Reflecting on decades of recipes, this is the page to bookmark if you’re looking for a deep collection of vegetarian dinner ideas. I’ve gathered everything from quick weeknight meals and high-protein faves, to fresh, seasonal dishes alongside a few cozy standbys. If you’re in the mood to browse and find something inspiring to cook, you’re in the right place.
Jump to:
Quick & Easy Weeknight Meals (20–30 minutes)
High-Protein Dinners (Tofu, Tempeh, Eggs, Beans & More)
Fresh & Seasonal
One-Pan & One-Pot Meals
Cozy & Comforting
Weekend Cooking
Quick & Easy Weeknight Meals (20–30 minutes)
When you’re short on time and hungry, start here. These are the weeknight recipes I rely on – quick pastas, simple curries, and protein-forward meals that come together in under 30 minutes. Flexible and approachable homemade meals you can pull together without much fuss.
Baked Quinoa Patties
Great served hot or room-temperature, these quinoa patties are packed with herbs, kale and creamy feta cheese. Adult and kid-friendly, and perfect for lunches on the go. I love to keep the patties frozen – pop on a baking sheet and bake for the lowest lift type of meal.
Spicy Chickpea Pasta Bowls
A colorful pasta bowl bonanza featuring a glossy, smooth chickpea harissa sauce and loads of crunchy cucumbers, cashews and fried onions. The definition of a vibrant, exciting one-bowl meal!
Chickpea Salad Sandwich
The chickpea salad sandwich filling to make in bulk for easy lunches and snacks all week. A perfect vegetarian or vegan sandwich option.
Cashew Curry
A simple, weeknight cashew curry recipe. Curry powder in coconut milk, deeply toasted cashew nuts, a handful of green beans, two handfuls of tiny cauliflower florets, and a bit of tofu for good measure makes it all good. Substitute whatever season vegetables you have on hand.
Caramelized Tofu
One of my favorite tofu recipes, caramelized strips of tofu served over sautéed shredded brussels sprouts. It comes together quickly and uses just one pan.
Penne alla Vodka
This penne alla vodka uses both whole tomatoes and tomato paste along with a splash of cream to make a vodka sauce with plenty of depth. The defining detail in this recipe is adding the zest of a lemon to the vodka. It lends a fragrant brightness to the whole preparation, making this family favorite extra special.
Mushroom Scallion Toasts
A substantial, delicious, mushroom sheet pan sandwich recipe. You roast a bunch of mushrooms and scallions in a hot oven, whip up a simple poblano yogurt while those are roasting. So good!
Pasta with Etruscan Sauce
From the Pasta Grannies series, this is a simple pasta with a special sauce made from a quick puree of sun-dried tomatoes, black olives, parsley, and garlic. It’s fast, strong, adaptable, and doesn’t disappoint.
Iced Sesame Noodles
Iced sesame noodles have become a thing in our house in recent years. Cold noodles plus a creamy sesame sauce and a line up of great toppings equals custom bowls everyone loves!
Curried Tomato Tortellini Soup
A crowd-pleasing tomato-based tortellini soup, dotted with plump, tender dumplings, spiked with a range of spices, and boosted with plenty of spinach.
Orange Pan-glazed Tempeh
A simple ginger and garlic-spiked orange glaze that plays of the nutty earthiness of the pan-fried tempeh beautifully. Pair it with a favorite vegetable over your favorite rice or noodles, delicious.
High-Protein Dinners (Tofu, Tempeh, Beans & More)
The quest for good high-protein vegetarian dinners is real. These recipes are built around eggs, beans, lentils, tempeh, and tofu, often paired with plenty of seasonal vegetables. A good place to start if you want something a bit more substantial – meals that anchor dinner with more protein without much overthinking.
Spicy Tempeh Crumble Bowl
A riff on one of my favorite recipes in Andrea Nguyen’s Vietnamese Food Any Day – a caramelized tempeh crumble. The sort of thing that immediately becomes the best component in your rice bowl.
