With so many people becoming vegan these days there are naturally a ton of questions people have about the movement and topics like how and what to eat. Some things work really well as vegan dinners and some things are just not palatable at all. Below we will help guide you through the maze and have you making vegan dinners like a pro in no time.
Instead of giving you recipes that you may or may not like, what we will do is guide you through your meal prep in a way that lets you, your family and friends choose your favorites for each dish.
What Is A Good Asian Style Vegan Dinner To Make?
To make a real crowd pleaser that is super simple and literally every single person will like, even the non-vegans, just do the following: Make or buy Asian style rice paper wraps (like super thin tortilla’s but made of rice). Then serve raw or stir fry and serve all of your favorite vegetables individually in separate bowls, prepare and serve your tofu, tempeh, beans or other proteins separately as well. Then….
Place bowls of all your best sauces out separately as well.
Now all anyone has to do is fill their rice wraps with whatever their favorite vegetables are, their favorite proteins and sauces are and enjoy.
This makes it so that no one has to eat anything they don’t want to and can eat only what they do like.
This completely eliminates the stress of you feeling like you have to please everyone because they can literally pick and choose to eat whatever they like.
Clean up is really simple it’s just serving bowls or plates and their plates. Nothing that a decent dishwasher can’t handle.
This meal of course can be made for lunch or even breakfast by just substituting the vegetables for raw or thawed frozen fruits and berries along with a bowl of raw or hot cooked oatmeal (depending on whether you’re a raw vegan or eat cooked foods).
You can have one bowl of oatmeal with a tasty vanilla protein powder mixed in and the other bowl without it so people can choose.
This way everyone is happy no matter what.
What Are Some Good Vegan Dinner Bowls To Make?
These can be really simple or really complex, we prefer simple and so all you need to do is, place your favorite rice in a rice cooker, we prefer short grain brown rice. Then stir fry with water or oil or steam a mixture of all your favorite vegetables together or separately if you are feeding a family or guests. More on why to do this in a moment. Then just…
Stir fry with water or oil your favorite vegan protein sources along with the sauce of your choice, ensuring that you add enough sauce to cover the vegetables and rice as well.
Then pour the protein sauce mixture over the vegetables and rice which you have put into the bowl first, garnish if desired and eat.
If you’re serving a family or especially guests, then serve each vegetable and protein along with the sauce separately so they can pick and choose whatever they want and just be happy.
What Are Some Good Vegan Dinner Dishes To Make?
Below we will list out a couple of our favorites that are easy to make, generally please both family and friends and are filling and satisfying.
High Protein Black Bean Wraps With A Twist
These are so easy to make as your main dish that you’ll find yourself going to them for lunch as well.
We use whole wheat tortillas, but you can use white or corn just as easily.
This makes two wraps, if you need 4 then double it, need 6 triple it.
Blend or mash well, 1 cup of still hot cooked black beans until they are nice and smooth.
Add in 4 tablespoons of your favorite salsa (unblended, still chunky) into the beans. Squeeze in one half to one full lime depending upon how much lime you like. Add in just a sixteenth to an eight of a teaspoon of salt depending on your tastes, we actually don’t add salt at all.
Stir this together with a spoon or fork until it’s mixed well.
Spread this evenly across two whole wheat tortillas leaving about a half inch of room around the entire edge.
Slice up your favorite raw vegetables into long slender strips such as cucumber, red, yellow or green bell peppers, thinly sliced carrots, onions, tomatoes and more.
Drizzle a nice pattern of your favorite brand of vegan ranch dressing over the top of the vegetables, roll it into a wrap and enjoy.
You can sub the ranch dressing with lots of items if you prefer such as, ketchup, vegan mayo, stone ground mustard and more.
We have found that regular yellow mustard doesn’t seem to work with this dish, but that the stone ground variety does just fine.
Experiment, see what signature twist you can put on it that lights up your tastebuds.
Green Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo That Rocks!
This is so easy and tastes so good that you might be tempted to make it a little too often.
Make the fettuccini noodles and then for each 4 cups of noodles make the following.
In a high-speed blender like a Vitamix add in 1 cup of raw cashews, 1 quarter cup of rice or almond milk, 1 quarter cup of vegan butter, 1 half cup of vegan cheese, 1 quarter teaspoon of salt or to taste, 2 teaspoons of nutritional yeast (not brewers yeast), 2 tablespoons of vegan mayo and one half to one fully ripened avocado (depending on your tastes).
Blend the mixture until smooth and creamy, pour it over your pasta, stir it in and enjoy.
You will have to find a local vegan cheese, mayo, and butter that you like. It’s really not practical for us to tell you any particular brands because you may have trouble finding them.
