At birthdays, new year’s eve or a nice summer BBQ picknic, a delicious buffet with salad, snacks, fingerfood and desserts is always a hit. Here you can find lots of ideas for your perfect vegan party buffet, and easy tasty recipes for dishes to bring along to omni buffets. Of course I also have vegetarian and omnivore friends and relatives, but these veggie recipe ideas without eggs and dairy are good for entertaining everyone, not just vegans.
Everything here can be prepared well in advance and is also easy to bring along to a potluck, outdoor picknic or a party at work.
I always suggest making too much food for your vegan party buffet rather than risking running out of it mid-party. Almost all these things are still great the next day or you can freeze them. Or you can make a doggy-bag for your guests. I know most people think they’ll never eat again when rolling home from a buffet feast, but soon they’ll be happy about the tasty snack in the fridge and getting to enjoy the yummy vegan party buffet all over again.
If your buffet is a brunch, you might want to have a look at my blogpost “7 ideas for your perfect vegan brunch” as well.
What could be on your vegan party buffet?
1. Fingerfood
Satay Skewers
These satay skewers made of soy or seitan with spicy peanut sauce are the perfect fingerfood and my guests always love it. You can prepare them the day before and keep them in the fridge, they are just as good when they are cold.
Pumpkin bruschetta
Crispy roasted baguette, a pinch of garlic, buttery baked Hokkaido pumpkin, sweet and fruity pomegranate seeds, aromatic basil and a spicy umami sauce are a taste explosion! They are great as hors d’oeuvres. You can find the pumpkin bruschetta recipe here.
2. Wraps
If you want your vegan party buffet a bit more interactive, you can also serve a pile of homemade wraps and a hearty filling made of sweet potatoes, black beans and veggie mince with tasty apricot mustard sauce or vegan sour cream and rocket salad. Another wrap idea would be the lemongrass sweet potato wrap with peanut sauce.
You can make the wraps well in advance, I usually make a big batch and freeze them, so I always have some at hand for a quick breakfast or lunch. Just warm them up in a pan and you immediately have a soft, fragrant tortilla. You don’t want to buy the papery ones from the supermarket, homemade taste a thousand times better, I promise.
The sweet potato filling and the lemongrass mixture can be prepared the night before and kept in an airtight container in the fridge. The sauces also keep well and can be made a day ahead. When the guests arrive, I warm up the frozen tortillas in a pan, the sauces come straight from the fridge, and the filling comes out of the oven on a tray. I add some freshly sliced red cabbage and extra chilli oil and set everything up in the kitchen so guests can build their own wraps. These were such a hit at a friend’s birthday (10 people) that I served them again a few weeks later at my boyfriend’s birthday (20 people). Comment from the overlapping crowd: “I was hoping you’d make these again.
3. Salads
Sesame noodle salad with smoked tofu
This noodle salad can also be prepared the day before the party, I would only add the red cabbage and parsley last minute before putting it on the vegan party buffet.
Pasta salad with balsamic glaze
Would you like a quick and easy pasta salad with juicy tomatoes, spinach or rocket salad, pine nuts and sweet and sour balsamic glaze? This pasta skillet is ready in 20 minutes, but it’s also delicious cold from the fridge on your vegan party buffet.
Potato Salad
Especially if you have guests that eat gluten free, this potato salad with apples, lentils, radishes, parsley and aromatic pumpkin seed oil will be a hit. It needs to sit in the fridge for a couple of hours anyway, so you can just prepare it the day before and add the parsley before putting it on your vegan party buffet.
Kale Salad
A vibrant crunchy kale salad with Japanese-inspired roasted sesame dressing, pomegranate, celery, chickpeas and tofu: packed with flavour and protein!
Quinoa Salad
This super simple healthy quinoa salad is a very flexible gluten free recipe. Just cook 1 cup of quinoa in a saucepan according to the package instructions.
If you have an Instant Pot, simply set it to Pressure Cook for 3 minutes with 1.5 cups of water. After the program ends, let it sit for about 15 minutes, then open the Instant Pot.
Let it cool. Finely chop some parsley and mix together a dressing from 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, the juice of half a lemon, 1 teaspoon of mustard, 1 teaspoon of maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and a bit of pepper. Combine everything with vegetables of your choice. Season to taste and let it chill until serving.
For this picture, I chose one can of well-rinsed chickpeas, 1/3 of a cucumber, and a handful of red cabbage. Of course, you can also add tomatoes, apples, celery, fennel, bell peppers, carrots, avocado, edamame, kale, mango, radishes, cooked lentils, mint, and other vegetables.
Lemongrass noodle salad
The lemongrass noodles make a really nice side for my satay and peanut sauce, also for spring rolls or summer rolls.
