I often confess to you that I hate nutritional yeast flakes. Well not anymore! I've rediscovered them and realized why I hated them in the first place. My story, and why you should consider embracing nutritional yeast flakes too. For health and flavor!...
Where to Find Nutritional Yeast. It's 8pm on a tired Thursday. I am wandering the aisles of Whole Foods Market with my poor husband in tow, an over-filled, incredibly heavy hand cart strapped to his wrists. "It has to be here!" I mumbled to myself as I wandered down every aisle - on a mission. A mission to find nutritional yeast.
I looked in the spices and baking section - scouring each jar-filled rack from almond extract to za'atar. No such luck. I looked in the yeast section - nothing. Hmm, of course! Look in the nutrition section! OK, OK, I didn't figure that one out myself. I had to ask a WF employee - he graciously ushered me over to the nutritional yeast section - right below the smoothie mixes and protein powder. Aha!
There were about five or so brands - large canister containers. I settled on the Kal Nutrition brand of Nutritional Yeast Flakes. I chose that brand because it had a few added in vitamins like B12 and folic acid. Yay! I was so excited to find it because I had been looking for it (although not so-proactively until now) for a few months. I smiled widely at my hubby, "Isn't this exciting?!" He wasn't as excited as me, but that's OK. So off to the checkout stand we went.
Nutritional Yeast Flakes Taste Test: Take Two! Now you see, I've bought, tasted and tried nutritional yeast flakes in the past. About 5 years ago I bought a small curious bottle of nutritional yeast flakes at some grocery store. I forget the brand. I tried making vegan mac n cheese. It was horrible! I then tasted the flakes in another recipe and still - horrible. The flakes smelly fishy and rancid and almost sour. I decided I did not like nutritional yeast and would never try it again!
Cut to five years later, when I tried THIS nutritional yeast in a pasta recipe and love, love, loved it! One sniff from the canister and I knew these flakes were yummy. Nutty, salty aroma. Yum! (FYI - nutri-yeast is very low in sodium) My final stance is that I either bought a very poor brand of nutri-yeast or it simply really was a rancid, gone bad bottle. Odd. Anyways, I'm so thrilled to have resolved my "issues" with nutritional yeast. I was really starting to wonder about my vegan taste buds - since every vegan I know raves about vegan nutri-yeast mac n cheese...FYI I will be posting TWO NEW nutri-yeast mac-n-cheese recipes later tonight - or this weekend! yes! Here is a sneak peek of one of my recipes:
Side Note: The one thing that really spurred me to try nutri-yeast again was the fact that I love Edward and Son's vegan boxed mac n chreese. It is flavored by nutritional yeast...this was my first inclination to do a do-over taste test.
Now let me convince you why nutritional yeast flakes are so gosh darn healthy!...
Nutritional Yeast Flakes and Health. Healthy as can be! Here are just a few reasons why nutri-yeast flakes are healthy (I am taking nutrition info from my Kal Nutrition Nutritional Yeast Flakes canister):
*no added wheat, corn, milk, egg, soy, glutens, sucrose, animal products, artificial colors, starch or preservatives.
*gluten free
3 tablespoon contains:
*only 80 calories
*9 grams of protein, only 1 gram of fat (not saturated) and 14 grams of carbs.
*5 grams of fiber
*11% RDA of potassium
*only 5mg of sodium, that's
Anonymous says
Thanks for giving props to one of our family's favorite dry ingredients! FYI: You can usually find nutritional yeast flakes and nutritional yeast powder side by side in the bulk food bins of whole food and now some other "conventional" grocery stores which have bulk food sections, usually near the flour. I'm surprised they didn't point you in that direction, perhaps your local wf doesn't stock it there? The flakes and powder do impart a different final texture to foods, the extent to which depends on the recipe. We use both for different applications, but we always have a huge bag of each in the pantry! Also, in a recipe calling for flakes, you can use half as much powder, as it is much denser. Thanks again!
Katie says
My friend introduced this to me; she always put it on her popcorn. I love brewer's yeast, and this post only made me crave it!
Anonymous says
also awesome on baked potaoes
Anonymous says
Hi there! Please note that there may be concerns for a diet which contains too much Nutritional Yeast, due to elevated levels of glutamic acid (i.e. MSG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamic_acid_(flavor)#Research_into_health_effects)
I'm not disparaging the stuff -- in fact, I find it quite difficult to resist throwing an extra tablespoon in here and there.
Just be careful out there, everyone!
Anonymous says
I am totally in love with nutritional yeast, too. I eat it on popcorn almost every night. Sometimes I get such a craving for it that I just eat a bit on a spoon. Crazy good. ~Krista
Hannah says
I had a really similar experience! Got a nutritional yeast from a packet in the health food store, and it was just sour and icky. Then I found a tub of Engevita and it was great! Except the store I got that from doesn't stock it anymore... shall be keeping an eye out for this Kal kind now!
Glue and Glitter says
God, I love nutritional yeast! I pretty much eat it with lunch or dinner every day. If breakfast is a tofu scramble, there's a possibility that I have it with all three meals. Glad to see you embracing it!
Kathy says
Krista,
Yup, edward and sons link:
http://www.edwardandsons.com/reo_shop_pastas.itml
sooo good and easy! I usually add in a sweet potato to boost the nutrition and flavor.
Gris: Yes, an excellent source of B vitamins! The brand I bought has bonus added vitamins too. I wish they had added in vitamin D, then I'd be pretty much set on a lot of my needed vitamins! sort've...
~Kathy
Kathy says
Nora,
Nuts right?! How could I possibly hate this stuff? I'm addicted! I think I've sprinkled it on everything I've eaten today. seriously...even my AM papaya. yum.
~Kathy
Krista says
What Edwards and Son sells a boxed mac n cheese. How come I didn't know this? I have to find it now, for those times I don't feel up to making it myself.
Glad you rediscovered nutritional yeast it is so yummy when it isn't rancid :o).
grishanone says
Yay! I've been waiting for a nutritional yeast post! Would you say that one could use nutritional yeast in place of a B vitamin supplement?
nora says
Makes sense it was a bad batch the first time b/c I don't know how else you could hate it! It's impossible! That's the brand I get too.
Sarita Pagita says
I love nutritional yeast! My fave use for it is on popcorn. Pop 1/2 c popcorn in olive oil. Sprinkle salt, galic powder and nutritional yeast on the popped kernels. YUM!