5 of My Top Vegan Essentials
In this post, I share five of my top vegan essentials that I eat regularly. These vegan foods are super versatile ingredients that can be used to cook a wide variety of plant based dishes.
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5 of My Top Vegan Essentials
Good morning friends! Today, I am so excited to talk about a few of my favorite vegan foods. The plant based ingredients that I am about to share not only taste great, but they are also super versatile. They can be used in a ton of different recipes. This is by no means a comprehensive list of my vegan essentials, but I thought it would be fun to share a few vegan foods I have been loving lately. So, without further ado, let’s go ahead and take a look at five of my top vegan essentials that I like to keep stocked at all times :).
Top Vegan Essentials #1 – Nutritional Yeast Seasoning
Nutritional yeast is first up on my list because I love to add it to my savory vegan dishes for a slight nutty/cheesy flavor. I use nutritional yeast seasoning in all kinds of plant based recipes, including veggie burgers, nourish bowls, salads, and even in my vegan macaroni and cheese recipe. Nutritional yeast seasoning can be found at most grocery stores. I like to get it at Trader Joe’s, because it is less expensive at Trader Joe’s than the other grocery stores near me. Nutritonal yeast seasoning also contains some important vitamins and minerals – specifically vitamin B12. I use nutritional yeast seasoning pretty much every day, so I had to include it on this list.
Top Vegan Essentials #2 – Tofu
This ingredient makes the list because it is one of my favorite plant based protein source. It packs in about seven to eight grams of protein per serving. I love throwing tofu into nourish bowls, pasta dishes, salads, and tofu scrambles. Tofu is a great protein source to add to many different savory dishes, so I had to include it on my list of vegan favorites. My top tip when cooking with tofu is to make sure you squeeze as much liquid from your block of tofu as possible before you cook it. That way, it will be less watery. Also, tofu itself doesn’t have much flavor. However, it will absorb the flavors of whatever you soak it in. You can easily soak your tofu in a marinade or sauce for tons of flavor.
Top Vegan Essentials #3 – Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is one of my all-time favorite foods. The taste and texture are both incredible. Plus, peanut butter serves as a great source of both protein and fat. I love to use peanut butter in my vegan dessert recipes, like my peanut butter oatmeal cookies and peanut butter cups. I also enjoy peanut butter on top of my vegan pancakes.
If you are allergic to peanut butter, there are many allergy friendly subs on the market today that you can try, including almond butter, sunflower seed butter, and the list goes on. Either way, nut butter is a delicious plant based ingredient that I personally can’t go without.
Top Vegan Essentials #4 – Dates
Dates are a super sweet and delicious dried fruit. I like to cut my dates in half, spread peanut butter on each half, and top the peanut butter dates with a few chocolate chips. It is such a sweet, easy, and tasty treat. I also like to use dates in desserts. They are great for using in raw pie crusts, energy bites, and so much more! For these reasons, dates are one of my top vegan essentials that I like to keep on hand at all times.
Top Vegan Essentials #5 – Avocados
Avocados are filled with a variety of micronutrients, including vitamin K, C, B5, B6, and E to name a few. They are also one of my favorite foods to use in salads, burritos, on top of toast, etc. I also like to make homemade guacamole, and fresh avocados serve as the key ingredient. Due to their nutrient profile, rich flavor, and versatility, I had to include avocados on my list of vegan essentials.
Top Vegan Essentials – Final Thoughts
I hope you all enjoyed reading about some of my top vegan essentials and why I love them so much. The foods I have shared today are staples in my diet that I eat quite often. They are easy to cook and bake with, super versatile, and budget friendly.
When I first transitioned to a fully plant based diet, I had very little experience in the kitchen. Through a lot of trial and error, I eventually learned how to make healthy, tasty vegan meals that I genuinely look forward to eating. I hope that by sharing my recipes on this blog, you will be able to do the same :). Anyway, that’s it for this post. As per usual, I will be back with another one very soon.
-Alyssa 🙂
