Cloning Pizza Hut UK’s Vegan BBQ Jackfruit Pizza

Two things happened last week that led to this delicious pizza:

1. I tried BBQ jackfruit for the first time. Jackfruit, common in Southwest Asian cuisine, is a large ugly fruit that here in the United States we mostly see canned. It’s also an established meat replacement due to its texture, often used as a pulled pork alternative and even in crab cakes (I’ll be trying these soon)! My friend Laura made me Trader Joe’s BBQ jackfruit sliders last week, and I was hooked!
2. I read about Pizza Hut’s launch of their Vegan Jack ‘N’ Ch**se pizza, a BBQ jackfruit pizza the chain created for it’s #Veganuary menu.

It looked awesome, but here’s the catch: it’s only available in the UK. I’ve got a food crush on jackfruit right now, but it’s not quite to the point of making an international flight to eat at Pizza Hut… So I decided to clone it.

I’m not vegan by any means, but I have been trying to eat less meat. First and foremost for health reasons. I had blood work done this week, and my cholesterol – while still slightly high – was significantly lower than last year when I had it taken in the midst of Whole30. And I do feel like we all have a responsibility to reduce our meat consumption for sustainability purposes. Honestly, when vegan food tastes this good, it’s easy to do.

This pizza was a huge hit with my family. In fact, you have the husband to thank for my posting this recipe – he made me promise I would so he could make it next month when I’m out of town!

Vegan BBQ Jackfruit Pizza

Ingredients

For the BBQ Jackfruit (courtesy of Trader Joe’s):

• 1 cans green jackfruit in brine (sold at Trader Joe’s!)
• 3/4 cup of your favorite BBQ Sauce
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons Water

Prepare Pulled Jackfruit: Drain jackfruit and pat dry. Partially shred jackfruit chunks into smaller pieces. In a sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add jackfruit and sauté for five minutes. Add BBQ sauce and water to pan and stir to evenly coat jackfruit. Cover pan and simmer on medium-low heat, 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally and pulling jackfruit apart as it becomes tender.

For the pizza:

• Your favorite dough (I *LOVE* this spent grain pizza dough but recognizing you may not have spent grains on hand, you can also use one of my original go-to recipes or buy a bag of dough)
• 1/3 cup BBQ sauce
• 1 red onion, caramelized
• 1 cup canned corn
• 1 cup vegan cheese

Prepare the Pizza: Prepare your dough according to recipe. I always pre-bake my dough before adding toppings to prevent dough from becoming soggy. Once your dough is ready for toppings, brush with BBQ sauce. Sprinkle with caramelized red onion, canned corn, BBQ jackfruit, and vegan cheese. Bake for 10 minutes until cheese is melted.

Johanna