The Key Ingredient That Gives Vegan Chicken Bouillon A Kick Of Flavor

Chicken-flavored bouillon is often used by plant-based and vegan cooks trying to replicate a chicken flavor for soups, sauces, or even chicken and waffles. Vegan bouillon often contains herbs and spices you'd find in any soup stock cube  — onion powder, garlic powder, salt, maybe some dehydrated vegetables. But it also has a secret ingredient that gives it that extra kick of needed flavor, and it is actually an item that most plant-based cooks have in abundance in their kitchens: nutritional yeast. A deactivated brewer's yeast, nutritional yeast will not help your pizza dough rise. What it will do is add a natural cheesiness to your dish as well as an umami boost.

Also known as 'nooch,' to those who use it regularly, nutritional yeast, along with the traditional herbs and spices, helps give chicken bouillon the extra boost in flavor that makes so many meatless recipes taste great. Despite nooch's hippy reputation, it's a useful product to have in your kitchen whether you're vegan or not. It is naturally low in sodium and calories, and is a soy-free gluten-free, dairy-free, low-fat, and sugar-free way to add extra savory flavor to anything you're cooking, which makes it invaluable for anyone with intolerances or allergies. It's available in flaked, powdered, or granule form, and you can find it in most grocery stores and, of course, all health food stores. 

Besides adding the necessary flavor to your recipe, nutritional yeast lives up to its name, as it also provides nutritional benefits. Two tablespoons of the magical substance contain 8 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber, and a healthy dose of vitamins B1, B2, B12, as well as Potassium, folic acid, and Zinc. It also contains important elements lacking in plant-free diets, as its nine essential amino acids mean that it's a perfect protein, like many animal products. When you consider that many recipes require ½ cup of nutritional yeast or more, you get quite a nutritional boost from the nootch.

You can make your own bouillon powder, using nutritional yeast (recipes abound online), to have on hand for all your soups and sauces, but it has a variety of other delicious applications as well. Popcorn sprinkled with nutritional yeast tastes fantastic and is an excellent dairy-free way to add some low-sodium cheesiness to your snack. You can use nutritional yeast as a substitute for parmesan cheese, soy sauce, or white miso paste, and also use those ingredients as a substitute if you're out of nutritional yeast. There are so many delicious ways to use this extraordinary food product that go beyond bouillon, and so many surprising and mouthwatering recipes with nutritional yeast just waiting for you to try them, whether you're vegan or not.