If you’re planning a vegan dinner party for family and friends or simply want to know how to add some refinement to your favorite vegan recipes, you can pair your entrees with a flavorful glass of red wine. Finding the perfect wine to go with your meat-free meal could motivate you to try more vegan dishes and share them with your dinner guests. There are certain red wines that go great with the vegetables and spices that are used in vegan cooking. Here are a few suggestions you can use to make your plant-based recipes even more enjoyable.
1- Enchiladas
Vegan enchiladas are often filled with vegetables such as mushrooms, spinach, and squash. These veggies have a pronounced, earthy flavor that goes perfectly with Pinot Noir. This red wine has vibrant yet rich fruit flavors that add a delicious touch to the tangy and slightly sweet notes in the enchiladas. A fruitier Pinot Noir is a nice choice if you prefer spicier enchiladas as well. The notes of fruit and spices from the wine and the enchiladas will make Taco Tuesday at your house a night to remember.
2- Green Lentil Curry
If you’ve been craving Indian food and want to prepare a filling plant-based dinner that will feed a crowd, try green lentil curry with a delicious glass of Pinot Noir. This red wine complements the bold and earthy curry flavors and provides a subtle hint of sweetness that counters the spiciness in this nutrient-rich dish. You can also include root veggies like carrots and potatoes in this dish to further emphasize the pronounced flavor of Pinot Noir and add tasty side dishes such as basmati rice and naan to counter the spiciness of the curry and make the fruitiness of the Pinot even more noticeable.
3- Fried Tofu with Spicy Ginger Sesame Sauce
If you love Chinese takeout but you’re trying to watch your calories or sodium intake, you can make some Asian-inspired meals at home that are low in salt and sugar and meat-free. You may not normally think of tofu as a food that needs to be paired with wine, but when you add a tasty sesame ginger sauce to the entree, cabernet makes for a wonderful wine pairing. The mild fruitiness and slight bitterness of the wine is a perfect match for the pungent ginger and subtle sesame flavors. Tofu is essentially flavorless and will take on the taste of the ingredients you cook it with, so if you want a tofu meal with spicy and slightly smoky flavors, a Cabernet Sauvignon is the ideal wine for this type of meal.
These are just a few meat-free dinners you can enjoy with a delicious glass of red wine. The rich, earthy flavors in these dishes will enhance the taste of the red wine for a sophisticated dinner you won’t want to pass up. Once you know which red wines taste great with your favorite vegan meals, you can present your friends and loved ones with a variety of wine options to make any vegan meal even more delicious.