What is Nutritional Yeast?

If you're eating a dairy-free diet and find yourself missing the tastiness and creaminess of cheese, allow us to introduce you to: nutritional yeast. 

Nutritional yeast is an ingredient sold as flakes, granules or powder and can be found in many stores - check the spice section or bulk bins. It is very versatile and is used to add a cheesy, nutty or savoury flavour in cooking. We source fortified nutritional yeast for our healthy prepared meals. You'll find nutritional yeast as an ingredient in our meatballs (like our Beef Meatballs) and plant-based "Ballz" (like our Sesame Quinoa "Ballz"). 

This yeast is grown specifically to be used as a food product. The yeast cells are killed during manufacturing and not alive in the final product. To produce nutritional yeast, S. cerevisiae cells are grown for several days on a sugar-rich medium. The yeast is then deactivated with heat, harvested, washed, dried, crumbled and packaged for distribution.

It is gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free and fat free. A 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast comes in at just about 60 calories, 8g of protein and 3g of fibre. It is a complete protein (containing all nine essential amino acids), it is full of B-vitamins (especially rich in thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12) as well as trace minerals like zinc, selenium and manganese (these minerals are involved in gene regulation, metabolism, growth and immunity). 

We also love nutritional yeast because it's nut-free, unlike most dairy-free alternatives. Many dairy-free alternatives contain nuts (like cashews and almonds) to achieve the creamy texture. Our dairy-free and nut-free meals are also gluten-free. We also have a fully plant-based & vegan prepared meal menu (10+ different choices!) each week.

Be sure to try our Mac & "Cheese" and our Bangin' Beef Bolognese and Bangin' Bean Bolognese, all with nutritional yeast. Our fully prepared healthy meals are the perfect way for you to save time and eat better.