Trick or Treat? 22 Unusual Vegan Recipes

They might sound like tricks, but all of these unusual vegan recipes are true treats! As an adventurous eater, I like to try the weird or uncommon, the unusual and the extraordinary. I enjoy sampling pairings that surprise, ingredients used in novel ways, and to try new foods. So for this Halloween, I’m putting together this collection of foods that you might think are a trick, but I promise will be treats. They may be a little scary, but embrace the spirit of Halloween and face your fears- after all, they’re only vegetables!

22 Unusual Vegan Recipes

Chocolate Coated Cranberry Wood Ear Mushrooms

Chocolate and mushrooms might sound like an unlikely pairing, but these cranberry-flavored delights by Very Vegan Val are the healthy version of a gummy candy you’ve been searching for.

Chocolate Sriracha Ice Cream

Sriracha is a spicy chili sauce that people put on EVERYTHING- pho, fries, tofu- and thanks to the Vegan Yack Attack, now ice cream too. Ice cream might not seem like it works with this savory condiment, but hot, sweet and bitter can be an amazing combination.

Red Wine Popsicles

I think of popsicles as a thing of childhood, and red wine as very much an adult beverage (not just adult beverage as in alcoholic, but what actual adults drink instead of cheap beer). This recipe by Sunnyside Hanne brings those two worlds together with a little cream and sugar. An unusual treat, but a delicious sounding one.

Red Curry Coconut Chia Seed Pudding

When I think pudding I think vanilla, strawberry, chocolate. Maybe banana. I don’t think my mind has ever thought, “Red curry paste seems like a good pudding flavor”. But Spabettie‘s mind does go there- and thank goodness for that! We all need more imaginative and creative flavor combinations.

Australian Pancake Soup

It’s quite possible this dish isn’t unusual if you’re from Australia, but here in the states it’s nothing I’ve ever heard of! The pancakes enter the soup in an almost noodle-like role- thanks to the Elephantastic Vegan for teaching us a new take of breakfast for dinner!

Sweet and Savory Grilled Cheese with Apples and Pumpkin

This sandwich by Vegetarian Gastronomy combines things that I know work well- pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin, pumpkin and maple, maple and apple, apple and cheese- and somehow this all works out to where you’re enjoying cheese (vegan, of course) with pumpkin pie spice. Sorcery!

Bloody Mary Swirl Cheesecake

Ever had that moment where you can’t decide between a savory cocktail, or a sweet cheese-filled dessert? Well now you don’t have to! Thanks to The Vegan 8 for solving this age old dilemma (and who can say no to a cheesecake garnished with celery!).

Cherry Coconut Cauliflower Ice Cream Cake

The cauliflower craze is real- usually you see it as a healthy, low carb way to replace a wheat product. The Unconventional Baker prefers it as the filling to an ice cream cake- talk about an unusual way to get a nice healthy serving of veg in.

Vegan Pepperoni Pizza Donuts

The Vegan Dollhouse takes us on an adventure through a weird and wacky world where cheese is milk-less, meat is plant-based, and all of that is, of course, on a donut (which I spell doughnut), which is naturally savory.

Flourless 5 Minute S’mores Cake

I know what you’re thinking. “Valerie. This is the age of low-carb and gluten-free. Flourless cake is hardly an unusual vegan recipe”. And you’re right- but Veggies Don’t Bite uses a secret ingredient to really bring out that chocolate flavor- tomato paste!

White Bean Watermelon Gazpacho with Savory Almond Seaweed Granola

So, essentially we have fruit and legumes in a cold soup, with a savory breakfast topping which includes sea vegetables. Only a mad-woman would ever think of putting all that in the same bowl. Recipe by Very Vegan Val.

Chocolate and Smoked Salt Tart w/ Bay Leaf Ice Cream

If you would like to sound sophisticated and slightly insane at the same time, try out this bind-bending dessert by The Circus Gardeners Kitchen.

Kale and Blood Orange Cake

To quote the author, Veggie Desserts, “What rhymes with Orange? Cake- Kale Cake.” Humor, dessert, and leafy greens, how could you go wrong?

Vegan Chocolate Sweet Potato Milkshake

Yes, sweet potatoes are sort of sweet. But it’s still a unusual vegan recipe that uses frozen potatoes in place of ice cream. The nice thing about this special spud beverage by Rhian’s Recipes is that it’s pretty darn healthy for a milkshake (which means you can make a bunch of them, while you contemplate potatoes in shakes).

Chocolate Cauliflower Ice Lollies

I would call these popsicles, but I think that’s probably an American-ism. Recipes from a Kitchen threw some pureed veg in her popsicles (or ice lollies. I can adapt). Now there’s an unusual vegan recipe!

Spicy Vegan Black Bean Brownies

Now this is not the first recipe we’ve seen combining spicy with dessert, but we LOVE that this recipe serves spicy, dessert and a big ol’ helping of protein along with it. Thanks Veganosity, this is just the type of unusual recipe I need to reach my fitness goals.

Maple Pistachio Dessert Hummus

Although it became popular a few months ago, let’s not loose sight of the fact that dessert hummus really is a weird idea. Beans, mashed up for dessert. I wanted to share this version by Plantbased Recipe as it also incorporates nuts.

Roasted Honeynut Squash and Rosemary Cookies

When a recipe has you questioning if you’re sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner or settling down for some sweet morsels, you know I’m a fan. These veggie and herb filled cookies by My Quiet Kitchen are in fact a dessert affair. This veg/cookie mashup seems like it would be the food of choice for our favorite blue, rebranded and healthier Cookie Monster.

Pickled Peaches and Blueberries

I love a good pickle. Dill pickles, pickled beets pickled onion, even pickled mushrooms. But I have yet to try a pickled blueberry! All that will have to change thanks to Glue and Glitter‘s take on preserving the sweeter things in life.

Healthy Chickpea Cookies

I’m starting to feel like cookies make up the bottom of a food pyramid- and with this lot, they really could. This Healthy Kitchen enhances the natural yumminess of the garbanzo bean by surrounding it with a little cookie. My kind of snack!

Lentil and Celery Cobbler

Because, if you recall we already pickled all the peaches, so we had to go in a different cobbler direction. Jasmin Cookbook came up with this unusual form of genius- the savory cobbler. Weird vegan recipe FTW!

Garlic Spinach Waffles with Sriracha Whip

To finish up this collection of trick or treat recipes (all of which are, of course, treats), sink your teeth into some of these bright green waffles. Spabettie‘s got you safe this Halloween- they’ll keep the vampires away, and, as all good things are, they’re topped with sriracha.

Let’s Hear from You!

• What are some of your favorite unusual vegan recipes or foods?
• Are you an adventurous eater?
• Do you think I should do another of these collections for April Fool’s Day, except have them all be tricks?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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