Vegan and Vegetarian Spanish Dishes You’ll Love

Spanish food has a reputation for ham and seafood, and it is true that both turn up often. But some of the best-known Spanish plates are plant-based to begin with, and several others lose their animal ingredients without losing much. If you are vegan or vegetarian, or cooking for someone who is, these eight dishes are a great place to start.

Gazpacho

A cold tomato soup from Andalusia, made by blending ripe tomatoes with bread, olive oil, garlic and a little vinegar. It is naturally vegan and served chilled, often finished with finely chopped vegetables on top. In summer it is refreshing in a way a hot meal cannot match.

Salmorejo

Gazpacho’s thicker cousin, made from the same ingredients with more bread, which gives it a creamy, almost sauce-like texture. It is often topped with diced hard-boiled egg and jamón, and those toppings are the only non-vegan part. Ask for it without them and the tomato and bread base is plant-based as it comes.

Pisto

A Spanish vegetable stew, close to ratatouille. Tomatoes, capsicum, zucchini and onion are slowly cooked in olive oil until soft and sweet. It is vegan on its own, and the fried egg often served on top is optional rather than essential. Eat it with bread or pile it onto toasted sourdough.

Tortilla española

The Spanish omelette of egg, potato and onion, and a tapas bar staple. Because it is built around eggs rather than meat, it suits vegetarians, but the classic version is not vegan. If you are vegetarian, order it happily; if you are vegan, ask what the kitchen can do rather than assuming the tortilla will work.

Patatas bravas

Rough-cut potatoes fried until crisp and served with a spicy tomato sauce. The potatoes and sauce are usually vegan, but the dish is sometimes finished with aioli, which can contain egg. Ask for it without the aioli and patatas bravas is a generous, satisfying plate for plant-based eaters.

Pan con tomate

Toasted bread rubbed with a cut ripe tomato, then drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. It is vegan as it comes and looks too simple to be good, but the quality of the tomato and oil does the work. It is a common breakfast across Spain and one of the easiest things here to make at home.

Espinacas con garbanzos

Spinach cooked slowly with chickpeas, garlic, cumin and paprika, a classic of Andalusian cooking. The base is vegan and the dish is genuinely hearty, more a small main than a nibble. Serve it with bread to mop up the spiced oil.

Veggie paella

Paella does not have to mean seafood or rabbit. A vegetable paella uses green beans, artichoke, capsicum and peas, with saffron giving the rice its colour. The thing to check is the stock: if it is chicken-based, the dish stops being vegetarian, so ask whether the vegetable paella is cooked in vegetable stock.

A note on ordering

The pattern is simple. Several Spanish classics are vegan by default, and most of the rest only need a topping left off or a stock swapped. Always ask, because the menu rarely tells the whole story, and a plant-based spread of Spanish food is just as shareable as the traditional one.

References

Spanish cuisine overview, Wikipedia, wikipedia.org Tortilla española recipe, BBC Good Food, bbcgoodfood.com