Nutritional Yeast – One of my Favorite Things!

Even if you’ve never heard of it before, when you start exploring vegan cooking, it won’t be long before you’ll start hearing about this magical food… Not to be confused with Brewers’ Yeast – which has an impressive nutritional profile but also quite an unpleasant flavor – nutritional yeast is a wonderful ingredient that soon becomes a staple in many a vegan kitchen.

It’s used frequently in many recipes, and makes a great condiment and seasoning, as it adds a delightfully ‘savory’ flavor to everything from pasta and tofu to toast and popcorn. Not only does it do an amazing job of imitating the flavor of cheese – making it an essential ingredient for non-dairy cheese sauces and toppings – it is also nutritionally rich, and an excellent supplement for anyone concerned about their intake of B vitamins, and especially B12.

There are a number of brands of nutritional yeast, but as far as I know, Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula is the only one that is 100 percent vegan, fortified with B12, and also delicious. Their website has lots of information about the specific benefits of this product.

According to its nutritional profile, 1.5 tablespoons of this tasty golden powder (2 tablespoons of the large flakes) provides:

Thiamin – 640% RDA
Niacin – 280% RDA
Folic Acid – 60% RDA
Selenium – 32% RDA
Riboflavin – 565% RDA
Vitamin B6 – 480% RDA
Vitamin B12 – 133% RDA
Zinc – 21% RDA

Image: Wikimedia Commons

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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Melissa C.

5:41PM PST on Feb 11, 2013

I've never tried nutritional yeast before, but I think it sounds amazing with popcorn!

February 11
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wo o.

1:14PM PST on Jan 22, 2013

i personally have know idea how a vegan, or people who use no white foods, or dairy survive but more power to you.

January 22
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Malgorzata Z.

12:56PM PST on Nov 29, 2012

A co to jest tahini?

November 29
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Karen M.

5:13AM PST on Nov 10, 2012

This looks interesting. Will look for some at the health food store. If it works for fleas, then I'm all in! I've been making peanut butter/garlic/brewers yeast snacks for the dogs. They love them, but we still have some fleas.

November 10
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Ana Graciela Q.

4:58AM PST on Nov 10, 2012

reading from various sources, I don't think it's safe to have this as a nutritional supplement, since there's lots of concern regarding the MSG issue (since glutamic acid is naturally ocurring in the yeast), so I think it would be ok to use it from time to time, not frequently or daily and if you're vegan, it's much better (and safer) to take a b12 supplement to meet your daily needs.

(found a good talk about this here: http://www.msgmyth.com/discus/messages/3/1044.html?1344650804)

Robin R.

1:02PM PDT on Apr 5, 2012

I went to the grocery store in hopes of buying nutritional yeast but they only have "traditional yeast" - what is the difference? Is it called something different in Canada?