Hey, is this blog still on? It’s been a minute since I’ve posted, but in honor of Veganuary (it’s still January, right? Doesn’t January go on, like, forever?) I’ve decided to tell all those who are interested about my favorite animal-product-free substitutes for animal products.
Ok, so, let’s say that you, dear reader, want to reduce the amount of animal products you eat, or you want to stop eating animal products full stop. Or let’s say that you, like most people, are lactose intolerant. (Side note: since most people are lactose intolerant, shouldn’t that just be the norm? Shouldn’t everyone else be called “lactase persistent”?) But anyways... meat, dairy, and eggs seem almost ubiquitous! And perhaps many of your comfort foods and go-to foods contain animal products. It can seem overwhelming to try so many new foods (which I totally get because I’m a picky eater.) But fear not: there are some amazing substitutes out there. Personally, the longer I’ve gone without eating animal products, the more I’ve come to appreciate the value of dishes that are naturally animal-product-free (like, say, a veggie curry with rice) because, in addition to being delicious, they don’t come bearing the burden of trying to imitate the EXACT flavor of a dish made with different ingredients.
Plus, animal product substitutes (especially the fancy ones) can be pricey. BUT… but but but… I think animal product substitutes have their place, too. Like, I think they're especially good for helping to ease the transition away from eating animal products, and I definitely enjoy them as a treat, or for the nostalgia factor.
One thing that I’ve found to be kinda a bummer about most animal product substitutes is that some of the biggest-name, easiest-to-find brands are, in my humble opinion, unfortunately some of the least tasty. So this leads to people thinking that, say, all non-dairy cheese is disgusting because they tried a brand once that they didn’t like… and also, maybe that was the only brand they ever saw around. I want to keep this post positive so I won’t name these big-name non-animal-product brands, but instead, I proudly present to you: a list of my absolute favorite animal-product-free products!!
On the left is the thing you may want to substitute, and on the right is my favorite substitute! By the way, I’m not getting sponsored or paid in any way, shape or form. These are all just my honest favorites after lots of trial, error & taste-testing!
Dairy
Milk (for drinking straight up or for dipping cookies into): Stir together equal parts Ripple original + VitaCoco Coconut milk original… I experimented a lot to find this out and the result is truly ::chef kiss::
Milk (for recipes): Almond Breeze unsweetened original
Creamer: Califa farms creamer
Chocolate Milk: Oatly
Ice cream: Van Leeuwen (They have lots of yummy vegan flavors, but Honeycomb is my favorite… especially since I don’t otherwise have a lot of chances to eat “honeycomb” as a vegan!) I’m not doing a lot of runners up on this blog post because that would make it too long, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Ben & Jerry’s excellent non-dairy options, my favorite of which is Cherry Garcia, which, to the best of my recollection, tastes uncannily like the original.
Ice cream bars: Tie between Magnum and So Delicious! Each has a variety of delicious flavors of ice cream bars available.
Whipped cream: Reddi-wip coconut is my favorite and Reddi-wip almond is a close second… they are very similar, so this one probably just depends on whether you prefer the taste of coconut vs. almond, or if one of those flavors goes better whatever you’re eating it with.
Cool whip: So Delicious Coco Whip
Butter: Miyoko’s
Yogurt, sweet: So Delicious coconut milk yogurt
Yogurt, creamy: CoYo
Sour Cream: Kite hill plain unsweetened almond milk yogurt (That’s not a typo… I think that this unsweetened yogurt tastes just like sour cream!)
Fresh Mozzarella: Miyoko’s
While I’m talking about this mozzarella, I might as well say that my favorite veganized frozen pizza is a combo of: American Flatbread Farmers’ Tomato Pie + add your own Miyoko’s Mozzarella! The tomato flatbread is, of course, also quite yummy on its own if that is what you are in the mood for.
