Product Review: Sol Cuisine Tofu Ribs

I am not a vegetarian. I don’t think I ever could be, to be honest. But I do acknowledge the benefits of a meat-free diet and have been trying to my hardest to cut back and incorporate more plant-based protein sources into my diet. Contrary to a long-standing carnivore belief, vegetarian options do not only include steamed veggies and other “rabbit food.” There are a lot of companies that make some truly delicious meat alternatives, and I’d like to share one of my new favorites with you: Sol Cuisine. They describe themselves as a “one-stop shop” for delicious vegan and vegetarian protein products that are all organic, non-GMO, Kosher/Halal, and wheat/gluten free.

I first came across Sol Cuisine in December when they ran a crowd-sourced social media campaign to find great gluten free recipes. As a thank you to all those who submitted recipes, the company sent out coupons for one free Sol Cuisine product. I stopped into Whole Foods and picked up a package of their BBQ tofu ribs and veggie crumbles (review and recipe for the veggie crumbles coming next week!).

I have to admit, I was a little bit skeptical of tofu ribs. I was sure the organic sauce was delicious, but how could you convince me that sticks of tofu were real ribs? I thawed out the package and popped a few of the pre-cooked “ribs” in the microwave. I won’t lie to you and tell you that they tasted like meat (I’m sure staring at the word “tofu” on the box made my taste buds seek out the  . However, I will say that the texture was impressively close to the real thing, and as I expected, the sauce was amazing.  I wouldn’t try to fool anyone at a barbecue with these, but as a filling vegetarian dinner, these are certainly winners in my book.

A 3-ounce serving of Sol Cuisine tofu ribs contains 130 calories, 7 g of fat (1 saturated), 7 g  of carbohydrates, 1 g of fiber and 9 g of protein. For a frozen packaged product, the sodium is surprisingly low at 160 mg (even the better-for-you Healthy Choice meals contain upwards of 300 mg per serving). You can purchase them at retail locations in the U.S. and Canada.

Sol Cuisine provided one manufacturer’s coupon in exchange for recipe submission and an additional coupon for offering to review the products purchased with the coupons. Healthy Way to Cook was under no obligation to do so and received no further compensation for this post. All opinions belong to the author.