A Very Vegan 4th Of July! – The Vegan FEMPIRE

Ahhh, the 4th of July and sweet summertime. I’ve waited all year for this. (As I type this I’m in a flannel and heavy sweatpants – its June in MA in case anyone is wondering) So you’re having a vegan 4th of July! We’re so excited to help you plan, even if this isn’t YOUR party we’re going to help you plan a whole bunch of things to bring! Pick and choose what you’re feelin’ or be like us and make ALL the damn suggestions. Is there ever such thing as too much vegan food? Um….no.

What to do? What to bring? Who will eat what you make? Are you the only vegan at this 4th of July fest? We’ve planned this for you! No panic needed!

The 4th of July is USUALLY a whole lotta’ barbecuing and cookout type food so that’s what this post is going to gear towards! We’ve been to many 4th of July parties as vegans, as well as many cookouts as vegans. And we’ve even hosted them ALL vegan as well! Yes, for non-vegan guests! THE HORROR!

Let’s do this!

Our Go-To Vegan 4th Of July Cookout Spread

Okay, friends, this post is meant to make your lives EASY. Like smooth sailin’ cake walk easy. Here’s our go-to “cookout” spread aka your vegan 4th of July feast. We’re thinkin’ burgers, hot dogs, cole slaw, fruit salad, regular greens salad, and vegan mac and cheese as the star side. (trust us it will be the star side- of the WHOLE day) This is actually one of the easiest meals to prepare and to make ahead of time. We’re going to include a grocery list download with this post as well!

Don’t Be Freaked Out By Vegan Hot Dogs!

First things first choose your burgers and your vegan hot dogs. We are OBSESSED with vegan hot dogs in this house. Even before I was vegan I was hot dog obsessed (GAG) but it’s true. So I knew I had to give the vegan ones a fair shot and they most definitely didn’t let me down. We usually grab the LightLife brand! The cooking instructions don’t say clearly that these can go on the grill but we’ve done it anyway and they’ve been perfectly fine. Trust your elder vegans.

Assuming there’s a grill at this party, you’re going to bring the package of hot dogs and a burger for yourself OR enough for whosever vegan or potentially wants to try one.

Word of advice – try some veggie burgers beforehand (or if you’re anything like us you’ll already have your favorite!) Heres our top 5!

Our Favorite 5 Vegan Burger Options:

Gardein Chipotle Black Bean Burgers – these have a more mexican-y vibe so just know that ahead of time! Pairs beautifully with lettuce, tomato, and avocado!
The Beast Burger – much more of a “real burger” taste and texture
The Beyond Meat Burger- DEFINITELY a favorite in this house. This brand has been makin’ NOISE this year you guys. Give this a shot NOW if you haven’t tried them yet.
Trader Joe’s Hi Protein Burger- this is a SUPER filling choice, but so yummy nonetheless.
Trader Joes Indian Masala Burger – this reminds me of summer, in general, my little cousin is obsessed with these and I tried one with her last summer, SO yummy! You must like Indian spices and seasonings though!
Bonus- If you’re lucky enough to score the Impossible Burgers run with those. Right now they’re only selling to restaurants – insert sad face. BUT some of ya’ll may have connections! We sadly do not. LOL

Burger Toppings!

Need: Organic lettuce, tomatoes, ketchup, vegan mayo, vegan cheese if you want it.

The easiest way to rock this is by communicating with the host to see what they’ll already have. So we don’t end up with 89 tomatoes! I’m SURE whoever is hosting this has lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and probably non-vegan mayo. So I’ll always bring my vegan mayo and any vegan cheese I may want on my burger. But communicate regardless. For vegan cheese, we love Chao Original Slices!

Coleslaw!

Need: Coleslaw mix, vegan mayo, sugar, vinegar

Alright, so let’s start with the coleslaw. The easiest way and what we always do is buy the pre-shredded cabbage (coleslaw mix) toss out the nasty sauce they use in the packaging and dump all of the cabbage into a bowl – preferably the bowl you’re going to travel with. If you don’t have mixing bowls with lids – click this and BOOM now you have em. Thank us later. See? Aren’t they so cute?! AND fill em’ with vegan goods? BOMB.

