When people think of barbeques, they often think of grilled brats, hamburgers, steaks, and pork chops—things made for meat eaters. They don’t realize vegans can host barbecues on the same level as meat eaters. Vegan barbeques tend to be 43% healthier. One study from the UK motor rental company Camptoo analyzed the most popular recipe sites and what Brits planned to cook this summer.
Looking at barbecuing habits, favorite foods, and the top vegan recipes, researchers found vegan barbecues had 43% fewer calories. The study also discovered that vegan barbecues only take an average of 22 minutes. That’s 31 minutes less than meat barbecues. It also only has 208 calories or 9 grams of fat, while grilled meat averages 20 grams of fat. Vegan barbecues can be fun. How would you organize a vegan barbecue?
Key Takeaways
Preparing for the Vegan Barbeque
Vegan barbeques may take less time on the grill, but depending on what you make, the meal prep may require more effort. For example, you often need to spend more time marinating the food. Depending on what you grill, you may marinate before or after the cooking.
This differs from meat grilling where you marinate the food before. When you marinate it after, you do this because the hot protein begins to relax and becomes more receptive to the flavors of the marinade, which will maximize its taste.
Fun Fact: While common to vegan foods, reverse marinating is also popular in Spanish, Filipino, and Latin American cuisines—they call it escabeche.
Now, when you go to buy a BBQ sauce beware of how some BBQ sauces are not vegan. You want to buy a vegan BBQ sauce, and in most cases, this can be tricky without the label, so it’s better to buy one with the label. Many BBQ sauces will have ingredients in them for vegans to watch out for like:
With anchovies, manufacturers often cook it down until it melts into the BBQ sauce, so you can’t even tell they put it in. Honey is not vegan because it uses the labor of bees. Sugar can be vegan, but it depends on the method that they use to process it because sometimes they’ll use bone char, which whitens the sugar cane. Worcestershire sauces traditionally are not vegan, but you can buy them vegan.
What to Serve at Your Vegan Bbq: Delicious Vegan Bbq Recipes
What should you cook at your next vegan barbecue? Now, you'll see why vegan barbecues are 43% healthier than regular barbecues. Below we share some fantastic vegan bbq recipes. Some of the most common foods that you'll find at a vegan barbecue include:
Veggie Burgers
Normally, veggie burgers only require six to eight minutes on each side until crisp and golden brown.
Beware of starchy ingredients in veggie burgers when using the grill because it may fall apart. To prevent this, brush them with cooking oil.
After you finish with them on the grill, transfer them to a hot saute pan or a microwave to ensure they hold their shape.
Beyond Meat burgers are a great example of a brand where you can grill without worrying they’ll lose their shape. Most people who eat them can’t tell the difference between that and regular meat.
You can also make your own burger at home. Check out this vegan burger recipe which we've published here on the blog.
Tofu Skewers
Typically, you want to marinate the tofu for at least 15 minutes or a few hours in the fridge before you barbecue.
Tofu skewers are one where you also might choose to grill pineapple or bell peppers with it. You can get creative with this one.
Just beware because tofu skewers take time to master (the tofu sometimes loses shape), and I wouldn’t start with a big group on this before you practice.
For a firmer soy-based product that is ideal on the grill, you can also try bbq tempeh. Tempeh is made from fermented soybeans and is a flexible ingredient that absorbs any flavor.
Not only that, tempeh is high in protein and fiber. Try this vegan BBQ tempeh recipe from Kathy's Vegan Kitchen to make barbecued tempeh that's delicious to eat on its own or with a grilled sandwich.
Grilled Veggies/Veggie Skewers
You can grill your vegetables in tin foil. Usually, you will marinate charred vegetables after you finish grilling them in medium heat for a smoky flavor. They will also be more receptive to taking in the flavors.
This method differs from meat grilling where you'd marinate the meat beforehand.
The best vegetables for grilling to pair with veggie meat are red bell peppers, red onion, broccoli, eggplant or zucchini, sweet potatoes, and cauliflower.
Grilled vegetables are great to incorporate in salads. You can make grilled corn to mix in a grilled corn salad. You can also make vegan pasta salad with the aforementioned vegetables; add sundried tomatoes, and season with fresh herbs such as fresh basil and lemon juice.
Check out this grilled vegetables recipe for more ideas.
Vegan Sausages
Vegan hot dogs or sausages are also a crowd hit during vegan barbeques.
When putting vegan sausages on the grill, you'll want to brush it with olive oil beforehand.
You cook them on each side for between three to four minutes.
Remove them once they turn golden brown. For those who want a deeper flavor, add more barbecue sauce or vegan mayo over the top.
Vegan sausages are mostly available in specialty health food stores, but if you can't find one, you can always make your own. Check out this vegan, gluten free bratwurst recipe from Ela Vegan on how to make vegan sausages.
What to Keep in Mind with Your Vegan Barbeque
Many supermarkets will have vegan burgers that make for great grilling burgers. Just remember that while some vegan burgers cook well over the stove, they may not cook as well over a grill. Many of them grill better frozen because they hold their shape.
Skip the burgers with breading on them for grills because vegan burgers with breading on them tend to burn on the coating.
Another thing to watch for is the buns for burgers because some ingredients may contain milk. Let’s say you want to cook some tofu on the grill either as a skewer or just grilling tofu.
Remember to freeze it ahead of time because this will keep the tofu frozen when you go to grill it and it'll hold its shape. Grilling plant-based foods can take some practice, so you may want to try it out ahead of time before you invite everyone over.
FINAL THOUGHTS
You can probably see why vegan barbecues are 43% healthier than regular barbecues because you often use ingredients healthier than meat. The cool thing about a vegan barbecue is it also takes less time, and it can be so flavorful you won’t even miss meat barbecues.
Vegan barbecues, in many cases, can be even more fun than meat barbecues because of the creativity involved with what you can grill. Many people think healthy vegan foods are bland, but I've found that as long as you choose the correct grilling recipes, it's just as good as eating meat.
Even for someone who likes to grill, a vegan barbecue can be a fun theme you experiment with to try out some new recipes. I’ve also known people who are meat-eaters, but they had vegans come over for a barbecue, so they might cook some vegan recipes for them.
