Best Vegan Masala Chai

Looking for the perfect Vegan Chai Recipe? This recipe is for you, then! This is the best Masala Chai I have ever had (including the dairy ones I have had before turning vegan). It is packed with fragrant spices like cardamom and cloves and aromatics like lemongrass and ginger. The perfect beverage to wake up to or as a pick up during the day with no need for dairy.

What is Chai?

Chai translates to tea. I feel like I have to keep repeating myself because I keep seeing folks calling it “chai tea” and it’s one of my pet peeves. So why is “chai spices” a thing?

In India, Chai is always consumed with milk (like our dear friends from England do). When Chai is consumed without milk, we like to call it Kala Chai (black tea). Because the norm is to always add milk. And we like to spice it up to add a flavour punch. So when we add spices to Chai, like cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, pepper etc., it becomes Masala Chai. Masala meaning a mix of spices.

Plain Chai (without the Masala) is consumed when you don’t have the time to crush up a few whole spices or grate some ginger.

How to make Vegan Chai?

If you think about it, Masala Chai is all about that those spices and good quality black tea leaves. I prefer the Indian brands for this one. Especially, Assam black tea known for being strong. So if you replace the dairy with a vegan alternative, it’s done! But I do have some tips and suggestions because not all subs go well.

Steps:

• Start by crushing your whole spices in a mortar and pestle.
• Then slice lemongrass and grate the ginger.
• Add the spices and aromatics to a pan with water in it and bring to a boil.
• Once it starts boiling, add the tea leaves and bring down the heat.
• Let it get to the strength of infusion you want and turn off the heat and add the vegan milk. I don’t like boiling vegan milks too long, especially if its oat milk. You can get by boiling soy milk though.
• Serve hot with snacks like Vegan laddoos, Pazham Pori, Samosas or Aloo Tikki!

Ingredients and subs:

Vegan milk: I prefer soy milk or oat milk for this. Usually oat milk (I have a recipe for it) is the best sub since it does not impart a strong flavour of its own. I always have soy milk lying around at home (since it is nutritionally closest to dairy milk) so I end up making it with soy milk.

Whole Spices: Cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper. Now you can remove whatever is not available to you from this list. Sometimes I just add cardamom and its delicious. And is called Elaichi Chai (cardamom tea). You can sub with pre-ground versions but they lose taste with time in the shelf.

Aromatics: This is where the recipe takes to the next level. Lemongrass and Ginger. These two bad boys here make this Vegan Chai extremely fragrant and delicious. The flavour punch! You can skip these if it ain’t available.

And that’s it! Let me know if you try this recipe and I would love to see what you paired it up with. Tag @beextravegant on Instagram. If you don’t follow me there, I think it’s time you do that. I post yummy reels about vegan recipes and everything that is edible. Ciao!

If you like this recipe, check out other recipes from there blog:

• Healthy Vegan laddoo
• Bakes Aloo Tikki
• Vegan Kulfi