21 Ways You Can Eat More Plant-based Foods

Mondays are great opportunities to try out a new healthy eating habit. Delicious food can also be nutritious food, and that’s the goal of this article—to provide you with the tips and tricks necessary to make plant-based meals appeal to every person’s palate. 

We’re offering up our top 21 tips for incorporating more plant-based foods into your diet. Armed with this toolbelt of techniques, pantry staples, swaps, gadgets, and apps, you’ll be able to approach every Meatless Monday with the confidence and culinary gusto of a seasoned gourmand.

And remember, you can sign up for our Meatless Monday newsletter to receive weekly recipes, tips, articles, and food-industry updates that will help keep you focused, full, and on track.

1. Always keep an avocado on hand. Add to sandwiches instead of cheese, top your toast, or bulk up a smoothie.
2. Learn to love your oven; it has a magical effect on vegetables – roast, bake, or crisp!
3. Use condiments (pesto, salsa, hummus, harissa, tapenade) LIBERALLY!
4. Stock your freezer with frozen fruits, vegetables, and plant-based burgers.
5. Try different legumes (black beans, lentils, chickpeas, pigeon peas, butter beans, cannellini beans). Tip: dried legumes are very inexpensive and go a long way. Here are some of our favorite bean recipes.
6. Go with whole grains like brown and wild rice, farro, quinoa, and bulgur.
7. Fortify your cupboard with plant-based snacks like popcorn, nuts, roasted chickpeas, dried fruit, granola, and dark chocolate.
8. Get familiar with tofu. When prepared properly (press it before cooking), it’s an excellent source of plant-based protein. You can also blend it into smoothies or batters.
9. Experiment with plant-based meats and burgers. It’s usually pretty hard to tell the difference vs beef burgers.
10. Find a favorite nut-milk and try using it in your coffee, cereal, and recipes. There are plenty to choose from.
11. Keep coconut oil close by and use it as an alternative to butter.
12. Stock-up your spice rack. Spices from different regions of the world will add flavor and complexity to ordinary recipes and ingredients.
13. Working out? Invest in some plant-based protein powders.
14. Find fast-food and quick-service restaurants that offer up a variety of plant-based options.
15. Expand your culinary scope: Many global cuisines put greater emphasis on plant-based dishes. Look at some Indian, Thai, Mediterranean, Chinese, or Japanese cookbooks for inspiration.
16. Pump up pasta with a mix of vegetables and legumes.
17. Keep a bag of cornmeal in the cupboard and use for sweet polenta, polenta fries, cornbread, and griddle cakes.
18. Invest in gadgets: Tofu press, immersion blender, juicer, spiralizer, and mandolin can add some flare to traditional vegetables.
19. Download apps for meatless eating. Happy Cow, Fork Over Knives, Vanilla Bean, and Food Monster are all great ways to find meatless options and get some recipe inspiration.
20. Catch a meatless movie like The Game Changers, What the Health, Cowspiracy, or Food Inc. to learn more about the food system and plant-based eating.
21. Find yourself an air fryer. Like a microwave and a toaster oven built into one miraculous device, the air fryer is perfect for roasting vegetables, creating crispy chips, and transforming chickpeas into munchable snacks.

Want more tips, hacks and recipes? Follow us at @MeatlessMonday on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Find great plant-based recipes in our recipe gallery!