Vegan Pantry Essentials
From cashews and tahini to jicama, sumac and quinoa, learn the ins-and-outs of common vegan ingredients you'll see on It's CompliPlated with Tabitha Brown.
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Portobello Mushrooms
Portobello mushrooms are one of the heartiest mushrooms around. They're often used as a vegan substitute for meats like steak and ground beef since they stand up to heat well. They're great on the grill, can be seared and sauteed or stuffed to create all-in-one meals.
Get the Recipe: Vegan "Pulled Pork" Sliders
Spaghetti Squash
Try shredding the inside of spaghetti squash with a fork after roasting. The strands inside are like spaghetti, perfect for a veggie base with your favorite pasta sauce.
Get the Recipe: Garlic-Herb Spaghetti Squash
Jicama
Jicama, a starchy root vegetable, tastes like a mix of potato and apple. It's the cousin of the potato and similar to a turnip, and it can be eaten cooked or raw. It's often served fried as a variation of regular potato fries.
Get the Recipe: Jicama-Orange Salad
Lemongrass
Lemongrass has a mild lemony flavor that works wonderfully in stir-frys, drinks, marinades and soups. When prepping lemongrass to be used in a recipe, peel away the more fibrous outer layers and use the lower half of the stalks, much like a leek.
Get the Recipe: Ginger Lemongrass Pina Colada
Sweet Potatoes
Whether you fry them, mash them, roast them or bake them into a pie, the versatility of sweet potatoes isn't limited to just savory dinners. They have a — wait for it! — sweet flavor that's mild and perfect for seasoning with nearly all spices and herbs.
Get the Recipe: Sweet Potato Beignets
Cashews
Cashews have become one of the most versatile foods in vegan cooking. When you blend them up, they turn into a silky-smooth puree that's often used as a cheese-sauce substitute due to their high-fat content and mild taste.
Get the Recipe: Vegan Queso
Chia Seeds
Chia seeds are a tiny yet mighty superfood rich in fiber, protein and other nutrients. Vegan recipes often use them in puddings and other desserts since they add body to whatever liquid they're placed in.
Get the Recipe: Pomegranate-Cherry Chia Seed Ice Pops
Tahini
Tahini, a popular Middle Eastern condiment made from ground-up sesame seeds, is the backbone for dishes like hummus, salad dressings and baba ganoush.
Get the Recipe: Spinach with Tahini Sauce
Dates
If one thing is the foundation of vegan desserts, it's dates. They're naturally sweet and sticky, adding flavor and acting as a binder in baked goods. Try blending them into a paste to make truffles or fold them into vegan brownie batter.
Get the Recipe: Almond, Coconut and Date Bites
Long Grain Jasmine Rice
Long-grain jasmine rice is native to Thailand and has a slightly floral taste. We love to serve it alongside stir-frys and curries or mixed into soups.
Get the Recipe: Pumpkin and Rice Soup
Quick Cooking Oats
Quick-cooking oats are partially steamed and flattened before they're packaged, so they take way less time to cook. Of course, you can use them to make oatmeal, but they're also great in vegan baking or used as a breadcrumb substitute.
Get the Recipe: DIY Cinnamon Spice Instant Oatmeal
Quinoa
Quinoa may look like a grain, but it's actually a seed. It's full of protein and fiber, and when cooked, it turns fluffy and nutty, making it a smart base for salads and casseroles.
Get the Recipe: Quinoa-Corn Salad
Israeli Cous Cous
Whereas Moroccan couscous is exceptionally tiny, Israeli couscous looks like pearls. It's actually a pasta that works well with many flavors since it's pretty mild on its own.
Get the Recipe: Israeli Couscous with Squash
Rice Noodles
Rice noodles are a staple of Asian cuisine. Comprised of just rice flour and water, they're commonly used in stir-frys, soups, and many other dishes.
Coconut Milk
Made by pureeing freshly shredded coconut meat and water, coconut milk is a sweet alternative to dairy milk.
Get the Recipe: Coconut Creamed Kale
Grapeseed Oil
Pressing grape seeds left over from the winemaking process yields this neutral oil. It is perfect to use for cooking or as a replacement for vegetable and canola oils.
