The Ultimate Guide on How to Cook Vegan (May 2021)
Veganism can no longer be dismissed as a trend; since Veganuary launched in 2014, over 1,000,000 people from 192 countries have signed up to participate in going vegan for 1 month.
In fact, according to Google, interest in ‘veganism’ increased 7 fold between the years 2014 and 2019!
You may have also noticed the increase in vegan food products available to buy. So, if there are so many ready-made meals and plant-based alternatives available in 2021, is learning how to cook vegan really worth your time?
The answer is a solid YES.
Here’s why:
Improve Your Health
Having access to plant-based convenience and takeaway food is amazing but to go vegan sustainably, we must maintain our health and well-being. Learning how to cook vegan food will help you take control of your nutrition.
Save Money
Cooking vegan food at home will help you save money by preventing the need to eat out to experience tasty plant-based meals.
Impress Friends & Family
Improving your cooking skills will enable you to cook delicious vegan food (and maybe even inspire a few more people to go vegan in the process).
Develop Confidence
Learn the cooking skills needed to be able to experiment with recipes and develop your own unique vegan dishes. Who knows, you could even use them to start your own plant-based food business!
Learning how to cook vegan food is beneficial for more than simply personal gain. It’s a valuable skill that allows us to spread awareness of vegan food to a wider audience, showcase delicious plant-based meals, share healthy and ethical food with the world, and inspire others to go vegan.
Equipped with the knowledge of how to cook vegan, you’ll understand how to use your diet to change the world for you, the animals, and the planet...one delicious vegan meal at a time.
Unsure how to get started? That’s why we’ve created this Ultimate Guide on How to Cook Vegan!
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1. Essential Cooking Equipment for Vegans
Before you begin learning how to cook vegan, you’re going to need to kit out your kitchen!
If you’re a keen home chef, it’s likely that you’ll already have everything you need to cook vegan food but there are a few kitchen essentials you might want to add to your inventory.
From the basic tools every vegan should own to next level vegan cooking gadgets, we’ve delved into the best kitchen tools vegans need to cook like a pro.
Contents
Vegan Kitchen Knives
Pots and Pans
The Best Cooking Gadgets for Vegans
Other Vegan Cooking Utensils/Kitchen Tools
Vegan Kitchen Knives
Those vegetables aren’t going to chop themselves!
Before learning how to cook, one of the first things professional chefs learn at culinary school is the importance of a good set of knives.
There are 5 main knives that vegan cooks should own:
1. Utility knife
Shorter than a chef’s knife but longer than a paring knife, a utility knife is an all-purpose tool, useful for cutting vegan sandwiches, chopping fruits and vegetables, and slicing herbs.
2. Paring knife
This small, short-bladed knife allows vegan cooks to peel, mince, dice, slice, and cut smaller and more delicate ingredients.
Paring knives are great for when precision is required.
3. Bread knife
Bread knives feature a serrated blade, which is designed to cut through crispy crusts. These knives are moved in a backward and forward motion to slice through bread like a saw.
4. Vegan cheese knife
Once you learn how to make vegan cheese, this nifty knife will definitely come in handy.
Designed to cut through sticky, soft, dense, and hard cheeses, the cheese knife is a great vegan kitchen tool and looks fancy enough to go on your next plant-based cheeseboard!
5. Chef’s knife
Probably the most useful and versatile tool in any vegan’s kitchen, the chef’s knife is the biggest knife out of the 5.
Learn how to choose the right chef’s knife
You can find these in nearly all commercial kitchens and for good reason; chef’s knives are perfect for all manner of prep work, including chopping, mincing, and slicing. They’re also big enough to cut into larger and tougher vegetables, like butternut squash.
Kitchen knife maintenance
For the best performance when cooking delicious vegan meals, we recommend keeping your knife sharp at all times!
Not only does sharpening your knife help you cut vegetables with ease, but it also improves your control and reduces the risk of injury.
Pots and Pans
Did you know that not all pots and pans are healthy or sustainable?
Some cookware can leach toxins and contaminants into your food, such as nickel, cadmium, and other heavy metals. Many nonstick coatings can flake off and let off toxic fumes when you cook at high temperatures.
What’s more, many modern pan linings and plastic handles are not recyclable, so getting eco-friendly pots and pans for your kitchen is something vegans should consider.
If your cookware is due an upgrade, try equipping your vegan kitchen with pots and pans that use the following sustainable materials:
1. Stone
2. Ceramic
3. Metal
4. Stainless steel
The Best Cooking Gadgets for Vegans
You now know the basics, but what about the more advanced kitchen gadgets?
If you’re committed to learning how to cook vegan food, then you’ll want to kit your kitchen out with the latest in cooking technology.
