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Starting and learning to eat Whole Food Plant-Based (SOS-Free) is super confusing, overwhelming, and daunting for anyone when you first try it, but hopefully, this Guide to Basic WFPB Kitchen Skills & Essential Equipment will help you to take your first steps. If you’re already taken your first steps then don’t worry these tips and tricks will help improve your “stride” of your steps so you continue more quickly on the WFPB path you’re walking.

Also, this guide is also part of the Roadmap to WFPB series that I’m working on, including others articles on Overnight Jar Mealprep, and more to come. Make sure you’re subscribed!

There is NO Affiliate Links or Sponsored Content Here

This is just equipment that I use and love and has served me well for years. Working in professional restaurant kitchens I have seen and broken my fair share of cooking gadgets. These are all you need to get started cooking at home.

Again, I make NO MONEY if you buy any of these kitchen tools. If you do want to support me then consider buying me a coffee or just dropping a dollar or two to help support my efforts and my growing grocery bill 😅

WFPB Cooking Techniques & Minimum Equipment

I do some things that no other WFPB Vegan chef or cook does, like my use of a spice grinder (honestly for almost everything) to replace an expensive high-speed blender. This way I don’t need to soak seeds or nuts overnight (for example cashews for cashew cream etc.) I never have to soak the powder more than a few minutes at most. I also absolutely refuse to water sauté—I dry-fry so instead I get perfectly caramelized onions, mushrooms, peppers, and more without oil or dangerous non-stick cookware.

There are also some simple kitchen tricks for saving tons of time when prepping things like onions and garlic, that even many professional chefs don’t even know about or refuse because of tradition or habit. I’d like to share some of my favorites with you so that preparing healthy food can become faster and easier for you too.

Also, make sure you’re subscribed on Substack & YouTube so you don’t miss a recipe, post, or guide!

Minimum Equipment

Looking at WFPB SOS-Free recipes online makes one think you need a bunch of expensive high-speed blenders, mixers, and other top-of-the-line gadgets just so you don’t end up eating beans and rice night after night and oatmeal every morning.

I have replaced my $350 high-speed blender with a $20 spice grinder in my daily meals. I’ve managed to convert almost all of my air-fryer recipes to work just as well, if not better, on the stovetop without oil. I make ice cream in under an hour without an ice cream machine and just a regular freezer. For everything else I have a $30 immersion blender (with some cool attachments like beaters).

Measuring Cups & Spoons

I use metric measuring cups and spoons, but all recipes should still work just fine with imperial measurements.

These are the measuring cups & spoons combo pack that I bought and love. It also comes with a magnetic conversion chart. Again, this is not an affiliate link, I just love them.

Unless you are cooking for more than two people you can probably get away with just using your regular bowls as mixing bowls—I do—but I suggest some good stainless steel mixing bowls if you’re cooking for 3 or more.

I also highly recommend canning/mason jars for overnight meals, prep, and storage. The are usually very affordable and we will have many uses for them in current and future recipes.

One, Maybe Two Knives

You only need one knife for almost everything and that’s just a simple chefs knife or a chopping knife (like a Nakari). It doesn’t need to be expensive or fancy it just needs to be sharp. I bought this set of two small (but perfect for most WFPB cooking) knives and I still love them and they are nice and sharp and sharpen up very quickly.

The other knife I suggest is some kind of serrated knife for cutting things that you want precise cuts or are likely to compress, rip, or just not cut with a normal knife. These are things like bread/bagels/baked goods, tofu, tomatoes, lemons/limes, soft plums, pineapple, melons, etc. So if you don’t eat a lot of these items then you can probably skip the serrated knife. Or…

I know it looks a bit weird, but I love my offset serrated knife and honestly, I use it for almost everything!

Spice Grinder as a High-Speed Blender

I’ve had the same spice grinder for 7 years and I use it to blend seeds, nuts, dried split peas, lentils, rice, oats, dried fruit, and so much more! I can turn almost anyy dry ingredient into a powder and then I can mix the powder with my wet ingredients, and at most I soak the powder for 5-10 minutes, never overnight like people do with nuts etc.!

