This Gordon Ramsay vegan steak recipe seems like the ultimate meat replacement.
The viral recipe — which uses eggplants and a ton of fancy cooking tricks to create a juicy, savory, deep-seared “steak” — ignited millions of taste buds when Ramsay shared the dish on his mega-popular TikTok page.
The video brought Michelin-starred skills to the world of vegan food hacks. It’s no wonder the clip drew nearly 25 million views — plus countless praiseworthy comments.
“YOU’RE SUCH A LEGEND,” one user wrote.
“This man can make even vegan food look amazing,” another wrote.
“Woah!!!” another added. “Is it possible to have too much respect for this guy?”
Want more videos like this? Subscribe to Tried It! on Snapchat
But is this recipe replicable? Is it something a regular, untrained vegan cook could make at home? The answer seems like a big “no.” Ramsay pulled out all the stops on this one — even plating it over a bed of vegan mashed potatoes.
That said, the editors at In The Know were just naive enough to give this a try. To see what happened when we attempted to recreate Gordon Ramsay’s vegan steak dinner, keep reading or watch the video above.
Our review: Gordon Ramsay’s vegan steak recipe
First off, this recipe is complicated — like, seven-page grocery list complicated. To make it easier on ourselves, we focused purely on the “steaks” themselves, leaving out the mushrooms, mashed potatoes and vegetable demi-glace.
We also simplified the basting jus, as well as Ramsay’s recipe for making a home-ground spice mix. If you want the whole recipe, it’s available here on Ramsay’s website.
Our “simplified” version still took all kinds of bravery. This recipe calls for you to start by heating whole eggplants over the open flame of your stove before wrapping them in plastic and letting them cool before peeling.
From there, it’s all about seasoning, cooking and making the sauce. Things got easier as time went along, but this thing was still pretty time-consuming — about two-and-a-half hours in total.
In the end, though, the results were pretty worth it. Our steaks didn’t look as delectable as Chef Ramsay’s, but they were pretty convincing. They looked and tasted a good bit like meat, thanks to the complex, savory flavor of the spices.
And the sauce! Oh, the sauce! This basting jus is incredible. You could use it for any steaks — real, vegan or otherwise — and it would make them at least 10 times better. By the end, we wanted to drink it straight out of the pan.
So, in conclusion, this recipe is probably too hard for a typical vegan home chef, but if you take one trick away from this, let it be Ramsay’s red wine-infused vegan steak sauce. That part is easy and well worth the work.
If you liked this story, check out our video on the gadget that can clean your AirPods in just 5 seconds.
More from In The Know:
We tried making ‘sushi’ out of Oreos
7 flirty tops perfect for a first date
Heading back to the office? Shop 5 work-ready dresses for under $35
The best women’s sandals for walking that won’t give you blisters
