35+ Simple Vegan Recipes with 5 Ingredients or Less

Need easy vegan recipes? I've got you covered. These simple vegan recipes with 5 ingredients or less range from appetizers and sides to mains and desserts. There's something for everyone!

Table of Contents

• Main dishes
• Appetizers and sides
• Sauces and salad dressings
• Snacks
• Drinks and desserts
• A note about 'ingredients
• Tools to make vegan cooking easier

There's a common misconception out there that it's hard to make vegan food. Or that vegan food is somehow different from "regular" food. These deliciously simple vegan recipes prove that eating vegan can be easy!

Just like any other type of cooking, vegan recipes can use a long list of ingredients and tricky techniques, but they don't have to. And just like any other type of cooking, there are vegan recipes out there that are plain awful and ones that are stellar.

These lazy vegan recipes are tried-and-true faves. They're easy, they use a limited number of ingredients, and you are going to love them! Scroll down to peruse the list, or use the handy table of contents above to jump to the course you're looking for.

If you want even more easy recipes, check out my guide to tried and true vegan holiday recipes. And for tips on stocking the kitchen, I have a handy vegan grocery list for you.

Main dishes

Some of these are stand-alone meals, and some of them are entrees begging for a side dish or two. Rice, noodles, veggies, or any of the appetizers and sides listed below are great options to pair with these easy vegan main dishes that use 5 ingredients or less.

Appetizers and sides

Serve these as starters or side dishes, or use them as a base for a meal. The sesame noodles would go great with any of the veggie side dishes listed here to create a super easy meal.

Sauces and salad dressings

I love to build a meal around a good sauce. These are great for creating flavorful salads, sandwiches, wraps, and bowl meals. Use the dips as a sauce or as a snack with veggies or crackers.

Snacks

I don't know about y'all, but I love snacks! Having an arsenal of healthy, simple recipes will help you manage snack attacks with ease.

Drinks and desserts

Need a sweet treat? This is your section! Get your decadent desserts and tasty hot and cold drinks here!

A note about 'ingredients

Wondering how I calculated the number of ingredients?

When I say that these simple vegan recipes have "5 ingredients or less," I'm not counting garlic powder, salt, pepper, water, or ice, because I'm assuming everyone has those in their cabinets.

I'm also not counting optional ingredients, because they're optional.

When initially collecting this list of recipes, I was planning to also count garlic powder, but I consider it as much a pantry staple as salt. If you don't have garlic powder, get yourself some! It makes basically any savory dish 100x better.

Tools to make vegan cooking easier

Really, I could just call this section Tools to Make Cooking Easier. Vegan cooking is just cooking without animal products. It's not that mystical.

But if you're new to eating vegan, making cooking in general a bit easier can help free you up to discover new favorite ingredients, recipes, and techniques. Because a big lifestyle shift like going vegan can feel tricky at first.

But you've got this, I promise.

These are the kitchen gadgets I use to streamline my cooking, so I spend less time over the stove and more time with my family:

• Instant Pot - An electric pressure cooker, like an Instant Pot, is great for making quick soups, stews, beans, grains, and even tofu recipes! We use ours almost every day.
• Air Fryer - You probably know by now that I love my air fryer! It cooks food quickly without heating up the whole house. A real plus during Georgia summers.
• Upright Blender - I not only use this to puree sauces and smoothies. The pulse function works great to mince veggies, which saves so much time!
• Immersion Blender - Do you like creamy soups? Then an immersion blender is your friend. No need to transfer the soup to a blender to puree. This stick blender goes right into the pot.
• Food Processor - For everything from mincing and shredding veggies quickly to making mashed chickpea salads and more!
• Garlic Press - I don't usually recommend unitaskers, but if you use garlic often, a press can save you a ton of mincing time!
• Good Knives - Cooking with a lot of vegetables can mean more time at the cutting board. Good knives make that time more efficient and enjoyable.
• Citrus Zester - Need instant flavor? Zest some lemon, lime, or orange peel into your next soup, salad, or bowl meal.

Of course, you don't need any of these gadgets to make vegan food. They just make life easier. It's up to you whether you want to splash out on these extras or not!