15 Practical and Best Kitchen Tools That All Vegans Love

What are the Best Kitchen Tools for Vegans?

What Vegan kitchen tools do you need in your kitchen to make your life easier? You may be surprised that some of these may already reside in your kitchen! Some of these kitchen tools and appliances are those that you normally use every day, even if you don’t eat vegan. But, what would make cooking easier, and more fun for vegans and plant-based eaters? Here are some of my favorite essential vegan kitchen tools!!

#1 – High Speed Blender

Why do you need a high-speed blender? This one is number one on my list for many reasons! High-Speed Blenders, such as Vitamix, are great for making hot soups and sauces. Think taco soup, thick gravy or cheese sauce steaming hot in 5 minutes (all in the Blender!) Click here for my Best Vegan Cheese Sauce Recipe! You don’t need to heat it up on the stove and stand there and stir, making sure it doesn’t stick or boil over! And just one container that easily washes out! Yes!! And of course, you can make the thickest smoothie bowls all with frozen fruit. The Vitamix blender blends at such industrial high speeds that it creates the smoothest and thickest “nice” creams! It just doesn’t compare to your everyday store-bought blenders.

#2 – Instant Pot – Vegan Kitchen Tools

Everyone loves the Instant Pot. It’s a slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, steamer, saute, yogurt maker and warmer, all in one! I use it regularly (once or twice a week, if not more often!) As a vegan, you may be eating more beans and rice. Cooking beans from scratch in an Instant Pot is fast and easy, and you’ll feel great that you’re not eating beans from a can! (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) We also make one-pot wonders: stew, chili, curry, steel-cut oats, potatoes, quinoa, gumbo, burrito fillings, and of course soups that are super easy in the Instant Pot!

#3 – Air Fryer

Would you like to enjoy crispy veggies or tofu without deep frying? Try the Air Fryer! You can chop up potatoes or cube up tofu. Try french fries, battered cauliflower, or pizza in the Air Fryer! It will brown up your food evenly, and get crispy in no time. The best part is it makes it easy to eat OIL FREE, (no stinky, greasy kitchen) and still get the satisfying crunch from your vegetables, tofu, and anything else you will fry up!

#4 – Mandoline Vegetable Slicer

The Mandoline Slicer comes in handy for making julienne potato fries for your air fryer. Also great to slice perfect slices of vegetables for salads, veggie sushi, etc. This may not be an essential vegan kitchen tool, but handy for small jobs. We use it regularly to slice fruits and vegetables perfectly for the dehydrator, where it is important to have consistent thickness. It makes the job quick and fun, and the kids enjoy helping!

#5 – Food Processor – Vegan Kitchen Tools

The Food Processor is a wonderful tool to help chop up vegetables in a hurry. It’s a handy Vegan kitchen tool, but not absolutely necessary, especially if you have great chopping skills! It’s great for chopping onions and carrots for soup, or stews. It’s also fantastic for making your own hummus.

#6 – Tofu Press

If you enjoy tofu, get a Tofu Press to squeeze out the excess water from your firm or extra firm tofu block. You can also do this without a press, but it gets a bit messy. It is suggested that you put the block of tofu in between dry towels, and cover it with something heavy for 15 minutes or so. Every time I’ve done this, I end up with an array of items I have on hand, dangerously stacked on top of a cutting board, over my little brick of tofu. It never works out well in the end, and I have extra laundry (towels), from the wet tofu. Yuk!

#7 – Panini Press

Grab your favorite Vegan Bread (or make your own!) and some yummy vegan cheese, add your favorite vegetables and you have yourself the makings for a wonderful hot grilled panini. You can also use your panini press to reheat baked potatoes. Just pop them on the press and squish them in. You will have a crunchy flattened potato that you can then add your favorite toppings to! Yummy!!!

#8 – Salad Spinner – Vegan Kitchen Tools

So fun to use, and a great must to keep your salad fresh and washed. Chop up your salad, then soak it in water with 1/4 cup white vinegar for about 10 minutes to remove most of the dirt and pesticides. Rinse it out and then spin it. You will have fresh clean salad and dried enough for your salad dressing to stick to. If you have leftover spun salad, it will keep till the next day or longer. If spun out well enough, it should not start rusting on you.

#9 – Food Dehydrator

Dehydrate foods to snack on later, like apples, bananas, etc. Make your own potato chips, kale chips, or any veggie chip you’d like! So many possibilities. You can also make your own fruit leathers! These are great for traveling snacks when on the road. They are light and pack and keep well! Don’t forget to get a mandolin so you can slice your fruit and vegetables to the perfect consistent thickness.

#10 – Ice Cream Maker

Blend your favorite dairy-free milk with fresh fruit purees and you have your own homemade ice cream. Choose healthy ingredients and make it sugar-free and delicious. You won’t feel guilty eating a large bowl of your own homemade ice cream. Your friends and family will love it!

#11 – Stand Mixer

If you have kids or love baking, you will love the Stand Mixer. Fast and easy cakes, cookies and knead bread in no time! The Kitchen Aide comes with many attachments as well, making it even more versatile! Try the Kitchen Aide Pasta Attachments to make your own delicious fresh pasta. Other Kitchen Aide attachments are the vegetable grater/chopper/slicer, and spiralizer/core/slice tool.

#12 – Spiralizer – Vegan Kitchen Tools

Tired of pasta? Spiralize your veggies to make healthy veggie noodles from firm fruits/veggies like apple, onion, carrot, zucchini, cucumber, cabbage, beet, turnip, rutabaga, radish, potato, sweet potato, and squash. It’s a great vegan kitchen tool that offers a variety of ways to prepare your produce. The spiralizer also helps you replace the higher carbs foods if you are a keto vegan.

#13 – Pasta Machine

Vegans love pasta, especially if you have kids at home! Make your own fresh and healthy pasta with a Pasta Machine, and impress your family! You will instantly notice the difference from dried, storebought pasta. Get creative by making a variety of pasta like whole wheat, spinach, and beet pasta. Have fun with it!

#14 – Spice Grinder

Vegans cook with many great spices. Buy your spices whole for better freshness, and use a spice grinder to grind up nuts, seeds, and spices as needed. I always buy flax seeds whole and grind them up in smaller batches. Keep them in the fridge for longer freshness. Also great for recipes that ask for oat flour (grind up quick-cooking oats) or almond meal (grind up whole unsalted almonds).

#15 – Immersion Blender

Great to use if you are on a trip and want to make yourself smoothies. You, unfortunately, can’t always bring your trusty Vitamix with you where ever you go, so a hand blender works great. Also great to blend hot soups right in the pot to make them creamy! The immersion is a handy quick and easy tool.

These 15 Vegan kitchen tools are not a necessity in any vegan kitchen but are nice to have. You may already have some of these. Which essential vegan kitchen tools do you have? And which ones can you not do without?