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Planning the perfect date night can be a stressful experience. If you’re cooking for someone special, there’s inevitably going to be a huge amount of pressure to get your meal absolutely perfect. With that in mind, here are some tasty vegan date night dinner ideas for inspiration.
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A perfect date night dinner should be something a little bit fancy, but also relatively straightforward to make. Nobody wants to spend hours in the kitchen getting buried in pots and pans before having a date over, so all these recipes will keep you (mostly) stress-free before the big night.
There’s absolutely no need at all to cook with animal products when preparing your date night dinner. Some of the most popular recipes include risottos, pastas, and curries, and all of these are perfectly easy to make plant-based. If you want to take your date night dinner to the next level, you could also include one of these incredible vegan dessert ideas.
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Vegan date night dinners
The below recipes are all ideal dinners to make for your next vegan date night. They look great, don’t compromise on taste, and are sure to impress your special someone. Highlights include orange glazed ginger tofu, Spanish white wine lentils, and a plant-based take on a classic linguine al limone.
Extra crispy eggplants
Eggplant – also known as aubergine – is a hugely popular vegetable that’s a perfect base for a vegan date night recipe. This extra crispy eggplant dish, which comes from Natlicious Food, features just a few simple ingredients. It pairs perfectly with a red pepper dip, as well as carob syrup and spring onion.
Find the recipe here.
Orange and ginger glazed tofu
Tofu recipes don’t get much more decadent than this. Romy London has unveiled a tasty – and very aesthetically pleasing – tofu creation that’s deceptively easy to make. It combines the flavors of zesty orange with zingy ginger, creating a taste explosion. If you thought tofu was boring, just wait till you try this.
Find the recipe here.
Linguine al limon
Linguine al limone is a hugely popular recipe originating in Italy. The dish consists of linguine (type of long pasta that’s slightly thicker than spaghetti) served with lots of fresh lemon and zest. Traditional recipes often include parmesan and butter, but this creation uses plant-based substitutions for these. It comes from Rebecca Hincke’s The Vegan Pasta Cookbook.
Find the recipe here.
Cherry tomato risotto
Date night recipes don’t get much more classic than risotto. Many risottos use dairy and meat, but this Romy London recipe is completely free from animal products. It’s creaminess comes from coconut milk, and it also features vegan mozzarella to give it a cheesy taste.
Find the recipe here.
Balsamic tomato baked orzo
Another tomatoey dish, this Greek-inspired BOSH! recipe is bound to impress any guest you’re welcoming. Orzo is a type of small pasta that looks slightly like a grain of rice, and it’s complemented perfectly by the balsamic and vegan feta in this recipe.
Find the recipe here.
Tuscan bean and spaghetti
At first glance, it may seem an odd choice to combine beans and spaghetti. But trust us, this is a match made in heaven. As well as adding to the taste and texture of this dish, the beans (take your pick from borlotti, cannellini, or navy) add an extra boost of protein. It comes from Ashley Madden‘s book Plant-Based Delicious, and is perfect if you’re strapped for time before your date arrives.
Find the recipe here.
Butter bean bourguignon
Butter bean recipes are everywhere right now, and this bourguignon gives these popular beans a fancy twist. Bourguignon is a French recipe traditionally made with beef, but this recipe – which comes from Matt Pritchard’s book Dirty Vegan: Fast and Easy – is packed full of plants.
Find the recipe here.
Spanish white wine lentils
We all know lentils are cheap, protein-packed, and massively versatile, but did you know they can make impressive date night dinners as well? This Spanish-inspired white wine lentils dish comes from Viva!’s Vegan Recipe Club, and it tastes as good as it looks.
Find the recipe here.
Coconut beetroot risotto
Another risotto recipe, this time with a beetroot base. Beetroot has a wide range of health benefits, featuring a good amount of fiber, folate, and manganese. It also gives this risotto a fun purple color and earthy taste, which pairs perfectly with the coconut. This recipe comes from Madeleine Olivia’s book Make it Vegan.
Find the recipe here.
Sweet potato katsu
If you thought making a katsu was too stressful and time consuming for date night, give this So Vegan creation a go. It features in the recipe book EASY. The recipe doesn’t require you to breadcrumb the sweet potato, which simplifies the process. Instead, you sprinkle on the panko breadcrumbs before serving, meaning you still have that signature katsu taste.
Find the recipe here.
Read more: 10 Vegan Potato Recipes