From avocado cutters to spice grinders, food processors, and high-speed blenders, check out our must-have list of the best cooking gadgets for vegans in 2021.
Other Vegan Cooking Utensils/Kitchen Tools
Knives, pots and pans, and electrical cooking gadgets are all important vegan cooking equipment but what about all the unexciting stuff in between? For example, chopping boards, graters, zesters, etcetera etcetera.
These cooking utensils might not be as thrilling as a high-speed blender, but they’re still essential. Check out these 20 kitchen tools every vegan should own in order to cook amazing plant-based food.
2. Vegan Ingredients and Nutrition
I’ve equipped my kitchen with cooking tools and gadgets...now, what do vegans actually eat?
We’re glad you asked!
Non-vegans often think of a plant-based diet as restrictive but what you are about to discover is that it’s anything but. In fact, most vegans will tell you that, since making the transition, they have never eaten such diverse food.
Allow us to show you just how many vegan ingredients there are.
Oh, and go grab yourself a cup of tea or coffee and a bowl of your favorite vegan snacks because this is going to be an information-packed section 😉 ...
Contents
Sustainability, Nutrition, and Ethics: The Power of Vegan Ingredients
The Best Vegan Ingredients
1. The Best Source of Plant-Based Protein
2. The Best Vegetables to Eat on a Vegan Diet
3. The Best Fruit to Eat on a Vegan Diet
4. The Best Vegan Seasonings
5. The Best Vegan Substitutes/Alternatives
How to Stock a Vegan Pantry
Ingredients to Avoid on a Plant-Based Diet
Plant-Based Nutrition
Sustainability, Nutrition, and Ethics: The Power of Vegan Ingredients
One of our favorite things about cooking vegan food from scratch is the power it gives us to choose what goes on our plates and in our bellies.
Not only does home cooking give you more control over the impact your vegan diet has on animal welfare and the environment, but it will also provide more awareness about the nutrient content of your meals.
By choosing your own vegan ingredients, you’ll gain a much better understanding of the impact your vegan food will have on your health and wellbeing.
To find out more about the carbon footprint of what you eat and drink, check out this Climate Change Food Calculator, based on the latest research from Oxford University
But if you’re new to cooking and you’re scratching your head over which vegetable to put in a stew and which one to blitz into a smoothie, then don’t panic - we’ve got your back!
From the best sources of plant-based protein to the difference between brown and red lentils, this section of our How to Cook Vegan Guide will reveal the best ingredients to include in your vegan diet, as well as information on what to do with them.
The Best Vegan Ingredients
Vegans cook so many amazing plant-based foods that it’s difficult to narrow them down to ‘the best' ingredients...but we’ll try!
1. The Best Source of Plant-Based Protein
From tempeh to seitan, lentils, tofu, and peas, there are plenty of vegan sources of protein.
But do they all contain significant amounts of all the essential amino acids, which ones are the easiest to digest, and are some tastier than others?
We answer all of these questions and more in our article: Tempeh, Tofu, Seitan...What's the Best Source of Protein?
2. The Best Vegetables to Eat on a Vegan Diet
Did you know that there are 300,000 edible plant species?
Of course, you won’t see all of these species lining the grocery store shelves, but walk down the vegetable aisle and you will probably still feel overwhelmed by the range of products on offer.
Want to know which varieties you should eat on a vegan diet and how to cook them into delicious plant-based dishes?
Read our article on Why You Should Be Buying Seasonal Vegetables (and what to do with them) to find out more.
3. The Best Fruit to Eat on a Vegan Diet
An apple a day keeps the doctor away but do you know why? Not only do they contain lots of pectin (prebiotic fiber that’s good for the gut), but they also provide plenty of vitamin C, potassium, and vitamin K.
And apples aren’t the only nutrient powerhouses in the fruit world. Click here to learn more about which fruits contain the most nutrients and how to include them in your vegan diet.
4. The Best Vegan Seasonings
Kala namak. Nooch. Sounds like a new language, right?
Well, they’re actually vegan seasonings - and super tasty ones at that! A vegan’s kitchen would not be complete without a well-stocked spice, herb, and seasoning rack, so make sure you check out our article on the Essential Vegan Seasonings Everyone Should Own.
5. The Best Vegan Substitutions/Alternatives
If you come across a recipe that calls for eggs but you really want to veganize it, you’ll be surprised at how easy it can be!
From aquafaba (garbanzo/chickpea water) to flaxseeds, mashed bananas, and silken tofu, there are loads of vegan egg alternatives.
And it doesn’t end with eggs, check out these 10 vegan substitutes for all sorts of ingredients!
