Juicy Marbles has built a reputation for boundary-pushing vegan meats, from whole-cut steaks to edible-bone ribs. Now, it’s back with a more practical everyday option: the new Meaty Meat: Pork-ish.
The 180g ‘mini loin’ is the first product in a new line-up designed to compete with tofu as a daily staple. It’s flexible, quick to cook, and shaped to suit a variety of dishes – whether sliced, shredded, or served whole.
At £6 per pack (about £3 per portion), it’s also the company’s most affordable product yet – a notable shift from its early website-only launches at £30 a pack.
But this isn’t just a price change. It’s also the first product under Juicy Marbles’ new ‘Marble 3.0’ initiative, creating cleaner labels and more nutritionally balanced recipes.
The brand says it’s designed for people who want to hit their nutrition goals with less processing and fewer additives.
With 21g of complete protein per 100g, a Nutri-Score of A, and added iron, zinc, selenium and vitamin B12, it’s aiming to be a smart option for health-conscious vegans.
So, is the Pork-ish cut a game-changer or just another meaty lump? We gave it a try.
First impressions
When I first spotted the Meaty Meat: Pork-ish in the supermarket, I’ll admit I wasn’t blown away by its presence. The little orange box looked surprisingly small on the shelf, especially from a brand known for larger-than-life products like its, frankly intimidating, rack of vegan ribs.
But price-wise, it stands out. At £6 for 180g, it’s not exactly cheap, but it’s more accessible than Juicy Marbles’ popular Filet Steaks, which come in at £9 for 226g.
Gram for gram, it’s only a slight improvement, but it still shaves £1.50 off the cost per portion. That’s nothing to sniff at, particularly if Meaty Meat is to become a regular fridge staple.
Nutritional profile
Juicy Marbles is pitching this as its ‘most nutritious product to date’, and it’s hard to argue with the numbers.
Each 100g provides 21g of complete plant protein (about 18g per portion), not far off the 26g of protein found in 100g of pork loin.
But unlike its animal-based counterpart, it also delivers 6.3g of gut-friendly fibre and contains roughly half the fat and saturated fat.
You also get meaningful amounts of key micronutrients, including iron, zinc, selenium, and nearly 50% of your daily vitamin B12 intake per serving.
The cleaner-label promise is reflected in the ingredients list: soy protein concentrate, pea protein isolate, sunflower oil, natural flavourings, apple extract, red beet concentrate, and water.
No methylcellulose, carrageenan or other common thickeners here. Instead, the few uncommon words are simply fortifying ingredients like zinc gluconate and sodium selenite to help hit those nutritional targets.
After years of seeing ultra-processed vegan meats with indecipherable ingredients, this feels refreshingly simple.
Taste test
Out of the packet, the Pork-ish joint isn’t exactly ground-breaking. It’s a pink, vacuum-packed lump of vegan meat that might once have been startling, but its raw meat-style appearance now feels fairly commonplace in the alt-meat aisle.
The packaging offers plenty of ways to cut and shape the Meaty Meat joint, but the cooking instructions seemed to only cover cooking the joint whole.
I opted to slice mine thinly for a quick lunch salad, so I felt the seven-minute frying time listed on the box may have been a little too long.
Unfortunately, I didn’t think to set a timer while I cooked, or even glance at a clock. I fried the pieces until each side was browned and crisp, which may or may not have taken more than seven minutes.
The smell during cooking was subtly savoury, and, thankfully, nothing like the cloying smell of actual sizzling flesh. Instead, it’s a mild and appetising aroma.
Once cooked, the Meaty Meat looked great. It was a touch redder than pork, but it looked appetising.
The texture impressed me: it pulled apart easily, offering shreds ideal for pulled pork dishes or stir-fries.
My thin slices developed a crisp outer layer and retained a chewy, tender centre. It was slightly on the tough side, possibly from over-frying, but that added to the realism.
The flavour was rich, savoury and satisfying. I can’t really say how it compares to ‘real’ pork, but it was much more flavourful than I remember any similar meat product being.
However, the overall taste was quite neutral, and I could imagine that Meaty Meat would work well with various seasonings, marinades or rubs without overpowering or clashing with your chosen flavours.
The verdict
I know realistic vegan meats aren’t for everyone, but Meaty Meat is well-placed to appeal to junk food vegans, people transitioning to a plant-based diet who miss meat, and those of us who want a less processed, more nutritious source of plant-based protein.
It’s Juicy Marbles’ most affordable and nutritious product to date, with cleaner ingredients, strong protein content, and a flexible texture that suits a range of recipes.
Yes, it’s still more expensive than tofu or beans, and more costly than comparable meat products. But it’s also a high-quality, satisfying product I’d happily buy again, especially for meals where I want to impress non-vegans.
If this is the future of Juicy Marbles under its Marble 3.0 platform, it’s a direction worth watching.
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Featured photo © Vegan Food & Living
