5 Sneaky Ways to Get Seeds in Your Meals All Day Long

Plant-based nutrition can be easy, especially if you opt for whole foods and are sure to keep your nutrient levels in check with all of your meals. But who doesn’t love a little hack from time-to-time? For me, it’s sneaking seeds (chia, flax, hemp, sunflower are just a few of my favs) into my plant-based meals so that I am getting an extra kick of nutrient power with every single meal. Seeds are obvious additions to your smoothies (when grounded) and atop salads or in trail mixes, but consider some other sneaky (yet so easy) ways to get your seed on:

1. Lunch time! Add them to your sticky sandwiches.

This may sound weird, but it’s worth trying. Bring that PB&J (or almond butter & J, etc.) to the next level by adding a layer of ground seeds (or even just small chia seeds) in between your two layers of foodstuffs (i.e. bread, then PB, then layer of seeds, then jelly, then bread). You’ll get an extra crunch, but are likely to not even notice the addition, especially if you’re a fan of crunchy nut butters. The seeds will stick to the nut butter, and you’ll be consuming extra nutrients — SCORE! Ground sunflower seeds make an amazing addition to any almond butter and jam sandwich!

2. Snack time! Mix them in to your homemade salsa.

Salsas are so flavorful and are meant to have many textures, so why not add some seeds? Chia, flax, and quinoa all make super additions to any salsa mixture, taking your dip from delicious to most-incredible-nutritious-snack ever!

3. Dinner time! Add them to sauces and soups as a thickening agent.

Chia seeds act as a thickener, forming a light gel when mixed with liquid. The best part? You can hardly notice them, and they’ll do a great job thickening up whatever liquid mixture you’re concocting. Try adding a few spoonfuls to your next creamy vegan sauce, marinade, or soup. You won’t even notice they’re there, but they’ll be adding a wealth of awesome nutritional power to your sauce. You could also try this with ground flax seed.

4. Dessert time! Mix them in to your desserts for a plant-powered kick.

Take your cookie or cake recipe from awesome to THE BEST EVER by adding a few spoonfuls (go a little lighter than you might with sauces, though) to your dessert recipes, even if the recipe doesn’t call for it. Be sure you choose a seed in ground form so as not to alter the texture of your baked goodie too much.

5. Party time! Add seeds to your pizza party.

Making homemade pizza crust? You need binding materials, so why not add in some ground seeds to the mix? Buckwheat crusts are the perfect option — and if you’re using something else as your base, throw in some seeds anyway! It can’t hurt to bind and thicken your crust even more!

How do you mix seeds into your plant-based meals? Any sneaky tricks you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments below!

Image source: Sanjay Acharya / Wikimedia Commons