Vegan Italian Recipes
Many of Tuscany’s best-loved dishes have always been vegan, long before the word existed. Peasant cooking relied on beans, bread, vegetables from the garden and plenty of good olive oil. Here you’ll find the plant-based recipes we cook at our cooking school in Tuscany: fagioli all’uccelletto, pasta and bean soup, pappa al pomodoro, panzanella, cecina chickpea flatbread, sugo finto, slow-cooked green beans, and sweets such as ciambelline al vino and our vegan chocolate cake.
A few recipes list cheese or honey as optional: just leave them out. If you use stock cubes, bread or dark chocolate, check the label, as some brands contain milk or other animal products.
Tuscan cauliflower with tomato, rosemary and fennel seeds
Even self-professed cauliflower haters will love this dish, if you can convince them to try it.
Spring minestrone: light Tuscan vegetable soup with beans
A slow-cooked minestrone made with fresh seasonal ingredients and served with good bread is a healthy and delicious dinner or lunch.
Tuscan slow-cooked green beans with tomato and basil
This is a signature dish of the late great Mario, the multitalented father of Tina who used to be one of our amazing instructors at our cooking classes in Italy. You may say that you like your green beans to be firm and crunchy, but after tasting this dish you may also appreciate their sweet, melt-in-the-mouth quality when slow cooked.
Sicilian orange and fennel salad with black olives
The most refreshing of winter salads, this sounds a little odd, but is wonderful!
Tuscan minestrone with cavolo nero and beans
The distinctive taste of this soup comes from the cavolo nero ("black cabbage"). This has recently been popularized by chefs such as Jamie Oliver and is now available in many farmers' markets.
Baked fennel with oranges and olives
Baked Fennel with Oranges and Olives is a light, fragrant, and incredibly simple dish to prepare. Inspired by the classic Sicilian fennel and orange salad, this version takes the same refreshing ingredients and transforms them in the oven, deepening their flavors. The sweetness of the oranges, the subtle anise notes of the fennel, and the briny kick from the black olives come together beautifully in this elegant side dish.
Tuscan mushroom crostini with porcini and Vin Santo
Best served warm, these crostini will have your guests demanding more. You'll see that the vin santo gives the mushrooms a very special flavour, and the butter gives them a melt in the mouth texture.
Rustic half whole wheat focaccia with rosemary
An easy but unusual focaccia recipe which makes a rustic-textured, half wholewheat bread. Ideal to eat with cheeses and salad.
Homemade potato gnocchi (plus spinach gnocchi)
The less flour you use, the lighter the gnocchi will be, but the more likely it will be to go mushy while you wait to cook it, handle it and when it is cooking in the water.
Peperonata: Italian sweet and sour stewed peppers
This dish is even nicer the day after it has been made and is delicious warm, cold and at room temperature!
Eggplant caponata: Sicilian sweet and sour eggplant, without deep-frying
Easy Sicilian eggplant (aubergine) caponata: a sweet and sour dish with celery, olives, capers and tomato. Lighter, make-ahead and best served cold.
Tuscan bean and farro soup (zuppa di farro)
This bean and spelt soup hails from the Lucca region of Tuscany, known for its hearty, honest cuisine. Rich in legumes and grains, it’s a rustic, comforting dish made with farro, borlotti beans, and good olive oil. Creamy and nourishing, this traditional Luccan soup is perfect for cozy winter dinners.
Arugula pesto: a fresh, peppery pasta sauce in 10 minutes
How to make trofie: hand-rolled eggless pasta twists from Liguria
Make trofie at home: short, twisted Ligurian pasta made with just flour and water, shaped around a wooden skewer for easy results. Perfect with pesto.
Crunchy pan-fried Brussels sprouts with hazelnuts and chili
They key to enjoying them is not to overcook them! This recipe keeps them crunchy and tasty.
Biancomangiare: Sicilian almond milk pudding
This dessert has clear Arab origins and is traditional in Sicily, Sardinia and the Val d'Aosta. It is generally made with cow's milk but in the Sicilian county of Modica it is made with almond milk.
Ciambelline al vino: Italian wine and olive oil cookies
Christmas cookies that aren't full of butter! Here the cinnamon and anise gives these bread-like rings a festive flavour!
Baked fennel with orange and pomegranate
Soft-baked fennel with orange and fresh pomegranate seeds: a colourful, easy autumn side dish from our Tuscan cooking school.
Whole wheat focaccia with cherry tomatoes and oregano
An easy but unusual focaccia recipe which makes a rustic-textured, half wholewheat bread. Ideal to eat with cheeses and salad.
Certaldo onion soup: Tuscan red onion soup with toasted bread
Our local town, Certaldo, had been famous for almost a thousand years for its delicious red onions. A group of local farmers has been growing them and popularising them again. They are used in many dishes. One of the most popular is this simple, warming soup.
Tuscan bean and escarole crostini
You can serve small quantities of this Tuscan bean dish on crostini, as an appetizer, or larger quantities as a hearty soup.
Pappa al pomodoro: Tuscan tomato, bread and basil soup
This classic summer dish is very versatile: it can be eaten hot, at room temperature or chilled. It does however rely on ripe, tasty tomatoes.
Sweet and sour baby onions in balsamic vinegar (cipolline in agrodolce)
Your guests will be fighting over these tangy onions! Remember to provide plenty of bread to mop up the delicious caramelized sauce coating them. At our cooking school in Tuscany, this side dish is one of the biggest hits!
Homemade sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil with capers and garlic
Sundried tomatoes prepared like this tend to much tastier than the ones you find already prepared in oil.