Make Your Own Plant-Based Ikea Menu at Home

The furniture retail company, IKEA, has made quite a name for itself in pop culture. Not only does the warehouse show up in multiple romantic comedies (Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt memorably gallivant around the various mock-IKEA rooms in 500 Days of Summer) but their affordable furniture is widely adored, albeit maddening to assemble at times.

What many people don’t realize about IKEA is that even though the warehouse is famous for its Swedish meatballs (along with plant-based Swedish meatballs!), each IKEA facility actually features a bright and full-service restaurant menu. The restaurant offers shoppers a variety of Swedish-inspired dishes that are served in an elevated cafeteria style.

We’ve scoured the depths of our Food Monster App to bring you some of IKEA’s most popular restaurant items, made vegan. Check out our plant-based IKEA menu below!

While we are hesitant to choose a favorite plant-based meatball recipe, we definitely want to highlight these Swedish Meatballs With Lentils and Black Rice by Ida Hemmingsson-Holl.

Serving these meatballs with the right sides, like potato mash, red cabbage relish, and plenty of plant-based gravy brings out the best of their flavor and texture. They’re a real traditional Swedish treat that’s perfect for dinner.

These Swedish Mushroom Meatballs by Cruelty Free Family are also a umami-rich, plant-based alternative to IKEA’s most famous dish. 

These mushroom-chickpea meatballs are blended with fragrant onions, garlic, nutritional yeast for cheesiness, Sriracha, savory liquid aminos, and a few other spices. After being formed and baked until crispy, these meatballs are tossed in a creamy cashew sauce which tastes amazing over mashed potatoes, noodles, or rice. Yum!

IKEA offers its own salmon sandwich, which Business Insider described as “dry, crumbly, and inexplicably reminiscent of thick cardboard.”

Good thing our bloggers Logan Dunn and Lexus Osman created this “Salmon” Salad Sandwich, which is anything but dry.

This gluten-free sandwich filling is made with beans! If you didn’t realize that beans could be made into a plant-based salmon salad that tastes remarkably like the real deal, prepare to be amazed. This is an incredibly simple recipe! Get those chickpeas soaking so that tomorrow you can have a killer salmon salad sandwich that would trick even the most dedicated of seafood lovers.

The IKEA kids menu features hot dogs and soda.

We’re a fan of sneaking in veggies where we can, so recommend these Spicy Veggie Dogs by Tina Dawson as a healthier, kid-friendly alternative.

These veggie dogs are made from beet, carrot, green chilis, potatoes, and peas, and then are seasoned with an assortment of spices that you can manipulate to your preference. Eventually, they are brushed with some oil and pan seared. Your reward for assembling the ingredients is a crispy plant-based sausage that is perfect for barbecues when served in a fluffy hot dog bun with a generous drizzle of vegan mayo and ketchup.

After a hectic day of shopping, there’s nothing more refreshing than cooling down with a plant-based dessert before heading home to assemble your new furniture. IKEA offers its customers a traditional non-fat vanilla yogurt sundae.

But we favor this Crunchy Almond Butter Soft Serve Ice Cream by Pauline Hanuise.

While it may look (and taste) super indulgent, this dairy-free soft serve is special because it’s comprised of clean, nutritious ingredients. Bananas, almond butter, and buckinis are all essential ingredients in this recipe that add tons of flavor and texture. Just look at how gorgeous it is!

If you’re loving all these plant-based recipes and want to continue finding alternatives to IKEA’s traditional menu, we highly recommend downloading our Food Monster App, which is available for both Android and iPhone, and can also be found on Instagram and Facebook. The app has more than 8,000 plant-based, allergy-friendly recipes, and subscribers gain access to ten new recipes per day. Check it out!

Lead image source: Swedish Mushroom Meatballs