Smooth cashew cream in 5 minutes from dry cashews, or homemade oat milk/cream in seconds. If there are also wet ingredients like fruit or soft veggies, then a cheap immersion blender usually finishes off the job for that the spice grinder couldn’t.

Eitherway, my spice grinder does for me what my high-speed blender used to do for most things, but even better since I don’t need to keep stopping and scraping the sides of the spice grinder like I did with the blender. Not using liquids while blending/grinding actually saves a lot of time, effort, and mess.

The link, not an affiliate/sponsored link, to the grinder is here I have no incentive for you to buy it, I just like it so I wanted to share in case you’re looking for a good spice grinder.

Here’s a video where I show using a spice grinder to replace a high speed blender.

Spice Grinder Quick Tips

Shake the Grinder (like a martini shaker): as you grind to make sure everything gets ground evenly.
Tap the Grinder: I will smack/tap the side of the grinder with my hand to loosen and powder that has stuck to the sides or the lid of the grinder.
Batching: Doing smaller batches at a time if grinding something like raisins/dates/apricots or other partially dried fruit with oats/flax/etc. but try doing larger batches with harder to grind items like split peas or lentils to get a more evenly ground powder.
Sifting: using a fine mesh to sift and then regrind any remaining chunks until all the texture is smooth is a great way to get a very uniform texture and it’s quicker/easier than you think. See the lentil feta recipe for an example of this
Cleaning: use alcohol and a fine toothbrush type brush. The Krups grinder I have is water resistant on the inside so I will clean it with a mild soap and hot water.

If You Still Want a High-Speed Blender

If you must have a high-speed blender then I always went with KitchenAid, but I’ve seen a few videos with the Ninja blenders with power paddles recently, to push the food back into the blades, and I’m impressed. Here’s an example of one (not an affiliate link I don’t make money in any way from this).

As I said before, I use my immersion blender for any grinding/blending of wet ingredients that I just can’t put in my spice grinder. I have no need of a high-speed blender anymore—anyone looking to buy a KitchenAid blender 😅.

I also really like the immersion blender I have since it came with so many attachments and it’s very high powdered and it was very affordable. It’s the GDOR 6-in-1.

Immersion Blender (optional, great if you do smoothies and soups)

I am NOT an affiliate or sponsored, but I really like my GDOR 6-in-1

Immersion blenders are great, especially for soups since you can blend a bit of the soup and add it back to thicken it up (like in my boil & blend recipes such as Easy & Low-GI Vegan Baked Potato Soup Recipe or Creamy WFPB Oil-Free Mushroom Soup Made Easy).

The link to the immersion blender I use is here, but it’s also not an affiliate link, none of them are, and I don’t make anything if you do or don’t buy it. If you want to support my mission you can always buy me a coffee.

Also, I suggest an immersion blender to go with your spice grinder, if you already have a good or decent blender that works for you then that’s just fine, use that. If it’s not amazing then try using the spice grinder first for the dry ingredients.

Minimum Cookware Needed

All you really need is one good pot and one good pan. I suggest steel cookware with a heavy bottom (so it heats up evenly) or cast iron cookware. Avoid all non-stick cookware, even the new GenX stuff seems to be just as toxic as Teflon. Glass or ceramic is fine, but it doesn’t heat evenly and is more likely to chip or break.

Both Steel cookware and cast iron can be seasoned so they are as nonstick as non-stick™ cookware when seasoned correctly.

Quick Cookware Tips:

Use a heat-safe cloth or paper towel.
NEVER mix water and hot oil. A very real fire hazard.

What About Air Fryers, Ice Cream Machines, and Pressure Cookers, Oh My!

Most of this isn’t needed. You’ll see that we can make battered and dry-fried foods on the stovetop without quite easily with recipes like the gluten-free breaded Not-Chicken Parmesan, Easy Oil-Free French Fries on the Stovetop, or Fast Freeze no churn ice cream.

I do recommend a sturdy metal offset spatula for flipping foods, a good mixing bowl or two, a box grater, and a good potato masher or ricer. You don’t need most of those other kitchen gadgets and tools.

