“Normal” Vegan Recipes

2

Replies

  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
    I'd recommend taking your favourite basic non vegan recipes and just making the changes needed to make it a vegan meal :) My favourites are bolognese (replace meat with lentils), curries and dhals (lentils, potatoes, chickpeas...there's SO many recipes out there!) chilli (black beans, red kidney beans, quinoa) veggie burgers, homemade pizza (vegan cheese or no cheese, lots of veg!)
  • Ginger Tofu & Mushroom Yakisoba Noodles

    2 wholewheat noodle nests
    24ml soy sauce
    1 tbsp mirin
    80g baby button mushrooms
    25g thai spice jelly
    15g fresh root ginger
    280g plain tofu
    1 carrot
    1 red pepper
    2 tbsp white miso paste †
    5g black sesame seeds †
    1 tbsp cornflour
    2 spring onions
    Vegetable oil

    Top and tail the carrot into quarters lengthways, then cut into batons
    Deseed the red pepper (scrape the seeds and pith out with a teaspoon) and cut into thin strips
    Peel (scrape the skin off with a teaspoon) and finely chop (or grate) the ginger
    Boil a kettle
    Drain the tofu and cut into cubes
    Add the cornflour and soy sauce to a bowl and mix until combined
    Add the tofu cubes and mix gently until the cubes are fully coated in the cornflour mixture
    Heat a large, wide-based pan (preferably non-stick) with a generous drizzle of vegetable oil over a high heat
    Once hot, add the tofu cubes and cook for 5-6 min or until golden and crisp
    Once crisp, transfer the tofu to kitchen paper and set aside, reserving the pan and oil
    Meanwhile, add the wholewheat noodles to a pot and cover with boiled water until fully submerged
    Bring to the boil over a high heat and cook for 5-7 min until tender with a slight bite
    Once tender, drain and reserve a cup of the starchy noodle water
    Return the pan and oil to a medium-high heat
    Once hot, add the baby button mushrooms, carrot batons and sliced red pepper and cook for 4-5 min or until beginning to soften
    Meanwhile, combine the miso paste with the Thai spice jelly, mirin and 1 tbsp water and mix well until fully combined – this is your yakisoba sauce
    Trim, then slice the spring onions finely
    Once the vegetables have softened, return the tofu to the pan with the yakisoba sauce and chopped ginger and cook for 30 secs or until fragrant
    Add the cooked noodles and half the chopped spring onion and cook for 2-3 min further or until all of the noodles are fully coated in the sauce
    Add a splash of the starchy noodle water if it's looking a little dry
    Serve the ginger tofu & mushroom yakisoba and garnish with the remaining chopped spring onion and black sesame seeds

    Enjoy!
  • slossia
    slossia Posts: 138 Member
    Stir fry rice with vegetables with any kind of stir fry sauce!! Also you got to try a beyond burger!! Get it at Whole Foods! 5.99 for 2 ! I like my on an onion roll with tomato lettuce veganise and sautéed onions and sautéed mushrooms!!
  • Cheeks223
    Cheeks223 Posts: 46 Member
    Peanut butter and jelly, carrots
  • UltraVegAthlete
    UltraVegAthlete Posts: 667 Member
    Airpopped popcorn!
  • Courtscan2
    Courtscan2 Posts: 498 Member
    Vegetable chilli, vegetable curry, pasta with veggies or tomato sauce, burritos with beans and rice, salad with chickpeas, pizza with roasted vegetables (no cheese or vegan cheese), vegetable soup with bread.....the options are endless.
  • lindafit4life21
    lindafit4life21 Posts: 71 Member
    Wow great responses if anyone want to add me as a friend do so lindafit4life21

    Thank you
  • fly_1
    fly_1 Posts: 4 Member
    It's super annoying that the most popular vegan food bloggers rarely post accessible recipes for normal people who can't go to whole foods twice a week, or who have limited kitchen equipment.

    I eat really simple foods because I'm single and hate doing meal prep/cleaning by myself. Luckily I have access to a lot of pre-made mainstream meat imitation products and vegan staples (like veganaise and nutritional yeast). To me those ingredients are not that hard to find in a normal super market, but I understand that they might be in other parts of the US. So, sorry if this isn't super helpful to you.

    Here are some things that I eat a lot. I'd say everything is very normal, although not necessarily the healthiest if you care about whole foods/plant based, nor the most cost efficient.

