Vegan matcha balls for games night – Pexels
Suitable snacks for games night might seem to be in abundance… until you try to bring a vegan twist to them. Here, even the most experienced chef may falter. Suddenly, we’ve got an awful lot of boxes we need to tick. Not only have we got to cut out the animal products – goodbye cheese boards, hard-boiled eggs, charcuterie – but we’ve also got to bear in mind things like finger-friendly, not too sticky, bite-sized, and serving at room temperature.
That might sound like an almost impossible combination, but we’ve got plenty of ideas to keep you going and ensure your games night is vegan and delicious. You can also check out our easy Filipino plant-based recipes for other ideas.
Vegan Matcha Balls
Do these sound challenging? Think again. Vegan matcha balls can be made with just a handful of ingredients. We’d recommend almond meal, maple syrup, peanut butter, ground pistachios, and of course, matcha, but you can sub in other ingredients to suit your preferences, as long as you keep similar consistencies.
How do you make them? Simply mix the matcha into the peanut butter, almond meal, and syrup, and then roll them in your crushed pistachios. It’s as simple as it gets! These will also keep well in the fridge for a couple of weeks, and they’re absolutely ideal if you’re playing online games, whether you’re enjoying puzzles or casino game fun, because they’re very easy to eat without getting the screen dirty.
Carrot Fries
Who says snacks have to be served cold? There’s something particularly delectable about a roasted carrot, and these are again a friend for screen games. If you’re planning a long session on a platform like Cafe Casino, you’ll really enjoy the cozy warmth of carrot fries; they’re the perfect companion for all kinds of casino games, no matter what title catches your eye.
Carrots are a healthy option, and these are enormously simple to make, depending on just a few spices to bump up the flavor and make them taste irresistible. Forget the standard fries: these are on a different level.
You can find Cafe Casino’s simple recipe for carrot fries below, and if you’ve got an air fryer, they’re even easier to make!
You will want to change the dipping sauce a bit, but you don’t have to make many alterations – just swap for a vegan yogurt and sub in maple syrup, rather than honey: done! Alternatively, pick any other vegan sauce you enjoy and tuck in.
Fruit Bowl
Maybe you don’t feel like cooking, and you want a snack that’s refreshing, rather than cozy? A fruit bowl is the king of the castle here. The great thing about this approach is you can customize endlessly, tailoring to both season and preference.
Maybe you feel like a berry bowl, throwing in strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and more. Maybe you’re craving the tropical fruits, such as mango, papaya, or pineapple. Perhaps the traditional orange segments and apple slices are more appealing right now. Whatever it is, a fruit bowl can be put together in just a few minutes, and you don’t need to worry about the vegan elements.
If you want to take it up a notch, vegan yogurt, vegan cream, or a drizzle of maple syrup will usually do the trick. There’s something particularly mouth-watering and delightful about a really lovely fruit bowl – so add this to your snacks rotation and enjoy it every time it rolls around. Another advantage is that cleanup tends to be minimal when making this kind of snack: you’ve generally only got a bowl and perhaps a chopping board to wash after, which is always preferable for a low-key gaming night.
Deviled Avocado
Move over, deviled eggs. They’re a staple of parties for good reason, but at our vegan party, we’ve got a different star: the much-loved avocado. Avos are delightfully healthy, providing lots of important nutrients and fats, and you can ensure they’re the perfect gaming snack by creating a deviled version.
This usually involves creating a tasty mix to fill the hole in the center of the avocado (where the seed was). You can go crazy with different fillings – one option involves tahini, chickpeas, turmeric, paprika, and a few other ingredients, but really, any tastes that appeal to you can be used here. Toss on a few pine nuts, try mixing in lime juice and mint, and don’t be afraid to experiment.
These make a great gaming snack because they’re very filling and easy to eat with a spoon. They also look fancy, so if you’re going to be serving guests, these are a sure way to “wow” them and prove that vegan food doesn’t have to be boring or bland: it can outdo the traditional party options if you take the right approach!
