Beyond Meat: Does It Pass the Blind Taste Test? #FutureOfProtein

How do you cook healthy family dinners that your kids will love? So many favorite kid dishes – from crackers to spaghetti and meatballs – are admittedly delicious but frequently include not-so-ideal ingredients. Add in my family’s gluten-free diet, and sometimes you have to get really creative when cooking healthy family dinners! This month, Beyond Meat gave me the opportunity to run a blind taste test on my kids for this sponsored post. They wanted to see if their product could pass as the animal meat version in a favorite family dish. As someone who eats meat but who would love to find an acceptable meat alternative, I jumped at the opportunity!

Beyond Meat: Does It Pass the Blind Taste Test?

For this blind taste test, I substituted Beyond Meat plant protein meatballs into (gluten free) spaghetti and meatballs – a favorite dish in our family. I caught the kids’ reactions on film:

My seven-year-old son Johnny craves protein, and meatballs are one of his favorite foods, so I was especially pleased that he liked this dish! Beef crumbles are, in my experience, pretty easy to pass off as meat in a dish; I was impressed that the meatballs passed the test. Best of all, he liked these enough to ask for seconds AFTER he found out that they were made mainly out of peas!

Beyond Meat is planting The Future of Protein with their 100% plant-based products that allow families to eat what they love – from chili to beef nachos to pasta Bolognese, chicken fajitas, and meatball subs – without the health and other downsides of animal protein. Athletes like the WNBA’s amazing Maya Moore have already embraced the benefits of plant-based proteins, and they are partnering with Beyond Meat to communicate these benefits to other families and their children. Beyond meat is using science to do what animals do: turn plant matter into the amino acids, fats, carbohydrates and trace minerals and water. Most Beyond Meat products are gluten-free. They are all GMO-free, animal fat-free, and hormone and antibiotic-free. They pack 10-20 grams of protein, and have a lower environmental impact than animal protein. I love that I can feed my kids plenty of protein without feeling guilty over eating an animal. It takes at least 6 or 7 weeks to grow a chicken to the point where you can eat it. Beyond Meat makes their product in 1-2 minutes.

Do you have a favorite recipe that I should use next time I try a blind Beyond Meat taste test on my kids?