1. Substitute eggs with bananas

When a recipe needs an egg, you can use half of a ripe mashed banana. This approach works best with recipes where you would appreciate some banana flavor, such as pancakes and muffins. This is also a great way to get rid of bananas that are becoming too brown.

2. Use soymilk, rice milk or almond milk instead of cow’s milk

You can use soy milk or rice milk in any recipe to replace cow’s milk. Most likely, no one is going to notice the difference. Use plain milk in recipes where you do not want any added flavors, such as mashed potatoes and cream soups. You can use vanilla or chocolate flavored soy milk in puddings and smoothies.

3. Use vegetable broth instead of meat-based broths

A broth is the foundation for many soups, but even many vegetarian-looking store-made soups have beef or chicken stock as a base. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. Using vegetable broth to create vegetarian soups is one of the easiest things you can do. You can both buy vegetable broth or create your own from scratch.

4. Replace ground meat with soy crumbles

If you are looking to create meals that are close to look and feel to those that contain ground meats, use soy crumbles. Chances are that your family and friends are not even going to notice that you used soy instead of meat. You can brown soy in a skillet if you want it to look like meat, too.

5. Make non-dairy cheeses

Many traditional Italian recipes for dishes such as lasagna, manicotti, and stuffed pasta, call for use of ricotta and cottage cheeses. You can make your own vegetarian versions of these cheeses and keep using the same Italian recipes. To make your own vegetarian cheese, simply mash a block of tofu and add a bit of lemon juice. You can mash with your own clean hands or by using an appliance.

6. Replace meat sausages and burgers with soy sausages and burgers

Soy sausages and burgers have come a long way since vegetarian food creators tried to create soy meat substitutes. Nowadays soy meats are even better than animal meats because they often have the same taste, yet lack all the nitrates.

7. Use tofu hot dogs instead of meat hot dogs

When it comes to vegetarian hot dogs, you can grill them, boil them or heat them just like you would do with any meat hot dog. Use meatless chili to create a fully vegetarian version of a hot dog.

8. Make non-dairy buttermilk

Buttermilks add tangy flavor to a number of foods, including salad dressings, cakes, and biscuits. To make your own buttermilk, simply use plain rice milk or soymilk instead of cow’s milk. Once you are done, you don’t even have to wait for milk to clabber the way it does in daily buttermilk.

9. Use flaxseed instead of eggs

Get a tablespoon of ground flax seeds, mix them with one-fourth of a cup of water and use a small whisk to create a mixture that will replace one whole egg. Use the same proportions if you need to replace not one, but more eggs. The flax seeds will make the foods in a recipe stick together in the same way eggs do.

10. Replace hard-boiled eggs with tofu

If you want to create a vegetarian version of an egg salad or some other recipe, you can use tofu instead of hard-boiled eggs. Replace hard-boiled eggs with the same amount of tofu by volume and proceed with the recipe.