Big 8 Allergen-Free Vegan Meal and Snack Ideas

You've seen all these before, but not brought together like this, and I thought while I was taking a break I might compile some useful information for those of you who have food allergies. With a bit of creativity, you can avoid the so-called "Big 8" allergens and still also avoid animal products.

Vegan meals are already pretty friendly to a lot of people with allergies--we don't eat eggs, milk, fish, or shellfish, after all--but it can be a bit more challenging for those avoiding peanuts, tree nuts, soy, and wheat. That can be especially challenging if you think of vegan food as tofu, peanut butter sandwiches, and cashew cream sauces--all staples for me, though not absolutely necessary. I've accepted the challenge I gave myself, and here we are!

I made a point of only rounding up the meals I had made that were already allergy-friendly without trying to specifically make them that way, but I also included some tips at the end for swaps that can open a lot more doors if you need them.

Breakfast

I've often thought breakfast was the easiest time to be vegan. There are tons of possibilities to consider, but here I am focusing only on the ones that were already fully allergy-friendly when I showed them to you in the first place. There were plenty of other elements in the meals I've shown you otherwise that could be included alongside these things, too; I'll give you ideas here for how you can make some of these that need some help into a full meal. And I promise you it is not just fruit, in spite of being fruit-heavy here. I just really like fruit. But no, I don't expect you just to eat fruit.

Scrambled Polenta and Veggies

 

I got the idea for scrambled polenta from this recipe at The Breakfast Drama Queen, but I didn't follow it closely at all. I used polenta leftover from a meal the day before that had been made with vegetable broth. I cut it into cubes along with green bell pepper, onions, garlic, carrots, and mushrooms. I served it with some quick breakfast potatoes (I microwaved red potatoes, then sautéed them with onions in a little oil) and sautéed grape tomatoes (my last wrinkly ones).

Winter Fruit Salad with Poppy Seed Citrus Syrup

This salad is based on one I found at Lemon Tree Dwelling, but I scaled it down and didn't have quite the same number of fruits in it, because twelve servings of fruit salad would truly be too many! So this is kiwi, grapefruit, mandarin oranges, pomegranate arils, and sliced bananas. The poppy seed citrus syrup consists of water, sugar, orange juice, and poppy seeds, and it goes so well with the somewhat tart fruits here. I garnished this with more poppy seeds. I'd recommend rounding this meal out with something warm and protein-packed, like a chickpea flour omelet. Here's an allergy-friendly recipe to inspire you!

Grapefruit Green Smoothie

This recipe from Minimalist Baker is a delightful concoction of grapefruit, apple, banana, ginger, spinach, and orange juice. It is, as indicated, closer to a juice than a smoothie, light and refreshing. The spinach adds color but the flavor disappears into the sweetness of the fruit. In order to make this a more substantial breakfast, you'll want something with it. I originally had it with some breakfast sweet potatoes, which could be a good option, especially if you add a side of baked beans or a handful of pumpkin or sunflower seeds.

Orange Cream of Rice

Cream of rice is a bit like cream of wheat, and a good option if you're avoiding wheat and/or gluten. To make this orange-infused version, check out my recipe. I topped mine with orange compote, but you could easily just use some sliced oranges. You may want to have some seeds with it for additional protein, if this isn't substantial enough for your appetite.

Watermelon Blueberry Salad with Lemon and Mint

This recipe is from Food Network. I garnished my salad with more lemon zest and chopped mint but you don't really have to do that if you aren't up to it. This should be a side dish, not a main. I'd really like this with some savory corn cakes with veggies, though! And maybe some avocado. Mmm...

Lunch

I think you don't have to limit yourself to eating specific foods at specific times of day, of course, but here I'm suggesting meals that seem to work well on the go, or can be prepared very quickly. Anyone who has followed me for long knows that everything is lunch food in my world. Just view this as a guide.

Tomato Soup with Polenta Croutons

This started out as too many wrinkly grape tomatoes, a bit of olive oil, 1/4 of an onion, some vegan chicken-style broth, a splash of white wine, and salt and pepper, and it was delicious, probably because I roasted the tomatoes first. 

The polenta croutons were pretty simple. I cubed my leftover polenta, tossed it gently with olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried thyme, and baked it for about half an hour, then flipped it and baked it for another 15 minutes or so. They went amazingly well with the soup. If you want to pack this, pack the soup in an insulated container with the polenta cubes kept separately, and put the polenta in just before serving.

Strawberry-Cucumber Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing and Cauliflower Steaks over Mushroom-Tomato Quinoa

Here I had to cut the steak in half to fit the box, but that's probably best for lunchtime anyway. I love cauliflower steak. This is Jessica Gavin's recipe with smoked paprika instead of the regular kind, and it turned out really well.

Mushroom, Lemon, and Lentil Salad with Arugula

This vegan mushroom, lemon, and lentil salad is from Everyday Delicious. It really is pretty darn delicious, too! It has a deep, savory flavor. It's also great on the go, since it's so good at room temperature. Just pack the arugula and parsley separately and mix everything together just before eating it. I guess "Everyday Delicious" lived up to its name.

