Whether you’re new to the vegan diet or you’re an old hat looking to spice up your cooking repertoire, vegan seasoning is the way to go.
I’m sure most of us already have salt, black pepper, chili flakes, bay leaves, and paprika in our kitchen cupboards, but with hundreds of different herbs and spices to choose from, why stop there?
The best vegan seasonings make the difference between a plant-based meal that you’d be happy to share with your dog and an incredibly tasty one that you’d serve at a dinner party!
We’ve rounded up some of our favorite vegan seasonings for you to try in your next culinary feat but first, we’ll take a look at what makes herbs and spices so important in vegan cooking.
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How do vegans add flavor to food?
Infusing flavor into vegan food is easier than you might think. Of course, if you’re using fresh and high-quality ingredients, the flavors will speak for themselves. However, by using the right cooking techniques and plant-based seasonings, vegans can upgrade the taste of their food to the next level.
In fact, herbs and spices can add over 15 distinguished flavor characteristics to your food:
- Bitter
- Earthy
- Fruity
- Cooling
- Floral
- Piney
- Herbaceous
- Hot
- Pungent
- Nutty
- Spicy
- Sour
- Woody
- Sweet
- Sulfury
So many flavors to add to your next vegan meal!
In addition to seasonings, other methods of adding flavor include roasting, dehydrating, charring, fermenting, and stewing.
How do vegans get umami?
You may or may not know that there are 5 tastes recognized in gastronomy:
- Sweet
- Sour
- Salt
- Bitter
- Umami
Compared to the first 4 tastes, which were identified by a philosopher thousands of years ago, the fifth taste, umami, was only discovered over a century ago. Its direct translation from Japanese is ‘delicious’ but it can also be described as ‘meaty’.
Meaty...does that mean that plant-based foods can’t have umami?
Well actually, vegans can get umami. We can get a hit of this delicious taste from tomatoes, mushrooms, soy-based foods, seaweed, green tea, fermented foods, and aged plant-based cheeses. Scientifically speaking, anything that contains glutamate, inosinate, or guanylate can bring the taste of umami to food.
If the food we choose to eat doesn’t contain these amino acids, we can also get umami by using seasonings. Dried mushrooms, dried seaweed, nutritional yeast, vegemite/Marmite, MSG, and Maggi are all examples of vegan seasonings that contain umami.
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Which seasonings are vegan?
The good news is that most dried herbs and spices are vegan (even things like steak seasoning). However, there are a few you should avoid (mostly obvious ones), including bonito flakes, dried shrimp, and most meaty stock cubes.
There are also a few wet seasonings such as anchovy paste, Worcestershire sauce, and fish sauce, that aren’t suitable for vegans or even vegetarians. Some seasoning mixes and dried sauce packets also include ingredients like chicken or milk powder, so always check the contents before you buy!
The best vegan seasoning
The vegan seasonings you use will depend on the cuisine and the dishes you want to cook but we’ve put together some of the best herbs, spices, and liquid seasonings that provide the most unique flavors for plant-based cuisine. Just you wait, these are gonna knock your socks off next time you cook!
1. Nutritional yeast
Affectionately known as ‘nooch’, nutritional yeast has a cheesy and nutty flavor and can be used as a parmesan cheese alternative. Alternatively, add it to your pasta sauce or soup to get an extra boost of umami. What’s more, some nutritional yeast is fortified with vitamin B12, making it an excellent vegan supplement as well as a seasoning.
2. Liquid smoke
Missing that bacony taste? Then get your mitts on some liquid smoke!
Typically made from condensed wood smoke, this vegan seasoning adds a real, you guessed it, smoky flavor to your plant-based dishes. Use it to make your own scrummy bacon alternatives or splash some over your barbecued veg.
3. Black salt (kala namak)
A kiln-fired rock salt used in South Asian food, black salt adds a sulfurous ‘eggy’ flavor to vegan cooking, which makes it a popular seasoning for scrambled tofu, plant-based quiche, and other vegan egg dishes.
4. Turmeric
Another great vegan seasoning for eggy dishes, such as tofu scramble, turmeric adds a splash of color and a boost of warm bitterness. Commonly used in Asian food, this delicious spice is a key ingredient in curry powder. It’s also a well-known health food, known for its anti-inflammatory properties.
5. Bouillon (vegetable broth)
Having a decent vegetable stock cube/powder on hand is imperative for any vegan cook. Use it to flavor seitan or as a base to make soups, sauces, ramen broths, and so much more!
6. Cumin
Cumin is one of the best spices in the world for a good reason, it’s so versatile. Bought ground or in seed form, you can add cumin to loads of different savory vegan dishes, including cuisines such as Indian, Latin American, North African, and Middle Eastern.
7. Dried seaweed
Dried seaweeds, such as nori and Mara, are high in iodine, fiber, potassium, and magnesium, so they’re the perfect seasoning for vegan diets. They also pack an umami punch! Sprinkle it on sweet and savory dishes, including broths, ravioli, fried food, and even shortbread biscuits.
8. Thyme
This fantastic herb adds a lovely depth to roast vegetables and soups. Because of its use with various meat dishes, you can use thyme to recreate these flavors. For example, it’s a great vegan seasoning to use when making seitan sausages.
9. Chipotle
Chipotle is a smoke-dried ripe jalapeño chili pepper used for seasoning. It’s frequently used in Mexican cuisine, as well as Mexican-inspired food (e.g. Tex-Mex). We love it as a rub for roast vegetables and it goes particularly well with sweet potatoes.
10. Maggi liquid or cube seasoning
A dark-colored, vegetable protein-based sauce, Maggi liquid seasoning was invented in Switzerland and has since transcended cultures and is used in cuisines all over the world. Some say that it makes vegan food taste like chicken or other meat since it adds umami in the form of glutamic acid. Give it a go in Vietnamese or Thai dishes!
11. Dried shiitake mushrooms
No vegan seasoning does umami quite like dried shiitake mushrooms. These edible fungi are popular in East Asian countries and make a great addition to any dish where you want a deep and savory flavor.
