What can I cook for my non vegan friends? Vegan party food!
Easy things to cook for non vegan friends
My husband and I absolutely love entertaining. We love having people over and creating good memories with people. Part of the easiest way to bring people together is by sharing a fun meal together.
After reading the Little Book of Hygge, I’ve become a huge fan of party food that takes some assembling together with your guests. It’s ideal if everyone brings a little ingredient themselves, it helps create a sense of unity and informality that I just love.
When it comes to vegans entertaining non-vegans, I feel this method helps break downs walls and show people that they too, can easily create impressive vegan food.
With the idea of co-assembly in mind, these are the dishes I find that is the most fun to serve at get-togethers with your non-vegan homies.
What to cook your non-vegan friends
What to cook for your non- vegan friends.
Vegan Perogies
This comfort food is insanely easy to make and a crowd-pleaser for most people. You can get a large bag (or 2) of cheap potatoes onion perogies at any local grocery store.
Ingredients you and your friends can contribute:
LOTS of green onions
Vegan sour cream
Hot sauce
Onions to saute
Vegan ham or bacon, finely sliced
Sliced vegan sausages
Salt & Pepper
Saurkraut
You cannot go wrong with a vegan perogy bar for your non-vegan friends. This is that good comfort food that you and your friends didn’t know you needed.
Have everyone bring an ingredient, chop it up and saute it all together.
Vegan mac and cheese
Vegan Mac and Cheese for entertaining non vegans
This is super simple and insanely delicious!
Buy a large box of vegan macaroni and cook it according to instructions.
I would follow this recipe for some incredible and easy vegan cheese sauce that even your non-vegan friends will love!
You can easily serve this as is or top it with green onions, vegan hot dog slices, crumbled vegan sausage, or simply hot sauce or ketchup.
Vegan Burgers
Epic vegan burger bar for your non vegan friends
This is an easy way to make everyone happy!
I’d recommend you provide all the patties, buns, and condiments and have your guests volunteer for what kind of burger toppings they want to contribute.
Some vegan burger bar topping ideas:
Lettuce
Onion (fresh or sauteed)
Tomato
Pickles
Mushroom (fresh or sauteed)
Jalapeno
Vegan cheese slices
Avocado
Olives (because I love olives)
Sprouts
Vegan Burritos
I’m obsessed with this dinner party method.
Things I’d recommend providing and prepping for your guests:
Vegan wraps
Vegan ground round
Refried beans
Rice
Things I’d suggest your guests bring:
corn
cabbage slaw
red or white onion (diced)
tomatoes (diced)
jalapeno
cilantro
lime
shred iceberg lettuce
avocado
bell peppers, sliced
OLIVES
pico or salsa
vegan sour cream
their favourite hot sauce!
Everyone feels involved and excited to assemble their burritos. They are so easy and insanely delicious, your party guests will not be disappointed.
Vegan tacos
I mean really just take the list from above and modify it a bit! No rice needed, obviously.
For incredible vegan pulled chicken taco meat, shred a bunch of king oyster mushrooms seasoned with fajita spices. Cook on high in a well-oiled cast-iron until there is some caramelization. Let it cook in the oven at 375 for about 10 minutes afterward to make it softer and less moist.
Some other awesome vegan taco fillers are listed below:
Vegan Pizzas
Vegan pizza bar home made pizza for non vegan friends.
You may be shocked to know, but the fresh ready-made pizza dough sold at most grocery stores is (usually) vegan! Be sure to double-check the ingredient list but it should be totally vegan according to my experiences.
I would suggest buying a couple of dough balls the night before your party in order to ensure it is ready to go the night you want to use it.
With this vegan pizza bar, I would simply provide all the dough, tomato sauce, and vegan cheese shreds while asking your friends to bring their favorite toppings!
Topping ideas:
Vegan pepperoni
Vegan sausage (crumbled)
Onion
Tomato
Green pepper
Mushroom
Artichoke
Pineapple (!?!?!?)
Olives (black and/or green)
Fresh basil
Vegan feta crumble
Spicy banana peppers
Etc.
With this you and your friends can really go crazy. There are no limits to the different types of fun combinations you can whip up together.
