24 simple vegan recipes with 5 ingredients or less

Simple vegan recipes with 5 ingredients or less: appetizers and sides, main dishes, sauces and salad dressings, snacks, drinks, and desserts. I've got you covered!

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 with 5 ingredients or less 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. And just like any other type of cooking, there are vegan recipes out there that are plain awful.

But these easy vegan recipes are none of those things. They're simple, they use a limited number of ingredients, and you are going to love them!

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, and grains. 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.
• 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!

Define 'ingredients'.

Just a quick note before we get to these recipes, y'all. When I say that these simple vegan recipes have "5 ingredients or less," I'm not counting garlic powder, salt, pepper, or water, 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.

So! Without further ado, let's sample some limited-ingredient vegan recipes!

Appetizers and side dishes

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.

Sesame noodles recipe

Easy Sesame Noodles are perfect served hot or cold as a base for a bowl meal or alongside lettuce or Napa Cabbage Wraps. And they only take about 15 minutes to make!

Crispy air fryer Brussels sprouts

Perfect, crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside Air Fryer Brussels sprouts. They're easy to make and delicious, with or without oil.

Buffalo cauliflower recipe

Buffalo Cauliflower is light on the batter and simple to make, yet has a satisfying crunch and plenty of that buffalo heat! Make it in the air fryer or the oven.

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower

Gwen says that her cauliflower recipe has four ingredients, but since we're not counting salt, it's three, for our purposes! Toss this tasty cauliflower with pasta, and you've got a whole meal on the table in just four ingredients.

Vegan 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 above are great options to pair with these easy vegan main dishes.

Air fryer tofu recipe

Easy, flavorful air fryer tofu is perfectly crispy, just like deep fried, without cups and cups of oil. Serve it up with rice or noodles or on your dinner salad!

Vegan Salt and Pepper Pasta

Who needs pasta to make salt and pepper pasta? Not you, my friend. Not you. You only need four ingredients and about 30 minutes to make this recipe!

Baked BBQ tofu recipe

Sticky-sweet baked BBQ tofu is perfect parked next to your favorite green veggie on top of a bed of fluffy mashed potatoes.

Sheet Pan Broccolini and Chickpeas

Amy's super easy 5-ingredient sheet pan recipe can be a meal on its own or served with your favorite pasta or grain. Either way, it's super healthy and delicious!

Classic Vegan Pesto Pasta

Sarah's super easy pesto recipe has only five ingredients, including the pasta you toss the sauce with! It's also a nut-free recipe that uses hemp hearts instead of more conventional pine nuts, almonds, or cashews.

Sauces, dips, 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.

Ginger cranberry dressing recipe

You make this quick-and-easy Ginger Cranberry Dressing in your blender! Just throw everything in, puree, done.

Spicy Peach BBQ Hummus

Spicy Peach BBQ Hummus is perfect for dipping chips or your favorite veggies. You can serve this as finger food at a party or bring it tailgating on Game Day. It only takes four ingredients and five minutes to make!

5-ingredient tahini miso dressing

Easy vegan black bean dip

Smoky, creamy vegan black bean dip is one of my party go-tos. It only takes a few minutes to make and is perfect with chips and veggies for dipping.

Easy Vegan Cheese Sauce

Easy vegan cheese sauce is soy free, nut free, and decadently delicious. Drizzle it over chips for instant nachos or use anywhere you want a little dairy-free cheesy goodness.

Easy Hummus

Cadry's super easy hummus recipe uses the liquid from the canned chickpeas to create a creamy, dreamy dip with no oil at all. It's perfect for dips, sandwiches, or anywhere that you'd use store-bought hummus.

Simple vegan 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.

Chili-Lime Cashews

Chili lime cashews are a super easy Trader Joe’s knock-off. They only have 5 ingredients and cost so much less than the pre-made kind!

Chewy Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Whip up a batch of Sarah's peanut butter granola bars on Sunday night, and you've got breakfasts for the week! Instead of firing up the oven, you stick your pan of granola bars into the fridge to chill for an hour before you slice and serve them.

Sunflower Fig Balls

Jennifer's sunflower fig snack bites are nut-free, refined sugar-free, and perfect for snacking. You can also double or halve the recipe to make as many or few as you think you'll eat.

Vanilla Almond Balls

Mary Ellen's vanilla almond balls are a perfect, healthy on-the-go snack. They're date-sweetened, so they're refined sugar-free, too!

Drinks and desserts

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

Ginger mocha maca latte

A chocolatey, mildly spicy ginger mocha maca latte is my new favorite morning drink. It's a coffee alternative that takes five minutes to make.

Vegan Cherry Cheese Danish

I won't tell anyone how easy it was to make this sweet, creamy, Vegan Cherry Cheese Danish if you don't!

Cherry Coconut Ice Cream

Cool off this summer with Michelle's creamy, rich, Cherry Coconut Ice Cream. She's got both ice cream maker and no-churn instructions, so you can whip this up no matter what your kitchen gadget situation.

No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

Super easy and decadent, these chocolate oatmeal bars are a 5-ingredient vegan dessert that's a total crowd-pleaser. Kristina uses cashew butter as the binder for the oats with a creamy chocolate filling.

Maple Pecan Fudge

You don't need a candy thermometer to make Mel's 5-ingredient vegan fudge! It's so decadent, you'll never be able to taste that it's sneakily a lot healthier than other fudge, because it uses cashew butter as the base instead of cream.