By Erik Marcus
Vegan meals can be as simple as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or as elaborate as the fanciest dish at a gourmet restaurant. To get a sense of everything that’s available, you can start by visiting our breakfast, lunch, or dinner pages.
Quick-and-Easy Vegan Meals
If you’re new to eating vegan, begin with the simplest recipes possible. You want to spend minutes in the kitchen rather than hours. Here are some quick and easy ideas:
- Sandwiches
- Stir-fries
- Toast or English muffins with jam or vegan butter
- Wraps with nut butter, tahini, chopped veggies & dressing, or jam
- Toasted bagels with vegan cream cheese
- Roasted vegetables
- Canned vegetarian chili
- Pita and hummus
- Salads. More veggies = more better :)
- Soup served with a slice of bread
Fancier Meals
When you’re ready to branch out from the simple foods suggested above, you’ll get a lot out of reading my vegan cooking guide. In less than an hour you’ll not only learn the basics of vegan cooking, I’ll also take you through the basics of grocery shopping and how to properly outfit your kitchen.
Want to explore further? There are hundreds of vegan cookbooks available. Start with easy titles that are devoted to recipes intended for everyday cooking. You can’t go wrong with 15-Minute Vegan Meals or Easy Vegan Home Cooking. There are dozens and dozens of more ambitious offerings crowding the vegan cookbook market. These cookbooks cover every conceivable cuisine. Visit our vegan cookbooks page to get started.
Finally, if you like to finish your meals with something sweet, you’ll be excited by the extraordinary assortment of vegan desserts you can make or purchase.
The Most Vegan-Friendly Cuisines
As you think about making vegan meals keep in mind that most cuisines are based on foods that are either always vegan or can easily be prepared that way. Think of beans, rice, salsa and guacamole in Mexican culture. Or pasta, grilled onions, and tomato sauce, in Italian culture. Or dive into Middle Eastern cooking and enjoy some falafel, hummus, tahini, and baba ghanouj. The more you explore traditional cuisines, the more great vegan recipes you’ll discover.
Vegan Restaurant Meals
Vegetarian and vegan restaurants are increasingly widespread. To expand your vegan horizons, visit as many vegan-friendly restaurants as you can. And if you’re seeking vegan fast food, you’ve got all sorts of delicious possibilities. Likewise, any natural foods store deli will offer terrific vegan options.
