5 Recipes for a Vegan St. Patrick’s Day

Resist the urge to turn all of your St. Patrick’s Day food an unsettling shade of green. While the green food coloring goes well in beer, we wouldn’t want you missing out on the true experience of these classic Irish favorites!

Leaning heavily on the potato, vegan Irish cuisine focuses on the main crops grown in Ireland: barley, oats, wheat, cabbage,  kale, tomatoes, carrots, onions, and of course, potatoes. Warm, comforting foods like shepherd’s pie and stew (recipes below) are popular on the Emerald Isle.

The Irish — and those celebrating St. Patrick’s day everywhere — also enjoy plenty of popular Irish drinks on March 17th. For vegans, pass on the Guinness, which contains animal products including gelatin, casein and animal albumin. Instead, celebrate Irish traditions with whiskey, cider, porters or stouts. Or, make your own Irish coffee or Bailey’s Irish Cream liquor.

Now, back to the food. Here are five delicious Irish dishes sourced from some of our favorite vegan bloggers to help you celebrate a vegan St. Patrick’s Day!:

Shepherd’s Pie from Oh She Glows

Potato and Leek Soup from Quantum Vegan

Irish Stew from Vegan Dad

Soda Bread from Allyson Kramer

Colcannon from VegRecipes.org

• 1lb (about 3 large) golden potatoes, cubed
• 1 small bunch curly kale or cabbage, shredded
• soy or other non-dairy milk (optional)
• 2 tbsp vegan butter or olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• salt and black pepper

Place potatoes in boiling water, and cook until they mash easily under a fork. Add a little non-dairy milk or cooking water if they appear dry.

Heat some oil in a medium frying pan; add onions and cook for a minute. Add shredded kale and cover. Stir occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until soft.

Add the onions and kale to the mashed potatoes, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Heat remaining oil or vegan butter in the pan. When very hot, move the potato mixture to the pan and spread. Fry until brown then cut roughly into pieces and flip, cooking the other side.

Serve in bowls with dabs of vegan butter.

I like to serve Colcannon with a side of Baked Courgettes, or zucchini as we know them stateside. Low in calories but high in antioxidants, beta-carotene, vitamin C, folic acid, calcium, and potassium, these veggies are best topped with a bit of vegan cheese and served hot out of the oven—they’ll be just juicy enough and still have that perfect crunch.