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These quick burritos check all the major plant-based boxes—legumes, grains, and veggies—and they taste great. Several of the ingredients are anti-inflammatory superstars. They can be made even more quickly with leftover sweet potatoes. Fast, easy, delicious, customizable—that’s a win, win, win, win!
This comforting combination—chewy soy curls, cheesy grits, and spinach, all slathered with barbecue sauce—tastes great and delivers legumes, grains, and greens, the healthy plant-based trifecta. Cook the soy curls in the air fryer or oven—your choice. With instant grits and an air fryer, dinner will be done in under 30 minutes!
This plant-based chili’s flavor runs deep, a tough challenge for vegan chili recipes. You might not taste the cocoa powder or cinnamon, but they contribute to the complexity of this flavor profile. A little tahini lends it some creaminess, and cilantro and limes add bright notes at the end. As a bonus, this chili freezes well and makes at least 8 servings, meaning “Leftovers!,” one of my favorite words.
This post includes a recipe for oil-free crisp tortilla shells and a list of plant-based, oil-free toppings, including beans, crumbles, sauces, and garnishes. Use your imagination and customize your approach depending on what you feel like and what you have on hand.
These delicious oil-free crumbles are high in plant-based protein, use whole-food ingredients, and taste great. The nuts provide a wonderful contrasting texture and flavor to the tempeh, creating the complexity needed for the base of tacos, tostadas, nachos, or burritos. I provide a number of suggestions for using these crumbles in various dishes.
This gluten-free, oil-free, plant-based burger has the two characteristics most needed in a good veggie burger: the right texture and an interesting flavor combination. Homemade vegan burgers with beans can be mushy, a real turn-off. These burgers get their structure from sturdy legumes, ground chia “eggs,” oatmeal, and seeds. The flavor comes from ketchup, mustard, and a good dose of dry spices.
This salad takes advantage of freekeh, a grain derived from young wheat that cooks relatively quickly, it has a nutty flavor, and it’s a whole grain. In this salad, which could serve as the main dish of a meal, and would be lovely at a summer picnic, freekeh is tossed together with roasted vegetables, currants (or other dried fruit), lemon zest, and a light dressing. It can be served cold or at room temperature, can be customized, and goes well with many foods.
The filling is a snap to make in the air fryer ( oven directions provided too). It’s oil-free with delightful contrasting textures between the crispy chickpeas and the tender cauliflower. The swoon-worthy crema brings lime and cilantro flavors forward, all against the creaminess of blended raw cashews. Top this with a cabbage slaw and hot sauce, and you have a party in your mouth.
This lovely plant-based curry is a snap to make in the Instant Pot. Pre-soaking the black-eyed peas means that all the ingredients will reach the right texture, without getting over-cooked, in 12 minutes of pressure. This method avoids the need for oil, which saves on fat and calories. Seasonings and heat level can be adjusted to taste. The curry freezes well.
The soy curls bring a welcome contrasting texture to the rice and vegetables in this bowl. The curls are chewy and bursting with barbecue flavor. You can make this bowl your own with your choice of grain, vegetables, toppings, and sauce.
Soy curls are a great substitute for chicken in this plant-based recipe. They’re chewy, roasted on the outside, soft on the inside, and they soak up the wonderful flavors of the marinade-sauce. Even without oil, the roasting method works perfectly and yields a lot of color to the soy curls and vegetables. My favorite part is the peanuts!
Mushrooms and lentils share the spotlight in this stew, with support from tomato and vinegar flavors. The result is a protein-packed, deeply flavorful plant-based stew that tastes great on its own or with spaetzle, rice, or other grain.
These plant-based fajitas have layers and layers of flavors and textures. Roasting brings out the best of all the ingredients, including bell peppers, soy curls, onion, tomatoes, and zucchinis. These are oil-free, but you wouldn’t know it from the flavor and caramelization. If you haven’t tried soy curls yet (a very healthy protein made from soybeans), this would be a great recipe to start with. You control the level of spicy heat.
I adapted this recipe from from the New York Times replacing the oil with a combination of tahini and water (saving almost 400 calories) and regular parmesan with vegan parmesan. The freshness of the lemon, the grassiness of the herbs, and the abundant asparagus pieces shout “It’s spring!” This is a perfect brunch dish as well as dinner entree, because it tastes great at room temperature or hot.
Eggplant, zucchini, and other summer squash are sometimes hard to include in a stir-fry. To get these vegetables cooked well and avoid using oil, I broil the vegetables with a tahini-water mixture instead of stir-frying them. The textures and flavors are spot-on. Everything is cooked right, without mushiness, and the flavor combination is divine.
For this summer entree salad, you can use whatever cooked grain you like, whatever kinds of grilled vegetables, and your choices of greens and dressing. The smokiness of the grilled vegetables and the roasted red pepper dressing give this its unique character. This plant-based salad ticks all the boxes on nutrition as well: healthy grains, vegetables, protein (from quinoa), seeds (from tahini), and dark leafy greens.
Rolling zucchini ribbons into spirals stuffed with vegan ricotta cheese makes for a perfect casserole. Baked in a simple marinara sauce, with vegan parmesan on top, these spirals taste like lasagna, but without the bulky noodles.
Try these easy tacos for an impressive dinner for family or guests. The classic combination of black beans and corn is a crowd-pleaser. This combination is especially great when you can get fresh sweet corn for the salsa, but even frozen corn works well. The bean mixture freezes well.
This tasty noodle bowl contains no oil, meaning it’s healthy and lower in calories than most noodle recipes. The simple sauce packs a ton of flavor, and the variety of textures from the noodles to the vegetables (cooked and raw) makes for a dish that satisfies.
These satay soy curls are a flavorful plant-based twist on a classic Thai-inspired dish. Coated with a rich, savory, whole-foods peanut sauce featuring coconut, lime, and Thai curry flavors, the healthy soy curls are then roasted on bamboo skewers. The same vegan peanut sauce serves as a dipping sauce. Satisfying, and packed with wholesome ingredients, this recipe is a must-try for any plant-based enthusiast.