Health Nut Vegan Chili
A special, triple-bean, vegan chili inspired by Jess Damuck’s new cookbook. It’s bold, flavor-packed and uses a technique to achieve the best texture of any chili I’ve eaten. It’s time to schedule a big chili night.
Tofu Scramble
This tofu scramble is fast, flavorful, and a wonderful egg-free savory breakfast. Made with spinach, curry powder, nutritional yeast, garlic, and onions, this is the version we’ve been making for years!
Cottage Cheese Wraps
Cottage cheese wraps are a great foundation recipe! They’re high in protein, wildly versatile, and super satisfying, You can stuff them with a wide range of fillings, drizzles, and spreads depending on the season. Here are all my tips and tricks and favorite ways to enjoy them.
Salt and Pepper Tofu
A special ingredient in the coating of this salt and pepper tofu is what makes it extra good. You’re going to want to have it over cold noodles, salads, or as a straight-up snack.
Coconut Red Lentil Soup
A vibrant red lentil soup (or stew) that is always hugely popular. A friend turned me onto this Ayurvedic dal recipe from the Esalen Cookbook years ago. Red lentil based, curry-spiced coconut broth with back notes of ginger and tomato, with slivered green onions, and a finish of cilantro or kale.
Grilled Veggie Tofu Kebabs
Spicy grilled veggie kebabs made with a flavor-packed yogurt marinade and mix of vegetables with paneer cheese. A favorite that you can make ahead, and grill or bake year-round.
Grillable Tofu Burgers
Seasoned with a good amount of cumin, cayenne and mustard, these are hearty, filling, easy to make, dump-everything-in-the-food processor grillable tofu burgers.
Tempeh Curry
A vibrant tempeh curry recipe loosely inspired by a recipe from Lora Zarubin’s cookbook, I am Almost Always Hungry.
Golden-crusted Sesame Seeded Tofu
In the April 1998 issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine there was a recipe for Sesame Asparagus and Tofu. I ripped it out, and cooked it a hundred times in the twenty years since.
Sheet Pan Frittata
You don’t need much to make a good sheet pan frittata. This one starts with a dusting of lemon zest across a sheet pan, and uses a simple egg, cream, salt and pepper base.
Baked Cabbage Sliders
Crisp on the edges and packed with beans, quinoa, cabbage, cottage cheese and other good stuff on the inside, these make for an easy, protein-packed meal everyone can personalize with toppings.
White Bean Soup with Garlic and Olive Oil
This white bean soup is rustic, silky, and built around plump beans simmered in a saffron-tinted broth. A squeeze of citrus, crumbled feta, and chopped olives makes each bite special.
Lentils folded into Yogurt, Spinach, and Basil
Have you seen the little book, Lunch at the Shop: The Art and Practice of the Midday Meal? It’s great on many fronts, and these lentil-topped open-faced sandwiches are the recipe I make from it. Great for a quick meal, especially if you keep lentils on hand.
Fresh & Seasonal
For the vegetable lovers, these are meals where produce takes the lead. Built around what’s fresh and in season, and designed to make the most of what looks good at the market. Flexible enough to shift with the seasons (and weather), from summer tomatoes to winter greens.
How to Make a Great Vegetarian Poke Bowl
Let’s make a vegetarian poke bowl! They’re fantastic this time of year because they’re light, clean, filling but not heavy. Made with watermelon poke.
Spicy Summer Miso Soup
A show-stopper miso soup made with a spicy broth punched up with garlic, ginger and chile paste. To that you add cubed potatoes, chopped cabbage and summer produce like cherry tomatoes, basil, and corn.
Double Broccoli Quinoa
For the broccoli lovers out there (or anyone who strives to be), this is your recipe. Cook up lots of broccoli, and puree half of it into a pesto. The other half is cut into little florets. Toss the broccoli with some quinoa, sliced avocado and a drizzle of feisty chile pepper oil.
