Vegan Italian Recipes

Traveling in Italy as a vegan is actually wayyy easier than folks think. Yes, Italy is the land of cheese and cured meats, but it's also the land of incredible produce, legumes, focaccia, and pasta, and a huge chunk of traditional Italian cooking is accidentally plant-based once you know where to look.

Because half of my wife's family is from Sicily (and we adore the sea and Sicily's old-world vibes) we visit often. The island is stupidly good for vegan travelers. Caponata (a sweet and sour eggplant situation), pasta with roasted vegetables, and arancini stuffed with mushrooms or peas are everywhere, and is sometimes vegan. Surprisingly, a bunch of places also have vegan pistachio gelato, which, I mean, you could hook me up to an IV drip of and, I wouldn't be that mad.

If you need to stock up on groceries, Lidl locations across Italy carry everything from fully vegan croissants to tofu, which makes self-catering an absolute breeze.

In Puglia, fava bean purée with sautéed chicory is a staple peasant dish that has been vegan since before it was cool. Veneto has risi e bisi (rice and peas), and pretty much every region has some version of ribollita, farinata, or roasted vegetable antipasti that need zero modification.

Making traditional Italian recipes vegan comes down to a handful of swaps, and the hardest part is really just unlearning the idea that you need dairy and meat to get there. Once you nail a few key replacements, the whole Italian cookbook opens back up.

The cheese situation is more sorted than most people think. My vegan parmesan recipe, vegan ricotta recipe open a ton of doors for you. And the buffalo mozzarella recipe from my plant-based cheese school class holds its own on a caprese or a pizza.

The meat swaps are just as solid TBH. My vegan pepperoni recipe brings that smoky, spiced punch you want on a pizza, and my vegan Italian sausage recipe works beautifully crumbled into a raguout or tucked into a sandwich.

Get these 5 recipes in your back pocket and traditional Italian cooking stops feeling off-limits pretty fast.