If you want my suggestion for the best expensive gadget of this type then I recommend the Instant Pot Duo Crisp. Mostly because it’s a pressure cooker, air fryer, dehydrator, slow cooker, steamer, and sous vide, which you can even use to make plant yogurt.

The Amazon link is here, again not an affiliate link, but if you want to support my mission and my work then please consider buying me a coffee.

I also suggest stovetop baking (or air fryer etc.), over using the oven, since the oven uses so much extra energy, takes longer to heat and cook, and gives off so much wasted heat.

Now that you have the basic equipment: a good knife, a good pot, a good safe pan, and a spice grinder and/or a blender of some sort, then you should be ready to learn some basic skills and kitchen hacks.

Basic Kitchen Techniques & Hacks

Most cooking requires at the least the use of at least a knife (see above for suggestions). If you don’t know anything about cooking then this will get you up to speed and cooking better and faster than most home cooks, and even most TV cooks, in no time at all.

The Only Knife Skills & Hacks You Need

I don’t expect you to be a trained cook or chef, but these short videos will give you the tools you need to cook food faster and more efficiently that the majority of home cooks. Most of these videos are from Jacques Pepin.

Jacques Pepin is an amazing chef and teacher who has some great tricks and hacks to make cooking easier. If you have zero kitchen skills, or even if you’re a trained chef, you’ll learn something from Jacques.

How To Cut Food, And Not Yourself

If you cut yourself often, or don’t know or can’t do the crab/claw cutting method then this video explains it in a very straightforward way. This is the best way to cut quickly and safely. It’s hard at first but it pays off and becomes second nature so fast if you stick with it! You’ve got this!

Dicing Onions Faster

I’ve been dicing onions like this for over a decade, in professional restaurant kitchens, and nobody could tell the difference other than I was faster than everyone else. I’m glad I found this video as it does a good job of explaining what I’ve been raving to my cooks and sous chefs for years about why doing the horizontal cuts, generally, are just a waste of time—nature already sliced it that way for you by making all onions layered.

Quick Onion Tips

Less Tears: keep them cold before cutting to cut down on tears from the gas release, you can even soak them in ice water for 10 minutes first.
Dry-Fry for Best Results: See the section on dry-frying to get caramelized onions without oil or non-stick cookware in the Oil-Free Guide.
Peeling Onions: make 6-8 shallow slices around the onion which are easier to just peel down, instead of around the onion.

Garlic Tricks & Hacks

Great tricks for garlic that I highly recommend you try suggested by the great Jacques Pepin.

Quick Garlic Tips

No Waste: Personally, I don’t cut off the end first, like Jacques does, and I find the garlic releases just fine after a good hard tap or two with the side of my knife
A Finer Mince: You can add a sprinkle of granulated garlic or garlic powder when mincing garlic to add grit—chefs have been doing the same thing with garlic and salt forever, but try the salt-free option instead, and use garlic granules or garlic powder.
Roasted Garlic Prep: Roasted garlic is a great way to add umami and depth without a strong garlic flavor (it becomes mild and creamy) and you can prep them in advance by cooking whole heads in the oven/air fryer (or a pot on low with a lid) and then keep them in the fridge and you can squeeze some out from a clove as needed, or squeeze the whole head out into an ice cube tray so you can plop a cube into food as you cook it. They should last 7-10 days in the fridge and 3-6 months in the freezer, but probably even longer for both since it’s roasted garlic—I always eat them before then.

Cooking Without Oil: Dry-Frying

I go in-depth in the Complete Oil-Free Guide about everything from stovetop French fries to even oil-free chili oil! But one of the most basics is being able to caramelize onions, mushrooms, or peppers without oil—which are both also in the guide, now that I just updated it.

It’s also worth mentioning that if foods stick in an unseasoned pan then the food usually just needs to cook longer. Most foods release themselves from the pan when they are ready to flip by forming a crust.

Caramelized Onions

The basic trick is to use high-heat and avoid stiring too often. If using your ears: I only stir when sizzles start to turn into snaps and pops, and visually they should start to become translucent.

