How to survive Vegan Pesach! Updated for 2024!

Wondering how to survive Pesach on a plant-based diet? Get easily actionable hints and tips, + over 40 delicious tried-and-tested vegan Passover recipes below.

We Jews certainly know how to make a difficult situation harder, right?
Hello vegan Passover – I’m looking at you 👋.

However, there are many things we can do to make following a plant-based diet easier during Pesach. 

Vegan Pesach experience

On this page I’ve collected all the advice and experience I’ve gained from making meat-free Pesach for over 20 years. Like almost everything else for vegetarians and vegans, Passover has become a lot easier over the years as new products have come to market, or become more widely available. Advances in food technology have also made replacing some of our staples with vegan kosher-for-Passover alternatives much easier.

So whether this is the first time you’ve hosted a vegan for Pesach, or if you’re an old hand at making plant-based Passover, I hope you’ll find some useful information below. 

Vegan Passover – my first time…

I first did a completely vegan Pesach back in about 1997. It was also the first time I’d prepared for the festival away from my parents’ house. But I was in Israel, so it was a bit easier. And I was living with a long-term vegan, and she’d figured a lot of it out already.

The first and most important thing I learned was…

Eat all the kitniot?!

Eating kitniot makes a vegan Passover diet a lot less restrictive, and also a LOT more nutritionally sound. I personally believe there are solid reasons for everyone, not just vegans, to eat kitniot on Pesach (here’s an article I wrote about it several years ago). However, if that’s not your thing, then that’s fine too – no judgements.

If you haven’t traditionally eaten kitniot, and you’re vegan, and especially if you have a growing child or teenager who is vegan, you should consider speaking to a trusted and sympathetic rabbi to ask for permission to eat kitniot, on the basis of nutritional necessity. No point in ending the festival malnourished, is there?

It’s also OK to let your vegan kids eat kitniot even if the rest of the family abstains. It’s completely permissible to own and serve kitniot on Passover, even if you don’t eat it yourself, so if humous on matza is the only protein your vegan child gets all week, don’t worry about having it in your fridge! 

If you open the door to kitniot, you can pick up hechshered K-for-P humous, tahini, aubergine salads and other Israeli dips at most major supermarkets with a kosher section. In the UK you may also find the range of Gosh! Foods falafel, pakoras, and other beany bites which are certified K-for-P kitniot by the SKA. All good sources of protein and a handy vegan standby when the non-vegans are eating boiled eggs and/or fishballs.

Vegan Passover Proteins

If you follow a vegan diet you’re probably used to not having a discernible lump of protein on your plate. This is doubly true at Pesach when things like tofu and seitan are off the menu. If you eat kitniot (see above) then you can have pulses and beans. Otherwise fill up on nuts and quinoa (see below) and remember that even vegetables contain some protein. A medium baked potato contains about 4.5g protein, while an avocado has around 4g  and 100g cooked broccoli has around 3g protein.

Nuts and nut butters are another great Pesach friendly protein source. Here are the values for 25g (a snack-size serving) of different types of nuts:

• Almonds – 4-6g
• Cashews – 4-5g
• Hazelnuts – 3.5-4g
• Walnuts – 3.5-4g
• Pistachios – 5-5.5g
• Pine nuts – 3.5g
• Brazil nuts – 3.5-4g

Peanuts come in at 6.5 g of protein per 25g serving, but they are kitniot (see above) so you may choose to avoid them.

Chia seeds are another good source, and according to SKA, are not considered kitniot. They contain just over 4g of protein per 2.5 tablespoon – which is roughly the amount you’d use to make one portion of chia pudding.

As a guide, a healthy adult needs around 45-55g of protein per day.

Quinoa – the vegan’s friend

Quinoa was initially considered not to be kitniot, but in the last few years some rabbis have decided it is kitniot. (Which apart from anything else demonstrates how arbitrary the whole notion of kitniot is – don’t get me started…)

What can definitely be said about it though is that it’s high in protein and generally considered an excellent option for vegans on Pesach – and the rest of the year, too. A cup of cooked quinoa contains around 8g of protein.

