Ultimate Guide to a Vegan Valentine’s Day: 11 Recipes, Including “Caviar!”

This Valentine's Day, surprise your sweetheart with a home-cooked meal that's completely plant-based and extra meaningful because there's nothing more romantic than caring for someone's health and impressing their taste buds at the same time!

We compiled a list of 11 Valentine's Day-themed vegan recipes created by celebrity chefs who are part of The Beet's Guest Chefs column, including Mark Bittman, Chef AJ, Priyanka Naik, and brothers Derek and Chad Sarno from the Wicked Kitchen.

Choose from these recipes that are perfect for serving your honey breakfast in bed, or romantic appetizers to enjoy with a glass of wine, and then present mouth-watering entrees for two, and have some fun with these heart-shaped desserts. It will create an unforgettable day of culinary delights that say "I love you" in so many different ways. Mae your entire V-Day menu here.

Aside from planning the perfect Valentine's Day, if your goal is to convince your loved one to eat more plant-based, or join you on your meat-free, dairy-free journey, these recipes are a great place to start. You can learn how to get them on board with this 'Ask the Expert' advice on how to help a loved one go plant-based.

1. Vegan Waffles & Strawberry Compote by Derek and Chad Sarno

Start off the holiday with these fluffy, crispy vegan waffles that are lovingly draped with glossy, sweet strawberry compote. To go all out for your sweetheart, use a heart-shaped waffle iron. Either way, they'll appreciate you serving them a satisfying, nourishing plant-based meal. Especially in bed. Or for dessert. Or both…

Recipe: Vegan Waffles & Strawberry Compote

2. Heart-Shaped Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

These cinnamon rolls are soft, fluffy, and moist, loaded with a delicious sweet cinnamon filling. They are also cheap and easy to make, requiring only a handful of pantry staples. Though homemade cinnamon rolls take a little extra time to make, they are totally worth every second, because they are just so much better than any store-bought version! And another bonus is that your whole house will smell incredible while baking them.

Recipe: Heart-Shaped Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

3. Almond Tahini Cake with a Rose Glaze by Priyanka Naik

This recipe gives you the feel of indulging in the tastes of baklava, but without all the labor, and of course, it's vegan! Topped with pistachios and rose petals, this is a feast for the eyes as much as it is for the stomach.

Recipe: Almond Tahini Cake with a Rose Glaze

4. BBQ Mushroom Steaks by Derek and Chad Sarno

Here’s Wicked Kitchen's signature pan-pressing technique for making show-stopping steaks with crispy edges and juicy centers seasoned just right. Use oyster mushrooms, Portobellos, lion’s manes, maitakes, or whatever mushrooms you like. For the biggest steaks, use the biggest mushrooms you can find. Check out the video to get the hang of this method. Once you do, you’ll be slicing into swoon-worthy, meaty AF, sexy eats any time you please.

Recipe: BBQ Mushroom Steaks

5. Vegan Apple Pie Hearts by Chef AJ

These little gems are fun to make for Valentine’s Day or any time of the year. They are free of refined sugar, sweetened only with dates and dried apples, and made from only whole food. They’re easy to make in just minutes and they also freeze well. They are heavenly bite-sized morsels that are reminiscent of apple pie and fun to pop in your mouth even while still frozen!

Recipe: Vegan Apple Pie Hearts

Make this warm, rich risotto made with red beets and beet greens, a resourceful and healthy way to enjoy comfort food. Beets are extraordinarily healthy and help protect your heart, eyes, brain, and help reduce inflammation in your body, yet they are often overlooked when it comes to cooking because the vegetable is intimidating to many. With the help of this recipe, beets will become your new favorite ingredient.

Recipe: Mark Bittman’s Barley Risotto with Beets and Greens

7. Vegan Heart-Shaped Pizza

This Valentine’s Day pizza is the perfect food to share on a romantic night with its crispy, heart-shaped crust and cheese and truffle toppings. It’s also a really fun recipe to prepare together with your S.O. if you like to cook together on a date night.

Recipe: Vegan Heart-Shaped Pizza

8. Chocolate Hummus

Made from buttery chickpeas, rich cacao powder, and a bit of sweetener, you’ll be shocked at how easily this chocolate hummus all comes together. This dip is just the thing to make for your loved ones this Valentine’s Day. Serve it with fruit, pretzels, waffles, pancakes, or toast.

Recipe: Chocolate Hummus

9. Sweet Vegan Crêpe

Vegan crêpes are very easy to make at home and perfect to make for a special occasion like Valentine's Day. Crêpes can be served for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner. They are best when fresh, but the leftovers make for a great meal as well. So you can make a larger batch of crêpes at once, then keep the leftovers in the fridge and simply pop them into the microwave to warm up, then add your chosen toppings.

Recipe: Sweet Vegan Crêpe

10. Vegan Pâté

Recipe: Vegan Pâté

11. Vegan Caviar

Vegan caviar is elegant, delicate, and sophisticated, and it’s the perfect special treat to impress your partner on Valentine’s day with. This vegan delicacy makes a beautiful, and luxurious date night food to share, yet it’s really not hard to prepare. To achieve that classic caviar taste you will infuse your water with algae, then flavor it with soy, and mushroom sauce. To thicken it all you use agar agar. The magic of this recipe happens when you drip this liquid into ice-cold oil - you’ll end up with amazing, bouncy little caviar balls.

Recipe: Vegan Caviar

For more lists of recipes, check out:

• 7 simple plant-based recipe ideas for under $1 a serving
• 7 popular plant-based soup recipes
• 5 high-fiber recipes that help boost weight loss
• 7 easy plant-based breakfast recipe ideas 
• 7 Super Bowl plant-based recipes