In my ongoing quest to save the planet one bite at a time (while still eating like someone who has taste buds), I stumbled across Nasoya’s Plantspired line. Spoiler: it’s vegan. It’s protein-packed. It’s suspiciously meat-like. And it’s something your kale-loving cousin would try to convert you with.
Let’s start with the Plantspired Chick’n Honey Garlic flavor, which boldly promises “real meat-like” texture—an optimistic phrase if I’ve ever heard one. To its credit, this one does nail the sweet-savory combo of honey garlic. The seasoning made me forget, if only for a second, that I wasn’t gnawing on a chicken nugget from some fast-casual Asian fusion chain. The texture? Let’s call it “meat-adjacent.” Chewy in a way that says “I’m trying,” but not chewy enough to trigger a dentist visit. It’s non-GMO and vegan-friendly, because it is—this isn’t 2005 anymore.
Then I met its spicy, more assertive cousin: Chick’n Kung Pao. This version makes a real effort to be the life of the party. The flavor is punchy, bold, and will wake up your mouth. It has that familiar takeout-box energy, but cleaner and with a fraction of the MSG-induced regret. With 45 grams of plant-based protein per pack, it’s practically screaming, “Look, I’m healthy and I taste like something!” Which, let’s be honest, is more than I can say about most plant-based anything.
And finally, the Korean BBQ Plant-Based Steak, which comes in pretending to be the grown-up of the group. Four ingredients, char-grilled, and somehow still pulls off that elusive grilled-meat vibe without triggering a tofu flashback. It has a sweet-and-savory flavor profile that makes you go, “Wait…this isn’t beef?” No, it isn’t. But it is surprisingly decent, which is about as glowing an endorsement as I can give for something that didn’t once moo. It’s soft without being sad, and flavorful without being aggressively soy-forward.
Final verdict: Nasoya Plantspired is like that overachiever in class who somehow manages to be smart, sporty, and somewhat likable. It’s not perfect, but it’s doing a better job pretending to be meat than most people do pretending to enjoy quinoa.