How maple syrup can sweeten up your Veganuary

After 2021’s Veganuary triumph, stats came back to say that 98% of people who took part in Veganuary last year would recommend it to a friend. Are you one of those friends who is participating in Veganuary for the first time this year?

If so, we thought we could help by recommending our best maple-infused vegan recipes to give you some inspiration for you January meal plans.

At this time of year, shops and restaurants are making a real effort to make sure vegan ingredients and dishes are more visible and accessible, so you should be able to obtain all the ingredients for the recipes below in your local supermarket.

Memorable Vegan Mains

Veganuary is an opportunity to widen your cooking repertoire and cook something you have never attempted before. A perfect example of a recipe to try is our vegan Thai green curry, a great option if you are a regular at your local Thai takeaway. The recipe adds pure maple syrup and maple sugar to the signature creamy, curry sauce. It also recommends adding ¼ of a teaspoon of chilli flakes, but don’t hold back if you love spice.

If you’re looking for a recipe to use up all of the vegetables you have accumulated in your fridge, our turmeric veggie fried rice will be right up your street. The recipe advises using mushrooms, brussels sprouts, and carrots, but the best thing about this recipe is it can work with any vegetables you have. The main flavour of the dish comes from the sauce, made up of sriracha, pure maple syrup, chilli, and garlic – a classic combination of sweet and spicy.

Our final mains recipe is one for the vegans who aren’t against the taste of meat, who still crave that delicious umami flavour that meat holds. A vegan BBQ jackfruit pizza is the perfect equivalent of a ‘meat feast’ pizza, if that was your regular before Veganuary. The jackfruit is cooked in a combination of barbeque sauce and pure maple syrup to give it that sweet and salty tang.

Vegan Desserts to Die For

Again, as it is Veganuary, people may be craving the foods they have chosen to restrict for the month. Our vegan crème brûlée is a great substitute for the traditionally decadent French dessert. This recipe doesn’t sacrifice the luxuriousness of a crème brûlée, using cashew nuts and coconut milk to achieve that signature creamy texture. The maple element of the dish comes when we use pure maple syrup instead of sugar on the top of the dessert to caramelise with a blowtorch.

Vegan crème brûlées are quick and easy to make, but if you are hosting a dinner party in January, individual desserts may not be the answer. A great option for entertaining would be a vegan vanilla cheesecake. This recipe says it can serve up to eight people, but if you really love it, it may be more like six. Golden pure maple syrup is used to compliment the delicate vanilla flavour of the dessert.

Our final vegan dessert to die for is a vegan chocolate and maple fondant. Usually, chocolate fondants are made with dark chocolate anyways, so the only vegan replacements in this recipe are dairy free spread instead of butter and almond milk instead of cow’s milk. Golden pure maple syrup is also used in this recipe to sweeten that deep, dark chocolate flavour of the fondant, and it makes sure you don’t feel short-changed on the sweetness of your dessert.

To browse even more vegan recipes than our top picks, make sure to click here.