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A vegan’s home is made special by the magic that happens in the kitchen. Taking what others consider mundane-looking vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes or fruits and turning them into meals that scintillate the taste buds is not just cooking. It’s an art. It’s science. It’s life for a vegan.
Life without consuming animal products doesn’t deny a vegan the luxury of a sumptuous meal packed with healthy, essential nutrients. Actually, it’s the perfect chance to explore the myriads of culinary delights that can arise from the plants, fruits and herbs that nature has to offer!
To do this, your kitchen also needs to reflect and compliment your vegan lifestyle.
What do I Need?
Your kitchen needs to have tools that help prepare ingredients that cater to the specific dietary needs of living a vegan lifestyle. You have no use for a meat grinder or cheese slicer in the kitchen because you need plant-based proteins. Below is a list of some cookware, appliances, cutlery, and other essential kitchenware that you can buy for your vegan kitchen.
Cookware
Pots and Pans
With non-stick pans, you don’t have to use oil and you also don’t have to worry about your vegetables, for example, sticking to the surface of the pan. Chipped surfaces cannot get into the food.
Stainless Steel pots and pans are easy to use, durable and can last you for years. They can be used in ovens and thus come in handy in baking foods- a suitable addition to a strictly vegan diet.
Sauce pans are good in your kitchen if you want to heat up some rice or sauce. If you have beans or soup in a can, you can also use a saucepan to get it heated up.
Woks
Woks are good for stir-frying and can deliver better stir-fried meals than regular frying pans, especially for mixed vegetables. You can still use a wok for your crepes, pancakes and shallow fried delicacies.
Skillets
A skillet is a great asset to make your favorite pan-fried dishes. You can cook evenly using this pan and even put it directly into an oven. Do you fancy a veggie burger? Frittata? Tomato cobbler? You can use a skillet to make all these plus more vegan delights like vegan skillet lasagna, one-pot Spanish quinoa, jackfruit tacos and mushroom paella. The possibilities are endless!
Appliances
Blenders
A blender is one of the most essential pieces of equipment for a vegan kitchen. You can make smoothies, pasta sauces, dips, salad dressings, and coffee cream.
Food processors
A food processor is right at the top on the list of importance alongside a blender. It can help you to quickly and easily chop, shred or grate many kinds of foods. With a food processor, you can make a variety of vegan cheeses, pates, hummus, crusts, cashew cheese, dips, vegan pesto and seitan.
Instant Pots
This is the perfect kitchen gadget if you want to cook up a meal but don’t have enough time to get the cooking done. This is a multi-cooker that combines the utilities of pressure cookers, slow cookers, warming pots, rice cookers, yogurt makers, steamers and browning pans. They are electronically controlled. It is a great tool for cooking rice or beans, making soup and also to reheat food; all in record time!
Mixers
You can easily whip aquafaba, make coconut whipped cream or cream vegan butter using an electronic mixer. You can also use mixing bowls to soak dried beans.
Juicers
A healthy vegan diet is greatly boosted by the nutrition provided by vegetable juices. Juicers are good for chewing through fibers to provide you the most essential minerals and vitamins from the plants you prefer. They can also make fruit juices that give you the right doses for your blood sugar levels.
Knives and Cutlery
Every kitchen needs good knives and cutlery, with each type having its own specific use.
Chef’s Knife
This is an absolute necessity in the kitchen. A chef’s knife is good for doing multiple things in that its length is handy for cutting melons and squash, its weight helps to chop easier and its width aids in scooping chopped vegetables and herbs and putting them into the pan. You may need to consider the material (in terms of durability), the handle (wooden or plastic ones may break easily) and what feels comfortable in your hand.
Paring Knife
This is a small knife with a short blade that is sharp, simple and precise. It is important in a vegan kitchen as it is used to peel and cut small fruits or vegetables and also for mincing and dicing. They are easy to hold in the hand, light-weight and also come in handy for hulling strawberries or removing cores from fruits.
Bread Knife
Bread knives are used to cut bread and can also be used to cut your baked foods. Serrated knives will help you to cut bread without breaking or crushing it. They are also useful for cutting tomatoes.
Other Essential Kitchenware
Chopping boards provide a nice surface for cutting your vegetables and other plants for cooking. A bamboo or wooden chopping board can always do the trick.
Wooden spoons are versatile and can be used for any dish; aside from being cheap and long-lasting.
Food storage containers come in handy for storing leftover food, carrying food to school or work, to keep foods whose packages have already been opened such as nuts or potato chips and for making salads beforehand.
Living a strictly vegan lifestyle is a fulfilling activity. You get to live healthy, practice clean cooking; and experience the different tastes and flavors that plants, fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices have to offer.
With the right kitchenware, preparing vegan food becomes comfortable, relaxing, fun and enjoyable; and not just a random act of cooking.
This list of vegan kitchenware is by no means exhaustive and there are many more tools available that you can invest in for your kitchen. No matter how big or small your budget is, you can build you kitchen step by step with these essential kitchenware and achieve your desired kitchen setup.
