Vegan Cooking Tips
30 Vegan Meal Ideas Even Non-Vegetarians Will Enjoy!
By Nancy Berkoff, RD, EdD, CCE
Here are easy-to-prepare vegan dishes, all using foods available in many mainstream supermarkets, that you and many of your non-vegetarian friends can enjoy.
- Cold or hot cereal and soy, rice, or almond milk, along with raisins or other dried fruit
- Peanut, soy, sunflower, or hazelnut butter and sliced bananas on whole wheat toast or a bagel
- Green salads from the supermarket salad bar with citrus sections, berries, and peanuts
- Green salads from the supermarket salad bar with walnuts
- Green salads from the supermarket salad bar with hummus in place of salad dressing (Or you can double the garbanzos and add hummus for some extra texture.)
- Veggie burgers and veggie dogs that have been barbecued, steamed, or pan-fried and then topped with the works!
- French Bread pizza ...
- Preheat your oven
- Slice crusty French bread lengthwise and place it on a baking pan
- Top with tomato sauce, fresh or canned mushrooms, fresh or canned chopped tomatoes, and chopped olives
- Bake until bubbly
- Homemade onion soup with French bread ...
Slice lots and lots of onions. Then, spray a large pot with vegetable oil and quickly sauté the onions, which will create their own ‘juice.’ When the onions are very soft, add in vegetable or mushroom broth and allow to simmer. Voila, onion soup! Serve with crusty French bread.
- Four-bean chili (If a canned or frozen four-bean chili is not available, then a fast mix of four types of canned vegan beans with cumin, garlic, and hot sauce works.)
- Four-bean salads with pecans (If a pre-mixed four-bean salad is not available, then a fast mix of green beans, kidney beans, wax beans, and white beans tossed with oil and vinegar works.)
- Canned black beans with salsa served over steamed or microwaveable brown rice
- Canned black beans mixed with fresh or frozen pre-cut bell peppers and fresh cut, canned, or frozen corn, served over a toasted roll, steamed rice, or the cooked grain of your choice
- Canned, frozen, or ready-to-heat fresh black-eyed peas mixed with canned or frozen mixed veggies and either salsa or Italian dressing, served over steamed rice or the grain of your choice
- Canned vegetarian refried beans, cooked with chopped tomatoes and chilies and served over steamed rice
- Canned vegetarian refried beans served with pita bread or hard or soft tacos, chopped tomatoes, onions, and chopped chilies
- Bean burritos made with whole wheat tortillas, a variety of beans, salsa, and chopped chilies (You choose the heat!)
- Tortilla wraps ...
Fill the tortillas with hummus or sliced vegan ‘meats,’ such as Lightlife, Tofurky, or Yves deli slices (usually found refrigerated in the produce section). An alternative is to fill the tortillas with vegan sour cream, vegan cheese, or vegan cream cheese, along with leftover beans and lots of chopped salad and veggies.
- Vegan pasta tossed with canned white beans, black olives, and fresh or dried herbs of choice
- Vegan pasta tossed with kidney beans, chopped green olives, and fresh or dried herbs of choice
- Vegan pasta tossed with chopped tomatoes or canned tomatoes packed in tomato purée, along with chopped veggies and sunflower seeds
- Mushroom Ragu ...
- Place sliced fresh mushrooms in a large pot and just cover with vegetable broth
- Allow to simmer until the mushrooms are soft
- Season with garlic or onion powder, fresh or dried parsley, and other herbs and spices of your choice
This recipe can be served over toasted bread, cooked grains, or sliced cooked potatoes.
- Baked potatoes topped with chopped veggies and kidney beans and tossed with the salad dressing of your choice (Read the label to ensure that the dressing is vegan.)
- Baked potatoes topped with canned vegetarian baked beans and chopped onions
- Baked potatoes topped with hummus and chopped veggies
- Baked sweet potatoes topped with vegan margarine, fresh or canned-in-juice sliced oranges, fresh or canned-in-juice pineapple chunks, and slivered almonds or sunflower seeds
- Baked sweet potatoes topped with pecans and either apple slices or ‘natural’ jarred applesauce (which usually does not contain added sugar)
- Apple slices with peanut, soy, sunflower, or hazelnut butter and raisins
- Celery sticks with peanut, soy, sunflower, or hazelnut butter and either raisins or dried cranberries
- Sorbet with mixed dried fruit and almonds
- Sorbet with sliced fresh fruit, shredded coconut, and peanuts
