Now that summer is in full swing, you see people barbecuing in parks, on roof terraces - literally everywhere. Rightly so, because let’s be honest, barbecue is the ultimate summer evening meal (at least, in my opinion). Unfortunately, it’s often centred around lots of meat which leaves vegetarians and vegans with limited options to eat. In this blog, I’ll show you that organising a fully vega(n) barbecue is very easy and might even be tastier.

Vega(n) meat

Nowadays, there’s loads of vega(n) meat options available which makes it very easy to substitute real meat with fake meat. The Vegetarische Slager, for example, has lots of vegetarian and vegan options to choose from. While these can be more expensive than real meat, you can save money by keeping an eye on sales. When they are on sale, you can easily buy some products in advance and freeze them until your next barbecue. They will taste the same!

Talking about taste, people often complain about the flavourlessness and plainness of vega(n) meat and that it doesn’t taste the same as real meat. Going into organising a vega(n) barbecue expecting it to taste the same as a barbecue with real meat will set you up for disappointment (to clarify: in the meat department), so it’s important to keep an open mind. To get rid of the plainness and flavourlessness of the meat you can easily marinate it with some herbs and other spices so that it will taste delicious!

Bread and dips

Another important component of a barbecue is bread with dips. You definitely don’t have to worry about bread because it’s vegan, but you have to put in some effort for vega(n) dips as many you can buy at the supermarket are not vegan. Great options are tapenades (but make sure to check for anchovy or other additives made from animals) or hummus, which you can find at the supermarket but also easily make yourself. Guacamole or aioli are also very easy to make yourself. Dips to go alongside your meat are fairly easy to find as well. Van Wijngaarden has made veganaise and Duyvis offers many interesting dips with flavours like spicy Indian curry or fiesta pepper.

Side dishes

While the vega(n) meat and bread and dips are great, I think the amount of vega(n) side dishes you can make for your barbecue is where you can let yourself loose. There are so many amazingly delicious options! For example, the last time I barbecued with friends we put pineapple on it and it was so tasty. Just cut your pineapple into six parts (removing the top and bottom), put it on the barbecue and you’ll have a caramelised, sweet pineapple which is the perfect dessert. You can also put some marinated cauliflower, or falafel with aubergine and paprika on skewers and roast them on the barbecue. Marinated mushrooms. sweet potato, or tofu are great options as well. On top of that, my friends and I often roast courgettes and pointed peppers cut in strips and drained in oil with lots of spices, which is so nice!

Salads make great side dishes as well and you cannot have a barbecue without one in my opinion. During my last barbecue, a friend of mine made a spicy corn salad, which was not my favourite but very tasty regardless. Other vega(n) options are tabbouleh salad or creamy sweet potato salad made with soy yoghurt, for example. But there are many more salads you can serve at your barbecue that are just a Google search away.

Drinks

On hot summer evenings, you definitely also need something refreshing. You can easily fill a carafe with water and put some lemon, lime and mint into it. Adding cucumber is also delicious. Or, you can buy Slimpie zero sugar lemonade syrup to make some refreshing lemonade (to spice it up, add water with gas instead of water without gas). Ice tea green from Albert Heijn, for example, is also vegan and many soft drinks from Jumbo as well. If you are in need of an alcoholic drink, you can easily find all the vegan options on Veganwiki, which is a Dutch site that has recorded all vegan products available in Dutch supermarkets right now. While it cannot be translated into English, it’s quite easy to navigate and with Google Translate you’ll come a long way.

As you can see, organising a vega(n) barbecue is not that difficult at all and can be very delicious! Hopefully this blogpost has given you some inspiration on what to serve during your next barbecue. What is your favourite vega(n) dish to serve? Let us know in the comments below. Enjoy the barbecue season! :)