Pasta with Smashed Zucchini Cream
If you have an endless supply of zucchini right now, this is your recipe. A simple, garlic-boosted pasta, it uses two pounds of zucchini, and is endlessly adaptable.
Grilled Zucchini & Bread Salad
If you need to put a 2 pound dent in your zucchini supply right now, give this a go. A bread salad made with torn pieces of toasted multi-grain bread, grilled zucchini, chickpeas, and a simple, garlic-forward ponzu dressing.
Black Sesame Otsu Soba Bowl
The Black Sesame Otsu recipe from my Super Natural Every Day cookbook – soba noodles and tofu slathered in a thinned-out, salty-sweet black sesame paste, then topped with lots of sliced green onions. So good!
Cauliflower Caponata
This deeply flavorful caponata recipe cleverly trades out traditional eggplant for roasted cauliflower and uses an oven in place of deep-frying. The idea comes from Easy Wins by Anna Jones and has become an absolute favorite.
Niçoise Salad
Everyone can find ingredients to love In this vegetarian take on Niçoise Salad! Beans and artichokes take the place of tuna (or anchovies) here alongside tender potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, and green beans.
Sweet Potato Tacos
These sweet potato tacos are so simple, and so good! Tortillas are slathered with smashed, roasted sweet potatoes. Top with black beans, sliced avocado, quick pickled red onions, a bit of cheese, and squeeze of lime. Fantastic.
One-Pan & One-Pot Meals
For the nights you can’t stand to face a sink filled with dishes. These are the meals that keep the chaos contained.
Pan-Fried Beans with Kale
Golden crusted pan-fried beans are made extra special by loading them up with kale, Parmesan, lemon, walnuts, and nutmeg. So many great variations in the comments as well!
Asparagus Stir-Fry
A favorite stir-fry recipe. Asparagus and tofu form the base, but it has quite a lot going on beyond that. You get a bite of tang from the lime, heat from the red chiles and fresh ginger, mint and basil cool things down. A touch of hoisin sauce gives you just enough sweetness to balance it all out.
Harissa Spaghetti
A unique and flavor-packed spaghetti recipe. Whole wheat pasta noodles, olives, kale, and toasted nuts are tossed in a pan for a tangle with a garlic-charged harissa and olive oil sauce. This one is an easy weeknight win!
Meal In a Jar: Spicy Coconut Curry Noodles
Just add water and a splash of coconut milk to make this fragrant curry noodle pot. A dynamic and feisty broth is bolstered with cayenne, ginger, cinnamon, and turmeric enveloping egg noodles and whatever seasonal vegetables you have on hand.
Garganelli with Kale and Lentils
This one-pot, garganelli pasta is an easy weeknight win. It’s pasta and lentils simmered in crushed tomatoes and finished with lots of chopped kale, saffron, swirls of tahini and chopped almonds.
Garlic Lime Lettuce Wraps
Ginger and garlic tempeh rice, folded into lime-spiked lettuce wraps with lots of herbs, cucumber, and carrots. A one-pan meal that comes together in no time!
One-Pot Indian-Spiced Rice with Cauliflower and Tofu
A true one-pot meal, this Indian-spiced rice is made with store-bought spicy simmer sauce, paired with tofu and cauliflower. It’s hearty, filling and you can load it up with a range of herbs or crunchy nuts as toppings.
Cozy & Comforting
Perhaps my favorite category, these are hearty, satisfying, flavor-packed meals, the kind you want to settle in with, preferably in a cozy sweater and cashmere socks.
Baked Ziti
This baked ziti uses ricotta, mozzarella, and creme fraîche to make a bubbly, rich pasta with a hearty, spinach-flecked red sauce loaded with flavor. The creme fraîche keeps things silky, adds dimension, and is a game changer. A family favorite that freezes well and happily feeds a crowd.
Rustic Cabbage Soup
Hearty, healthy, and satisfying – this cabbage soup recipe is super simple to make. Slice a cabbage into thin ribbons and cook it down in a simple pot of sautéed potatoes, onions, beans, garlic and flavorful broth. Finish each bowl with a generous drizzle of great olive oil, a couple dollops of sour cream and a jolt of something spicy.
