5 Vegan Swaps to Veganise Your Recipes
Are you feeling ready to try going vegan? While this way of life may seem trendy, it is also a great option for many. There are plenty of health benefits to doing so, and you could also lower your environmental impacts at the same time.
Many people believe that a plant-based diet will necessitate them giving up their favourite indulgent foods, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. You can still enjoy making all of your favourite meals using a couple of smart ingredient swaps to make your recipes plant-based. Read on for genius substitutes that will instantly ‘veganise’ your meals!
#1: Replace Butter with Plant-Based Margarines
If you’re in the mood for baking, you can easily swap out the butter in your recipe for non-hydrogenated veggie-based margarine, coconut oil, or another plant oil of your choice. Sunflower, macadamia and olive oils are suitable alternatives for most baking recipes. These substitutions should be done at a 1:1 ratio, so you should use the same amount of oil or margarine that the recipe used to call for butter.
#2: Replace Eggs with ‘Flax Eggs’ in Baking
If you’d rather not use eggs in your baked goods, you can easily replace them with so-called ‘flax eggs’. These are simply flax seeds mixed with water, which create the same consistency as beaten eggs. The flax eggs also have similar properties to regular eggs in terms of baking chemistry, so you won’t be able to tell the difference in the end result!
To make 1 flax egg (which should replace 1 egg in a recipe), combine 1 tbsp of ground flax seeds with 3 tbsp water by slowly adding the flax seeds to the water. Mix well until the mixture becomes thick before adding it to the rest of your ingredients, baking, and playing.
#3: Swap Out Cheese for Nutritional Yeast
There are already plenty of vegan cheeses on the market if you are craving something cheesy. However, if you want to add a cheesy taste to a dish without the added calories or cost, nutritional yeast flakes can help. The yeast has a pleasant nutty flavour and is packed with B vitamins, and can create a creamy cheese-like taste when added to your dishes.
#4: Replace Honey with Maple Syrup
Not all vegans avoid honey, but many prefer not to eat it. Luckily, there are many great tasting alternatives to honey that you can turn to. Maple syrup is an obvious choice for its flavour and sweetness, but you can also try agave syrup, rice syrup or maltitol syrup in your recipes. All of these alternatives also work very well in baking.
#5: Use Jackfruit and Mushrooms in Place of Meat
If you have a recipe that calls for red meat that you’d like to make vegan, you can do so very easily. Just swap out the red meat for mushrooms or eggplant that you have shredded or cut and seasoned well. If your recipe calls for chicken or pork, you can try oyster mushrooms or jackfruit instead. All of these options provide loads of nutrients and a meaty texture, which makes for realistic dishes without the animal products.