Savory Mushroom and Quinoa Stuffed Mini Pumpkins

This recipe at Simple Seasonal is a lot of fun! They're also delicious. If you're making a meal out of just these, you'll want to eat multiple little pumpkins, but you could also serve them with sides like baked beans and a green salad to make it more substantial (and more like dinner than lunch).

French Lentils with Garlic and Thyme, Basic Rice Pilaf, and Butter Lettuce Salad

This is the New York Times recipe for French lentils with garlic and thyme alongside some basic rice pilaf and a simple (and tiny) butter lettuce salad with a homemade "honey" vinaigrette.  Yes, I'm showing you more lentils, for which I can't make any apologies because lentils are awesome, but there are plenty of really lovely meals that can be made out of beans and rice. A basic rice pilaf is easy; just cook onions in oil until they're soft, then add raw long grain rice and cook until the rice is golden and translucent, add broth, bring to a boil, and cook for 15 minutes before letting it stand off heat for about 5 minutes. You can mix it up for variety: Add sautéed mushrooms after it's done, or toss some frozen peas in just before you turn off the heat and let them steam on the surface before mixing them in to serve.

 

Dinner

Although you can eat anything for any meal, as I said before, here I'm assuming your dinners are more substantial, sit-down-at-a-table meals.

Garlic Spinach with White Beans, Herbed Potatoes, and Steamed Carrots

The beans are this recipe at Well-Seasoned Studio, which is bright and lemony as well as flavored deliciously with garlic. It has one of my favorite secret weapons: Capers. Wonderful, briny, flavor bombs! Rice pilaf goes well with this, too, but for this meal I chose to make herbed potatoes rather than rice. To round things out and make them more colorful I added some steamed carrots. Voila! Perfection.

Falafel Bowls

Some simple yellow rice and a basic salad of lettuce, cucumber, and tomatoes (two colors are used here) are great alongside falafel balls and a drizzle of lemon tahini dressing. A lot of frozen falafel balls are allergy-friendly, though you can, of course, also make your own.

Mediterranean Baked Sweet Potatoes

The Mediterranean baked sweet potatoes recipe from the Minimalist Baker has soft, roasted sweet potatoes, somewhat crispy roasted, seasoned chickpeas, a garlicky-dill tahini drizzle, and some tomato-parsley topping. So yummy!

Pumpkin Risotto

I love Eating by Elaine's vegan pumpkin risotto, which does not require endless stirring. It is so good. I couldn't possibly improve upon this recipe. She says to use homemade pumpkin puree, which I am sure would be lovely, but I just use canned for the ease of it and it always turns out beautifully.

Snacks

Meals are one thing; snacks are another, smaller, but just as nice thing.

Popcorn and Chocolate

This is one of my favorite snack combinations and really should be--it's a perfect balance of salty and sweet! Something about the flavors of chocolate and popcorn go so well together, too.

Rice Crackers and Hummus

Rice crackers and hummus: Pretty well always a good idea.

Russian Tea

Russian tea isn't Russian, but don't let that stop you. It's a lovely, fruity, spiced drink that will warm your bones and soothe your soul. Here's my recipe.

Additional Tips

A lot of the other recipes and ideas I give on a regular basis could be free of the top eight allergens, but I gravitate toward soy and almond milk. There are a lot of things I could have made with rice milk, pea milk, etc. instead to make them more allergy-friendly. Most of my smoothies and chia puddings, for example, and many of my porridges, could easily just swap out the plant milk and then be more allergy friendly.

Similarly, I use plant butters with soy in them, usually, or Vegenaise made with soy, but there are soy free formulas for Earth Balance and Vegenaise, and you can make those substitutes and remove the soy, if you need to avoid soy. I have yet to try Pumfu (tofu made from pumpkin seeds rather than soy beans), but I'm intrigued by it, and it could be worth trying out with tofu recipes. Nut butter substitutes abound, from peas to sunflower seeds to pumpkin seeds, which would be a great snack to have with apple slices or spread on a rice cake (or both!).

And creativity goes a long way, too. Not everything has to be a clear one-to-one swap. Salads can substitute roasted chickpeas, toasted polenta cubes, or tortilla chip strips for croutons. If you can't have bread in a sandwich, try making onigirazu and use rice and seaweed in place of the bread, or wrap fillings in lettuce leaves or rice paper. 

In the end, there is bounty enough in the world to answer to nearly any restriction we put upon ourselves or have thrust upon us. Few of us will actually need to avoid all eight of the most common allergens. But if you find that you do, you need not despair. Go exploring. There might be more out there than you think, and a lot of it is vegan.

If this was helpful to you, please let me know. I can also do somewhat less narrowly-defined allergy friendly compilations, if you'd like (i.e., gluten free, or nut free, or soy free, but not all three at once).