust to your taste.
McRib Patties
- If using, drain and rinse the jackfruit. Add it to a steamer basket and steam for 10 minutes. Once steamed, chop up roughly. You can discard the seeds and tough bits, but I just chop them up or smoosh them with my fingers.
- Combine the jackfruit with the plant based meat thoroughly.
- To form your patties, weigh out about 6 oz. of the jackfruit / meat mixture per patty. Use some parchment paper so they don't stick to the surface, and form your patties with your hands. Make sure you have a hoagie roll nearby so you can shape them to the same length and width of the roll.
- Sprinkle and rub in the dry rub to each patty.
Indoor McRib
- In a skillet over medium heat, toast your rolls until lightly browned.
- Add your McRib patty, cook for about 3 minutes. Flip and brush with BBQ sauce. Cook for another 3 minutes, flip and brush with more BBQ Sauce.
- Remove patties from skillet, then dress the bottom bun with some of the aioli, add the McRib, top with onions and pickles, more aioli, and then the top bun.
Outdoor BBQ McRib
- Place your patties in the fridge while we fire up the grill.
- Fill a chimney with coals and light a tumbleweed starter or some old newspapers to get the chimney lit. Once coals are ashed over, dump them into one half of your BBQ kettle, so we'll have a hot area and a cooler area on the grill.
- Let the grill heat up, then clean it with a brush. Dab a paper towel with some oil and use some tongs to grease up the grill.
- Get your patties and season them liberally with the dry rub. Lightly press the seasoning into the patties.
- Add your hoagie rolls to the cooler side of the grill, then add your McRib patties to the hotter side. Keep an eye on your rolls and make sure they don't burn, remove them once they're nicely toasted. Cook the patties for about 3 to 4 minutes, then flip them. Once flipped, brush on as much BBQ sauce as you like. Then flip again after another 3-4 minutes, and brush the other side with BBQ sauce. You can repeat this process as much as you like, but I found that just once on each side was perfect.
- Remove patties from grill, then dress the bottom bun with some of the aioli, add the McRib, top with onions and pickles, more aioli, and then the top bun.
- ENJOY!
Was never a fan of the McRib but this one changed my mind. Made the recipe with Beyond Beef and Jackfruit.
Simple and quick, although make sure you weigh out exactly 6oz as the recipe states. Mine were a bit too beefy 🙂 Even my meat eating boys loved it and ask for it every week.
Love the Burger Dude’s recipes, it is everything you would have in the Pantry. No weird off the wall ingredients to buy.
Nice! Glad y’all liked it!!
I did the Seitan-Jackfruit version and they were delightful
Excellent!!