Tasty vegan recipes
Veganism, a strict form of vegetarianism, excludes all animal products such as meat, eggs, dairy, and other animal-derived ingredients like honey. On WeightWatchers®, our flexible approach to eating accommodates all dietary preferences, including a vegan diet.
Interest in vegan living is at an all-time high, with online searches for 'vegan' recipes increasing by more than 250% over the past few years. People may choose a vegan diet based on their values, for weight loss, or a combination of both. The popularity of vegan diets has surged recently, thanks to social media and stunning food photography proving that plant-based eating is anything but boring.
You don't have to be a full vegan to enjoy these tasty meat-free recipes. With the rise of initiatives like meat-free Mondays and flexitarian diets, you can easily incorporate more grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables into your meals. Enjoy the variety and health benefits of plant-based eating, even if you're not exclusively vegan.
Smart swaps for vegan cooking
Choosing to eat a vegan diet doesn’t mean you have to miss out on dishes you love. All it takes are a few clever tweaks to make your meals vegan-friendly.
- Instead of cheese: Use nutritional yeast. With its nutty, cheesy flavour, nutritional yeast makes a great addition to sauces and it’s perfect for sprinkling on top of pasta—like mac and cheese—and other dishes that call for grated cheese. It’s also a way to get extra vitamin B12, which may otherwise be in short supply in a vegan diet. Sometimes sold as ‘yeast flakes’, you can find it in health food stores and some supermarkets.
- Instead of milk: Use nut, oat or soya milk. There are plenty of alternatives to cow’s milk, and most are easily available. Nut milks can be made from almonds, hazelnuts or cashews, and can have a noticeable flavour, while soy and oat milk have a more neutral taste. Use them as you would cow’s milk—in your tea or coffee, overnight oats or in baking recipes. Make sure you buy unsweetened versions.
- Instead of butter: Use dairy-free spread. Plant-based spreads can be used in most recipes that call for butter, but check the labels as some are not vegan and may contain milk or other dairy products. Dairy-free spreads will work just as well as butter in vegan bakes, and can also be used to make buttercream-style frostings and fillings.
- Instead of yoghurt: use soya yoghurt. You can swap regular cow’s milk yoghurt for plain soy yoghurt in most recipes. Soy yoghurt is made from soy milk and yoghurt cultures, and it may also have a small amount of added sugar to help the fermentation process.
- Instead of gelatine: Use agar agar. Agar agar is made from a type of algae, but don’t let that put you off – it doesn’t have a distinct taste, but will still help desserts firm up. It comes in powder or flake form and has to be boiled in liquid before it will set. It sets slightly firmer than gelatine, and will stay set at higher temperatures.
- Instead of scrambled eggs: Use tofu. When crumbled and fried with herbs and seasoning, tofu resembles scrambled egg in taste and texture—a great replacement for regular chicken eggs.
- Instead of egg whites: Use chickpea water. Also known as aquafaba, the liquid drained from tinned chickpeas contains starches and proteins that make it a useful substitute for eggs in recipes such as meringue. You will need to beat it for a bit longer than regular egg white to reach the right consistency, but with a little patience, you’ll be rewarded with great results.
- Instead of honey: Use agave or maple syrup. For a hint of sweetness in recipes that call for honey, try agave or maple syrup instead. Maple syrup has a distinctive smoky flavour, while agave has a more neutral taste, so you can use whichever suits the recipe best. Both maple and agave syrups are 1 Point per teaspoon.