Giant Chipotle Baked Beans
A riff on Laurence Jossel’s famous NOPA beans – plump, creamy beans baked in a bright, chunky chipotle tomato sauce, topped with crunchy breadcrumbs, plenty of oozy queso fresco, and an emerald drizzle of cilantro pesto.
Vegan Red Pozole
This favorite meatless red pozole is grounded with cascabel and chipotle chiles and spiked with citrus olive oil. It’s so incredibly delicious.
Three Cheese Pizza Beans
Inspired by the internet-famous Smitten Kitchen Pizza Beans highlighted in Rancho Gordo’s new book, this wintery version has all the much-loved components – tomato, melty cheeses, and giant beans – along with pumpkin, feta, black olives and kale. A favorite one-pan make and bake meal.
Peanut Soup (with Spinach and Miso)
This spicy peanut soup is the definition of a crowd-pleaser. Meaning, it’s hearty and delicious and it works for a wide range of people with a range of dietary preferences – gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free. If you’re hosting a soup night, this is your move.
Saag Paneer
This is how I like to cook saag paneer – chopped spinach, golden-crusted paneer cheese, assertively spices, and finished with toasted sesame seeds and fresh lemon juice.
Pasta with Creamy Crushed Walnut Sauce
Toasted walnuts pounded with garlic into a creamy sauce make this pasta easy and exceptional. If you have dried pasta, a few cloves of garlic, walnuts, and black pepper you can make this. The other ingredients – lemon zest, a bit of grated cheese, a finishing cascade of breadcrumbs and herbs are encouraged, but not essential.
Spicy Tahini Noodles with Roasted Vegetables
This is my favorite kind of weeknight meal. Noodles tossed with a quick sauce, topped with an abundance of vegetables, and kissed with chile feistiness courtesy of the condiment shelf.
Weekend Cooking
For when you are have a little more time to spend in the kitchen, when going long-form is a feature not a bug. Fresh pastas and meals with a few components, the kind that invite you to slow down a bit and enjoy the process as much as the payoff.
Homemade Pappardelle
Simple, homemade pappardelle pasta is a deliciously versatile shape to make! Pictured below topped with crispy mushrooms, clouds of Parmesan cheese, and lemon.
Ultimate Veggie Burger
The ultimate veggie burger recipe made with a secret trick, garbanzo beans, cilantro, onions, lemon zest, eggs, and bread crumbs.
Homemade Tagliatelle
Homemade tagliatelle pasta is long, slender, flat, and a much-loved pasta shape. For good reason! It works with a range of sauces and if you have flour, eggs, olive oil, and salt you can make it immediately.
Vegan Fish Tacos
The vegan “fish” tacos to make on repeat. Quick-marinated slabs of golden-crusted tofu, avocado slathered tortillas, and a spicy sesame slaw come together in these favorite tacos.
Hand-Rolled Pici Pasta
Pici is one of the most charming pasta shapes. It is a quirky favorite requiring a short list of simple ingredients hand-rolled into long, slightly irregular strands. Pici love forever.
Best Easy Pizza Dough
This pizza dough recipe sets the foundation for beautiful, flavorful pizzas. It works great in home ovens as well as outdoor pizza ovens. No mixer is needed and you don’t need to proof your yeast.
Thousand Layer Lasagna
My favorite and best lasagna recipe. Dozens and dozens of whisper-thin sheets of fresh pasta brushed with the most vibrant red tomato sauce imaginable all intersecting layer after layer of warm, oozy, fresh mozzarella.
Mushroom Lasagna
This freezer-friendly mushroom lasagna is all about homemade mushroom ragù, big dollops of ricotta cheese, and silky tender sheets of pasta finished with a bit of basil and some grated Parmesan cheese.
Continue reading 50+ Vegetarian Dinner Recipes on 101 Cookbooks
