It’s a new year and you’ve decided to try out the Veganuary challenge. Congrats! It’s a fantastic way to start your vegan journey.
But you might be asking yourself, “just what have I signed up for??”
We’ve got you covered with an easy intro to Veganuary, some quick tips for being successful, and a list of vegan-friendly substitutes. Plus we shared 33 of our favorite vegan/plant-based recipes from Stick’s Scratch Kitchen to help you get started!
What is Veganuary
Veganuary is a challenge created by a UK nonprofit of the same name to eat plant-based/vegan throughout the month of January.
That’s 31 days of no animal-based products. The goal is to promote and educate a vegan lifestyle, from eating vegan meals to using cruelty free products.
You can also tweak Veganuary to meet your goals, like incorporating a little more plant-based recipes in your weekly meal plan or just trying out Meatless Mondays. It’s a great way to start the year off with healthy eating that will help pave the way for your health-related resolutions.
Quick Tips for a Successful Veganuary
Plan Ahead – The quickest way to fall off of the wagon is to not have a plan in mind when starting your Veganuary journey. Plan your weekly menu, make a grocery list, and stock up on vegan ingredients in one visit to the grocery store. This will save you from the “I don’t have ingredient xyz,” “I don’t know what to make,” “I just went to the grocery store!” excuses. Plus, it will get you excited about the new recipes you’ll get to try!
Start Off Easy – Rather than diving into the deep end of vegan cooking, try slowly incorporating vegan ingredients into your favorite dishes. Swap out meat for a plant-based alternative. Use vegan cheese instead of dairy-based cheese. Trade out honey with agave nectar. Starting simple will help you be successful in the long run!
Know What Foods to Avoid – We have a full quick start list (below) to help you figure out what ingredient swap you can use to keep your cooking vegan friendly. When in doubt, check the ingredients on the nutrition label; if there’s an animal product on there, it’s a no-go. Just be mindful of sneaky vegan ingredients like honey, gelatin, and even wine.
Give Yourself Grace – Don’t sweat it if you miss a vegan meal, forget that an ingredient is animal-based, or if it’s just too much to make every meal vegan. Adjust to fit your needs, be it Meatless Monday or simply incorporating more veggies into your day.
Vegan Friendly Ingredient Swaps
With the growing popularity of vegan and plant-based diets, there are so many options for vegan friendly ingredients. We’ve compiled a quick list of easy substitutes to help you get started!
Dairy – Opt for coconut, cashew, or almond milks, yogurts, and ice creams. There are also tons of cheese substitutes, like cashew-based sliced cheese and nutritional yeast (commonly used to replace Parmesan cheese). Butter has also gotten a face lift, with tons of plant-based varieties like olive oil, flax seed, and other dairy-free options.
Meat – The simplest swap for meats, like sausage, ground beef, chicken, etc, is the plant-based version of it. Impossible Foods is one of the biggest brands you’ll see in big box stores; they make everything from plant-based burger patties and ground sausage to chorizo and beyond. Beyond Meat is also another widely available brand, as well as Gardein, Morning Star Farms, and Tofurky. [These brands are not sponsored, I’m just providing helpful hints].
Other Proteins – You can incorporate chickpeas (garbanzo beans), lentils, black beans, kidney beans, soybeans, tofu, hummus, and even quinoa into your meals and get all the protein you need. Plus, there are tons of vegan/plant-based protein powders made from pumpkin, pea, brown rice, etc. that you can sneak into your morning smoothie. Seeds and nuts, like pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, peanuts (legume), almonds, cashews, are also a good supplementary source of protein. They’re also easy to sprinkle into smoothies, oatmeal bowls, salads, granola bars, or jut to have on hand for a snack.
Eggs – Eggs are always tricky to replace since we use them in so many ways. Replace your breakfast scrambled egg for scrambled and seasoned tofu (there are frozen varieties of this too!). Or replace eggs in baked goods with flax egg (ground flax seed and water).
Honey – agave, date or maple syrups are easy substitutes for honey
33 Veganuary Recipe Ideas
While we do not stick strictly to a vegan/plant-based diet, we do incorporate a lot of vegan/plant-based recipes into our every day. So we’ve outlined 33 vegan/plant-based recipes below for every meal to help you make it through Veganuary!
You’ll find recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus some healthy vegan desserts, snacks, and even sauce/spread options.
Breakfast
1. Chocolate Cherry Smoothie – This Chocolate Cherry Smoothie is my favorite smoothie of all time. It is simple, loaded with fruit and veggies, protein-packed, vegan/plant-based, and tastes like dessert! Simple and delicious.
3. Mint Chocolate Chip Smoothie
4. Raspberry White Chocolate Oatmeal
5. Cranberry White Chocolate Quinoa Bowl – This Cranberry White Chocolate Quinoa Bowl is the perfect way to start your morning. This bowl features pillow soft quinoa, mixed with a tart cranberry sauce and vanilla almond milk, topped with hemp seeds, almonds, white chocolate and a splash of maple syrup.