Smoked Mozzarella: Miyoko’s
Cream Cheese/Boursin: Treeline Treenut Cheese (scallion is my personal favorite flavor, though they're all good)
Parmesan (sprinkled on top of something): Violife
Parmesan (mixed into a recipe): Bragg nutritional yeast
Tvorog/farmer’s cheese/ricotta: Kite Hill ricotta
Gouda: Follow Your Heart
Provolone: Follow Your Heart
Cheddar Jack, shredded: So Delicious
Sharp Cheddar, shredded: Parmela Creamery
Macaroni and cheese: Annie’s vegan cheddar is my favorite (not to be confused with the Annie’s vegan mac and cheese sweet potato & pumpkin flavor, which is not my favorite)
Ravioli: My favorite is Eat Nice, and Kite Hill takes a close second place.
I’ve decided to list eggs under “dairy” because they’re usually found in the dairy section of the grocery store!
Scrambled eggs: Just Egg
Eggs (for recipes): It depends on what I'm making (like mashed banana as an egg sub is great in recipes that would taste yummy with some banana flavor, for instance, the pumpkin muffins I recently made) but I think my favorite egg sub for baking is water + oil + baking powder, the recipe for which can be found at this link listing the best egg substitutes for baking.
Meat
Hamburger: Beyond Burger is my personal favorite and I like Impossible Burger too, but believe it or not, it tastes TOO much like the real thing for me! Did I mention that all this is super subjective? I feel like that goes without saying, but I’m saying it right now anyways.
Sausage: Beyond Sausage
Chicken strips: No Evil Comrade Cluck
Condiments/Sauces
Mayonnaise: Sir Kensington’s Fabanaise
Vodka sauce: Primal kitchen No-Dairy Vodka Sauce
Pesto: Gotham Greens vegan pesto
French onion dip: Kite Hill
Desserts
Caramels: Cocomel
M&Ms, Reese’s peanut butter cups, & Bounty bars: Unreal
Pudding: Zen
Cookie Dough: Cappello’s
Chocolate chip cookies: Divvie's
Chocolate chips: Enjoy Life
Snacks/Other foods
Miso Broth: Nona Lim
Crouton’s: Kelly’s
White cheddar popcorn: Bjorn Quorn Classic
Well, there you have it! My (definitely incomplete) list of favorite vegan substitutes for non-vegan items! Maybe I’ll add more as I get more favorites…
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| Don't have a cow, man. |
Ok, so, let’s say that you, dear reader, want to reduce the amount of animal products you eat, or you want to stop eating animal products full stop. Or let’s say that you, like most people, are lactose intolerant. (Side note: since most people are lactose intolerant, shouldn’t that just be the norm? Shouldn’t everyone else be called “lactase persistent”?) But anyways... meat, dairy, and eggs seem almost ubiquitous! And perhaps many of your comfort foods and go-to foods contain animal products. It can seem overwhelming to try so many new foods (which I totally get because I’m a picky eater.) But fear not: there are some amazing substitutes out there. Personally, the longer I’ve gone without eating animal products, the more I’ve come to appreciate the value of dishes that are naturally animal-product-free (like, say, a veggie curry with rice) because, in addition to being delicious, they don’t come bearing the burden of trying to imitate the EXACT flavor of a dish made with different ingredients.
 |
| Mmm...inherently vegan gazpacho |
One thing that I’ve found to be kinda a bummer about most animal product substitutes is that some of the biggest-name, easiest-to-find brands are, in my humble opinion, unfortunately some of the least tasty. So this leads to people thinking that, say, all non-dairy cheese is disgusting because they tried a brand once that they didn’t like… and also, maybe that was the only brand they ever saw around. I want to keep this post positive so I won’t name these big-name non-animal-product brands, but instead, I proudly present to you: a list of my absolute favorite animal-product-free products!!
On the left is the thing you may want to substitute, and on the right is my favorite substitute! By the way, I’m not getting sponsored or paid in any way, shape or form. These are all just my honest favorites after lots of trial, error & taste-testing!