If you think this is something you can see yourself doing a lot, I’d highly recommend buying yourself a pizza stone. My husband and I bought one a while ago and we’ve had no regrets about it! It truly helps elevate our at-home pizza game.
Vegan Vietnamese Salad Rolls
This one depends on your friend group. If everyone seems into eating a little more “clean” and fresh, then Vietnamese salad rolls are a super fun way to go.
I’d provide the rice paper wraps, cooked thin rice noodles (follow package instructions), smoked tofu slices, hoisin sauce, sriracha, and peanut sauce for your guests.
Beyond that, you can ask your guests to bring over the following:
Thai basil
Cilantro
Cucumber (cut into thin matchsticks)
Carrot (shred)
Cabbage (shred)
Red pepper (thin matchsticks)
Chives
Lettuce or spinach leaves
Any other fun toppings your crew wants to experiment with
I’d recommend having multiple soaking spots on the table for people.
Now you can all bond over your struggle to wrap your delicious rolls and see who does it best. Having flavourful sauces for your salad wraps is key, so ensure you have that ready to go before your non-vegan friends arrive!
Vegan Nachos
Decked out vegan nacho bar to impress non-vegans.
This one is so easy and an easy crowd-pleaser.
For this I recommend having the following ready:
2 or 3 large trays for the nachos
Vegan cheese shreds or prepped vegan queso cheese
Lots of nacho chips!
Optional - vegan cooked ground beef
Have your friends bring:
Corn
Diced onion
diced tomatoes
diced bell peppers
sliced olives
cilantro
black beans or kidney beans
jalapeno
vegan sour cream
salsa
avocado and/or guacamole
Your friends will be so happy munching on this packed-out gourmet vegan nacho dish. Be sure to assemble it all together.
Vegan open-faced Sandwiches
Vegan open faced sandwiches to eat with non vegan friends
I’ll admit it, I know this sounds hella boring but when we did this with our friends it was a surprise hit! This idea was also taken straight from The Little Book of Happiness. Make sure you provide enough different bread loaves to toast up!
Everyone is to bring something that goes on top of a toastie, some ideas are:
Hummus
Avocado
Red Pepper Jelly
Vegan cheese
Baked Beans
Sauteed mushroom
Peanut butter
Banana
Maple syrup
Sprouts
Brushetta
Vegan feta
Roast Red Pepper Spread
Olive spread
Cooked tofu slices in a sweet/savory sauce
Pickles
Vegan cream cheese
Fresh Dill and/or other herbs
Capers
Radish
Vegan Pesto
Roasted veggies
Your group can have a tun of fun toasting bread and creating epic topped toasties. There is something so simple and comforting about making and eating these. It was a surprising amount of fun and I highly recommend you try it out.
Vegan Gyros
A Vegan gyro bar is a super fun party idea for non-vegan guests!
I had to throw this in here! It’s so easy and delicious your friends will go nuts.
I recommend loading up on pitas and vegan beyond meat koftas ahead of time.
Check out my insanely easy recipe below.
Other ingredients you or your friends can contribute:
Optional (but highly recommended) frozen french fries freshly baked or fried
Shred lettuce
Sliced and seasoned tomatoes
Sliced and seasoned onion
Vegan Lettuce Wraps
I have a recipe for vegan lettuce wraps on the blog already, however for your non-vegan friends and to keep things simple for you, I would recommend just using beyond ground meat or impossible ground meat as the main filler.
I would recommend you ensure you have lots of iceberg lettuce, crumbled veggie ground, hoisin sauce, sriracha, and ideally a quick and easy peanut sauce ready to go.
Your friends can bring:
red Thai chilis
shred carrot
diced onion
crumbled nuts
chives
bean sprouts
cilantro
lime
This is some flavor-packed guilt-free goodness you can all feel good about. The only possible mistake you can make with this is not cooking enough of it.
Final notes on vegan recipes for non-vegans
I think it’s extra impactful to let your friends feel involved in your vegan food to show them how truly easy it is to cook and try vegan things! When you cook it together, it helps them see that they can make these simple vegan dishes themselves any time they want. It helps break down those walls of oh that’s what so and so eats and I have no idea how to make that stuff.
Beyond that though, these are simply highly tasty vegan recipes that anyone would enjoy eating and be impressed by.
Tag me if you do any of these vegan party food bars for non-vegans! :)