Vegan Food Pyramid, Updated — the Free Printable Plate

Build a Vegan Plate

See exactly what fills each of the five groups when nothing comes from an animal: cups, ounces, and the fortified soy that still counts as dairy. Free to print.

1. Half the plate — vegetables and fruits

Fill half with vegetables and fruit and vary the colors across the week: leafy greens, red and orange vegetables, beans, starchy vegetables, and whatever fruit is in season. Two cups of raw leafy greens count as one cup of vegetables, so a salad is smaller than it looks.

2. A quarter — whole grains

Brown rice, whole-wheat pasta and bread, oats, quinoa, barley, corn tortillas. One slice of bread, half a cup of cooked rice or pasta, or half a cup of cooked oatmeal is one ounce-equivalent. Make at least half your grains whole ones.

3. A quarter — protein foods

Beans, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, tempeh, edamame, nuts, seeds, and nut butters. A quarter cup of cooked beans, one ounce of tofu, half an ounce of nuts, or a tablespoon of nut butter each count as one ounce-equivalent.

4. Alongside — fortified soy for the dairy group

The dairy group stays on a vegan plate. The Dietary Guidelines count calcium-fortified soy beverage and soy yogurt there, because their protein, calcium, and vitamin D line up with cow's milk; one cup of soy beverage is one cup-equivalent. Other plant milks can be fortified but aren't counted in the group.

5. Oils, quietly

Plant oils are already doing the cooking here — olive, canola, sunflower — and the oils inside nuts, seeds, olives, and avocado count toward the same small daily allowance. Oils aren't a food group; they're the vitamin E and essential fatty acids riding along with everything else.

6. Beans get to pick a group

Beans, peas, and lentils count as either a vegetable or a protein food — whichever the day is short on. That flexibility does real work on a plate with no meat, seafood, or eggs on it, and it's why the same cup of chili can settle two different gaps.

7. The nutrients worth planning for

A fully plant-based plate needs a deliberate source of vitamin B12, and calcium and vitamin D land much more easily when fortified soy is actually in the cart. That's a shopping decision more than a cooking one, and it gets made once a week.

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