Vegan Deep South Recipes (simple ideas and good books)

green pea pasta salad

Green pea pasta salad (Mississippi Vegan) – use plastic-free pasta!

Learning to cook your own food is empowering, as you no longer have to rely on expensive plastic-wrapped ready-meals and takeaways. Master your favourite cuisines at home. Then every night is restaurant night!

Deep South food is some of the tastiest on earth (although with the meat and dairy, it’s not good for your heart or waistline – or animals). The good news is that it’s possible to replicate all these flavours with plants. And many Deep South favourites are kind of similar to our comfort food (peach cobbler, ribs etc).

Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets (many foods including green tomatoes are unsafe near animal friends). Bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) and citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps, as acids could harm compost creatures. It’s okay to put them in food waste bins (made into biogas).

For tinned foods, fully remove lids (put inside) or pop ring-pulls back over holes (and pinch tops closed) before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.

The vegan Deep South grocery shop

Creole spice

  • Onions, bell peppers and celery (this is known as ‘the holy trinity’ base of most savoury dishes).
  • Black-eyed peas, okra, collard greens and sweet potatoes also feature heavily (the latter in sweet pies too).
  • Peaches are popular (in tea and pies – Georgia is known as ‘the peach state’)
  • Creole seasoning is a must for soups and stews

VFC vegan chicken fillets

Read our post on vegan fried chicken!

Collard greens and beans

collard greens and beans

This recipe for collard greens (The Simple Veganista) adds canned cannellini beans for protein. Check medication before consuming lots of dark leafy greens.

Homemade Jambalaya 

Jambalaya

Jambalaya (Jessica in the Kitchen) is made with plant-based sausages.

Pecan Pie

vegan pecan pie

This recipe for vegan pecan pie (Top with Cinnamon) is delicious with ice-cream. It’s quite similar to a treacle tart. Make your own pastry to avoid palm oil and keep fresh dough away from young children and pets.

Homemade fruit cobbler

blackberry cobbler

This blackberry cobbler (The Simple Veganista) is very simple to make. You can sub with other fruits like strawberries, peaches or cherries.

blueberry cobbler

Also try this recipe for blueberry cobbler (Mississippi Vegan).

Vegan Hummingbird Cake

vegan hummingbird cake

This recipe for hummingbird cake (Rainbow Nourishments) combines bananas, pineapple and toasted pecans, with brown sugar and warming cinnamon.

A glass of peach iced tea, y’all!

iced peach tea

Peach iced tea (The First Mess) is sweetened with agave syrup.

Homemade peach smoothie

peach banana smoothie

Try this peach banana smoothie (Mississippi Vegan). The secret is to find fresh juicy peaches and use speckled bananas that are slightly over-ripe.

Good plant-based Deep South Cookbooks

southern vegan

Southern Vegan is a lovely book, offering 60 recipes for Deep South food gone plant-based (many Southern recipes are similar to ‘English comfort food’ like biscuits with gravy, mashed potato and peach cobblers).

These recipes use fool-proof cooking methods and easy substitutions, for spot-on dishes to transport you to warm summer nights, full of family, tradition and of course, a little sweet tea!

Recipes include:

  • Cheesy Biscuit (scones) Vegetable Pot Pie
  • Mashed Sweet Potatoes
  • Collard Green Carbonara
  • Pimento Cheese Spread
  • Dill Pickle Pasta Salad
  • Berry-Peach Cornmeal Cobbler
  • Red Velvet (beetroot-chocolate) Cake
  • Mississippi Mud Cheesecake

50 plant-based Deep South recipes

Make It Plant-Based! Southern offers 50 recipes for scones, casseroles, soups, stews and sweets. Recipes include:

  • Quick Scones with Strawberry Pepper Jam
  • Fried Green Tomatoes and Tangy Basil Mayo
  • Vegan Fried Chicken Sandwich
  • Cheesy Broccoli Soup with Pesto Croutons
  • Mushroom and Potato Pot Pie Casserole
  • Smashed Okra Fries
  • Cracker-crusted Mac and Cheese
  • Caramelised Banana Pudding
  • Silky Dark Chocolate Cream Pie

sweet potato soul

Sweet Potato Soul offers Georgia-inspired recipes by a professional vegan chef and cooking teacher. Recipes include:

  • Coconut collard salad
  • Fried cauliflower chicken
  • Peach date BBQ Sliders
  • Sweet potato-tahini cookies
  • Bootylicious gumbo
  • Georgia watermelon peach salad
  • Jalapeño hush puppies
  • Sweet potato cinnamon rolls

gumbo

Mississippi Vegan is a star! The author is as good a writer and photographer as he is a chef. The (quite complicated) recipes include:

  • Gumbo (above)
  • Garlic herb bread
  • Caesar salad with creamy garlic dressing
  • Succotash stew
  • Slow cooked red beans and rice
  • Mini peach cobblers

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