Have you ever tried vegan food so good, it gave you an existential crisis? That’s an experience we’re constantly having here at Sporked—a taste-testing team of omnivores who keep stumbling across the best vegan foods on the market and wondering how they can taste as good (or better) than the real thing. (Food science has really come a long way, you guys.) So whether you’re making the plunge into a plant-based diet or itching to compare your favorite vegan foods against ours, get ready to be amazed. Here’s our official grocery list of the best plant based foods to stock up on, professional taste-tester approved.
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- Daring Original Plant Chicken Pieces
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If it looks like a chicken and squawks (bok-boks?) like a chicken, it must be a chicken, right? Wrong. Daring, one of the best vegan meat brands around, will totally have you fooled with their savory chicken pieces that taste, pull apart, and sear on the stove like real meat. It’s like they take soy protein, sprinkle some magic dust on it, and voila. I’m already day-dreaming about throwing these faux meat pieces on a bed of fettuccine and (plant-based) alfredo. Yum!
Read the full ranking of the best vegan chicken
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Ozo Spicy Jalapeño Plant-Based Bacon
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In the words of our resident plant-based food expert Jordan Myrick, “I didn’t know you could make a meatless bacon that’s this close to real bacon.” Yes, Ozo Spicy Jalapeño Bacon has incredible flavor, but what sets it apart from other brands of fake bacon is the texture—you can actually get this crispy on the stove! It’s also flexible when uncooked (which is hard to find among plant-based bacon), making it a versatile ingredient for other recipes, like bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers or bacon-stuffed mushrooms.
Read the full ranking of the best vegan bacon
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Walmart
- Follow Your Heart Smoked Gouda
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Obviously, a list of the best vegan foods must include cheese. This faux smoked gouda from Follow Your Heart (one of the best vegan brands on the market) reinvented the wheel and made us question why there aren’t more smoked plant-based cheeses out there. This has a coconut oil base, which makes it quite smooth and creamy without tasting fake. It’s also the perfect level of smokiness—even the judges on Chopped would approve. (Have you ever watched one of the Chopped judges completely eviscerate someone for using even an ounce of liquid smoke? It’s a good time.) And hey, if you’re not a gouda girl, our official vegan cheese ranking has plenty of other options, from cheddar to feta.
Read the full ranking of the best vegan cheeses
Credit: Ryan Martin / Albertsons
- Daiya Cheeze Lover’s Pizza
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It’s not every day you can find a vegan and soy-free pizza covered in ooey-gooey cheese. Daiya’s Cheeze Lover’s Pizza might not have the best crust we’ve ever tasted (it’s also gluten-free), but we really fell in love with how melty, tangy, and rich the cheesy topping is. (Side note: Sadly, you might notice that our official #1 vegan pizza is currently Trader Joe’s Meatless Meat Eaters Pizza. Sadly, it looks like they discontinued it. Grab your pitchforks; we ride at dawn.)
Read the full ranking of the best vegan frozen pizza
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Field Roast Classic Smoked Plant-Based Frankfurters
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We update our vegan hot dog ranking every summer, and Field Roast has yet to be usurped. Their smoked frankfurters (yes, frankfurters—don’t come after us for semantics, okay?) have a light smoke and unbeatable savory flavor. You can also get a serious char on these guys. Grill Dads, make your cookout inclusive and grab a pack of these!
Read our full ranking of the best vegan hot dogs
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Impossible Burger Patties
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When I was young, I used to look at Impossible burger patties in the store freezer aisle and think, “Ugh, I bet those taste so gross.” In my defense, my frontal lobe had yet to fully develop. Impossible Burger Patties are the GOAT of vegan burgers. The patties are juicy, moist, have crumble and fat, and don’t hide their savory flavor behind too much seasoning. These will get a nice char on them, grill marks and all. Impossible is one of the best vegan brands you can buy, and I simply ask you to excuse my youthful ignorance!
Read the full ranking of the best vegan hamburgers
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Impossible Chicken Nuggets
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White meat chicken isn’t the most difficult thing to mimic, but dark meat? That’s tricky to get right, and Impossible Chicken Nuggets deliver on both. As a certified carnivore who still tries her best not to buy frozen processed meat products, I actually made the switch to these guys last year, and I’ve never gone back! They’re crispy, juicy, delicious, and some of the best vegan foods to pack in your freezer.
Read the full ranking of the best vegan chicken nuggets
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Beyond Sausage Brat Original
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Beyond accomplishes something we’ve never seen before from a plant-based brat: a real casing with a biteable snap! That’s a game changer, y’all. Plus, it’s not trying to hide its juicy sausage flavor behind a million other ingredients and seasonings. It is, plain and simple, a great vegan bratwurst. It’s one of the best plant based foods for your vegan BBQ, hands down. (Buy it!! It’s brat summer after all. Whatever that means.)
Read the full ranking of the best vegan sausage
Credit: Ryan Martin / Target
- Daring Vegan Buffalo Wings
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Most vegan wings are just mushy chicken nuggets masquerading as chicken wings. Not Daring. These tangy, spicy vegan buffalo wings mimic the texture of real wings (minus the bones) surprisingly well. They actually tear apart like white and dark meat. If you aren’t used to the taste of vegan meat, these won’t fool you, but they’re still delicious anyway.