4. Bread
Pretzel baguettes
Homemade bread is always a nice addition to a vegan party buffet, for example these pretzel twist baguettes. They are easy to prepare the day before. You only need to brush the baking soda on and bake them before the guests are coming.
Pizza Twist Bread
Or how about a pizza twist bread with a pretzely crust? You can also prepare that the day before and bake it just before the guests arrive.
5. Dips
Homemade dips like hummus are a perfect match with the bread. You can buy hummus everywhere, but if you want to make it yourself, I recommend my sweet potato hummus with crispy chickpeas. You can prepare the hummus and chickpeas in advance and store them separately in airtight containers. Before serving, create a pattern in the hummus with a spoon, pour in some olive oil, sprinkle with smoked paprika, parsley, and the chickpeas, and decorate with small pretzels.
6. Cheese
Almond mozzarella
How delicious do these roasted mini tomatoes with creamy almond mozzarella look? You’ll find the recipe for the tomatoes in the blogpost too.
Fermented cashew blueberry cheese
This tasty fermented cashew cheese with herbes de Provence and blueberry powder looks amazing on any cheese platter.
7. BBQ Buffet
Grilled Tofu
Grilling tofu or smoked tofu is excellent on the grill, best cut into thicker slices (about 1 cm) that you can marinate beforehand. On the grill, it develops beautiful sear marks and an intense smoky flavour. You can find the recipe for the marinade here in my smoked tofu blogpost. It works for white tofu too. I like to serve it with my quick & easy peanut sauce.
Grilled Veggies
And have you ever grilled green asparagus? And blackberries? Just put the blackberries on skewers and put them on the grill with the asparagus. You can sprinkle some toasted almonds and sea salt over them and put them on your vegan party buffet! Delicious!
8. Sauces
Creamy tahini sauce
4 ingredients, 3 Minutes: this simple sesame sauce goes with almost everything.
Miso maple sauce
This creamy hearty miso maple sauce is fantastic for dipping and ready in one minute!
Spicy peanut sauce
The fastest, easiest, and most delicious peanut sauce – ready in 3 minutes with just 5 ingredients! Makes satay skewers, noodles, spring rolls, summer rolls, veggies, and sandwiches irresistible.
Apricot mustard sauce
My sweet and sour apricot mustard sauce is ready in minutes and absolutely delicious with fries, burgers, roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes, with meat replacements or on sandwiches. Tastes just like the one from the big fast food place we all know.
Japanese Salad Dressing
A simple green side salad gets a massive upgrade with this delicious sesame dressing with miso and toasted sesame oil. You’ll find the recipe for the Japanese sesame dressing here.
9. Sweet baked goods
Quick and Easy Sheet Cake
You can bake the base for these delicious and easy cakes the day before and keep them in the fridge in an airtight container. You only need to melt the vegan chocolate, put the garnish and cut into bars before the vegan party buffet! Here you’ll find 4 beautiful and delicious sheet cake variations.
Coconut maple bacon muffins
These fluffy muffins with crispy vegan coconut bacon are quick to make and so special!
You can make the muffins, the frosting and the coconut bacon the day before and keep all three in airtight containers in the fridge. They can be put together in 5 minutes before serving them on your vegan party buffet.
Raspberry banana cake with white chocolate
This wonderful raspberry banana cake can also be baked the day before and garnished before serving with for example powdered sugar, white chocolate, almonds and fresh raspberries.
Gluten-free almond or peanut butter cups
These vegan chocolates are really easy to make yourself with vegan chocolate, creamy nut butter and a pinch of fleur de sel. They’re also naturally gluten-free and disappear fast on any buffet. You’ll find the recipe for the chocolates here.
10. Trifles
Easy vegan black forest cake with tasty Italian Maraschino Cherries can be served as trifles, or how about orange tiramisu? These recipes make 4 trifles of 200 ml.
Another recipe that works well here would be my bake fail trifle aka matcha tiramisu, which is a solution in general whenever baking projects go wrong.
11. Special baked goods
Earl Grey loaf cake
Or how about some earl grey loaf cake with uplifting bergamot essential oil? You can prepare the whole cake quickly the day before and put it back in the fridge fully glazed in the loaf pan and some cover foil. The earl grey loaf cake recipe is here.
12. Beverages for your vegan party buffet
Non-alcoholic
Iced Chia Hibiscus Tea
You need: 1/3 cup Hibiscus tea, 1/2 cup raspberries, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1-2 tbsp maple syrup
Brew the hibiscus tea with 1 liter of water and let it cool and steep for about 30 minutes. Then pour it into a decanter with ice cubes, raspberries, chia seeds, and maple syrup, and mix everything well. Let it chill in the refrigerator for another half an hour so that the chia seeds can swell nicely. Serve with extra ice and fresh mint, and provide a long spoon for the raspberries.