You can make it into salads, add it to soups, serve it with vegetables and sauce as a main dish, or even cook it with fruit and cinnamon to make a tasty breakfast. Talk about versatile!

Vegan Pesach – Let’s go nuts!

Whether you’re vegan or not, nuts – especially almonds – are a Passover staple.

Nuts are important to a vegan diet because as well as protein (see above), they also contain important minerals, dietary fibre, and healthy fats. They are great for snacking, and can be simply sprinkled over salads or easily incorporated into recipes.

If plain nuts aren’t exciting enough, you can make easy nut clusters by mixing assorted nuts with melted dark chocolate and allowing spoonfuls to set on a greaseproof-lined tray. Or toast a handful of nuts in a dry frying pan and throw in some sea salt, chopped fresh rosemary and a pinch of chilli for a delicious and nutrient-rich snack. (It goes perfectly with the Jewish Mothers Ruin – just saying.)

Nut butter spread onto matza or apple slices makes a great vegan breakfast, or you can add it to shakes and smoothies for a healthy and delicious boost. You can make nut butter yourself in a blender or food processor, or look out for jars which have been certified for Pesach. We love almond butter as an everyday spread, but pistachio, pecan or macadamia butters are a real treat!

Veggies – get more than 5-a-day!

Fresh fruits and vegetables are, of course, the mainstays of the vegan diet, and there’s no shortage of ways to use them that are completely Passover friendly. Chop them into salads, roast them, layer them onto matza, or make soups and nutrient-rich smoothies.  

Easy and delicious vegetable noodles

One thing I would definitely recommend is to invest in a spiraliser for Pesach. Vegetable noodles are a terrific base on which to build an interesting vegan Pesach meal, whether it’s as a simple salad, or as a pasta substitute with tomato sauce, vegan pesto (in previous years, Providence Deli dairy-free pesto has had a K-for-P kitniot hechsher), or some roasted veg.

You can add vegetable noodles to soups to add texture, or even use them to create fun and colourful vegetable kugels. The possibilities are endless!

I have this 4-blade spiraliser, which I would heartily recommend, but if you want a more budget option, check out this hand-held one instead.

Good veggies for spiralising include cucumber, courgettes, carrots, sweet potatoes, beetroot and squash, but anything reasonably firm is fair game.

Munchy crunchy matza – a vegan Passover staple

Matza is of course, completely vegan, and makes the perfect base for all manner of vegan Passover meals. Whizz up a vegan pesto, spread over matza and top with sliced tomatoes, or slather your matza in nut butter and sprinkle with dark chocolate chips and a tiny pinch of sea salt. The topping options are limited only by your imagination.

You can also still make Matza pizza, even without the cheese! Top a piece of matza with tomato sauce or vegan pesto, add your choice of thinly sliced veggies, olives and seasonings, and drizzle with olive oil before baking for a few minutes in a hot oven. Scatter over some torn basil and enjoy! Delicious!

The humble spud – in praise of potatoes

Finally, it’s worth remembering that everyone’s favourite Pesach standby, the potato, is completely vegan! Whether you make jacket spuds, potato wedges, mash, hash browns or potato salad, there are plenty of vegan Pesach options that will provide the basis for a week’s worth of meals. Throw in a few sweet potatoes for variety if you feel the urge.

The Best Vegan Passover Recipes – tried and tested

Here are some recipe suggestions that will ensure you’ve something tasty, nutritious, kosher-for-Passover, and vegan, to eat at every meal. By and large, these recipes don’t contain any kitniot, because while it’s easy to enjoy prepared kitniot foods like humous, making rice or beans from scratch on Pesach is an altogether more challenging proposition.