Caramelized Mushrooms, Onions, and Peppers

The trick is the same here, high heat, but start with the mushrooms until they are already cooked fully on one side and some of the liquid is already cooked off. Mushrooms contain way more moisture than either onions or peppers and if most of the liquid isn’t removed from the mushrooms then they will just steam the other veggies and you’ll get soggy peppers, onions, and mushrooms.

Quick Mushroom Tips

Wash Them First: We aren’t using oil, so wash your mushrooms well before dry-frying them. Mushrooms in restaurants are almost never washed because they absorb so much water, and oil and water don’t mix, so all the water doesn’t cook off correctly if you coat mushrooms in fats and oils.
Don’t Crowd The Pan/Pot: If the mushrooms are pilled on top of each other then the liquid from the ones below evaporates and steams the mushrooms on the top. Placed in a single layer with a bit of space they will dry-fry up nicely with a golden brown crust.
Maximize Vitamin D: I’ve talked about this constantly on both substack and on plantbasedproof, but the trick is to put your mushrooms out in the sun, stem side up, for about 30-60 minutes and the vitamin D levels shoot up about 1000x to give you close to 100% of the recommended value of vitamin D in about half a cup of plain button mushrooms.
Deglaze: Deglazing with apple cider vinegar is great for season veggies, similar to how salt works, I talk more about this in the The Complete No/Reduced Added Salt Guide to WFPB Cooking but a few drops of balsamic vinegar can add a touch of sweetness to take them to new heights. Just be careful as balsamic can burn on high heat.
Make Them Squeal!: I know this sounds really very strange, even unsettling, but if you press a metal spatula down on mushrooms in a hot pan (I use the back of a spoon pressed down on the spatula to not burn myself or break the spatula) they will make a squealing sound as they release their juices. This not only speeds up the cooking time dramatically but it also makes them have a chewier/meatier texture as the fibers compress. Try it!

How To Make Food Jump: The Sautéing Motion

This is a more advanced technique, but it’s worth learning since food can burn quickly and it’s a great way to remove your pan from the heat and stir it all in one single motion, saving time and maybe your food.

I know it’s confusing how sautéing means a way to cook food but all the motion the you move the pan. Sauté actually means to jump, in French, or at least that’s what my French chefs have always told me. I find this jumping idea makes the sauté motion easier to understand and visualize when you understand that it’s just a way to make the food jump in the pan.

Putting It All Together

Here is all kitchen equipment I think you need:

A sharp chef/chopping knife (and/or maybe a serrated knife)
A good pot and a good safe pan (ideally steel, cast iron, but also ceramic or glass)
A spice grinder and/or an immersion blender (or another blender, but the spice grinder is highly recommended either way)
sturdy metal offset spatula for flipping foods
a good mixing bowl or two
a box grater
a good potato masher or potato ricer

The main takeaways from the cooking tips are:

Always use the crab/claw cutting method, and a sharp knife, so you don’t cut yourself.
When dicing onions skip the horizontal cuts to save time and effort.
Smack garlic heads to separate them, and smack cloves with the side of a knife to release them from the skin.
- Use granulated garlic with fresh garlic to add grit to get a finer mince.
Use high heat and stir less often when dry-frying/dry-sautéing to caramelize veggies; deglaze with apple cider vinegar to season them.
Cook mushrooms first/alone, in a single layer, they are filled with water and will steam themselves and other veggies if they are crowded.
The sautéing motion is an advanced skill that is easily learned and can save you time and save your food from burning faster than most other methods.

If you’ve gotten through this then you should we well prepared to start cooking WFPB SOS-Free food from scratch and in less time. But the journey isn’t over yet! There is also the rest of the Roadmap to WFPB series so make sure you’re subscribed so you…

Never Miss A Thing!

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I plan to do a video series on basic to advanced kitchen skills and hacks and I’m wondering if there’s interest in this. If so then please let me know in the comments or send me a message.

Please reach out, especially if something didn’t work for you or if you need some help or pointers.

If I’ve made any mistakes, or something doesn’t make sense, or if you want more details, please let me know in the comments below or on substack.

Stay healthy and nourished! Happy cooking!🎁

Chef Robert Leigh