It must be snacking season because I’ve had a lot of emails lately asking for some healthy vegan snack ideas and I thought it was a great idea for a post. Many of the recipes below are also some of the most popular snack recipes of 2011, so I will also add this post to my Top Recipes of 2011 page for easy reference.
Ready to get your vegan snack attack on?
1. Endurance Crackers
My all-time favourite cracker and quite possibly one of the top 3 recipes so far in 2012. Endurance Crackers are extremely light and crispy while providing long-lasting energy. They are also vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, sugar-free, and oil-free to boot. Feel free to change up the seasonings and spices as you wish (see the comments in the original post for some ideas) and serve with protein-packed hummus for a snack that will fuel you for the long haul. Man, I wish I had some right now!
2. Flu Buster Creamsicle Smoothie
Enjoy this ultra-creamy, thick, and energizing smoothie, with a hint of orange that will help keep those cold bugs at bay!
3. Chocolate Cake Batter Smoothie
Love dipping your finger into a bowl of cake batter? I hear ya. Now the cake batter flavour we know and love is in smoothie form so you can slurp away to your hearts content.
3. Salt & Vinegar Chickpeas
Just like my favourite salt and vinegar chips, but better. Enjoy these protein-packed, crispy chickpeas without any processed ingredients and a fraction of the fat.
4. Easy Homemade Wheat Thins
Incredibly easy to make. Minimal ingredients. Best of all, they’re even better than the store bought version.
5. Healthy Strawberry Oat Squares
Growing up, I always loved strawberry nutri-grain bars. These are similar in taste, but with all natural ingredients and much less sugar.
6. Half the Calories, Double the Fun Almond Butter
Adapted from the lovely Heather, this almond butter is the best thing to pair with a juicy apple or drizzled over fruit. Or just spoon it straight from the jar…you’ll see what I mean.
7. The Hummus that Changed Everything
This is the homemade hummus that convinced me I can make a hummus as good as my favourite brands in the grocery store.
8. Lightened Up Granola
I’ve always loved granola, but I rarely buy it because it tends to have as much sugar in it as many decadent desserts. This is my lightened-up version with the least amount of sweetener necessary while still tasting like granola should.
9. Tropical Lemon Cranberry Coconut Chia Bars
Packed with chia seeds, dried cranberries, pistachios, and lemon, these bars are chewy, light, and tropical. I like to think of them as a tropical macaroon bar. They also make a perfect breakfast when you are running out the door!
10. Almond Butter Rice Crisp Treats
These Almond Butter Rice Crisp Treats are a gourmet version (read: no bake) of my beloved childhood rice crispy squares. Unlike the original, this recipe is made without marshmallows, but I promise you won’t miss them!
for the rest click the link to continue…
11. No Bake Protein Energy Bars
Simple. Delicious. Addictive. 8 grams of protein per bar. Meet the protein bars that carried us through miles and miles of walking throughout NYC! I added protein powder to rev up the protein in these bars, making sure they would give me lasting energy when out and about. I wasn’t really sure what they would taste like with 1/2 cup of protein powder, but I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome! Just make sure you use a pleasant tasting protein powder and you’ll be fine. I used an unsweetened rice protein powder (Garden of Life) which worked great as it doesn’t have a strong flavour.
12. Carrot Raisin Spice Muffins
Like carrot cake, but healthier. My favourite way to enjoy these muffins is slathered with Earth Balance or crumbled on top of a bowl of vegan overnight oats. Perfecto!
13. Cheezy Hummus
This is what you get when you combine my cashew cheeze dip and my favourite hummus. Pure bliss in a bowl.
14. Oil-Free Zucchini Walnut Raisin Loaf
A dense loaf, but not in a bad way. Whole grain spelt flour tends to make dense breads, but I just love the nutty flavour of spelt so I don’t mind. The walnuts, streusel, and raisins add just the right amount of sweetness and crunch and the zucchini gives moisture without needing any oil. You also can’t taste the zucchini at all, but you can see the pretty green flecks!
15. Rustic Chocolate Chip Banana Oat Cake
Two pictures…just because I love it that much.