You can watch how to make it in my instagram reel
Alcoholic
Vegan Baileys
My vegan baileys is very easy and quick to make: with oat cream, vanilla, coconut blossom sugar, espresso and of course Irish whiskey! Perfect for parties or in a decanter as a present. Meanwhile you can buy it in a bottle, but my guests and I like the homemade one even more. The baileys recipe is here.
You can also make a baileys affogato: just pour the vegan Irish cream over some vegan ice cream in a glass, sprinkle with chopped dark chocolate and you have an impressive dessert. Of course this is something you hand someone right away, don’t put it on a buffet as it starts melting immediately.
FAQ: Vegan Party Buffet Questions Answered
What should be on a vegan party buffet?
Hearty finger food and snacks, salads, dips with good bread, and of course dessert. What matters is a mix of different textures and flavours so there’s something for everyone, including guests who don’t eat vegan.
How many dishes do you need for a vegan buffet?
As a rough guide, 5 dishes are plenty for around 12 people, for example a sesame noodle salad, satay skewers with peanut sauce, bread, kale salad and two desserts. How much food per person? Less than you’d think, around 400–500g, but I always plan a little more: most of these recipes taste just as good the next day, and a container of leftovers always finds a friend.
Which vegan dishes can be prepared in advance?
Almost everything here! The satay skewers, sauces, cakes and trifles can at least partly be made the day before. Bread doughs can go in the fridge overnight after the second prove. My top 3 for a vegan buffet that’s easy to prepare ahead: the satay skewers, the sesame noodle salad and the chocolate sheet cake.
What works for a vegan buffet without an oven?
Quite a lot: all the salads, dips, the sesame noodle salad, quinoa salad, sauces, hibiscus iced tea and everything from the BBQ. A cheese board with the fermented cashew cheese plus bread from the bakery looks impressive and needs no oven at all.
Which vegan buffet dishes go down well with non-vegans?
In my experience it’s the dishes with familiar flavours: the satay skewers with peanut sauce always go first, the sesame noodle salad wins over even the most committed tofu sceptics, and everyone is surprised when they find out the chocolate cake they are munching on is vegan.
How do I plan a vegan buffet for a large group?
Choose scalable dishes: salads, sheet cakes and sauces are easy to multiply. I count on roughly 400–500g of food per person with multiple options, and always err on the side of too much. For larger groups I make the sesame noodle salad, and if there’s a hob and oven available, the sweet potato wraps with peanut sauce. There’s always one or two sheet cakes too.
Which vegan dishes work for a cold buffet?
All the salads in this post, the dips, the cheese board with cashew cheese and almond mozzarella, and all the desserts. For sandwich ideas, also check out my 15 vegan sandwich ideas.
What works for a vegan buffet for kids?
Mild, familiar dishes: the sweet potato wraps, potato salad, muffins and chocolate cake go down well with kids. Finger food in small portions is ideal, sheet cake, baguette slices or satay skewers are perfect for little hands.
Can a vegan buffet be made gluten-free?
Yes, and it’s easier than you’d think. The potato salad, crunchy kale salad (with tamari instead of soy sauce), quinoa salad, all the sauces and dips are naturally gluten-free. The almond or peanut butter cups are also gluten-free and quick to make. Just label the dishes clearly at the buffet so gluten-free guests can help themselves safely.
Your vegan party buffet is a brunch? Then you’ll find a lot more inspiration in my blogpost
“7 ideas for your perfect vegan brunch”
Would you like more tips on how to make food look its best? You’ll find them in my food styling 101 “The foodporn formula: how to make any food spark joy!”.
Did you like this article? Feel free to share it via the buttons below and sign up for my newsletter, so you don’t miss anything new 🙂
pomegranates don’t have tendrils, peas have tendrils. it’s always style over substance with you internet people. do better
As a non-native speaker, I apologize for my wrong expression. I honestly had no idea that some people have such strong feelings about tendrils! I hope you can forgive me.
Hi, the link for ‘sweet potato hummus with crispy chickpeas’ doesn’t work anymore?
Hi Greg, thank you, sorry, I fixed it 🙂
Thank so much for these original, tasty recipes. I’m hosting a small birthday picnic gathering at my allotment’s pavillion soon, so will base the buffet around these fabulous dishes. I’m particularly keen to try to make my first ever baguette! (Manchester, UK)
Hi Nicola, I’m very happy to hear that! Hope you’ll have a great time at your gathering 🙂
Hello! Your pictures are beautiful. I love the pretzel baguette, and I’ve downloaded the recipe to try. Thank you!
Thank you Brittney, hope you’ll enjoy it 🙂