Editors’ Favorite Plant-Based or Vegan Products of the Week

Every week, it seems there are more amazing, interesting, and delicious plant-based products hitting the market, from non-dairy ice cream to probiotic drinks, to healthier snacks made from vegetables, fruits, and nutritious ingredients that deliver more health benefits than the snacks you grew up on.

We all know we need to try to eat healthier, and that means getting five or more servings a day of fresh (or frozen) vegetables, fruit, and swapping out meat and dairy. So far only 1 in 10 Americans gets their 5-a-day vegetable and fruit servings. We are here to help, and to suggest ways to ditch meat and dairy and instead of getting out protein from legumes, nuts, seeds, and plant-based foods. Each week, the Editors of The Beet recommend our favorite vegan or plant-based products, to make it even easier (and tastier) to know what to buy at the store or online market, to eat more plant-based too. These products make it easier to eat plant-based and enjoy every bite.

Here are the latest plant-based products to add to your grocery list or cart, that can make your decision to go plant-based easier and more satisfying right now. Check out the favorite plant-based products of the week from the editors of The Beet, and share yours on The Beet's Facebook page. We all want to be healthy and plant-based together. What's your pick of the week? Here are ours.

Not going to lie, I am having a "hate affair" with most of the big-name meatless burgers. So many of them contain extra ingredients and not-so organic chemicals that are not why I switched to a plant-based diet. The whole point is to be healthy, eat whole foods, and treat my body to a diet that nourishes it, not fools it into thinking I'm eating meat when –psych!– it's actually a bunch of compounds foreign to what you could grow in your garden.

Enter Strong Roots. This company has it so together. Their packaging is simple, their ingredients even simpler, and the taste is oh, so satisfying. I could have written up any of their burgers (I also love the Beetroot and Bean flavor), or their mixed root vegetable fries or zucchini hashbrowns, or spinach bites. But I decided to go with the fan-favorite: Kale and Quinoa because it's just so natural and the combination so tasty! As someone who needs to hit the protein (I am training for a triathlon and not as young as I used to be) this burger satisfies my need for taste, healthy nutrients, and protein, all in one little 160 calorie paddy.

Consider that you are getting (in order or ingredients on the label): Curly Kale, Precooked quinoa, Spelt Flour Crust, made with Puffed Quinoa, and just a touch of Sunflower Oil. I doubt you could make something this healthy in your own kitchen that would taste as good. Just preheat the oven, place the frozen burger on the tray and flip once. You will thank me, but more importantly, your body will thank you, with sustained energy and none of the logy feeling after eating those other "fake meat" burgers.

"Strong Roots" builds a strong you. Order them by the dozen.

One thing that became very evident at the height of the pandemic last year was how important it is to stock up on healthy shelf-stable options that you can lean on if you're not able to make it to the grocery store very often. My cabinet is always loaded with canned beans, veggies, and lots of grains, but often canned fruit is swimming in thick, saccharine liquid and a syrupy fruit cocktail doesn't hit the spot in the same way some fresh berries do.

Enter Sow Good, a company intent on making delicious, healthy staples that taste good and stay good. Their range of freeze-dried fruits has been my go-to this past week, in smoothies, oatmeal, and just plain crunching on them when I need a quick, healthy snack. While it may seem like freeze-dried fruit doesn't deliver on nutrients the same way that fresh fruit does, that actually is not the case: Sow Good fruits retain all of the nutrients through the drying process and are shelf-stable for a mindblowing 25 years.

Beyond the fruit, Sow Good also offers granolas and freeze-dried smoothies for extra convenience. Just add your plant-based milk of choice and blend them up.

To buy Sow Good products, visit the brand's online shop. 

I have never come across plant-based chocolate milk that tastes as good as Sproud's, it's surprising there's no dairy. First, Sproud is powered by peas, my personal favorite way to get protein, and also contains 5 percent less sugar than most chocolate milk, so it's definitely a healthier option to drink and taste just as good as the real thing, if not better. Not to mention, this drink contains important vitamins and nutrients, including  B12, an important vitamin for plant-based eaters.

Aside from the health perks, the subtle chocolate taste is so delicious. The texture of this plant-based milk is silky, smooth, and creamy, not chalky or oily. It's obvious this one-of-a-kind product is made with top-grade, high-quality ingredients because every sip tastes natural and fresh.

If you're looking for delicious, plant-based chocolate milk to drink on its own or add to your coffee or a special treat, try Sproud.

Grabbing an iced coffee from my local café used to be my favorite part of my morning routine but after realizing it was a pricey habit, I set out to find a store-bought iced coffee that was just as good as the coffee shops. I taste-tested a wide variety of store-bought brands including Starbucks, Dunkin and many more, but found one that stood out amongst the rest: Chobani Pure Black Cold Brew.

Chobani Pure Black Cold Brew is a cold-pressed coffee made with 100% Single Origin Arabica Beans. In every serving, there is 120 milligrams of caffeine and has no sugar or dairy. Chobani doesn't try to sneak in any sweeteners or additives as there are only two ingredients in this cold brew: Coffee and water. When trying out all the different brands of cold brew, I noticed many of them either had additives or tasted a bit bland with an almost sour taste, making it hard to drink. Unlike the others, Chobani's cold brew was extremely smooth and had a robust flavor profile. I wasn't expecting to love Chobani's cold brew as much as I did but its bold, dark roast flavor is what really won me over. For anyone who doesn't like black coffee, save yourself the money of paying for both a cold brew and creamer by getting Chobani's cold brew with oat milk.

To find Chobani Cold Brew near you, click here. 

The best thing to have in the morning is ease. Taika's delicious, nutritious, and plant-based coffee drinks make for the best beverage to start the day. Out of all of the company's flavors, my personal favorites are the classic black coffee or macadamia latte. Depending on the morning, either beverage can be the perfect drink to wake up with. Beyond the coffee, the company makes sure to accent its coffee with "adaptogens" that help the body and the mind.

The Macadamia Latte is an affordable plant-based specialty drink, layered with ingredients that sets it above the typical coffee shop latte. The coffee is completely sugar-free, but perfect creamy. The more straightforward option is the Black Coffee that comes with "no-frills" according to the Taika website. The tasty, perfectly bitter coffee will shock you because there's no canned coffee quite like it.

You can purchase bulk packages of the coffees here and can find them at select retailers across the United States.

For more great product recommendations check out the Editors' Favorites from The Beet and see all of the great plant-based product reviews including non-dairy creamers, milks, ice cream and more.