    Full Meals and Meal Components
    • some sort of frozen chicken imitation - (gardein mandarin nuggets, trader joes crispy tenders, boca chik'n patties, etc) + frozen broccoli
    • half a tofurkey italian sausage + a piece of toast with peanut butter )topped with maple syrup, cinnamon, and sometimes frozen berries)
    • tofu or chickpea "egg" salad - just mashed up raw tofu (or rinsed, drained canned chickpeas) and veganaise + spices and minced veggies or aromatics. A cursory internet search will yield pages and pages of recipes for this, with varying degrees of complexity. Eat on toast, crackers, or on a salad.
    • baked sweet potatoes. Just clean, wrap in foil, and bake. Add to any meal if you can afford a starch component.
    • basic baked tofu. Buy it premade, or use this recipe. Refrigerate and use it as you would grilled chicken. I usually add it to salads.
    • RICE AND BEANS. If you're not a Fancy Vegan, you will eat. So. Much. Rice. And. Beans. My personal favorite combination is white rice + black beans. Cut carbs and bulk volume by eating it on top of a raw veggie salad (I like kale or chopped purple cabbage because it doesn't spoil very quickly).
    • Amy's VEGETABLE burritos (NOT the bean and rice variety; they aren't vegan) are your friend if you have literally no time to cook. They're pretty commonly available in normal supermarkets where I live.
    • (assuming you can get nutritional yeast)this mac and cheese sauce is pretty accessible and doesn't taste weird

    Snacks/Small Meals that require basically no meal prep
    • tofurkey deli slices + mustard
    • bagged fruits that travel well and aren't super perishable - usually clementines or apples
    • hummus and crackers (consider adding the deli slices to crackers)
    • carrot or celery sticks and hummus
    • kashi go lean cereal or special k with unsweetened almond milk
    • a banana dipped in chocolate flavored pb2
    • frozen edamame (cooked obvs, but I usually eat it cold]
    • pre-portioned trail mix bags (you can buy them in single-portion packaging, or do it yourself)
    • cliff builders bars
    • vegan protein powder with unsweetened almond milk
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
    There is a YouTube vlogger named Kicki Yang Zhang, she's not actively uploading much these days but I *highly* recommend checking out all of her What I Eat in a Day videos. She's vegan and VERY realistic and excellent at cooking, she does use a few "weird" ingredients but they are easy to work with and relatively easy to find in ethnic markets that sell Asian food. It's not all Asian style food though, either. Just loads of good ideas and no nonsense.

    I'm not vegan and my husband isn't either (we are flex- and pescetarian) but we do eat a lot of vegetarian and vegan meals and Kicki's ideas always seem to make our regular rotation.

    Also just learning to cook beans, lentils, and chickpeas to taste the way you like them...that goes a very long way to having hearty vegan staples on hand.

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    fly_1 wrote: »
    It's super annoying that the most popular vegan food bloggers rarely post accessible recipes for normal people who can't go to whole foods twice a week, or who have limited kitchen equipment.

    I eat really simple foods because I'm single and hate doing meal prep/cleaning by myself. Luckily I have access to a lot of pre-made mainstream meat imitation products and vegan staples (like veganaise and nutritional yeast). To me those ingredients are not that hard to find in a normal super market, but I understand that they might be in other parts of the US. So, sorry if this isn't super helpful to you.

    Here are some things that I eat a lot. I'd say everything is very normal, although not necessarily the healthiest if you care about whole foods/plant based, nor the most cost efficient.

    Full Meals and Meal Components
    • some sort of frozen chicken imitation - (gardein mandarin nuggets, trader joes crispy tenders, boca chik'n patties, etc) + frozen broccoli
    • half a tofurkey italian sausage + a piece of toast with peanut butter )topped with maple syrup, cinnamon, and sometimes frozen berries)
    • tofu or chickpea "egg" salad - just mashed up raw tofu (or rinsed, drained canned chickpeas) and veganaise + spices and minced veggies or aromatics. A cursory internet search will yield pages and pages of recipes for this, with varying degrees of complexity. Eat on toast, crackers, or on a salad.
    • baked sweet potatoes. Just clean, wrap in foil, and bake. Add to any meal if you can afford a starch component.
    • basic baked tofu. Buy it premade, or use this recipe. Refrigerate and use it as you would grilled chicken. I usually add it to salads.
    • RICE AND BEANS. If you're not a Fancy Vegan, you will eat. So. Much. Rice. And. Beans. My personal favorite combination is white rice + black beans. Cut carbs and bulk volume by eating it on top of a raw veggie salad (I like kale or chopped purple cabbage because it doesn't spoil very quickly).
    • Amy's VEGETABLE burritos (NOT the bean and rice variety; they aren't vegan) are your friend if you have literally no time to cook. They're pretty commonly available in normal supermarkets where I live.
    • (assuming you can get nutritional yeast)this mac and cheese sauce is pretty accessible and doesn't taste weird

    Snacks/Small Meals that require basically no meal prep
    • tofurkey deli slices + mustard
    • bagged fruits that travel well and aren't super perishable - usually clementines or apples
    • hummus and crackers (consider adding the deli slices to crackers)
    • carrot or celery sticks and hummus
    • kashi go lean cereal or special k with unsweetened almond milk
    • a banana dipped in chocolate flavored pb2
    • frozen edamame (cooked obvs, but I usually eat it cold]
    • pre-portioned trail mix bags (you can buy them in single-portion packaging, or do it yourself)
    • cliff builders bars
    • vegan protein powder with unsweetened almond milk

