4 Simple Vegan Meals To Try At Home Today

To help you out we got in touch with 4 vegan recipe makers who shared with us their pick for a simple and quick vegan meal. You'll also hopefully have some of these ingredients laying around!

So, without further a due, let’s get into the recipes.

Also, if you're looking for some ideas for dessert. Check out our round up for easy vegan dessert recipes.

Samantha Hadadi - Chunky Store Cupboard Bean & Tomato Soup

This one from Samantha was made specifically for the current climate we find ourselves in. 

Sam is a home cook and recipe developer, health and fitness journalist, and blogger. If you liked this recipe you can check out more on her website here.

So, for those who are living on old cupboard ingredients take a look at this.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, peeled and finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 sticks celery, peeled and finely chopped
• 1.5 tbsp tomato puree
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 400ml (one empty tin of chopped tomatoes) vegetable stock (or more, depending on texture desired)
• 1 x 400g tin cooked, flavourless mixed beans (mine had cannellini, black beans and butter beans)
• 1 small tin sweetcorn, drained
• Handful kale or one block frozen spinach
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. Heat some oil in a large saucepan. 
2. Add the onion and fry for a few minutes, then add in the garlic and cook, stirring often.
3. Add in the carrot and celery and cook for a few minutes. 
4. Add in the tomato puree and spices and cook, stirring frequently, until the carrot is beginning to soften.
5. Tip in the tomatoes, then fill up the empty tin with vegetable stock. 
6. Heat on a medium heat for ten minutes, or until starting to thicken. 
7. Add in the beans, sweetcorn and kale, then cook until warmed through. 
8. Season to taste and serve with fresh herbs and a squeeze of lemon juice.  

Julia Murray - Simple Creamy Tomato Pasta with Chick'n

Julia is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Certified Plant-Based + Raw Food Chef. She’s also an Olympian which is incredibly cool.

Her website is full of recipes to inspire you to add more whole, plant foods into your life.

If you like this be sure to check out Julia’s blog at  https://hookedonplants.ca/

INGREDIENTS

Creamy Tomato Sauce:

• 1/2 cup cashews (soaked overnight or a couple hours for the most creaminess)
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil (or 2 sprigs fresh basil
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp white pepper (optional)
• 1 cup diced canned tomatoes

Pasta

• 1 medium sweet onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4-5 mushrooms of choice, sliced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• Meatiness: pre-cooked brown lentils or vegan chicken.
• 2 handfuls kale or spinach, chopped
• 300g whole grain pasta of choice (choose one with a couple of ingredients only… like brown rice or quinoa or chickpeas and water.

DIRECTIONS

• Turn pan to medium heat, add onions and let brown. Add a splash of water to de-glaze the pan. Then add in the pepper, mushrooms and garlic. Let sauté 5 minutes (add a bit of water if it sticks)
• Boil water for your pasta
• Add the ‘meat’ of choice to the pan. Let brown and heat up for 5-10 minutes while stirring periodically
• Cook pasta according to directions
• Meanwhile, make the creamy tomato sauce: Add all pasta sauce ingredients to the blender and whizzzz until smooth
• Add the sauce to the veggie and ‘meat’ pan, stir to combine
• Strain your pasta, then add that to the loaded pan too. Give it a good stir
• Blend up some 3-minute cashew parmesan, then serve up your dish with some basil leaves, parm, and maybe even some garlic bread (toast with vegan butter and garlic powder = easiest garlic bread ever). 

Tess Challis - Falafel Salad with Tahini-Herb Dressing 

Tess is an author (seven cookbooks!) and has been teaching healthy cooking classes since 1997. She is also a "One Degree" transformation coach, speaker, and chef. 

Find out more about Tess here -  https://tesschallis.com/ 

Salad Ingredients

• 1/2 orange bell pepper
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper
• 10 cups chopped romaine lettuce
• 1 cup halved cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 medium cucumber, chopper or sliced
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

Falafel Ingredients

• 2 (15 ounce) cans chickpeas or 3 cups cooked chickpeas
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
• 2 table spoons cumin seeds2 12 teaspoons ground coriander
• 6 table spoons chickpea flour
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

If this sounds like your kind of thing then check out the full recipe and instructions here

https://tesschallis.com/recipes/2019/8/20/falafel-salad 

Lisa Stel - Vegan Egg salad 

Lisa started her journey to a vegan lifestyle 6 years ago. With the interest in veganism growing she made it her mission to inspire others to eat (more often) plant-based meals and make more sustainable choices.

She happily shared with us her simple Vegan Egg salad. If you want to find out more about Lisa on her website.

Ingredients

• Tofu 365 gram
• bunch of fresh chives
• 3 to 4 spoons of vegan mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon of mustard 
• 1 teaspoon of curry powder
• 1 teaspoon of paprika powder
• fresh spinach (just a handful)
• pepper & salt
• black salt (kala namak)

How to make it

1. Drain the tofu and crumble it with your hands.
2. Cut the fresh chives and blend it with the tofu and all other ingredients in a bowl. 
3. Mix everything well and season it with pepper, salt and the black salt (kala namak).
4. Make a sandwich with some spinach, the egg salad and put some extra fresh chives on it to make it look fabulous. 

Heena Modi - Pasta in a creamy basil sauce within 30 minutes

Since 2008 Heena has been living and promoting a vegan lifestyle. Using her website, she aims to bust some of the myths surrounding plant-based diets. Check out this tasty pasta dish!

You can find out more about Heena here

Ingredients - pasta

• 300 grams of uncooked pasta 
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil 
• 1 orange pepper – chopped into thin 2 cm slices 
• 1 yellow pepper – chopped into thin 2 cm slices 
• 1 chopped courgette – diced 
• 2 tomatoes – diced 
• 1 cup of fresh edamame beans 
• 1 tablespoon of salt

Ingredients - vegan basil cream

• 1 cup of fresh basil 
• 1 small avocado 
• 1/4 of a cup of fresh lemon juice 
• 2 tablespoons of water 
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil 
• 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt 
• black pepper to taste 
• chilli flakes to taste

Method

1. Boil a large pot of water, add the pasta when it's boiled, stir, add 1 tablespoon of salt and stir again 
2. Cook the pasta on a high heat for 5 minutes - it will be a little undercooked and set aside 
3. Put the olive oil in a pan and let it heat up a little 
4. Add the peppers and courgette and let it cook for 7 minutes 
5. Put the basil, water, olive oil, lemon juice, avocado, salt, black pepper, and chilli flakes in a blender to create the cream – set this aside 
6. Before the vegetables are fully cooked, add the tomatoes, pasta and edamame beans and cook for 5 minutes 
7. Add the basil cream and stir 
8. Add salt, pepper, and chilli flakes if needed 
9. Put this in a bowl, garnish with basil leaves and enjoy 

Get to cooking!

Massive thanks to each of our recipe makers for allowing us to share their culinary wizardry.