Substitutions

Being a vegetarian or vegan doesn’t mean you can never again make any recipes that call for things like beef broth, eggs, or gelatin. Most animal products can be replaced with vegetarian- and vegan-friendly ingredients.

Note that these alternatives are chosen mainly for their ability to simulate a similar property or consistency as the animal ingredient. Some of them will give the recipe a different flavor, so experiment to see what works best.

Animal ingredient Veggie alternatives
Butter Vegan butter, margarine, olive oil
Buttermilk Cultured cashew buttermilk, curdled Soy milk (1 c soy milk + 2 T lemon juice or white vinegar)
Cheese Mock cheese, nutritional yeast
Cheese sauce Vegan cheese sauce
Chèvre Almond chèvre
Chicken Chicken-style seitan
Cottage cheese Tofu cottage cheese, crumbled tofu
Cream Cashew cream
Cream cheese Tofu cream cheese
Eggs Flax eggs, puréed tofu, mashed banana, egg replacer
Feta Almond feta, Tofu feta
Gelatin agar, arrowroot, corn starch, guar gum, xanthan gum
Honey maple syrup, agave syrup, molasses, sucanat
Lard Shortening, vegan butter, olive oil, vegetable oil
Mayonnaise Flaxseed mayonnaise, Tofu mayonnaise
Meat tofu, seitan, tempeh, beans, textured vegetable protein (TVP), eggplant, portobello mushrooms
Meat/Chicken stock Vegetable stock, bean cooking liquid, garlic broth, water/wine with soy sauce (1-2 T soy sauce per cup of liquid)
Milk Soy milk, Cashew milk, Coconut milk, rice milk
Milk chocolate dark chocolate, carob
Parmesan Mock parmesan cheese, nutritional yeast
Protein sources nuts, beans, tofu, tempeh, (TVP)
Ricotta cheese Cashew-tofu ricotta
Sour cream Tofu-cashew sour cream
Sugar Natural sugar, sucanat, fruit juice
Yogurt Cashew yogurt

 
Mock meat recipes     Mock cheese and dairy recipes