I absolutely love Tempeh and it reminds me of all the reasons I love real BBQ. Craving the smoky, savory taste of burnt ends but looking for a plant-based option? Don’t worry, you know the team at Fool’s Gold BBQ has you covered!

Other than burnt ends and sauce, Kansas City BBQ, at least real KC BBQ, is known for something else…sweet potatoes!  Growing up as a kid, my absolute favorite thing to eat in the world was a Messy Marty sandwich with a side of sweet potato fries.

Tofu burnt ends is how I really learned how to adjust my recipes and technique for world class BBQ to plant based proteins. This is a very simple recipe but the complexity of flavor is amazing, as the tofu really takes on the flavor of the rub and sauce!

Let me just start by saying, other than BBQ, spaghetti squash has literally been my saving grace since embarking on my journey to health. When I am not eating BBQ I am probably eating all kinds of things stuffed in and over the top of spaghetti squash!

Over the past 30 years, I’ve won many BBQ competitions and awards for this exact brisket recipe, slightly modified. People either love or hate seitan, I happen to love well-prepared seitan. It’s loaded with protein and is the only meat alternative I use that contains gluten.

One of the best things about plant based BBQ, other than it tastes amazing and is incredibly healthy, is the speed at which it can be prepared.  Unlike traditional BBQ that can take an extreme amount of time, most plant based BBQ dishes can be prepared start to finish in about an hour!

One of our Sunday traditions growing up in Kansas City was smoked BBQ chicken with all of the fixins! I carried this forward with my family over the years. One of my worst fears when switching to a plant based diet was not being able to experience these amazing times over BBQ with my family!

The recipe that got it all started!  Once you master this recipe and technique the world of real plant based BBQ is all yours!  Jackfruit is super healthy and versatile! In addition to being a great alternative to pulled pork in virtually any BBQ dish you can think of – sandwiches, pizza, burritos, salads, tacos and more!

Mushrooms are, by far, one of the most underrated ways to make amazing plant based BBQ! Admittedly, I love mushrooms of every kind…you name it, I love it! For this recipe, we’re focusing on trumpet and portobello mushrooms because they are easy to find at about any store.

If there is one plant based food dish  I could eat meal after meal with nothing else,   it would be my wife’s cole slaw! Growing up as a kid in Kansas City, I ate a lot of cole slaw as it’s the garnish with most BBQ meals!  I was always the kid that would ask for more cole slaw and people would look at me like I was crazy.

This dish is simply entitled, “The Crowd Pleaser” in our house. It doesn’t matter how much of this you make or how many people you are serving, it will be gone…..ALL of it! So, with that in mind, make sure you reserve some for yourself before serving it as leftovers are so amazing!

If you walk into any hole in the wall BBQ Dive in Kansas City worth their “rub” which are plentiful in KC, all of them will have one side dish in common which is pretty universal in KC BBQ and that is pit beans! Although every good pitmaster has their own twist on KC pit beans, the core is pretty much the same.