Thanks to the ripe bananas, there is minimal sweetener and oil required in this snack cake.
16. Frosty No Bake Glo Cakes
Prep time is just 3 minutes for these healthy frozen treats. It doesn’t get much quicker than that!
17. My Favourite Guacamole
Amazing with corn chips, spread on a wrap, spooned on a salad, or enjoyed with a fork…
18. 5 Minute & 5-Ingredient Almond Butter Chews
These Almond Butter Chews couldn’t be easier and they make a light pre-workout snack for about 100 calories each. They take 5 minutes to whip up, use just 1 bowl, and do not require an oven. You could even make them gluten-free. I use the Nature’s Path Rice Crisp cereal that is Gluten-Free.
19. Healthy Chocolate Chia Pudding
I make this pudding when I want something indulgent tasting, but don’t feel like eating a ton of sugar. I love mixing carob powder and cocoa powder for a more complex chocolate flavour. The carob powder also adds a natural sweetness as an added bonus. If you don’t have carob, I suggest using a bit more cocoa powder and sweetener since it will be less sweet without the carob. Serve cold or heated up!
20. Banana Split Vegan Overnight Oats
A rich and indulgent banana split…now made healthier.
21. Blueberry Pie Chia Pudding
Last but not least, this is a recipe that I made over the weekend. It reminds me of blueberry pie, in chia seed pudding form.
Pretty isn’t it? You can enjoy this warm or chilled depending on your mood.
The crumbled Basic Oatmeal Square really took it over the top. It’s like an upside down blueberry pie.
22. On The Glow Basic Oatmeal Square
Think of this oatmeal square as basic baked oatmeal that can be dressed up any way you like. Each large square contains a tablespoon of flax and a teaspoon of chia seeds as well as 7 grams of fibre and 6 grams of protein. Feel free to add in nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, and other mix-ins as you desire.
Don’t forget to check out my Top Recipes of 2011 round up, filled with the blog’s most popular entrees, salads, breakfasts, and soups of last year!
The blueberry pie chia pudding is my new favorite breakfast! It’s so nice after a morning run with some cereal and almonds on top (I like Kashi cinnamon Heart to Heart). I liked it so much that I took a few pictures of it and I’ll post them and a link to the recipe on my blog. Thank you so much!
Over the past 3 days I have been doing some research for a friend and I must say your blog has helped me alot to understand Vegan living as a whole. Iam even considering going Vegan Myself
hi! i am LOVING these ideas and printing off recipes for snacks! my girls and i have already made the salt and vinegar chickpeas and whole wheat crackers! we have recently gone vegan and this has helped so much!
i thought you would also want to know that there is a virus attached to your blog–when i go to your blog from google search, a blinking alert shows up in the place where your blog address was and tells me that there are viruses on my computer and then tells me to clean it– i thought it was valid because it was from microsoft essentials–my spyware–but then it downloaded something–i just took it off my computer–thank goodness! also, some of your recipes won’t print–it tells me there is insufficient memory to print (error in page script)–on some of them but on others it prints fine. just wanted to let you know! thanks for the great ideas!!!
Hey Nacole, I’m glad to hear you are all enjoying the snack recipes!
Re: the virus, we don’t have any problems on our end. I spoke with my husband and he said it’s likely you have a virus on your computer, so you might want to run a scan with a virus software. I haven’t heard of anyone having problems with the print function, but I will look into it!
Hi Angela,
Do you have a banana bread recipe?
I want all of these right now and it’s 6am? I’ll have to bookmark this page. :) Thanks for this awesome post!
I have a question. I saw chia seeds in alot of recipes and I really want to try it but what worries me is I have read that it “could” cause cancer in males granted my husband probably will never try it but what if I was to make muffins or something and he wanted to try it….how do you feel about that? Does your husband eat chia seeds?
Hey Celeste, I haven’t read anything about harmful effects of chia seeds. Can you point me to the article you read? Thanks!
