10 Must-Have Healthy Pantry Staples for Easy Plant-Based Cooking

Introduction

Plant-based cooking can be vastly overwhelming, especially if you’re not aware of some of the staples you need to cook healthy and fulfilling vegan meals. Personally, between working, maintaining this website and taking care of our daughter, the amount of time we have to actually cook is very minimal, especially on hectic weekdays and when we do cook, ensuring we have all the ingredients so we don’t have to run to the store is vital. This article will go over the top 10 must-have healthy pantry staples every household should have, not just plant-based/vegan households. These ingredients are super healthy and bring every meal over the top in terms of nutrition and flavor. Let’s get into it.

10. Shelf-Stable Plant Milk

From oat, to soy to almond to pea, the variety of plant milks are endless. We love using plant milks in our day to day cooking ranging from in smoothies, to soups or just drinking it straight. Our personal favorite plant milks are soy, pea and oat milk. They’re both super creamy and often fortified with vitamins and minerals much like cows milk is. When babies hit one year of age, a glass a day of fortified milk is recommended, why not make that a fortified plant milk and save your children from the cholesterol and higher fat content that comes with cows milk.

9. Lentils

Lentils are incredibly versatile and can be used in so many different ways in vegan cooking, from lentil soups and curries to being used as a meat substitute in a bolognese pasta sauce or as lentil tofu. They also are incredibly healthy for you, they’re a fantastic source of fiber, iron, folate, potassium and even manganese. They’re also low in fat and high in protein so using it as a meat substitute works great!

8. Oats

Oats are often regarded as a breakfast staple often used in things like oatmeal or to add fiber to things like pancakes or muffins. Oats are amazingly nutritious, in 1/2 cup of rolled oats there’s about 6g of protein, 5g of fiber, 1g of fat and 1mg of iron (about 15% of your daily intake). We love using rolled oats for overnight oats, oatmeal, and most of all in baby-led weaning food items like muffins, oat balls and more!

7. Cannellini Beans

As plant based parents, we absolutely love Cannellini beans also know as white beans or navy beans. They don’t provide as much protein (8g per 1/2 cup) as some other beans like soy, but they provide a ton of calcium (59.8mg per 1/2 cup) and iron (3.6mg per 1/2 cup) with little to no fat and if you’re a parent you know how important both of those are for a childs development. The best thing about these beans is they can be blended into a creamy consistency that can be used as a high-protein, low-fat substitute for cream in pasta sauces, soups, and we love using it in baby-led weaning pouches and muffins for added protein, vitamins and minerals.

6. Chickpeas

Chickpeas are a nutrient-dense food that’s rich in iron, folate, magnesium and potassium. They’re a super great source of protein running at 8g per 1/2 cup and fiber (6g per 1/2 cup), while being low in fat. The great thing about chickpeas is they’re a great source of protein in meals like used in curries, added to smoothies, or added to grain bowls, but they’re also fantastic as snacks. Baking chickpeas until crispy, putting some everything bagel seasoning on top of them and eating them straight or as a crouton in salads, absolute heaven!

5. Quinoa

Quinoa is considered a super food because it contains all nine essential amino acids, and we agree! We love quinoa which is why it ranks number 5 on our list. It’s super easy to cook quinoa, you can even just throw it into your rice cooker and cook it like rice, which is why we use it as a rice substitute a lot. It has about 4g of protein, 3 grams of fiber per 1/2 cup and it’s a good source of iron, magnesium and copper. People don’t realize just how versatile quinoa is. We love using it as an oatmeal substitute and as a rice substitute for bowls. The only downside to quinoa, is how messy it is for baby-led weaning, but it definitely keeps us on our toes, and our dog on his toes!

4. Chia Seeds

We use Chia Seeds pretty much every day in this household because of how nutrient dense they are and just how easy they are to use. Chia seeds have 5g of fiber, 4g of fat, 3g of protein and 3g of Omega-3’s per 1 tablespoon which is amazing! It’s also a significant source of calcium and phosphorus! Everything we can through chia seeds into we do. We love adding about a tablespoon per serving in things like smoothies, oatmeal, on salads, etc. And the best thing about Chia Seeds? Chia Seed pudding! We’ll never have regular pudding again in this household with how healthy, satisfying and delicious chia seed puddings are! It’s a staple in this house for sure.

3. Hemp Hearts

Hemp Hearts are just shelled hemp seeds making them easier to digest. They’re a complete plant-based protein source containing about 3g of protein per 1 tablespoon. They’re also low in carbs and they’re a great source of iron, magnesium, zinc and potassium. The best thing about hemp hearts? They’re high in essential fatty acids like omega-6 and omega-3 making them super great for children’s growing brains. Like Chia Seeds, we pretty much use about a tablespoon per serving of hemp hearts in most things like smoothies, salads, and oatmeal. We also love sprinkling them on pretty much everything for our daughter for added nutrition. They get added nutrition without being able to tell the difference so it’s a win-win!

2. Cashews

Cashews by themselves are listed as number two on the list because of their versatility. 1/4th cup cashews contains about 5g of protein, 1g fiber and they’re rich in health fats including mono and poly unsatured fats which help lower cholesterol. They’re also fantastic sources of copper and magnesium. Cashews are delicious on their own, but where they really shine are being used in dairy substitute recipes like vegan butters, cheeses and as a heavy cream substitute in soups, sauces and more. Personally we use cashews multiple times a day in vegan butters, on salads, or blended up in smoothies. They’re super healthy, and great snacks for children’s growing brains and bodies.

1. Nutritional Yeast

Nutritional Yeast is by far the best pantry staple you can have in your house. 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast contains 2.5g of protein, 0.5g carbs, 0g fat, 2.8 mg of b12 (250% daily value), 176 mg folate, a good amount of fiber, potassium and iron. If you want a super savory flavor you can add it to pretty much any dish and it will add a savory, umami, cheesy quality. Also adding a little bit of it (like 1 tablespoon per serving) is not even noticeable, so you get the benefits from it without even tasting it. We use it in smoothies, soups, pretty much all our main entrees as seasonings. It’s just all around the best thing you can feed your body, without really any doing anything. It’s just an add-on that’s great for you, tastes great and as vegans, it gives us vital nutrients we need.

Honorable Mentions

There are many pantry staples that didn't make the top 10 list, but we still believe that they deserve to be mentioned in this article. Our top 3 include the following:

Healthier Comforts Animal Free Egg White Protein: This pantry staple is created using the same way insulin is created, using precision fermentation and it's incredibly similar to egg whites and has a similar protein content too! It's great as an egg white substitute in baking, added to smoothies for added protein and smoothness and as an actual fried egg white substitute (see our Plant-Based Fried Egg recipe).
Nuts & Nut-butters: Cashews deserved a place up on the top 10 list by itself, but it's important to mention all the other nuts including almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts and many more! We typically have a variety of nuts and nut-butters stocked in our household which we eat for snacks, top on oatmeal, and bake into wonderful desserts!
Pumpkin & Sunflower Seeds: We love using sprouted pumpkin and sunflower seeds and they're super nutritious for you being high iron, protein, fiber and much more. We top salads, avocado toast and much more with these flavorful seeds!

Conclusion

There you have it — our top 10 must-have pantry staples that have genuinely transformed the way we cook and eat as a plant-based family. The beautiful thing about all of these ingredients is that they're not just "vegan" foods — they're whole, nutrient-rich staples that any household can benefit from, regardless of diet. Stock your pantry with these, and you'll always have the building blocks for a healthy, satisfying meal no matter how busy life gets. If you try any of these or already have your own go-to staples, let us know in the comments — we'd love to hear how you're using them!