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Remembering coming home from school and being greeted with homemade chocolate chip cookies or enjoying your grandma’s mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving can make you crave the foods that you loved as a child.
But you do not have to abandon those comfort foods that made you feel safe and secure growing up if you are a vegan or vegetarian, according to VegOut Magazine. You also don’t have to settle for sad substitutions that don’t really cut it. With the advent of plant-based cheeses and dairy-free milks you can enjoy vegan versions of comfort foods that will warm your soul.
Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potatoes are a favorite when the weather outside turns frightful and they are easy to make. The best potatoes to use are Russet because they are easy to mash, explained the vegetarian mama blog. To make them creamy, use a vegan butter or margarine and an unsweetened variety of plain non-dairy milk like oat, almond, or soy. Add roasted garlic if you enjoy garlic potatoes and you can top with fresh herbs.
Vegan Chicken Noodle Soup
This comforting and warming vegan chicken noodle soup recipe from the nora cooks blog only takes 30 minutes to make on the stove or you can use an Instant Pot. You will need all the basics like onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and herbs. You can use a non-chicken or vegetable-based broth, eggless noodles, and some vegan chicken made from soy or seitan; many come chicken flavored.
Grilled Cheese
One of the best comfort foods is grilled cheese but you may be wondering if it is possible to make a melted and gooey grilled cheese without using real cheese. According to the pretty bee blog, you absolutely can. That’s because vegan cheese keeps getting better. For this recipe, you will need vegan bread, dairy-free cheese, and vegan butter or margarine. The key to getting vegan cheese to melt is to cook the sandwich on a low flame. And nothing goes better with grilled cheese than a hot bowl of dairy-free tomato soup.
Easy Vegan Pancakes
Pancakes can be eaten for breakfast, dinner, or anytime you crave some comfort food. You can make fluffy and delicious vegan pancakes with just six staples that you probably already have in your pantry. This recipe from nora cooks doesn’t use eggs or milk. All you need is all purpose flour – or use almond flour to make gluten-free pancakes, baking powder, salt, sugar, non-dairy milk, and either oil or vegan butter. You can add non-dairy chocolate chips or fresh blueberries to your pancake batter if desired.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
This vegan version of the classic New York Times chocolate chip cookies is both nostalgic and delicious. This recipe from NYT Cooking, calls for vegan butter, a combo of flaxseed meal and water instead of eggs – but there are ready-made egg replacers available too – all-purpose flour, cane sugar, coconut sugar, and non-dairy chocolate that is chopped or you can use chocolate chips. You can make the cookies large like you find in a bakery or small. These cookies can also be made gluten free by using almond flour.
