Recipe: Vegan Beer Cheese Potato Skins with Bacon Crumbles

I can't think of anything better to plop down in front of the TV with than these. They are MADE for watching TV, especially games. I mean, they are basically bar food, right? I made them EVEN MORE amazing by topping them with a creamy beer cheese sauce and some bacon crumbles. Can you believe this is vegan? 

What do vegans eat? Oh, not much, just stuff like THIS. 

You can top them with all sorts of extras too. Maybe some olives or vegan sour cream? Or what about some guacamole?! Or salsa! Now that's my kind of meal, right there!

Now I'm not going to say that you could fool someone with these. To me, they are vegan and perfectly so. I don't even LIKE trying to "fool" people. I like to show people that yeah, it is vegan food, but yeah guess what? It's super tasty too.

You'll have some cheese sauce leftover and some of those bacon crumbles leftover. I'm sure you can think of things to do with them but here are some hints: beer cheese on french fries, on tacos, bacon crumbles on anything with potatoes.. You shouldn't be too upset about extras, right?

Recipe notes...

*For the beer I suggest a good amber ale - not an IPA because the bitterness will be way too overpowering. I used a hefeweizen for these and it was awesome. 

*For the roasted red peppers you can use jarred or you can roast your own. Just roast them over a gas burner, on the grill or under the broiler in your oven until they are charred all over. Place them in a bag and let them steam for a few minutes to loosen the skins. Rub the skins off and proceed!

*You can use whatever kind of flour you have around usually. All purpose is good and so is brown or white rice flour. You can also use 1/2 the amount of cornstarch or arrowroot powder in place of the flour (use 2 Tablespoons.)

Vegan Beer Cheese Potato Skins with Bacon Crumbles

makes 16-24 skins (4-12 servings depending on how hungry you are!)

Beer Cheese Sauce

1 & 1/2 c. beer 

1/4 c. roasted red pepper

1/2 c. nutritional yeast

1/4 c. flour (all purpose or rice flour works well)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 Tablespoon miso paste (white/yellow)

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon mustard powder

1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder (optional)

Bacon Crumbles 

1 cup tvp granules (textured vegetable protein)

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon soy sauce or tamari

3 Tablespoons liquid smoke

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 cup hot water

4-6 medium sized baking potatoes, scrubbed (You can bake several more potatoes at the same time if you need more for say a party or something. The cheese sauce and bacon crumbles will yield extras!) 

to serve: : sliced green onion, sliced black olives, Tofutti Sour Supreme, a beer

*Since you can make the Bacon Crumbles ahead of time I suggest you do so!

Make the Bacon Crumbles: 

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Combine all of the ingredients and stir. Let it sit until the liquid is totally absorbed by the tvp. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread out the tvp into a single layer. Bake for 10-15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to make sure that it toasts up evenly. You want them to be completely dried out when you remove them from the oven. Let them cool and store them in an airtight container. 

Bake the Potatoes: 

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. After scrubbing the potatoes poke them all over with a fork. Place them directly on the oven rack and bake for 45-60 minutes. 

Let cool slightly and then cut into quarters. With a spoon gently remove the soft inside of the baked potato from the skin, leaving about 1/4 inch of flesh attached. (That sounds horrible but I can't think of another way to say it.) You want them to have structure so don't leave them super thin. In fact remove LESS than you think at first and you can go back to remove more if necessary. 

Make the Beer Cheese Sauce: 

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until very smooth. Pour into a pan over medium high heat. Bring to a simmer. Whisk the sauce continuously and cook until nice and thickened (3-5 minutes.)

Assemble your Potato Skins: 

Keep your oven at 425 degrees (after taking the potatoes out.) Line the baked potato skins on a parchment lined baking sheet. Spoon in 1-2 Tablespoons of the beer cheese sauce into each of the skins. Put the pan into the oven and bake for another 8-10 minutes or until the edges get nice and crispy.

Top your hot potatoes with Bacon Crumbles, green onions, Sour Supreme, olives, guacamole, salsa or whatever else you like! 

Nutritional information per serving : Serving size: 2 potato skins with 3 Tablespoons of beer cheese sauce and 1 teaspoon of bacon crumbles (does not include optional Sour Supreme or other toppings)

4 WWPointsPlus, 160 calories, 1.0g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 28.1g carbohydrates, 5.9g fiber, 1.1g sugar, 11.7g protein