Lunch / Dinner
6. Coconut Chickpea Green Curry – Coconut Chickpea Green Curry is a scrumptious and simple mixture of sauteed zucchini, onions, chickpeas and kale steeped in a simple coconut-based green curry broth seasoned with turmeric and mint and piled high on a steamy bed of quinoa.
7. Pumpkin Miso Ramen with Maple Mushrooms – Pumpkin Miso Ramen with Maple Mushrooms is the perfect cozy soup for fall. It starts off with a salty sweet broth of pumpkin, white miso paste, coconut milk, vegetable broth, ginger and a pinch of cinnamon that’s simmered to comfy perfection. Then it’s loaded up with brown rice noodles, chickpeas, oven-crisped kale chips, and maple marinated mushrooms.
8. Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Noodles
10. Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew – If you’re looking for a delicious, hearty comfort food, then this Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew is perfect for you. This recipe features sweet potatoes, chickpeas, and kale simmered slowly in a thick broth of peanut butter, vegetable stock, fire roasted tomatoes, cinnamon, and cumin served over barley or brown rice and topped with chopped peanuts and fresh cilantro.
11. Miso Brown Butter Gnocchi – This Miso Brown Butter Gnocchi is a truly unique dish, blending the nutty flavor of browned butter with the salty sweet umami of white miso paste. Plus, the fresh garlic, ginger, and bok choy round out this dish in delicious simplicity.
12. Black Pepper Tofu and Broccoli Bowls
13. One Pot Mushroom and Chickpea Pasta
14. Summer Peach Pasta Salad – This Summer Peach Pasta Salad is just one more way to bring the freshness of peach season to your table. This recipe features crisp peaches, ripened to juicy, honeyed perfection, folded into an colorful salad of garden rotini pasta, corn kernels, cherry tomatoes, and green onion and drizzled with a sweet and tangy peach vinaigrette. To make it vegan, simply swap honey in the dressing for agave nectar and double check that the Dijon is vegan or use ground mustard.
Side Dishes
19. Brown Sugar Roasted Sweet Potatoes – Brown Sugar Roasted Sweet Potatoes are crispy, lightly sweet and smoky thanks to brown sugar (or coconut sugar), smoked paprika, and black pepper. Oven baked perfection at 425F.
Dessert
20. Chocolate Almond Butter Bars (No Bake) – These no-bake Chocolate Almond Butter Bars combine a raw mocha crust, fluffy almond butter cream layer, and thin dark chocolate coating in a delicious vegan and plant-based friendly healthy dessert.
21. Iced Pumpkin Pie Energy Bites – These Iced Pumpkin Pie Energy Bites are a fun no-bake twist on traditional pumpkin pie. They pack in tons of flavor and are a healthy, nutrient-dense snack made from rolled oats, pumpkin puree, almond flour, walnuts, dates, almond butter, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon. They can be enjoyed plain or with a sweet pumpkin spice glaze.
22. Key Lime Pie Protein Bites
23. Raw Quinoa Walnut Brownie Bliss Bites
24. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites
Snacks
25. Snickerdoodle Nut Butter – Snickerdoodle Nut Butter is a delicious cinnamon sweet cookie in the form of spreadable nut butter. It’s made from a combination of almonds, cashews, coconut, honey, vanilla and cinnamon, making it healthy, nutrient-dense, and naturally sweetened. It’s pretty amazing!
27. Tofu Spring Rolls – These Tofu Spring Rolls are a vegan/plant-based friendly side dish featuring crisp, crunchy, and fresh veggies and herbs, like butter lettuce, cucumber, carrot, and basil, pan-crisped tofu, and tender brown rice noodles wrapped in thin rice paper. Plus the lightly spicy and salty-sweet miso peanut sauce is perfect for dipping.
29. Air Fryer Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips
Dressings & Dips
30. Chunky Marinara Sauce – What I love about this recipe is that you can make it with just a handful of pantry staples. Odds say you have olive oil, a few cans of tomatoes (crushed, diced, whole–we’re not picky), and maybe a garlic clove or two on-hand. So, you’ll just need to pick up a bag of carrots and maybe an onion or a can of those “fancy” fire-roasted tomatoes. And boom, you’re in business.
31. Roasted Red Pepper Romesco Sauce – Our Roasted Red Pepper Romesco Sauce is a loose spin-off of the traditional Catalonian sauce, and uses roasted red peppers and cherry tomatoes, almond butter, garlic, red wine vinegar, a touch of smoked paprika, a drizzle of olive oil, and a slice of (optional) toasted stale bread.
32. Vegan Edamame Ranch Dressing
Other Veganuary Resources
Veganuary website – the UK nonprofit who started the Veganuary movement has tons of resources to help jump start your month of vegan. They have helpful meal plans, automated targeted emails, a cookbook with 25 celebrity recipes and nutrition guides to help you get started!
Great variety of recipes! I’m going to try one a week!