I was a vegan at one point in my life, so I know firsthand what being a plant-based eater in an omnivore’s world is like—and all about the vegan gifts will actually impress. Your vegan friend or family member will likely appreciate anything that makes plant-based eating and living a little more convenient for them—the person accustomed to reading labels obsessively, scanning restaurant menus, and making substitutions in recipes.
Below are a few vegan gifts, including handy kitchen gadgets, vegan treats, and waste-reducing products that the dedicated herbivore in your life will undoubtedly love.
A tofu press
My vegan roommate told me once that the tofu press I brought into the apartment changed his life. Getting the moisture out of tofu is essential in many preparations—it’ll help the plant-based protein get crispy on a sheet pan or form egg-like curds in a scramble. A press like this one makes that a quick and easy process. (If you’ve ever tried wringing tofu out with a towel, you know how worth it one of these tools is.) Plus, the press doubles as a sealed container for leftover tofu blocks.
Seed Ranch Umami Chef Set
Nutritional yeast adds a kick of umami to whatever you choose to sprinkle it on. It’s a staple ingredient in most vegan kitchens. This umami seasoning from Seed Ranch takes the savory power of nutritional yeast a couple of steps further by including dried porcini mushrooms, kelp fronds, garlic, and paprika. It’s paired with two bottles of umami everyday sauce and umami reserve hot sauce that can also help add an extra burst of flavor to any dish.
A rice cooker
Rice provides an easy building block for a plant-based meal. Having a simple-to-use rice cooker, like this Zojirushi model, makes having fresh rice on hand incredibly easy. My colleague Kendra Vaculin and I both have this one and love it.
A fancy blender
A Vitamix is probably the best, most generous vegan gift of all time. High-powered blenders make creamy smoothies, sure. But for vegans, they’re especially valuable because they’re basically the only blenders capable of making really good nut butters and nut milks. They’ll blend creamy cashew-based sauces and velvety vegetable soups, making them a great gift for your favorite vegan.
Vegan Bee’s Wrap
Bee’s Wrap makes beeswax-free reusable food wraps in addition to its classic variety—perfect for your vegan friend who still wants to limit plastic use in the kitchen.
A spiralizer
For all the new vegans just joining in on the fun: In the ABCs of veganism, Z is for zoodles. This spiralizer, one of our favorites, makes it easy to make noodles out of zucchini, beets, and carrots, also known as zoodles, boodles, and coodles.
Nut Milk Bag
A nut milk bag makes it easy to strain the grits and bits out of your almond, or cashew, or even pistachio milk for a silky-smooth dairy substitute.
Hu chocolate
A lot of high-quality bean-to-bar chocolate also happens to be vegan chocolate. My colleague Lauren Joseph is on record as a fan of Hu chocolate bars, which are free of dairy and made with real sugar.
Spices
My roommate says that “a lot of vegan food is terrible, so you have to douse it in spices just to feel alive.” He may be indulging in a bit of hyperbole. That certainly does not have to be the case, but there’s no denying that a good array of spices is vital to flavorful and interesting vegan cooking. This trio from one of our favorite spice purveyors, Diaspora Co., will serve your vegan pal well, whether they’re cooking crispy chickpeas, soothing lentils, or glazed tofu.
Countertop composting kit
A plant-based life results in a lot of plant-based scraps. For any sustainability minded vegan, a countertop composting system is a great way to make the most of kitchen scraps for gardening projects or houseplant care.
Vegan hand cream
If the vegan in your life is also a skincare fanatic or devout follower of vegan beauty products, take note for future holiday gifts. Cult-favorite cosmetics brand Nécessaire makes a vegan hand cream that is, in addition to being cruelty-free, hypoallergenic and fast-absorbing.
Plant-based cookbooks
You truly can’t go wrong giving a cookbook, and lucky for you we’ve got a few different picks from the last few years.
Lawyer turned cookbook author Joanne Lee Molinaro writes a well-loved blog, The Korean Vegan; she also has a popular TikTok account, where she cooks vegan recipes while sharing the wisdom she’s gleaned through challenges she’s faced in her life. Her cookbook is a combination of both, making it just as much a resource for delicious meals as it is a compelling read.
Pretty much everybody who works at this website is obsessed with Amy Chaplin. I am not joking when I say her name is invoked on countless occasions. (Editor’s note: It’s true and I’m often the guilty party!) Her experimental and surprising vegetable-forward, gluten-free cooking methods are a source of endless inspiration. For vegans tired of chickpea stews and grain bowls, Chaplin’s cookbook will be a breath of fresh air.
