No need to feel guilty on your plant-based diet with this Potato Gratin with Jalapeno and Tempeh Bacon! When you’re eating a plant-based diet and see a dish full of cheese and bacon, you might find yourself drooling at the thought of having a bite.
Some of you may easily resist, but I know a tasty looking dish when I see one and my internal devil kicks in and teases me. This no cheese, cheesy potato gratin is a great dish to add to your plant-based meal plan!
We struggle daily with willpower when it comes to many things like sweets, exercise, or new clothes. You’re not alone.
We all struggle with willpower. I am reading a book right now called, “The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It,” and am learning about how our primitive instincts are still active today.
This book promises “to explain the new science of self-control and how it can be harnessed to improve our health, happiness, and productivity.” I’ll let you know how it goes.
Be sure to check out these other plant-based hearty breakfast recipes:
- Buckwheat Pancakes
- Chickpea Flour Omelet with Curried Greens
- Country Hash browns with Sausage Gravy
- Crustless Broccoli Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche
In the meantime, here is a dish that has all the plant-based goodness you’re seeking AND is oh, so satisfying! Using a vegan cheese sauce easily made in the blender, this dish is layered with potatoes, onion, tempeh bacon and sprinkled with jalapeños.
The Cheese Sauce
Start by soaking 1 1/2 cups raw cashews for at least an hour, but overnight works well. After draining the cashews, add them to your blender. Also add in the non-dairy milk, nutritional yeast, bell pepper, lemon juice, mustard, seasonings and optional salt. Blend this until smooth.
If you’d prefer, for this jalapeno au gratin dish, cannelloni beans are a great substitution for the cashews. Instead, use one can of beans. Once blended, the sauce may be a bit thick, so add a tad more non-dairy milk or water until the consistency of gravy.
Assemble your Gratin
Prepare your ingredients. Once you have them prepped, it will make building your plant based potato gratin easy to assemble.
You’re building this like a lasagna. Vegan cashew cheese sauce, potatoes, onions, tempeh bacon, jalapeno’s and repeat. End with the vegan cheese sauce on top and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes.
A yummy addition would to add a topping of crushed raw cashews about halfway through. It will give it a nice, crunchy bite.
Try Something New and plant-based!
It was an experiment that worked. My husband and I couldn’t get enough of this au gratin potato recipe. If you are not a jalapeño lover, you can leave them out. I used the Tofurky brand tempeh bacon to make it easy.
The trick to staying on a plant-based diet, in my humble opinion, is finding very satisfying dishes that you can turn to and that become your favorites to bolster your commitment to staying healthy and eating a whole-food, plant-based diet.
Have a side of Low-Fat Broccoli Salad to add a flavor contrast and extra veggie goodness to make this a complete meal!
I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below for this Potato Gratin with Jalapeno Tempeh Bacon! If you have a photo, post it on my Facebook page, tag me using the hashtag #plantbasedcooking
Potato Gratin with Jalapeño & Tempeh Bacon
Ingredients
Cheese Sauce
- 1 1/2 cup raw cashews Substitution: 1 can cannelloni beans
- 1/2 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 yellow or orange bell pepper seeded and rough chopped (a roasted pepper works, too)
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 2 tsp yellow mustard
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- sea salt to taste - about 1/3 tsp
Filling
- 3/4-1 package tempeh bacon I like the Tofurkey brand
- 1 yellow onion peeled and thinly sliced
- 4 small jalapeños cut in half lengthwise and seeds removed, thinly sliced
- 4 potatoes peeled if not organic and thinly sliced
- sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Cheese Sauce
- Soak the raw cashews in water to cover at least for an hour up to overnight.
- Place the soaked, drained cashews, non-dairy milk, nutritional yeast, bell pepper, lemon juice, mustard, and salt in a blender and blend a few minutes until smooth. If the sauce seems too thick, add a little more non-dairy milk or water. Set aside. (Note: if using cannellini beans, add them at this time in place of the cashews.)
- Heat the tempeh bacon in a frying pan over medium heat. When cooled slightly, stack and cut into 1/2-1″ pieces.
To assemble:
- To assemble: Cover the bottom of a large baking dish with a little oil spray.
- Spread some of the cheese sauce in the bottom. Top with a layer of potatoes, sliced onions, tempeh bacon and sliced jalapeños. Top with more cheese sauce and repeat the layers once or twice depending, ending with a layer of sauce.
- Bake in a preheated 350° F. oven until the potatoes are tender, the sides are bubbling and the top is a light golden brown, about 40 minutes.
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