Read the full ranking of the best vegan buffalo wings
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Sprouts Plant Based Ranch
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While the point of the best vegan groceries isn’t to try and trick meat eaters, I’m sure it’s still fun when it happens. If you didn’t know this ranch was vegan, we’re pretty confident you wouldn’t be able to tell. It’s super creamy, tangy, and herbaceous. More than a simple salad dressing, it makes a dip for your vegan wings, pizza, and chicken nuggets. (All of which you can find above. You’re welcome!)
Read the full ranking of the best vegan salad dressings
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Cocojune Vanilla Chamomile
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Please don’t be afraid of Cocojune’s clumpy appearance. This stuff is creamy, deceptively smooth, and not nearly as coconut-heavy as other dairy-free yogurts we tried. The vanilla flavor is impeccable and complements any fruit you want to add. We haven’t tried all of their fruity flavors, but from this baseline alone, we know that Cocojune tastes the most like real yogurt compared to other brands. Don’t miss out!
Read the full ranking of the best vegan yogurt
Credit: Ryan Martin / Instacart
- Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert
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“This tastes so shockingly similar to Ben & Jerry’s regular Phish Food that I was shaken to my core,” writes Jordan, who goes on to essentially call this ice cream flawless. With interesting mix-ins like marshmallows and fudge fish, a rich chocolate flavor, and addictive creaminess, this totally blew us away. I think it’s safe to not only call this one of the best plant based foods ever made, but also one of the best ice cream flavors ever conceived, period.
Read the full ranking of the best vegan ice cream
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Follow Your Heart Original Vegenaise
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Follow Your Heart just gets it. The brand is widely known for making some of the best vegan groceries for a reason. Their plant-based mayo is pretty indistinguishable from egg-based mayo. If anything, it might have a slightly stronger tang—but we actually liked that about it.The tartness balances out the creaminess really well.
Read the full ranking of the best vegan mayo
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Gotham Greens Vegan Caesar Dressing & Dip
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Gotham Greens Ceasar really threw the Sporked team for a loop. We kept peeking back at the ingredients to make sure there really wasn’t any parmesan in it, because this creamy, cheesy, tangy caesar tasted way too close to the real thing. (Life lesson: Never underestimate the power of fermented miso.) We also especially loved the capers in this! They really added something special and zingy.
Read the full ranking of the best vegan caesar dressing
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Sprouts Plant Based Sour Cream Alternative
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It’s rare for a store brand to take the top spot, especially when it comes to alternative foods, but Sprouts beat out even some of the best vegan brands here (like Follow Your Heart). This sour cream is thick, tangy, and quite frankly, doesn’t have a weird aftertaste or off-putting puddle of water on top. Sour cream can be tough to find when searching for the best vegan foods, but this is a solid—and super affordable—option.
Read the full ranking of the best vegan sour cream
Credit: Paula Kunatee / Instacart
- Yves Veggie Bologna
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Yves Veggie Bologna has so much going for it, health- and flavor-wise. It’s low cal, low fat, beautifully seasoned, and easily mimics the texture of real bologna. (Which isn’t that hard to do, considering bologna is already soft and homogenous, like most soy proteins.) Not only is this a great deli meat substitute for people switching to the vegan diet, but for anyone trying to cut back on processed sandwich meats for health reasons, we highly recommend it!
Read the full ranking of the best vegan deli meat
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Pan’s Mushroom Jerky Original
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Is Pan’s Mushroom Jerky a plant-based dupe for beef jerky? To be honest—no, not really. Is it still an exceptionally delicious mushroom jerky? Absolutely. That savory, umami mushroom flavor is hard to beat. We loved both the OG version (pictured left) and the Zesty Thai version (which basically tastes the same, only spicy). Unless you have a vendetta against mushrooms, you are going to like this, we promise!
Read the full ranking of the best vegan jerky
Credit: Merc / Target
- Unmeat Tuna Style Flakes in Sunflower Oil
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Unmeat Tuna is canned in sunflower oil rather than water, which at first we weren’t sold on. But the more we munched on this, we found the oil actually adds an element of fishy fattiness that makes the tuna more rich and flavorful. I know the idea of vegan canned fish might be a lot for some of you, but we promise, this is actually one of the best vegan foods to stock your pantry with. It’s elevated, elegant, and a superb substitute for all of your tuna cravings.
Read the full ranking of the best vegan tuna
Credit: Merc / Instacart
Best Vegan Chicken
Rating:
10/10
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Best Vegan Bacon
Rating:
10/10
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Best Vegan Cheese
Rating:
10/10
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Best Vegan Pizza
Rating:
9.5/10
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Best Vegan Hot Dogs
Rating:
10/10
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Best Vegan Burgers
Rating:
10/10
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Best Vegan Chicken Nugs
Rating:
10/10
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Best Vegan Sausage
Rating:
10/10
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Best Vegan Buffalo Wings
Rating:
10/10
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Best Vegan Salad Dressing
Rating:
10/10
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Best Vegan Yogurt
Rating:
10/10
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Best Vegan Ice Cream
Rating:
10/10
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Best Vegan Mayo
Rating:
10/10
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Best Vegan Caesar Dressing
Rating:
9.5/10
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Best Vegan Sour Cream
Rating:
8.5/10
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Best Vegan Deli Meat
Rating:
10/10
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Best Vegan Jerky
Rating:
9.5/10
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Best Vegan Tuna
Rating:
7.5/10
Sporks