    Not sure if it's available where you live, but this particular Amy's bean and rice burrito is vegan and I think it's pretty tasty: https://www.amys.com/our-foods/bean-rice-burrito-non-dairy
  • UltraVegAthlete
    UltraVegAthlete Posts: 667 Member
    Mash chickpeas and mix in some mustard and relish. Now you have an “egg salad”
  • forumromanus77
    forumromanus77 Posts: 25 Member
    If you like fajitas, a super easy way to make vegan fajitas is to take out the beef and sub in mushrooms. With beans and rice on the side, it's an awesome dinner.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited March 2018
    I'm currently strictly plant-based, and there is nothing more convenient than sandwiches. You can basically have a bunch of fillings in little containers in the fridge, prepare them once then mix and match - some of them are long-lasting and don't need to be refreshed often. I currently have white bean and mushroom spread, roasted garlic, roasted vegetables (eggplant works particularly well), sun-dried tomatoes, lentil "sloppy joes" filling, marinated mushrooms, sauerkraut, caramelized onions, hummus, peanut butter, pickles, plus fresh veggies and fresh and dried herbs for the rest of the fixings. There are also things like mustard, infused oil, tahini...etc that can be used in sandwiches and as a salad dressing (just chop any random vegetables and dress).

    Sandwiches come to the rescue even on my "raw" days. Yesterday I just rubbed the bread with some garlic, then topped with tomatoes, salt, and basil. Simple and delicious.
  • fitbit9672
    fitbit9672 Posts: 9 Member
    Sautéed veggies & vegan sausage. Add in cooked rice and just throw some seasoning in there. It’s my go to easy meal. Also look into some vegan slow cooker recipes. Doesn’t get much easier than that. Best of luck to ya
  • positivepowers
    positivepowers Posts: 902 Member
    Vegan "Bechamel" sauce. This is a white sauce I make without flour, is VLC (for those that care) and is so versatile you won't believe it. Eleven grams of carbs (not sure where they come from but that's what the MFP recipe generator says.)

    1/2 TBSP nut butter (if allergic, use avocado, it'll just be a light green sauce, not white)
    1 cup unsweetened milk (I like Good Karma flaxseed milk + protein but any milk will do)

    Variation 1: To make sausage gravy:
    Brown sausage or vegetarian replacement (like Lightlife Gimme Lean!) or, brown some mushrooms and/or vegetables with the nut butter. Add milk and whatever seasoning you wish (I use poultry seasoning, paprika and cayenne pepper) stir until thickened. This is great for anything on which you eat sausage gravy.

    Variation 2: Alfredo sauce
    This is made the same way but use pesto instead of the seasonings. Any vegetable you like will work (like grape tomatoes, shredded kale, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, etc.) Fantastic over zoodles or regular pasta.

    Variation 3: Sweet
    Use sweetened milk (like vanilla milk) and add about 1 TBSP of your favorite sweetener (coconut nectar, Splenda, whatever) and whatever flavoring you want. You can add fruit, too, especially pureed fruit. It doesn't make an icing, it's more the consistency of a glaze. Great over fruit, carrot cake, etc.
  • maryjennifer
    maryjennifer Posts: 124 Member
  • cheyennerufer
    cheyennerufer Posts: 2 Member
    Look into The Vegan 8 (It's a blog/Insta with recipes that have 8 or fewer ingredients. You can also look into The Vegan Stoner, which is the same concept of complete meals with few ingrediants.
  • kaylabean92
    kaylabean92 Posts: 55 Member
    I am a new vegan, and a couple of simple recipes I've made are:

    - Spaghetti, replacing meat with mushrooms
    - Taco bowl with seasoned black beans, corn, spanish rice and avocado
    - Mashed chickpea salad -- chick peas, vegan mayo, red onion, pickes, mustard and seasonings
    - Baked potatoes with Earth Balance butter, sauteed broccoli, mushrooms and nutritional yeast with a side of corn
    - Oatmeal made with almond milk, chia seeds, vanilla extract, maple syrup for sweetening, peanut butter powder, cinnamon and fruits on top
    - Multigrain toast with apple butter or any kind of jam or jelly spread on it
    - Chia seed pudding -- almond milk, chia seeds (I use 6 tablespoons), cinnamon, vanilla extract and stevia for sweetener
  • olyamhc
    olyamhc Posts: 60 Member
    When I became vegetarian and then vegan, I just used my favorite dishes and veganized them (if they even needed that). I grew up eating potatoes and meat - so I'd boil/mash/fry potatoes and have them with a veg burger patty or sausage. Soups are easy, use packaged stock or easily make your own by boiling an onion, some celery, and carrot with salt and pepper for an hr; add some pasta/beans/frozen veggies and boil for 5-10mins. Stirfries are great, because you can just throw in your favorite veggies, add some rice (or not) and you're done in a short time.