Vegan Passover breakfasts

Baked apples with charoset stuffing, from Family Friends Food.
Beet, cranberry and ginger smoothie, from Veggie Desserts.
Cinnamon apple breakfast quinoa, from Simply Quinoa.
Charoset stuffed baked apples, from Family Friends Food.
Chocolate chia pudding, from Hungry, Healthy, Happy.
Grandma’s dried fruit compote, from Family Friends Food.
Paleo porridge, from Family Friends Food.
Pesach pop tarts, from Family Friends Food.
Traffic light fruit smoothie, from Eats Amazing.

Salads & side dishes – vegan and kosher for Passover!

Aubergine dip, from Tin & Thyme.
Avocado, apple and hazelnut salad, from Tinned Tomatoes.
Bitter greens salad with orange, from Ronnie Fein.
Caponata alla Guidia, from Family Friends Food.
Carrot & parsnip fries, from Ronnie Fein.
Crunchy red cabbage slaw with zingy juniper dressing, from Family Friends Food.
Garlic & rosemary scalloped potato roast, from Family Friends Food.
Greek potatoes with lemon & garlic, from Family Friends Food.
Matza nachos with fresh tomato salsa, from Family Friends Food.
Moroccan carrot salad, from Family Friends Food.
Quinoa tabbouleh salad, from Veggies Save the Day.
Summer salad with grilled vegetables, from Family Friends Food.
Zoodle salad with avocado pesto dressing and baby plum tomatoes, from Family Friends Food.

Vegan Pesach soups and main dishes

Artichoke soup, from Poppy and Prune.
Carrot and tomato soup with ginger and orange, from Family Friends Food.
Creamy courgette and potato soup, from Family Friends Food.
Leek and potato soup, from Oh! You Cook!
Mushroom soup with thyme, from Kosher by Gloria.
Roasted broccoli, almond and mint soup, from Waitrose.com.
Aubergine, hummus and avocado matza pizza, from Rakusens.
Aubergine, sweet potato and Metis tagine, from Tinned Tomatoes.
Cranberry, chestnut and quinoa stuffed squash, from Caroline’s Cooking.
Cypriot vegetable stew, from Tin & Thyme.
Hasselback butternut squash with sweet chilli and rosemary, from Family Friends Food.
Imam Bayildi, from Ronnie Fein.
Mediterranean vegetable tian, from Family Friends Food.
Mushroom and vegetable bourguignon, from Family Friends Food.
Potato and cauliflower curry, from Tinned Tomatoes.
Warm quinoa salad with garlic mushrooms, from Family Friends Food.

Passover snacks, sweets, cakes and desserts for vegans

Cinnamon sugar matza nachos with fruit salsa, from Family Friends Food.
Charoset stuffed baked apples, from Family Friends Food.
Chocolate fruit and nut clusters, from Kellie’s Food to Glow.
Confetti fruit salad, from Family Friends Food.
Duke of Cambridge matza cake, from Family Friends Food.
Grandma’s dried fruit compote, from Family Friends Food.
Incredible 1-ingredient chocolate mousse, from Family Friends Food.
Lemon & cinnamon charoset with pine nuts, from Family Friends Food.
No bake chocolate coconut balls, from Family Friends Food.
Pesach gingernuts, from Family Friends Food via Hungry Healthy Happy.
Raw vegan brownies, from Planet Veggie.
Watermelon & berry salad with basil-mint sugar, from Family Friends Food.

Share Your Vegan Passover Advice

Do you have any advice for making vegan Passover palatable? Please share it in the comments below!
Don’t forget to check out my Secrets of a Stress-free Pesach, and take a look at this fun Pesach food trivia quiz – a great way to liven up your seder.

And come and join us on the Family Friends Food facebook page, where I’ll be sharing lots more recipes, tips and ideas in the run-up to Pesach.

Want deliciously easy, family-friendly recipes and articles like this one delivered straight to your inbox? Click here to sign up. (Of course, I’ll never pass on your email address to anyone.)

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This article was originally published in March 2018. It was expanded and updated in March 2024.