Smoky Fra Diavolo with Sliced Baguette

This smoky Fra Diavolo with sliced baguette is the flavorful, light recipe you’ve been looking for! Craving that delicious, tomato-rich Italian flavor, but hate the idea of a belly full of pasta? This smoky, spicy, veggie loaded recipe is your answer!

Chickpeas, portobello mushrooms, and bell peppers smothered in a smoky, spicy chipotle pepper and roasted tomato sauce. This Fra Diavolo recipe is the perfect companion for that fresh baguette you just picked up from the market…or of course, would be absolutely lovely spread over pasta.

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There’s something about a big bowl of Mussels Fra Diavolo that is so magical and eventful. You slowly sift through the bowl, thoughtfully loading up each mussel with the perfect combo of garlic, shallots, and roasted tomato, making each bite the “perfect bite”.

It’s a dish best eaten amongst great company, as you chat away between each mouthful, stretching the enjoyment of the dish out for as long as possible.

And let’s not forget about the bread…that fresh baguette that gets to sop up the mouthwatering sauce when all of the mussels are gone.

All of that being said, creating a vegan alternative for the classic seafood Fra Diavolo recipe was a must!

This tapa style smoky Fra Diablo recipe is very simple to make and is a great vegan recipe for beginners. And no, you do not need to be vegan to truly enjoy this dish! It’s loaded with flavor and will be loved and appreciated by any crowd…as long as they can handle the heat! This Fra Diavolo recipe is spicy!

WHAT IS FRA DIAVOLO

The word Fra Diavolo loosely translates to “amongst the devil”, “brother devil”, and “devil sauce”.

Fra Diavolo sauce is typically made by combining sautéed onions, garlic, tomatoes, herbs, and chili peppers or crushed red pepper flakes to give it that signature high level of spice and heat. It’s often served with seafood or over pasta. The sauce is incredibly flavorful and yes…very spicy.

VEGAN FRA DIAVOLO RECIPE

As mentioned above, this dish is often made with seafood. So recreating a bit of that seafood essence was very important when making this dish. To do so, I thought about two things, texture and flavor.

TEXTURE: To somewhat recreate the texture of seafood, I went with portobello mushrooms. Mushrooms, when sautéed and cooked down, have a bit of a meaty, chewy texture that I find comparable to shellfish. This makes mushrooms an excellent candidate when looking for a plant based, seafood alternative.

My personal favorite choice of mushroom for a seafood alternative is actually shiitake, but the price tag on those babies these days a bit steep. So for this recipe I went with portobello instead. They still have a great “meaty” texture, but a much lower price tag. Plus they pair well with tomato sauce dishes. When it came to the end result of the recipe, they absolutely did not disappoint. But if you don’t mind spending the money, feel free to go for the shiitake instead.

To build up the texture of the dish it was not all about the mushroom. Chickpeas played a huge roll as well! The addition of chickpeas not only brought a lot of protein to the table, it also helped bulk up the dish.

FLAVOR: There were two very clear goals when it came to creating the flavor of this dish. One…make a delicious, mouthwatering Fra Diavolo sauce recipe that leaves you and your loved ones fantasizing for more. Two…give the dish a bit of a seafood flavor…without actually including seafood. And I’m happy to report, I feel like this recipe did just that!

To build the flavor of this sauce, I started by sautéing shallots in place of onions, which are traditionally used. I find shallots a bit more sweet and flavorful. Although they are admittedly slightly more annoying to cut, it’s definitely worth your time when looking to create a flavorful dish that’s really worth writing home about.

Onions can of course be used in place of shallots if desired. If using onion instead, a sweet onion would work best.

Of course your usual suspects, fresh garlic and olive oil played a major role in the dish. Because…what is an Italian dish without garlic and olive oil?! But I also finished off the sauce with a bit of Miyoko’s vegan butter. Adding a bit of salted butter to the sauce really brought the flavor up to the next level and made the dish a bit more creamy, as butter tends to do. There’s a lot of decent vegan butters out there now, but Miyoko’s is my absolute favorite. They just do it the right way.

If you’re aiming for less fat, skip the butter.

Fra Diavolo Sauce is always made with tomatoes of course. But for this recipe I went with canned fire roasted tomatoes AND sun-dried tomatoes. Including both allows the sauce to hit your taste buds in a more unique way. Plus sun-dried tomatoes add a unique texture to the dish as well.

Just have a regular can of tomatoes? No worries! Just use that. The flavor won’t be quite as complex, but it will still come out delicious.

And finally, the spice. When it came to turning up the heat on this sauce, I went with the traditional red pepper flakes…but I didn’t stop there. I also included a canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. This addition brought an incredibly delicious, smoky flavor to the dish that you don’t traditionally find. Trust me! It’s soooooo good!

How did I create a seafood flavor? Nori flakes and capers!

Nori flakes are small pieces of dried seaweed. You can find them online and in some grocery stores and they are hands down the easiest way to add a seafood essence to any dish.

Don’t want to invest in nori flakes? No worries! Just skip it. It adds a nice seafood flavor to the dish, but the dish is still great without it.

Capers are salty, which can help mimic the salty flavor profile of seafood. They are also often found in seafood dishes, so our brains tend to associate them with seafood, which is helpful when trying to mimic a seafood flavor.

If you skip adding capers to the dish, you may want to add a touch more salt in its place. Taste at the end of preparing the recipe and adjust accordingly.

HOW TO SERVE AND EAT THIS DISH

This dish was created to be a tapas style dish. Like a bowl of mussels, I wanted to have a delicious, filling companion for my freshly baked baguette. This Fra Diavolo recipe is super chunky and is meant to be spooned and piled high on a slice of bread.

Serving this dish along side a fresh salad or veggie filled charcuterie board, makes a perfect filling, yet light meal.

You can of course turn this into a pasta dish if desired! This recipe, although thick, makes a delicious pasta sauce as well. Mixing it in with orzo is also an excellent idea.

This Smoky Fra Diavolo would also make an excellent appetizer or side dish at a party!

GREAT VEGAN RECIPE FOR MEAL PREP

This Smoky Fra Diavolo is the perfect candidate for meal prep. I love making a nice big batch at the begging of the week and snacking on it all week. Again, its wonderful served with bread for a light meal or snack or poured over pasta or rice for a heartier meal.

NEED IT TO BE LESS SPICY?

Of course Fra Diavolo Sauce is meant to be spicy. But if you are making it for a more sensitive palette, turning down the heat is super simple. Start with an 1/8 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and a quarter of a chipotle pepper. Add more if desired. Remember, you can always add more spice, but you can’t take it away.

A FEW THINGS TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT

This Fra Diavolo Recipe is loaded with tomatoes and tomatoes are loaded with health benefits!! Most notable, tomatoes are full of an antioxidant called lycopene. Lycopene makes the tomatoes red, but also protects the tomatoes from sun damage. When we consume tomatoes, they help protect OUR cells from sun damage too! Tomatoes are also high in vitamins C, E, B and potassium.

A lot of plant based eaters will load up their plates with chickpeas because they are filling and a great source of vegan protein. But chickpeas are actually loaded with many vitamins and nutrients including fiber, potassium, manganese, folate, and iron…just to name a few. Due to their fiber, they can also help keep you fuller for longer. So adding these nutrient dense babies to any recipe definitely worth your while.