Some Vegan Recipes I Like

Yes, I'm serious

Oct 28, 2024

Literally me. (Yes, I do actually have the mustache if you were wondering—though not quite as majestic.)

We interrupt the scheduled programming with something completely different

Not so long ago, I jokingly remarked that Bentham’s Bulldog should become a vegan recipe blog. In accordance with Poe’s law, I shall pick up the baton where he failed his duty, and share some of the vegan recipes I like. I don’t think I’m an exceptional culinary curator or anything, and the list is not particularly long, but I hope that this will maybe help if you are having a hard time transitioning to a vegan diet—or at the very least be an inspiration to you if you don’t know what to cook tonight. If you’re interested in my reasons for being a vegan, I have written a half-defense here, and a bit of a nasty defense here.

Often when I make food, I do so in large batches and freeze the food down in portions, so I have easy meals, since this makes for cheap and easy meals. For this reason, many of the recipes here will be freezable, though I’ll still note if it is. I might update this list continuously, if I find more recipes worth including. Enough small talk, here are the recipes:

Red Daal — This one is in Danish (sorry), but you can simply make google translate the page. I don’t think it’s a particularly unique recipe, but it’s just my go-to and it’s pretty tasty. Daal is generally my dish of choice, since it’s very easy to make, very tasty, and super cheap. It also freezes very well and if you eat it with rice, it will last for many portions. If you’ve never tried it, I highly reccommend it!

Gambian Peanut Stew — African cusine is generally underappreciated, I think, and as an avid peanut-enjoyer, this is definitely a very good example. It has a pretty unique taste, though nothing mind-blowing. It can be frozen and thawed, and I have done this myself, but the sweet potatoes do tend to become a little softer—not a big problem for me though, and it was still delicious!

“Chicken” satay — As someone who hates chopping, this recipe is very appreciated, as the only “chopping” consists in grating a bit of garlic and ginger. Apart from that, I just love coconut milk and peanut butter—what more can I say? It does call for soy curls, which may not be too easy to get ahold of, but I’m sure it would also be very good with chickpeas, or tofu, or something. This one also freezes well, though I think it gets a little thicker from it.

Lentil Bolognese — What you see is what you get: it’s just a good bolognese, but with lentils. You can easily add some shredded carrots for extra veggies. Word of warning though: I was too stingy to buy walnuts, so I tried crushing some peanuts instead—don’t do this, it doesn’t work very well! Just leave out the walnuts if you’re miser like me. Again, freezes very well.

Falafels — This is the best falafel recipe I have tried so far, mostly for the directions (I think you can put anything in a falafel, if you want). I usually just fry a couple and then freeze the rest unfried. Pro tip: form balls and put them into boxes with baking/wax paper as separation between layers, if you stack them. Let them freeze in the boxes overnight and once frozen break them apart and put them in a bag instead so they take up less room. I actually usually squish the ones I freeze flat, so they are closer to hockey pucks. This way I can fry them from frozen without worrying about the middle not being cooked, as well as use less oil.

Noodle Salad — They’re not lying, this is ridiculously tasty! If you also make the complementary tofu, it’s a bit of a larger project, though not too bad (I think the biggest problem is that I really hate chopping). Obviously you can pretty much swap out whatever veggies you like—salad is not a rocket science—the main star of the show is really the sauce. I haven’t tried freezing it, but I mean, it’s a salad so I also recommend you don’t try either.

Cheese — This is the best vegan sliceable cheese I have tried so far. It tastes very good, and the texture is also pretty close without too much effort (though it does still have the characteristic gel-like consistency of vegan cheese). Melts okay, but I wouldn’t use it for pizza, I think. I have tried freezing it, and the results were interesting: once I thawed it, it excreted quite a bit of water. After pressing it with a towel, the texture had changed, but in a way I actually quite liked, as it had a more spongy/fibrous texture, somewhat akin to mozzarella balls. Doing this did make it even worse for melting, though. (As a sidenote, I have not tried this vegan mozarella yet, but I am pretty sure that it’s good so I am adding it anyway.)

Kimchi — It’s kimchi. If you haven’t tried kimchi, I recommend doing so, as it has a quite unique and delicious taste. I use it all the time in falafel wraps, for fried rice, as well as just as a snack. Apparently you can also use the brine for a Bloody Mary cocktail, though I haven’t tried that yet. This recipe is not vegan, but it’s the go-to recipe for kimchi, hence why I’m using it. Just omit the fish sauce and shrimp (perhaps substituting with soy sauce).

Donuts — You will get your hands very messy with this one, but they are pretty. I have a hard time getting mine to puff up very much, but I assume that’s mostly a skill issue on my part, and they taste very good. They also freeze very well, and can easily be heated in the microwave.

Aioli/Mayo — This changed my life! It’s so simple that I won’t even find a link:

This can be done with either an immersion blender or regular blender.
(if making aioli) roughly 1 clove of garlic per 500 ml you’re making (though I love garlic, so I always add a bit more)
1 part soy milk — room temperature
2 parts oil — also room temperature
A squirt of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar (or really any kind of vinegar)
A bit of dijon mustard (optional)
Press/chop the garlic, so you don’t risk any big clumps (especially if using an immersion blender). Put all the ingredients, except oil, in the blender or bowl and blend a little. Then pour in the oil gradually while blending to emulsify. If you want, season with whatever you feel like and mix again. And done!

It’s that easy! It takes like 5 minutes to make with basically no cleanup, and tastes pretty dang good. It’s also WAY cheaper than any vegan mayo/aioli you’ll find in a store (at least where I live).