Dairy
Milk (for drinking straight up or for dipping cookies into): Stir together equal parts Ripple original + VitaCoco Coconut milk original… I experimented a lot to find this out and the result is truly ::chef kiss::
Milk (for recipes): Almond Breeze unsweetened original
Creamer: Califa farms creamer
Chocolate Milk: Oatly
Ice cream: Van Leeuwen (They have lots of yummy vegan flavors, but Honeycomb is my favorite… especially since I don’t otherwise have a lot of chances to eat “honeycomb” as a vegan!) I’m not doing a lot of runners up on this blog post because that would make it too long, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Ben & Jerry’s excellent non-dairy options, my favorite of which is Cherry Garcia, which, to the best of my recollection, tastes uncannily like the original.
Ice cream bars: Tie between Magnum and So Delicious! Each has a variety of delicious flavors of ice cream bars available.
Whipped cream: Reddi-wip coconut is my favorite and Reddi-wip almond is a close second… they are very similar, so this one probably just depends on whether you prefer the taste of coconut vs. almond, or if one of those flavors goes better whatever you’re eating it with.
Cool whip: So Delicious Coco Whip
Butter: Miyoko’s
Yogurt, sweet: So Delicious coconut milk yogurt
Yogurt, creamy: CoYo
Sour Cream: Kite hill plain unsweetened almond milk yogurt (That’s not a typo… I think that this unsweetened yogurt tastes just like sour cream!)
Fresh Mozzarella: Miyoko’s
While I’m talking about this mozzarella, I might as well say that my favorite veganized frozen pizza is a combo of: American Flatbread Farmers’ Tomato Pie + add your own Miyoko’s Mozzarella! The tomato flatbread is, of course, also quite yummy on its own if that is what you are in the mood for.
Smoked Mozzarella: Miyoko’s
Cream Cheese/Boursin: Treeline Treenut Cheese (scallion is my personal favorite flavor, though they're all good)
Parmesan (sprinkled on top of something): Violife
Parmesan (mixed into a recipe): Bragg nutritional yeast
Tvorog/farmer’s cheese/ricotta: Kite Hill ricotta
Gouda: Follow Your Heart
Provolone: Follow Your Heart
Cheddar Jack, shredded: So Delicious
Sharp Cheddar, shredded: Parmela Creamery
Macaroni and cheese: Annie’s vegan cheddar is my favorite (not to be confused with the Annie’s vegan mac and cheese sweet potato & pumpkin flavor, which is not my favorite)
Ravioli: My favorite is Eat Nice, and Kite Hill takes a close second place.
I’ve decided to list eggs under “dairy” because they’re usually found in the dairy section of the grocery store!
Scrambled eggs: Just Egg
Eggs (for recipes): It depends on what I'm making (like mashed banana as an egg sub is great in recipes that would taste yummy with some banana flavor, for instance, the pumpkin muffins I recently made) but I think my favorite egg sub for baking is water + oil + baking powder, the recipe for which can be found at this link listing the best egg substitutes for baking.
Meat
Hamburger: Beyond Burger is my personal favorite and I like Impossible Burger too, but believe it or not, it tastes TOO much like the real thing for me! Did I mention that all this is super subjective? I feel like that goes without saying, but I’m saying it right now anyways.
Sausage: Beyond Sausage
Chicken strips: No Evil Comrade Cluck
Condiments/Sauces
Mayonnaise: Sir Kensington’s Fabanaise
Vodka sauce: Primal kitchen No-Dairy Vodka Sauce
Pesto: Gotham Greens vegan pesto
French onion dip: Kite Hill
Desserts
Caramels: Cocomel
M&Ms, Reese’s peanut butter cups, & Bounty bars: Unreal
Pudding: Zen
Cookie Dough: Cappello’s
Chocolate chip cookies: Divvie's
Chocolate chips: Enjoy Life
Snacks/Other foods
Miso Broth: Nona Lim
Crouton’s: Kelly’s
White cheddar popcorn: Bjorn Quorn Classic
Well, there you have it! My (definitely incomplete) list of favorite vegan substitutes for non-vegan items! Maybe I’ll add more as I get more favorites…