You’ll need vinegar, sugar, and vegan mayo for the coleslaw dressing. I like mixing the sauce in a separate bowl and then combining a few hours before you leave. Otherwise, it gets soggy and if that’s your jam (its a lot of people’s jams) then you rock it, I like my coleslaw a bit fresher and drier! But that’s just me!

So in a separate bowl combine about a 1/4 cup vegan mayo, a couple of tablespoons of vinegar, and a couple of tablespoons of sugar. Can you tell we’re not recipe creators? This is something I’ve made for YEARS and I just go by taste. So mix up what you have – if you like a tangier dressing, add more vinegar, if you like a sweeter dressing add more sugar, and if you like a creamier dressing (keep in mind it DOES thin out as it sits so even if it doesn’t look totally dressed- it will be over time!) then add more mayo! Combine all of that and BAM you have 3 dishes all set and done. Burgers, hot dogs, and coleslaw.

Fruit Salad!

Need: Organic blueberries, blackberries, watermelon, red grapes, strawberries

Easiest thing on Earth. Brings such beautiful colors to the plate. No pun intended. Our favorite is a berry fruit salad. My best friend actually made this for our Memorial Day cookout and I was obsessed with the fruit combo. Berries are my favorite! Did you know berries have the highest concentration of antioxidants? Top two being blueberries and blackberries! So, using one of your cute mixing bowls, we’re going to toss watermelon, blueberries, blackberries, red grapes, and strawberries in there. Cut them up to bite size pieces – the grapes I usually halve, strawberries I’ll cut depending how big they are, use your judgment, and watermelon cubed. No need to cut blueberries or blackberries guys. 😉

A Vegan 4th Of July Fresh Green Salad

Need: Organic romaine, baby spinach, and baby kale, toasted walnuts (if candied make sure they’re vegan), shredded carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, green pepper (if you’re feelin it).

What’s a vegan 4th of July without a beautiful green salad? What’s ANY party without a salad? No- not the boring salads that no one ever wants to eat. We’re gonna make a bomb ass salad because we’re vegans. DUH. Let’s show em’ how we do.

I LOVE romaine lettuce, that’s my favorite. But we want to keep this a mixed greens salad. So I usually will buy organic romaine, baby kale, spinach, and toss them all together for our base. I have to have a crunch factor to my summer salads and kale and spinach just doesn’t cut it by themselves. So romaine it is! The easiest way to cut romaine lettuce you guys is to lay it down and slice away. Or break it up with your hands – whichever you prefer.

We like to take some walnuts, or sliced almonds whichever you like more and toss those in as well. I snipe some shredded carrots from the store (if I don’t have time to shred them on my own – just be sure they’re organic) Slice up a quarter of red onion, some tomatoes, and some cucumbers! You COULD add sliced green pepper if you really wanted to cram veggies in there. We always do. BAM another side – done! All of the work here is cutting veggies, make sure you wash them first and use a nice sharp knife to make your life easy! Dressing – use your favorite. We love Brianna’s strawberry vinegarette! Don’t make your lives harder than they need to be guys! Everyone has a favorite dressing!

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Star Of The Show – Vegan Mac And Cheese

So we have an entire blog post dedicated to this STUNNA of a meal which includes the recipe and a step by step how to. This is my favorite vegan meal ever. I say that about 6 times during the blog post I think. I’m linking the recipe HERE for you guys. This has been a crowd pleaser for as long as I can remember. It was my first vegan meal I ever learned to cook and I’ve tweaked things and made it officially my own. Its a combination of many recipes tweaked to my liking. I’ve had many non-vegans eat it and freak out over it because…yeah…its just that f*ckin’ good.

Bonus – Vegan 4th Of July Party Goods

If you really want to step it up and help the host, or maybe YOU are the host then this will really help you! We found a whole bunch of 4th of July party goods and we’ll share them all with you! We’re sniping some of these things as we speak to bring to our own vegan 4th of July fest!