New to eating plant-based foods, or just need a little kitchen refresh? Stocking basic essentials can make eating vegan a breeze. Ingredients such as beans, rice, pasta sauce, condiments, and canned goods can be mixed and matched to create delicious and versatile meals, snacks, and baked goods.
Use this guide to stock your kitchen pantry with all the vegan necessities to ensure you can curb your hunger with wholesome ingredients, or indulge a bit when stress-eating strikes. Make your weekly grocery trip count with these basic staple items and some of our favorite brands to keep on hand for any emergency.
Enjoy Life
Baking needs
Calling all aspiring vegan home bakers! Be sure to keep these simple ingredients stocked at all times so you can whip up everything from banana bread to chocolate chip cookies and cakes whenever a craving strikes.
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Cocoa powder
- Dairy-free chocolate chips
- Egg replacer
- Flour
- Maple syrup
- Salt
- Sugar
- Vanilla extract
Looking to perfect your baked treats? Study our guide to vegan baking. Practice makes perfect, and these 45 vegan cookie recipes will help you hone your craft. For a guaranteed crowd-pleasing dessert, this award-winning vegan carrot cake is also a must-make.
Dave’s Killer Bread
Bread
Whether you’re making avocado toast or a simple PB&J sandwich, the foundation starts with a really good base. Dave’s Killer Bread packs protein, fiber, plus omega-3s in every slice. Beyond sliced bread, it’s also incredibly easy to find vegan-friendly bagels at most grocery stores. In addition to Dave’s Killer Bread, brands like Sara Lee and Thomas Breads offer bagels made without animal ingredients.
For more vegan-friendly bread brands you can find at the store, check out our vegan bread guide. Interested in making your own? Try your hand at these high-protein bread recipes.
Canned goods
While usually a safe bet, be sure to double-check the label to ensure that these canned goods are vegan.
- Beans or refried beans
- Coconut milk
- Coconut cream
- Tomato paste, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce
- Vegetables such as corn, carrots, and green beans
Chips
The versatile snack staple can be used with hummus, queso, salsas, guacamole, and any other preferred dip. A simple corn tortilla chips work with most condiments (hello, vegan queso!) for a pre-dinner snack or mid-day fuel.
Check out VegNews editors’ favorite tortilla chips here.
Fly by Jing
Condiments
To add more flavor and spice to basic foods, condiments should be your new best friend. Luckily, there are many flavor profiles and spice levels to choose from. For sandwiches, Follow Your Heart’s Vegenaise is a must. For veggie bowls, hot sauce, chili crisp, or pre-made salsas reign supreme. And for salads, you must have some great dressings.
Stock your kitchen with these vegan condiments to ensure every meal is packed full of flavor.
Nut butters
A staple for any vegan, different types of nut butters are not only nutritious but extremely versatile, making them great on everything from breakfast oats to dinner (try our Almond Butter Sweet Potato Kale Stew recipe) and snacks (how yummy does this vegan Rice Crispy Treat look?).
Go beyond peanut butter with our nut butter guide—from almond to cashew and walnut, the list goes on!
Nutritional yeast
If you’re vegan, you probably already love this powerhouse ingredient due to its extremely nutritious profile and cheesy, nutty taste. With high amounts of vitamins (namely B12), minerals, and protein, we like to sprinkle these yellow flakes on toast, pasta, vegetables, popcorn, dips … everything!
Shake Bragg’s nutritional yeast on your next meal for an extra boost of flavor. Need a little inspo? These vegan recipes all call for this vegan essential.
Plants First
Oats
Load your oatmeal with fruits, nut butter, hemp seeds, and even dark chocolate for a filling, mouthwatering breakfast. The easily customizable meal makes it a pantry staple for every morning. Plus, you can even make your own oat milk or use the grain in baking up desserts for a healthier alternative.
Want to get really creative? Go savory and try this recipe for Cheesy Vegan Oatmeal Bowl With Kale and Pumpkin Seeds to get you started—it’s one of our favorites!
Pasta
If we were stranded on a desert island and could only bring one food item, it would be pasta (assuming there was also a pot there or an abundance of coconuts to makeshift one). Either way, macaroni, penne, fusilli … we love ‘em all! Though we also know we need to get our recommended amount of vegetables in a day, too, which is where Banza’s chickpea-based pasta comes in. With 20 grams of protein and eight grams of fiber, it’s hard to believe that pasta made from chickpeas can somehow taste just like its wheat-based counterpart and also be good for you.
Pasta sauce
If you’re planning a date night in quarantine, how about Italian night? Grab some spaghetti noodles and add this Primal Kitchen No Dairy Vodka Sauce with avocado oil for a creamy, decadent dinner. All that’s left is a glass or two of wine, some classical music, and voila, you’ve spruced up an otherwise routine dinner.
Pre-packaged meals
Sometimes you want to spend all day on the couch binge-watching Netflix (no judgment) and for those days, you need to fuel your body without all the hassle. Enter easy-to-make, all-you-need-is-a-microwave meal packs. We like these plant-based, microwaveable Loma Linda complete meals for its range of options (Pad Thai, Chipotle Bowl, and Lo Mein, to name a few).
Blue Zones Kitchen, Purple Carrot, and Amy’s Kitchen also offer healthy, vegan microwaveable meals. For even more options, check out our guide to the best vegan frozen meals.
Go Macro
Protein bars
Need a quick pre-workout snack or a pick-me-up during the day? We turn to these pea-protein-powered GoMacro bars from a mother-daughter duo offering over a dozen flavors.
Beyond GoMacro, there are a plethora of brands offering vegan protein bars. Misfits prides itself on crafting candy bar-inspired protein bars. Lenny & Larry’s boasts “cookie-fied” bars that pack 12 grams of protein, and Mezcla boasts decadent flavors including Matcha Vanilla, Maple Blueberry, and Pistachio Chocolate.
Rice
White or brown rice is usually a good bet for any lunch or dinner, but if you want to take your meals up a notch, check out our guide to choosing the best rice for your meal. We outline everything you need to know about wild rice, sushi rice, basmati rice, and more (plus the best recipes to make with them).
Splendid Spoon
Soup
Fill the house with aromatic comfort while making a hearty meal in minutes with shelf-stable vegetable broth, veggies, and spices. Though, if you’re in the mood for something that takes less than three minutes, these organic Pacific Foods soups are the way to go. Opt for Vegetable Lentil, Butternut Squash, or Tomato Basil for a quick, satiating, and warming lunch.
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Aruka Sanchir (@ruukes) is a writer based in Los Angeles, CA.
Here at VegNews, we live and breathe the plant-based lifestyle, and only recommend products we feel make our lives amazing. Occasionally, articles may include links where we might earn a small commission, but in no way does this effect the editorial integrity of VegNews.
