Intro to Vegan Cooking

1. You don't have to rely on processed food.

When cooking vegan meals, we like to make our own vegan cheeses—Parmesan and ricotta—from nuts. You can get the robust flavor of cheese without spending a ton of money on some heavily-processed vegan cheese substitute at the supermarket. Check out the video lesson in this class to learn how to make our vegan Parmesan substitute.

2. Incorporate nutritional yeast into your cooking.

Nutritional yeast is yeast grown on a mixture of beet molasses and sugarcane and heated to deactivate its leavening properties. It’s often used to mimic the flavor of cheese because it has a funky, nutty, almost salty depth that matches the complexity of certain cheeses.

3. Give vegetables their time to shine.

When you strip away animal products, you can better appreciate vegetables’ earthy, nuanced flavors—you’ll actually enjoy them, even crave them. We’ve reimagined the way we think about vegetables

4. Vegan food doesn't have to be bland.

Part of the joy of vegan cooking is allowing the varied flavors of vegetables, grains, beans, and other ingredients to shine, unobscured by heavy animal proteins. That said, vegan cooking sometimes gets a bad rap for being boring: We’re here to tell you it doesn’t have to be that way. Check out the lesson on vegan flavor boosters to learn some of our favorite ways to keep things interesting.

5. You can still get plenty of protein.

One of the most common misconceptions about a vegan diet is that it’s impossible to meet your protein needs, and we’re here to tell you this simply isn’t true. In addition to canned beans, and combining legumes, grains, and greens to make complete proteins, there are several choices when it comes to whole vegan protein sources. You probably know tofu, but do you know how it’s made? And what the different varieties are best used for? And what about tempeh and seitan? We’ll cover it all in this class.