Or go for the latest in Phaidon’s library of gorgeous cookbooks. Penned by chef Jean-Christian Jury, this hefty vegan cookbook is filled with over 500 veggie-centric recipes from around the world and features beautiful photography and illustrations.
And if you want a more recent release, go with Danny Bowien’s Mission Vegan.
Embossing label maker
A well-stocked vegan kitchen will often have an assortment of dried legumes, grains, and flours—a much more varied collection than the average omnivore’s. This makes for fantastic kitchen experimentation, but it can also lead to pantry chaos. A label maker and pretty storage jars can bring order to a jumbled pile of Bob’s Red Mill bags. (FYI: The coolest label makers are the old-fashioned embossing kind.)
Stainless-steel straws
There’s a lot of crossover between vegans and the zero-waste cohort. Since many vegans are aiming for a more eco-conscious lifestyle, they will probably appreciate a gift set of reusable goods. Use a pack of these easy-to-clean stainless-steel straws as a stocking stuffer, ideal for reducing single-use plastic consumption.
Stasher bags
And don’t forget the adorable (and eco-friendly!) reusable silicone Stasher bags. Use them to store your fruit and veggie snacks, or any other odds and ends you may have.
A reusable shopping bag
Baggu totes are a nice eco-friendly alternative to single-use bags because they’re lightweight and easy to crumple up into a jacket pocket or purse. Shove a couple into your canvas tote and you have the perfect zero-waste produce bags for weekend after weekend of farmers market runs.
A premium nut milk maker
If you’re looking for gift ideas that are a bit more luxurious, the Chefwave Milkmade is an ideal gift for your dairy-free loved one this Christmas. We tested this machine and learned that it not only makes creamy and delicious plant-based milks, but it also cleans itself up afterward. Pretty hard to beat that.
Gourmet salt
Kala Namak is a type of salt from South Asia containing additional trace minerals that give it an egg-like flavor. Its one of the only vegan ingredients that can replicate the flavor of eggs and is an incredibly handy ingredient for tofu egg salad or scramble.
A Smart Garden and Seeds
Considering the vegan life involves a lot of plants, you might want to give the vegan in your life the tools to start growing their own greens and herbs. Create the best vegan gift basket with a mini garden set and some herb seeds so your giftee can start growing their own greens right on their windowsill.
Fix & Fogg nut butters
Nut butters are a staple in most plant-based diets and Fix & Fogg nut butters are the best of the best. If you’re brainstorming a cute vegan gift idea, we suggest putting together a little DIY gift box of vegan treats and including a couple of different jars. We’d especially recommend the sweet Coffee and Maple flavor thats good on toast, and the Smoke and Fire flavor, which features hatch chiles and manuka smoke, making it great for savory sauces.
Instant Pot
Everybody’s favorite pressure cooker is a just-right gift for anybody adhering to a plant-based diet; the do-everything appliance being key to so many quick-and-easy vegan meals. This thing is able to cook dried beans in under an hour without soaking them.
Olive Oil
Whether they’re using it for cooking or dipping bread into, everyone deserves a high quality bottle of olive oil as a holiday or birthday gift. We liked Calivirgin Extra-Virgin Olive Oil as an especially high-end pick for its bold, bracing, and subtly fruity flavor.
Takeya water bottle
Our product-test-winning Takeya water bottle is a good gift for anybody doing their best to stay properly hydrated. The double-walled stainless-steel bottle can keep water ice cold for a whole day and it has a tight, leakproof lid.
Vegan ice cream
No one should have to give up ice cream. And luckily for all the vegans out there, plenty of creameries have decided you don’t have to with a dairy-free options—like this sampler six-pack of Craig’s delicious vegan ice cream from Williams-Sonoma.
Vegan snack subscription box
Give the vegan in your life a gift that keeps on giving. No, literally—get them a vegan snacks gift subscription box that’ll arrive straight to their doorstep every month. The Vegancuts Snack Box from Cateful rounds up a variety pack of over ten plant-based snacks, drinks, and other food gifts for the vegan in your life to fall in love with. If you’re looking for other gift subscription box ideas, check out our subscription box gift guide.
Victorinox Fibrox Pro Knife
Every vegan is going to need a trust knife for all of the vegetables and herbs they’ll be chopping up. We ranked the Victorinox as a worthy budget pick for its razor sharp precision and comfy rubber handle. And if you really want to splash out on a knife, the Mac Professional Hollow Edge Chef’s Knife is the best of the best.