How to Stock a Vegan Pantry
If you’d like a more general overview of the types of ingredients vegans can cook with, then we recommend reading our article on How to Stock a Vegan Pantry With Delicious Staples (no, we don’t mean the metal office supplies!) - we’ve even provided a FREE shopping list that you can download and printout the next time you go to a grocery store.
Ingredients to Avoid on a Vegan Diet
One of the first things you’ll learn while learning how to cook vegan is that there are some ingredients that can be deceptive. For example, did you know that ‘natural flavorings’ can sometimes include castoreum, which comes from the secretions of beavers’ anal scent glands?
Mistakes will very much be a part of your vegan journey and we all have to learn somehow. But you can get yourself off to a good start by reading up about these 37 ingredients to avoid as a vegan.
Plant-Based Nutrition
At Veecoco Plant-Based Academy, we often get asked if we can get all the nutrients we need on a vegan diet. The answer is yes, but not without an understanding of plant-based nutrition and careful planning.
Of course, this gets easier over time as you adapt to your new diet and the majority of vegans find that they’ve never been healthier. But we implore you to learn which nutrients you need and to get your blood checked by your doctor to ensure that your personal nutritional intake is sufficient.
We love this guide to vegan supplements, which goes over many of the important nutrients that may be lacking on a vegan diet and discusses when you might need to take supplements to make up for anything you’re missing.
Common cooking mistakes you should always avoid
READ HERE
3. How to Cook Vegan: Cooking Techniques and Recipes
Now comes the hardest part: cooking!
Just kidding, it’s not as difficult as you might think, once you’ve got the basics honed. Luckily for you, we’ve got a whole team of professional vegan chefs from around the world to share their cooking skills and expertise.
Oh, and we’ve got a whole bunch of delicious plant-based recipes for you to try as well.
This section of our vegan cooking guide will teach you incredibly useful techniques such as how to test the sharpness of your knife, sharpen it, chop fruit and veg efficiently, prepare and cook ingredients safely, make the most out of your ingredients, and so much more!
You’ll also discover a fantastic range of recipes including everything from making your own plant milk to fermenting vegetables, grilling fruit, baking bread, and preparing a BBQ feast.
Let’s get going!
Vegan Cooking Skills & Techniques
We’re firm believers in visual and practical learning, particularly when you get to benefit from a professional chef’s expertise. But that doesn’t mean you have to attend culinary classes! In-person vegan cooking schools can be hard to come by and they’re usually very expensive. Luckily, the beauty of the internet means that we can bring professional chefs directly to your kitchen.
How? With online cooking videos!
Learning online allows you to take the lessons in your own time and repeat them as many times as you want. Raw food techniques? Secrets to Thai cuisine? Chocolate tempering? Vegan patisserie? Culturing artisanal cheese? You can choose which skills and cuisines you wish to learn based on your needs and requirements.
Simply click on a link below to start learning some professional techniques FOR FREE or visit our YouTube channel for our regularly updated professional chef skillshare videos!
Serious about learning how to cook vegan food? Our paid membership offers all of the below and so much more!
Check out our paid membership
Common cooking mistakes you should always avoid
READ HEREHow to cut a mango perfectly
Food storage techniques
READ HEREHow to peel and chop garlic
How to sprout chickpeas (and why you should do it)
READ HEREHow to chop an onion
READ HERE
How to hone and sharpen your knife
READ HEREHow to cut tomatoes
Vegan Cookbooks
Where do we start with this one? We can now gladly boast that there are hundreds of different vegan cookbooks on the market! Of course, since there are now so many, choosing which one to invest in can be a challenge.
Our recommendation would be to start off with a cookbook that offers quick and simple recipes. The spicy mushroom lasagna from Ottolenghi’s Flavor is absolutely to die for! But gee whizz does it take a long time to cook.
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Whether you’re a beginner, have a family to feed, work a demanding job, or you just lead a busy life, then we recommend the following simple yet amazingly tasty cookbooks:
BISH BASH BOSH! - Henry Firth & Ian Theasby
Vegan 100 - Gaz Oakley (Avant Garde Vegan)
Online Vegan Recipes
Want the freedom to choose the difficulty level or type of cuisine you want to cook at a whim? Then online vegan recipes are for you.
And it just so happens that our online vegan culinary school teaches a huge range of cuisines. With 600+ cooking lessons to choose from, you’ll have endless video and written recipes at your fingertips!
Check out the courses we have to offer.
We also offer plenty of free written vegan recipes on our Veecoco blog and we’re always uploading new video lessons taught by our team of professional chefs to our YouTube channel. Just click on a button below to find recipes in your preferred format:
