04 May, 2025
Guide to Vegan Food
From Smoothie Bowls to Burgers: A Tour of Vegan Menu Staples
With the growing interest in plant-based eating and a focus on health-conscious food choices, vegan dishes are becoming a staple in many restaurant menus. If you’re thinking of opening a vegan food café or restaurant, having a creative menu and the right equipment is key to success. Here, we’ll explore 7 popular vegan food ideas and the key commercial equipment needed to prepare them efficiently, helping you deliver high-quality dishes with ease.
1. Smoothie Bowls
A vibrant and nutrient-packed smoothie bowl is a café favorite, perfect for health-conscious customers looking for a quick, refreshing meal. Whether you’re blending up an acai berry mix or a tropical mango-pineapple combo, a commercial blender is a must.
Equipment Needed: Commercial blender
For vegan cafés and juice bars crafting thick, fruit-packed smoothie bowls, the Vitamix Touch & Go Advance Beverage Blender is a quiet powerhouse. Its integrated sound enclosure dramatically reduces blending noise, making it ideal for small spaces and customer-facing counters where ambiance matters.
If your vegan café specializes in premium smoothie bowls, the Blendtec Stealth 885 NBS Blender offers next-level blending power with whisper-quiet performance. Its sound-dampening enclosure allows your team to blend frozen bananas, spinach, dates, and seeds without disrupting customer conversations—perfect for open kitchens or small counters.
2. Vegan Burgers
Plant-based burgers made from black beans, lentils, mushrooms, or jackfruit are a staple in many vegan restaurants, offering hearty, satisfying alternatives to meat without compromising on flavor or texture. These burgers often rely on a blend of legumes, grains, and vegetables to achieve a meaty bite, while seasonings, herbs, and binders like oats or flaxseed help hold everything together. Whether served on a bun with classic toppings or as part of a bowl or wrap, vegan burgers are highly customizable and can be prepped in batches for consistent quality and quick service.
Equipment Needed: Food processor
The Robot Coupe R2N is a powerful, versatile food processor that’s perfect for preparing vegan burger mixes in commercial kitchens. Its 3-quart bowl and stainless steel “S” blade make quick work of blending ingredients like beans, lentils, mushrooms, and grains into smooth, consistent patties, while the continuous feed attachment speeds up prep of toppings like shredded carrots or cabbage slaw.
The Dito Sama 602244 Food Processor with a 4.7 Qt stainless steel bowl is perfect for creating plant-based burger patties in commercial kitchens. Its 1-1/3 HP motor and variable speeds offer precise control, allowing for smooth, consistent mixing of ingredients like lentils, chickpeas, and mushrooms.
3. Cold-Pressed Juices
Fresh vegetable and fruit juices are a favorite among health-conscious customers seeking nutrient-rich, refreshing options without added sugars or preservatives. Cold-pressed juicing uses a slow, hydraulic press to extract juice without generating heat, preserving more vitamins, enzymes, and natural flavors compared to traditional juicers. From energizing beet-ginger blends to green detox mixes with kale, cucumber, and apple, cold-pressed juices are versatile and easy to customize based on seasonal ingredients. Offering a rotating juice menu can keep your vegan café fresh and engaging while helping reduce waste by utilizing surplus produce.
Equipment Needed: Cold press juicer
The Robot Coupe J80 Ultra Automatic Juicer is perfect for vegan restaurants looking to serve fresh, nutrient-packed juices with efficiency and ease. Featuring a powerful motor and automatic operation, the J80 Ultra quickly processes a wide range of fruits and vegetables, from leafy greens to citrus, making it ideal for creating vibrant juices and smoothies.
The Santos 50 Centrifugal Juice Extractor is designed for vegan restaurants that need quick and efficient juicing without compromising on quality. Its powerful motor and centrifugal technology extract juice from a variety of fruits and vegetables with speed and precision, producing fresh, vibrant juices in seconds.
