20 Easy Vegetarian Recipes So Good You Won’t Miss the Meat

Written by Michael Matthews

Kale & Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Casserole

Most casseroles have ground or shredded meat to make a filling one-dish meal, but that’s not necessary if you lots of veggies, plus quinoa for protein.

This vegetarian casserole is filled with carrots, sweet potatoes, and kale – perfect for a hearty winter meal. And depending on what’s in your kitchen, you can use other delicious vegetables like cauliflower, parsnips, and mustard greens.

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Roasted Asparagus, Green Onion & Blue Cheese Frittata

A frittata is a great way to fit protein into a vegetarian diet. Of course you’ll need eggs and milk for the main ingredients.

Then you can add all kinds of veggie fillings, like asparagus for vitamin K and folic acid. Add even more protein by using egg whites as the base, as well as a big handful of spinach.

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Creamy Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup

This simple soup captures the delicious flavors of fall with apples, pumpkin, and a touch of maple syrup. Add more protein by serving it with kefir or cashew cream swirled right into the soup.

It’s great for a light lunch with whole-wheat crackers, or enjoy this pumpkin soup as an appetizer for a vegetarian meal like quinoa casserole or braised lentils and carrots.

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Vegetable Pot Pie

This comforting dish is lightened up and loaded with veggies, but you don’t have to sacrifice the real biscuit topping for a healthy pot pie.

This recipe uses the real deal, and you can pick up white whole-wheat flour, aka whole-wheat pastry flour, to add complex carbs. This is a classic yet nutritious dinner, and the best part is the price. Each serving is under $1, a fraction of the price of a frozen pot pie.

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Lemongrass Tofu

Whether or not you like tofu has more to do with how it’s prepared than anything else. And who can resist any food once it’s been fried?

To make this dish even easier, don’t worry about making the fried tofu yourself to start. You can grab frozen fried tofu for convenience, or make it ahead of time to keep in the freezer.

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Easy Vegetarian Chili

Canned chili is convenient, but it’s often flavorless and has unwanted preservatives like MSG. Make this fresh, fast chili instead, and in a half hour you’ll have a delicious bowl that can be doctored to suit your personal preferences.

Use any two cans of beans, like pinto and red beans, and for a real kick, add minced jalapeno to the pot along with the garlic. Top with cheese, sour cream, guacamole, or crushed tortilla chips.

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Veggie Enchilada Pasta

To make vegetable enchiladas from scratch, you have to prepare the chili sauce, cook the filling, and then assemble the tortillas before the whole dish can be baked.

Satisfy enchilada cravings with less work when you swap the tortillas for whole-wheat pasta. This one-pot meal can be made in under a half hour.

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Vegetarian Lasagna Spaghetti Squash Boats

Making a vegetarian lasagna is simple enough – just leave out the meat. But then you still have to layer everything together, which can be time-consuming.

When you use a spaghetti squash as the baking dish, it’s possible to make an easy low-carb pasta that offers several servings of veggies. And although this version is vegetarian, it’s high in protein from the spinach, mushrooms, and three kinds of cheese.

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Avocado Egg Breakfast Pizza

This is called a breakfast pizza since there’s a fried egg on top, but it’s an awesome meal any time of day. And it’s easy to adapt if you’d rather use hummus instead of the quick homemade guac, or want to top your pizza with scrambled eggs and sun-dried tomatoes.

For a low-carb version, use cauliflower flatbreads, made from grated cauliflower with eggs as a binder.

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Mushroom & Wheat Berry Sauté

If you love a good stir fry, try this healthy version with mushrooms instead of meat and wheat berries to replace the rice.

Since they’re an unprocessed grain, they take about the same time to cook as brown rice, but the texture holds up better if you make them a day or two ahead of time. To add more protein to this mushroom stir fry, chop up some baked tofu.

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Slow Cooker Lentil Bolognese

For hearty vegetarian pasta, you’ll need more than tomatoes, onion, and peppers. That’s a quick way to make a basic marinara, but for something as filling as a meaty pasta sauce, adding lentils will do the trick.

Lentils add protein without contributing any fat, and you’ll also be getting more fiber and complex carbs to keep you full.

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Baked Zucchini Fries

French fries are technically vegetables, but too often the nutrition has been stripped out. Enjoy the snack you love with the healthy properties of veggies with homemade baked fries.

This version is made from zucchini, but carrots, butternut squash, and daikon radish would also work. Whatever kind you go for, make your healthy fries into a complete meal by topping them with chili.

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Portobello Vegan BLT

To make a vegetarian sandwich with the flavor of a BLT, you don’t need some kind of soy bacon. Instead add savory flavor with mushrooms. Liquid smoke can also add depth.

Made from real smoke, using a small amount captures the flavor of a flame-kissed burger or smoky bacon. Look for a liquid smoke that doesn’t have other seasonings like salt, vinegar, or soy sauce.

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Brussels Sprouts Veggie Sliders

These vegan burgers aren’t trying to be like ground beef. Instead they’re their own awesome, low-carb slider.

Since you don’t have to make the patties – simply marinade the tempeh and bake – these easy veggie burgers are hard to mess up. But with the inventive Brussels sprouts bun, they look and taste amazing as a fun appetizer or light lunch.

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Chickpea Cauliflower Minestrone

This classic Italian soup is loaded with vegetables, pasta, and beans. There’s so much going on – pasta, chickpeas, kale, carrots, and even some white wine – that you won’t miss the meat at all. Serve with pesto, fresh parsley, or grated Parmesan cheese.

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Greek Eggplant Salad

If you’ve ever gotten a big assortment of appetizers at a Mediterranean restaurant – the big plate with hummus, stuffed grape leaves, and more – then this roasted eggplant will taste familiar.

Luckily it’s easy to make at home with just a few everyday ingredients. For a low-carb vegetarian snack, enjoy this eggplant dip with cauliflower, celery, and carrot sticks. Or serve with lightly toasted pita bread.

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Tofu Curry with Mustard Greens

This vegan soup is so hearty you’d never guess it’s missing meat. The only tip-off is the tofu, although eaters might not realize what it is since the tofu soaks up all the awesome flavor of the broth.

Vegan soups can sometimes be missing depth, but this one is well-seasoned and includes peanut butter for richness. For more comfort food that’s surprisingly nutritious,  pick up Vegan Soul Food by Bryant Terry.

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Rajma Chawal (Indian Red Beans & Gravy)

This is an easy recipe to try if you want to learn how to layer flavors in Indian cooking. Rice and beans is so basic, the only new steps to work out are how to get all that seasoning into the red gravy.

Whereas a lot of recipes with onion, ginger, and garlic start with chopping them and adding them to a hot skillet, this one has you grind (or food process) everything into a paste. Then it’s sautéed in oil and mixed with spices.

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Smashed Chickpea Pesto Sandwich

Think outside the deli, and it’s possible to make a nutritious and substantial vegetarian sandwich. This filling has chickpeas, parsley, and onion – not far off from a falafel, but easier to make since there’s no rolling or frying required.

And if you aren’t worried about keeping it vegetarian, this recipe can be served two ways. Quickly turn it into a chicken salad or tuna salad sandwich just by mixing in the meat.

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Cheesy Curried Cauliflower Pasta

This cheesy cauliflower pasta dish is infused with curry flavor, so it’s great Indian fusion food to try without the intimidation factor of a long list of spices.

The best part is this quick vegetarian entrée takes just a few minutes to prep, and you can save time by putting the cauliflower in food processor instead of grating it by hand. Make it an even easier weeknight meal by using leftover cooked pasta.

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