Essential Ingredients For Every Vegan Kitchen

To follow a vegan diet means to refrain from eating anything that comes from an animal. Unlike vegetarianism, ingredients such as honey and eggs are off the table. So as you can imagine, an entirely vegan kitchen is likely to look a little different from the traditional pantry and refrigerator. However, that doesn’t mean that the menu will be more limited and less exciting.

At first, it might be a challenge to adapt your weekly shopping list to a vegan diet, but I have listed a bunch of essential ingredients for you to stock up on to help you out!

Also known as vegan yeast flakes, this vegan-favourite is simply a deactivated yeast with lots of health benefits. You can find it in most health stores and add it to a variety of dishes that would be complemented by its unique nutty, cheesy flavour. Nutritional yeast is an excellent source of B vitamins and is often fortified with B12, which is the vitamin that vegans are advised to take supplements for. This is an ingredient that you can get creative with, use it for making dairy-free cheese, sprinkle it on pasta sauces, or even on top of popcorn!

Tofu has suffered the label of being boring and bland for many years now, but we can assure you, it doesn’t deserve the bad reputation! It’s a protein-rich food that is essentially a blank canvas for whatever flavour you want it to take on. Because tofu comes in many forms, from silken to extra firm, there are endless possibilities of what classic dishes you can replicate with this magical ingredient. Try out tofu scramble, add it into Asian-style soups, blend it to thicken sauces, and experiment with tofu bacon (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it).

Just like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans and is a great source of protein. However, whereas tofu is a blank canvas when it comes to flavour and texture, tempeh is chewy and has an earthy taste. But you can still season and marinate it to your liking. This is the perfect ingredient for layering in sandwiches and adding to stir-frys, and buddha bowls.

Fruit and vegetables are a staple in every kitchen! These plants are pretty much the main bulk of a healthy vegan diet, and there are lots to choose from. There are around 300,000 edible species out there, yet humans only eat 200; so just because there are a few fruits and vegetables that you don’t like, that doesn’t mean you dislike them all. It’s easy to get your daily intake, whether it’s by popping frozen fruit in your breakfast cereals or porridge, or by blending them up into a quick smoothie. Fill your fridge with fruit and vegetables, and you’ll soon notice how much more nourished and energised you feel.

Beans and legumes are one of the best sources of protein on a vegan diet. As well as protein, they’re high in fibre and B vitamins and offer health benefits such as lowering cholesterol and blood sugar levels. As opposed to meat, beans and legumes are super cheap and can be prepared quickly. One of the most versatile legumes is chickpeas; they can be roasted with your seasoning of choice and then sprinkled onto salad, or crushed with a potato masher and used as a replacement for tuna.  

Alternatives aren’t an essential part of a vegan diet. They’re only necessary if you’re missing the taste of animal products. If you want, you can give these a miss and stick to a wholefoods diet instead. However, if you would like to dive into the ever-expanding world of plant-based meat and dairy, then there are reams of brands and products for you to choose from!

Miso is a fermented paste with a rich, umami taste. It’s most well known for being used in Japanese cuisine but has become more popular in the UK along with the rise of veganism. As it’s a fermented food, miso has brilliant health benefits such as aiding digestion. It can be added to soups, pasta sauces, vegetables, and pretty much anything that calls for a deeper, savoury taste.

Tahini is a paste made from toasted sesame seeds and you likely know it as being one of the main ingredients in hummus. Tahini is widely used in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine because it’s cost-effective, has a creamy, nutty taste, and is also very versatile. Not only does it make a great dressing and dip, but you can use it in baking as well!

Herbs and spices are key to making food taste delicious, hence why they’re an essential ingredient in all diets, not just veganism. There are hundreds of varieties of herbs and spices around the world, and each has its own health benefits, for example, turmeric is a potent antioxidant and holds anti-inflammatory properties. If you want to create your own vegan alternatives, herb and spice blends are essential to mimic the flavour of the animal product that you are recreating.