16 Experts Share Their Go-To Tips for Meatless Cooking

Going meatless doesn't mean you have to miss out on your favorite flavors! Just take it from Gabrielle Reyes, actress, chef and author of Colorful Home Cooking. "I like to use traditional seasoning blends meant for pork, steak and poultry to make whatever vegetables I am cooking smell and taste meaty," she says. Gabrielle isn't the only chef to see just how creative and exciting going meat-free can be. As part of their newest issue, Food Network Magazine asked some of the country's most well-known vegan and vegetarian chefs and cookbook authors to share their go-to secrets for making meatless meals worthy of a second helping. Keep clicking through this gallery to see what they had to say!

Intro slide text written by Michelle Baricevic for FoodNetwork.com.

Story produced and reported by Kelsey Hurwitz for Food Network Magazine.

Traditionally you want to avoid moisture with mushrooms, but I’ve recently discovered that if you simmer mushrooms in salted water before sautéing them, it gives them a meatier texture. — Danny Bowien, author of Mission Vegan: Wildly Delicious Food for Everyone

Hands off when you sear vegetables! Let them cook in a roaring-hot cast-iron skillet until you can shake the pan slightly and they move. It ensures you get that super-crispy delicious flavor of a seared steak. — Brianna Claxton, author of Vegan Pasta Night: A Modern Guide to Italian-Style Cooking

You can freeze extra-firm tofu to get chicken-like texture. I’ll wrap the tofu in tea towels and press it under a stack of cookbooks to remove moisture before freezing. — Aubry Walch, The Herbivorous Butcher, Minneapolis

Roast tofu and veggie skewers on the rim of a baking dish to encourage slight charring — it gets you heartier flavor. — Sheil Shukla, author of Plant-Based India: Nourishing Recipes Rooted in Tradition

You can fake bacon with shiitake mushrooms. Just slice, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake. They’ll have die-hard bacon fans shouting 'Holy shiitake!' — Dustin Harder, host of Keep On Cookin’  podcast

To mimic chicken soup’s fat and flavor, I sauté onions, carrots and celery in a liberal amount of oil with meaty chicken of the woods mushrooms. — Rachel Klein, Miss Rachel’s Pantry, Philadelphia

Jackfruit is everywhere in meatless cuisine. I drain canned green ones and squeeze out the brine. Then I’ll shred and marinate the jackfruit to emulate shredded pork, chicken or beef. — Evanice Holz, Winner, The Great Food Truck Race

I always tell people, you’re not changing the recipe, just the meat ingredient. So if your nonna made amazing meatballs, make meatballs out of lentils. It doesn’t have to be complicated. — Charity Morgan, author of Unbelievably Vegan: 100+ Life-Changing, Plant-Based Recipes

The humble eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables. I’ll cook eggplants whole in an air fryer to create a smoky sauce that’s great on pizza or pasta. — Vasudha Viswanath, author of The Vegetarian Reset: 75 Low-Carb, Plant-Forward Recipes from Around the World

Smash veggie burgers with a burger press. It increases the surface area that comes into contact with the pan for better browning and texture. — Brian Watson, author of Vegan Fast Food: Copycat Burgers, Tacos, Fried Chicken, Pizza, Milkshakes, and More!

I deep-fry oyster mushrooms as 'fried chicken.' Adding hot sauce and vinegar to a wet batter tenderizes them and gives a meaty feel. — Lyana Blount, Black Rican Vegan, New York City

For meatless recipes, liquid smoke is cool for smoky flavor and for disguising the intense flavor of some vegetables like kale. — Gregory Brown, The Land of Kush, Baltimore

A great trick is to finish grilled vegetables in the oven, especially thick-sliced ones like squash and zucchini. It ensures they’re cooked through inside and crisp outside. — Pankaj Pradhan, Red Lentil, Sharon, MA

Try yuba instead of regular tofu. They’re sheets of tofu that are thin and soak up flavor better. I roll them around shredded vegetables for mock duck. — Maggie Zhu, author Chinese Homestyle: Everyday Plant-Based Recipes for Takeout, Dim Sum, Noodles, and More