Vegan and Gluten Free
Serendipity Jane
Original Recipe: Jane Fox
Inspiration: NA
Sometimes a dish just needs a little jump start in the flavor department and Vegan and Gluten Free “Chicken” Bouillon does just that. It’s a huge time saver in your day to day cooking, quick and easy to make, and you just might already have the ingredients sitting in your spice cabinet!
Last January, when I got my final diagnosis for a gluten allergy, I really had to rethink my meals. Adding the gluten free requirement on to my vegan diet seemed like a daunting task. Our winters here in Northern California, although pretty mild compared to a lot of places, can still be rather chilly. Soup seemed to be the perfect answer. The vegan bouillon cubes I’d been using were clearly marked gluten free!” Easy peasy” I thought “Soup it is!”
Only, after having a bowl from the first batch of split Pea Soup that I made, I felt that telltale pain in the pit of my stomach, followed by…well, you don’t even want to hear the details. I mentally checked my ingredients to see where I’d gone wrong. It wasn’t the dried bag of split peas, the carrots, the onion, garlic. No, It had to be the bouillon that I used as a base.
A closer inspection of the ingredients found what I suspect was the culprit: Maltodextrin. An internet search informed me that this ingredient is made with wheat! Wheat? And the bouillon was still labeled Gluten free? The manufacturing process supposedly destroys the gluten. Well, I have to tell you, my stomach was telling me otherwise.
I began using vegetable stock to flavor my rice and sauces. My stomach was spared, but it was expensive, took up a lot of space in the pantry, and tasted like little more than salt water. Yes, I could have saved my vegetable scraps and made my own stock. I’m sure Martha Stewart would have done that. But for heaven’s sake, don’t I have enough to do? Last year, I could pop into a restaurant for a meal or pick up something that I just had to heat. Now, I’m chopping vegetables and making everything from scratch. No. I wanted a shortcut. That’s when I decided to make my own Vegan Gluten Free Bouillon.
I researched chicken seasonings and chicken stock recipes. I made a list of every spice used to flavor chicken, then crossed off the ones I didn’t like or were too spicy. Bye Bye Cumin! I added turmeric for color. I was very pleased with the results.
So to start, gather all of the ingredients: Nutritional Yeast
, Salt, onion powder, parsley flakes, sage, celery seed, garlic powder, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, smoked paprika and turmeric. I know it seems like a lot but this goes really quick. Unless you have celiac disease, and if cross contamination is a problem, I suggest you buy the spices in the bulk department of your supermarket. Sprouts and Whole foods have excellent bulk spice areas where you can purchase just what you need. No need to buy a four dollar bottle of marjoram, when you can purchase just a teaspoon for just a few cents! If bulk bins aren’t an option, purchase the bottled version. Just make sure you are purchasing spices marked as organic and non-GMO.
Measure out one cup of nutritional yeast, one tablespoon of sea salt, one tablespoon of onion powder, and a tablespoon of parsley in to your food processor. Put in a teaspoon each of everything else. Turn on the food processor and blend until the mixture is powdery. The photo above shows the spice mixture before blending. YThe photo below shows the mixture after processing. You may have to scrape down the sides of the food processor but that is it! If you don’t have a food processor you can use a coffee grinder or spice mill and do it in batches. Store this powder in an airtight container. I use a labeled mason jar with a screw top lid. Use one tablespoon of the powder for every cup of water. That is it! It’s simple a fast and will save a ton of time and money.
I use this mixture to flavor, rice, quinoa, and polenta , and also to make a soup stock. It makes an excellent base for sauces. Sometimes I just mix a tablespoon in a cup of water and have it as a light soup. I use it so often that I usually triple this recipe, so that it lasts me a couple of months. I think you will find having this Vegan and Gluten Free “Chicken” Bouillon on hand to be a real time saver and a delicious addition to your meals.
Enjoy!
Printable Recipe
Vegan "Chicken" Bouillon
Gluten Free “Chicken” Bouillon does just that. It’s a huge time saver in your day to day
cooking, quick and easy to make, and you just might already have the ingredients
already in your spice cabinet!
Equipment
- food Processor or spice mill
Ingredients
- 1 cup Nutritional Yeast
- 1 Tablespoon Sea Salt optional or to taste
- 1 Tablespoon Parsley Flakes
- 1 Teaspoon Celery Seed
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Marjoram
- 1 Teaspoon Rosemary
- 1 Teaspoon Sage
- 1 Teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- 1 Teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 Teaspoon Thyme
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients together in a food processor until the mixture is a powder. If you don’t have a food processor, you can make this in batches using a spice mill or a coffee
grinder. - Use 1 level Tablespoon of Bouillon
powder with a cup of water to make one cup of broth. - Enjoy!
