High calorie vegan foods are the plant foods concentrated in fat or low in water: oils, nuts, nut butters, seeds, avocado, coconut and dried fruit, plus denser staples like oats, bread, pasta, beans and tofu. The reason many vegans struggle to eat enough is that most plant foods are high in fibre and water, which fills you up before you have taken in the calories. The fix is to lean on the dense foods and add fat, so a normal appetite goes further. For the full picture across all foods, see calorie-dense foods.

This is the part that trips people up on a plant-based diet. A big plate of vegetables, salad and fruit feels like a lot of food and barely registers on the calorie count, because it is mostly fibre and water. Eating more of it does not help. Eating denser does.

Why is it harder to get enough calories on a vegan diet?

Because plant foods are, on the whole, lower in calorie density than animal foods. Vegetables, fruit, salad and even a lot of whole grains carry a lot of fibre and water for their calories, so they fill your stomach long before they fill your calorie target.

That is why so many people assume a vegan diet automatically means eating less. It does not have to. It just means being deliberate about choosing the plant foods that are concentrated rather than bulky, and not letting low-calorie veg crowd out the dense stuff. Get that right and eating enough is straightforward.

The most calorie-dense vegan foods

Ranked roughly from most concentrated down, here is where the calories actually are.

Oils are the densest food there is. A tablespoon of olive, rapeseed or coconut oil is about 120 calories and pure fat, so a drizzle over a finished meal adds a lot without any bulk.

Nuts, seeds and their butters are next. A 30g handful of almonds or cashews is around 180 calories, two tablespoons of peanut butter about 190, and a tablespoon of tahini roughly 90. Seeds like chia, flax and hemp add 50 to 60 calories a tablespoon.

Avocado and coconut are rich in fat. Half an avocado is about 150 calories, and 100ml of full-fat coconut milk around 180, which makes it ideal for curries and smoothies.

Dried fruit packs sugar into a small space. Around 30g of dates, raisins or apricots is 85 to 90 calories, and it stirs easily into oats or trail mix.

Dense staples give you a solid base. A 50g serving of oats is about 185 calories, a large bagel over 300, and pasta, bread, rice, potatoes, tofu and beans all deliver real calories for their size. Beans and lentils are more calorie-dense than most people expect.

Dark chocolate is worth a mention at around 130 calories per 25g, and most is vegan.

How to add calories to vegan meals

You do not need new meals, just denser versions of the ones you already eat. The move is always the same: add fat.

Drizzle oil over cooked dishes, or fry in more of it. Stir a spoon of peanut butter or tahini into sauces, oats or smoothies. Use full-fat coconut milk instead of water in curries and stews. Add half an avocado to a bowl or wrap. Scatter nuts, seeds or dried fruit over breakfast and salads. Each of these adds 100 to 200 calories and takes up almost no room on the plate. Eating the dense part of a meal first, before the vegetables, also helps if you fill up quickly.

Drinks are the vegan's best friend here, because a smoothie bypasses the fullness that solid plant food causes. A blend of oat or soya milk, oats, peanut butter, banana and a few dates can carry 600 calories in a glass. See high calorie drinks and smoothies for recipes.

Vegan foods for gaining weight

If your goal is to gain weight, the foods above are the tools, but the thing that actually does it is a calorie surplus, eating a bit more than you burn, consistently. Plant foods make that harder only because they are filling, which the density approach solves.

Work out the number you are aiming for with how many calories to gain weight, and if you are eating plenty but still not gaining, see why can't I gain weight, which is almost always about appetite and density rather than effort.