Vegan and Vegetarian Balinese Cooking

What you actually cook when terasi, stock, and ceremonial meat come off the board

Balinese cuisine contributor · Gianyar, Bali

Last reviewed 20 August 2026

Direct answer

Balinese home cooking is already vegetable-heavy. The honesty test is terasi (shrimp paste) and animal stock. A vegan class that still fries terasi into every sambal is not vegan. Named dishes and a substitution protocol beat a generic “we can adapt.”

Gado-gado and vegetable sides as the plant-forward Bali plate

Plant-forward is normal. Terasi is the fork in the road.

Daily Bali plates are rice, sambal, a vegetable coconut side, and a small protein. Drop the protein and you still have a cuisine. What you cannot fake is shrimp paste: many sambals and pastes use it. Ask whether a vegan sambal matah is built without terasi, not whether “vegetables are available.”

Dishes that actually work

Gado-gado, jukut urab, tempe manis, vegetable pepes, vegan sate lilit (coconut-sticky mince, no fish), and sambal embe or matah without shrimp paste. Lawar without meat is a chopped coconut salad — say so, and do not call it ceremonial lawar merah.

What to ask before you book

Separate boards for terasi. Stock source. Whether candlenut or peanut appears. Whether the mortar is shared with fish paste. In-villa classes make isolation easier than a 20-person Ubud bench.

Want to practice this with your hands on the mortar? Start at the cooking class Bali hub, then book an in-villa session via myCHEF cooking class.

Frequently asked questions

Can a Balinese class be vegan without feeling fake?

Yes, if the paste and sambal are rebuilt, not just “leave the chicken off.” The class should still teach base genep structure minus terasi, labeled as an adaptation.