Aji Nori Furikake
Aji Nori Furikake is a mix of black and white sesame seeds and dried seaweed. It’s most commonly used as a topper for rice in Japan, but you can use it to zhuzh up all kinds of dishes. Make sure you read the label carefully, though, because not all blends are vegan.
Get the Recipe: Fried Rice Paper with Furikake
Nutritional Yeast
Meet the cheese of the vegan world. This dried yeast product has a unique salty flavor that mimics the taste of Parmesan cheese. Try sprinkling it over pasta and soup, or dust it on popcorn for a savory bite.
Get the Recipe: Vegan Lemon Fettuccine Alfredo
Sumac
This Middle Eastern spice is known for two things: its tangy, citrus-like flavor and bright red color.
Get the Recipe: Grilled Baba Ganoush
Jackfruit
Jackfruit is an all-star meat replacement because when the inside of the fruit is shredded, it mimics the texture of pulled chicken or pulled pork. The flavor possibilities are endless; it can be marinated, seasoned, coated in a sauce, or stuffed into a sandwich.
Get the Recipe: BBQ Pulled Jackfruit Sandwiches
Black Beans
Is there anything the black bean can't do?! They're great in soups, stews, salads, burritos and savory side dishes, but they're also a secret ingredient in some baked goods. When blended up, they can be hidden inside brownies for a punch of protein.
Get the Recipe: Black Bean Salad
Chickpeas
Also called garbanzo beans, chickpeas are most famously used as the base of hummus. But they can also be roasted for a crunchy snack or mixed into a salad.
Get the Recipe: Chickpea Blondies
Lentils
Like the black bean, lentils are part of the legume family and make for an excellent source of protein and fiber. Look out for different varieties like French lentils, beluga lentils, green lentils and more to see which flavor and texture you like best. They're all pretty small, and they cook quickly when boiled.
Get the Recipe: Vegan Lentil Chili
Hearts of Palm
These white stalky vegetables are harvested from the insides of palm trees. Their crunchy texture and mild flavor work wonderfully when sliced and put in salads.
Get the Recipe: Lemony Hearts of Palm Salad
Flake Sea Salt
Flake Sea Salt differs from other types of salt due to its size and texture. It's larger and flatter than typical salt granules, so it's often used as a finishing salt to add a textured crunch right before serving.
Coconut Flakes
Coconut flakes, made from the inner meat of fresh coconuts, are dried and naturally full of flavor. We love them blended into smoothies, sprinkled onto acai bowls or mixed into dough for cookies or vegan truffles.
Get the Recipe: Coconut-Chia Pudding Breakfast Bowl
Cocoa Powder
Cocoa powder lets you achieve the chocolatey taste you love in vegan cooking without using dairy-based chocolate.
Get the Recipe: Dairy-Free Hot Chocolate Mix
Maple Syrup
Maple syrup is the perfect vegan replacement for honey with its sweet taste and amber color.
Get the Recipe: Maple-Glazed Parsnips
Liquid Aminos
While soy sauce is vegan, liquid aminos serve as a gluten-free alternative. They're concentrated amino acids that can be made in two ways: by fermenting coconut sap with water and salt or by processing soybeans. Use them to flavor rice, stir-frys, noodle dishes and many other plates.
Tapioca Starch
Like other non-wheat flours like buckwheat flour and almond flour, tapioca starch doubles as a gluten-free flour and as a thickening agent for sauces and soups.
Get the Recipe: Zha Leung
Almond Flour
This high-protein flour adds sweetness and nuttiness to any recipe. It's a bit more coarse than all-purpose flour, so dishes will be more rustic.
Get the Recipe: Vegan Cherry Cobbler with Almond Biscuit Topping
Almond Milk
Almonds are soaked and crushed to create this creamy milk substitute. Sweetened and flavored varieties exist, but we prefer the unsweetened kind as it's a bit lighter.
Get the Recipe: Vegan French Toast
Seitan
You've probably seen seitan in meat replacements like tofurky and vegan bacon. It's made from wheat, however it looks more like meat than it does bread.
Beyond Ground Beef
While still vegan, meat replacements like Beyond Beef closely match the consistency, look and taste of meat and can be used almost interchangeably.
Corn Tortillas
Corn tortillas work perfectly for vegan tacos, enchiladas and quesadillas. They can also be cut up and fried to make homemade tortilla chips.
Get the Recipe: Salsa and Chips