Sorry I should have commented here ooops!
http://www.ehow.com/info_8255073_chia-seed-precautions.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/548297-chia-seeds-cancer/
But then this is the alternate:
http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2012/jan/12/4/superfoods-and-chia-seeds-can-help-boost-weight-lo-ar-894028/
I read the ehow one first when I was googling chia seeds for information.
Thanks for the links Celeste. One article says ALA can have anti-cancer properties (with regard to breast tissue). Another says ALA may reduce risk of heart disease while it could be a risk factor for prostate cancer. Confusing! The studies are 6-9 years old, so I’d be interested in seeing if more recent research has been done on this topic. It’s definitely worth looking into. Thanks for passing them along!
I really want to try chia seeds so it looks like I would be ok. Does your husband eat them?
hi ange!
i tried your recipe “endurance cracker” but it didnt come out well….the seeds didnt hold together like crackers but they were just like toasted seeds…do you know what might have happened? thanks a lot!!!
Hey there, Did you make any modifications to the recipe? It’s hard for me to know what went wrong since I wasn’t there.
NO….well..the only modification i did was to change the 1/2 cup of chia seeds (cause i didnt have those) for 1/2 half of mixed seeds. I put the seeds, the water, grated onion and garlic and some herbs…. they are reallly tasty tough! i really loved them! i was just expecting it to be like crakers….i was thinking that maybe i missed some flour or sth similar that allows the mix to hold together…. what you think?
thanks a lot Ange!
Hi again, I think the chia seeds are a necessary ingredient in this recipe as they bind the ingredients. I hope your next trial goes better!
Wow! What a beautiful compilation! Can’t wait to make them. Am about to do the endurance crackers now! Question: I clicked on the link for chocolate chia seed pudding and the banana split overnight oats is what came up instead. ??
Here is the recipe: http://ohsheglows.com/2012/01/11/healthy-chocolate-chia-pudding/ enjoy!
Thank you!
Just like all your admirers I can’t wait to get started trying these recipes and admiring,tasting and sharing the results with family and friends . I was putting together the ingredients for Christmas cake chopping almonds measuring fruit and stopped to read your mail, nice break ,thank you !
Ann in London (England !)
Angela…thanks for these wonderful recipes! I copied all of them for use in the immediate future…all except one that is. The link for #19, Healthy Chocolate Chia Pudding, points to
# 20, Banana Split…. I really would like the Chocolate Chia Pudding!!! Please fix the link? Please? (Thanks again!!!)
I love the recipes that i see and want to keep getting them!
Great recipes and ideas! For those who love a really creamy hummus, try peeling your chickpeas and then rinse well before blending. This takes a bit of extra time, but trust me it makes the most smooth amazing hummus. Cheers!
I’m not a vegan, so it wasn’t that aspect that drew me in–it was the fact that all of these are so low in sugar, and packed full of super healthy ingredients! It’s surprisingly hard to find snacks, treats, and energy bars in the store that don’t have upwards of 10 grams of sugar (in that case, you might as well just be eating a candy bar!). Since I’ve started looking at food labels more, and since my Grandpa’s diabetes has gotten harder for him to handle, I’ve been trying to be more careful about my sugar intake. These recipes sound delicious and easy to make, and I won’t feel guilty about indulging in a little extra when I make them!
Too bad most of the links on this post are broken. x.x
A friend of mine is going vegan for 30 days. While I already subscribe to your RSS feed and had given him your website for recipes and inspiration, he was struggling for snacks (other than plain baby carrots) so I googled “vegan snacks” and look what showed up first! So perfect! I sent him the link and there are so many yummy suggestions!
These options looked pretty good. Fruit is the best snack. I’ll eat 5 bananas for a snack or 3 mangos. For more raw/vegan snack and dinner recipes, check out my site @ veganslivingofftheland.blogspot.com
I am so excited to find this website! I am walking 60 miles in the Susan G Komen 3 day in 6 weeks and I am worried about cheese and peanut butter as the only vegetarian options during the event! I plan to make several of these and keep them in my pack while I walk. Thank you!!!! You have saved me :)
Kelly
Thank you so much for the recipes. Always looking for new vegan snack ideas and you have some great ones!