4. Vegan Pasta
A creamy, dairy-free pasta dish made from blended cashews, nutritional yeast, and plant-based milk is a comforting, crowd-pleasing option for vegan menus. These sauces mimic the richness of traditional Alfredo or cheese sauces without any dairy, often incorporating ingredients like garlic, lemon juice, and spices to add depth and umami. Pairing these sauces with high-quality pasta and seasonal vegetables—like roasted cherry tomatoes, spinach, or mushrooms—creates a hearty, satisfying entrée that appeals to both vegan and non-vegan diners. In a commercial kitchen, having a dedicated pasta cooker streamlines the process, allowing you to boil pasta quickly and efficiently during peak service times while maintaining perfect texture and consistency.
Equipment Needed: Pasta cooker
Compact yet efficient, the Waring WPC100 Pasta Cooker is a perfect solution for cafés, small vegan restaurants, or food trucks looking to expand into pasta offerings without taking up much space. This electric countertop model heats water quickly and holds it at optimal cooking temperature, making it easy to boil pasta to perfection with minimal oversight.
Designed for high-efficiency commercial kitchens, the Italiana FoodTechPasta G94 Cooker features dual 11-gallon tanks and double burners, bringing water to a boil in half the time compared to standard models. This rapid heating capability is ideal for vegan restaurants offering a variety of pasta dishes, allowing simultaneous cooking of different pasta types without cross-contamination.
5. Plant-Based Sushi
Vegan sushi rolls offer a fresh, visually striking, and customizable option that appeals to health-conscious diners and sushi lovers alike. Filled with ingredients like avocado, cucumber, pickled radish, shredded carrots, and marinated tofu or tempeh, these rolls deliver texture, color, and umami without the need for fish.
Equipment Needed: Commercial rice cooker.
The Panasonic SR-42HZP Commercial Electric Rice Cooker is designed specifically for commercial kitchens and offers a large capacity of up to 30 cups of uncooked rice. It’s ideal for making large quantities of sushi rice at once.
The Hamilton Beach 37590 45 Cups Commercial Electric Rice Cooker is another excellent option for making sushi rice in commercial kitchens. It features a large capacity (up to 90 cups cooked rice) and is designed for heavy-duty use.
6. Vegan Soups and Stews
Vegan soups are more than a comfort food — they’re a menu essential in cafés, delis, and plant-based restaurants. Whether you’re serving creamy coconut curry, lentil stew, or roasted tomato bisque, a commercial soup kettle helps you keep soup at safe, consistent serving temperatures without compromising flavor or texture.
Equipment Needed: Soup kettle
Known for quality and durability, the Vollrath 72170 Colonial 7 Qt Soup Kettle Warmer are ideal for both back-of-house and customer-facing soup stations. With adjustable temperature controls, these kettles prevent scorching and allow precise holding temperatures for delicate vegan soups.
Omcan offers affordable and reliable soup kettles built for everyday commercial use. With capacities ranging from 10 to 11 quarts, these units are ideal for rotating multiple vegan options throughout the day.
7. Dehydrated Fruit & Vegetable Snacks
Healthy, shelf-stable snacks like dried apples, mango slices, zucchini chips, and beet crisps are excellent additions to a vegan café menu. These nutrient-rich options are great for on-the-go customers and help reduce food waste by preserving fresh produce.
Equipment Needed: Commercial dehydrator
The Waring WDH10 Digital Food Dehydrator is a smart choice for vegan kitchens looking to create a variety of dehydrated fruit and vegetable snacks. With 10 stackable trays, it handles large batches efficiently while maintaining a compact footprint. The digital temperature controls and built-in timer ensure precise dehydration for consistent results—whether you’re drying apple slices or making zucchini chips.
The Excalibur DH10SSSS13 10-Tray Digital Dehydrator is ideal for high-volume vegan kitchens producing a wide range of dehydrated fruit and veggie snacks. With digital temperature and time controls, you can fine-tune settings for different produce types—preserving flavor and nutrients while achieving the perfect texture.
Bringing Your Vegan Menu to Life
Choosing the right menu items and investing in essential commercial equipment will set your vegan café or restaurant up for success. Whether you’re blending smoothies, crafting plant-based burgers, or perfecting dairy-free pasta, having the right tools will make all the difference.
Thinking about opening a vegan food business? Contact us for expert recommendations on commercial kitchen equipment tailored to your needs!