Use the ones you like or, if you don’t know of any, taste test the top rated 3 of each in your area that you have access to and use those.
This recipe is super rich and creamy. It’s loaded with fat. It’s not animal fat, so do be aware that this does contain a lot of calories and should not be made too often even though you definitely will want to.
Is There Such Thing As Vegan Dinner Delivery?
Yes, there absolutely is. All you need to do is find a vegan restaurant near you that you love and have Uber eats pick it up and deliver it for you. It’s just as simple as that. Uber eats is a division of the Uber company that functions like a taxi service and has a great reputation.
What Do You Recommend For Vegan Kids Dinners?
You may or may not like what we have to say on this matter but it’s the truth. Feed your children the same thing you’re eating. This may or may not apply to you. We see way too many parents in restaurants ordering some super junky garbage off the kids’ menu for their little ones and this won’t help them to become healthy and happy now or in the future, that’s for sure.
The parents are eating salads, vegetables, fruits and more while little Johnny and Jane are eating corndogs or mac and cheese. Even if it is vegan, it’s still garbage. People need to feed their children foods that will help them grow, develop and be well.
Yes, we get it, they may put up a fuss because they don’t want to eat their broccoli or what have you. But that all starts in the home with parents being push overs letting their kids dictate what they eat.
Then, of course, when they go to the restaurant the kids pitch a fit because they know mom and dad will give in and feed them crap to avoid the scene.
If you don’t give in at home, they know you won’t give in here either and they will happily munch on whatever you order for them because they know there is no other alternative.
We do not advocate beating children, of course not. But we will say that in our experience, weak parenting means unruly children.
So, they should eat the same high-quality food that the adults are eating.
How To Make A High Protein Vegan Dinner?
There are a ton of ways that you can do this, here are two that are quick, easy and taste great (depending on your tastes of course).
Our Lentil Favorite
Pre-cook your lentils and keep them in the refrigerator so that you can just heat and eat anytime you like.
Then just take a can of your favorite vegan soup or even vegan chili and add lentils to it until it’s as thick as a stew.
Most vegan soups have very little protein, certainly not enough to be super fit. So, by adding cooked lentils you get an extra 18 grams of protein per cup of cooked lentils that you add.
If you make the average soup as thick as stew, you’ll usually use 2 cups of lentils which adds 36 grams of high-quality protein to your meal.
You can pour the stew over brown rice which will add a few more grams of protein, just measure it out so you know what you’re getting.
Vegan Bangers And Mash
We don’t often recommend brands, but this time will be an exception.
Go find the Tofurky brand Bratwurst sausages, slice them in half length wise and pan fry them with water or a little olive oil.
Make some mashed potatoes.
Buy some Sauerkraut and place the sausages, mashed potatoes and kraut on a plate and you have a German style vegan feast that is amazing.
If you buy a sauerkraut that’s to vinegary just blend a few medjool dates in a tiny amount of water (just enough so they blend). Stir the mixture in with the kraut and it will cut that vinegar flavor in half or more.
This is an absolute favorite. Once you eat it, we think you’ll agree.
How To Make A Low Carb Vegan Dinner?
Easy as pie.
Pan fry as many Tofurky Italian and bratwurst vegan sausages as you like. Use purple tipped remain lettuce as the bun, add in extra veggies, used condiments such as mustard to taste, just not ketchup because of the sugars.
Easy as it can be, you now have a vegan sausage sandwich that is low carb, high protein and relatively low fat.
Add in some sliced, ripe avocado and you have a killer hot dog alternative that even the kids will like.
How To Make A Vegan Dinner Without Pasta?
If you look at all the dinner ideas above, only one has pasta in it. So, you can start there.
However, here is one of our all-time favorites.
Vegan Stir Fry Protein Heaven
Stir fry your favorite vegetable blend and then pan fry either Tofurky bratwurst or Italian sausage in with it.
Place on a bed of leafy baby greens and drizzle your favorite vegan dressing over the top.
You have a moderate calorie, low carb, pasta free option that you can make in one pan in just a few minutes and clean up like a breeze.
A Vegan Dinner Idea With No Oil?
We are going to make this really simple. If you don’t want to cook with oil, just cook with water.
We stir fry all of the time with just a little water in our really good nonstick pans.
That’s likely the key is the pan. If your pans stick all the time this is going to be really difficult, and you may have to go get some really high-quality nonstick cookware.
As an example: when we speak of pan frying the vegan sausages above, we mean that we do so in just a little water and no oil at all.
With today’s technology you really don’t need oils unless your cookware is outdated. There are some really nice non-stick options out there that may take a little practice, but once you get the hang of them, you’ll be hooked.
For some really killer vegan breakfast ideas click this link!