10 Meatless Weeknight Dinners
In the last few years, I’ve tried to plan at least one meatless meal each week. It started as an Eat More Veggies + Save the Planet combo, but it’s gradually just become a habit. My meal planning binder is split up by type of meat, so I have a whole section for vegetarian entrees that continues to grow. Some weeks I don’t realize until I’m making the grocery list that very few of our planned meals have meat.
Did you know that eating one pound of beef is like driving 30 miles in a car (See page 19)? Cutting some meat out of our diet is such an easy thing to do to reduce personal carbon emissions. We’ve also swapped our protein source to chicken most of the time, as it’s only about 1/4 of beef’s carbon input. While I hate that the corporations truly responsible for climate change (just 100 companies produce 71% of global emissions) have managed to shuck the responsibility onto consumers, I also like to do my part.
Add to this the fact that meat prices have fluctuated wildly in the last few years as supply chains have suffered all sorts of weirdness, and it just makes sense to eat less meat! I also have several vegetarian friends, so getting familiar with cooking vegetarian and vegan meals has meant that I can provide better hospitality to people who eat dinner with us. See? Literally no downsides here.
As I’ve posted this journey on Instagram over the last few years, I’ve had lots of people reach out and say that they love this idea but feel so uninspired by the recipes they’ve found - either they keep running into unusual substitutions or the recipes are a million steps long or their partner is convinced that a meatless meal means they’ll be hungry again in two hours.
So I thought I would share some of the best vegetarian recipes in my cookbook. It’s easy enough to eat vegetarian by simply omitting meat from recipes or eating cereal for dinner, but I’m far more interested in having meals that make me forget I ever ate meat to begin with. I want to feel satisfied at the end of the meal! I want protein and umami!
For those just getting started on their meatless meals journey, I’d encourage you to avoid ingredient-hacking your way through it. Making a meatless version of your favorite meaty dish is bound to be a struggle — trying to make vegetarian chicken wings or tacos al pastor is just a high bar to clear! It’s so much easier to expand both your pantry staples and your idea of what a filling, delicious dinner looks like. It can also help to turn an eye to other parts of the world; in many regions, meat is either a luxury or a religious “don’t”, and they’ve come up with all sorts of delicious vegetarian dishes. (An example: Manjula’s Kitchen is a North Indian recipe blog that’s entirely vegetarian.)
I’ve made and love all of these recipes, and I hope they make it into your meal rotation as well!
Note: In descending order of carbon input: lamb, beef, pork, turkey, chicken, tuna, eggs. It is worth noting here that cheese falls somewhere between pork and beef, which is technically a mark against some of the recipes I’ve included in this roundup, but none of them are using a full pound of cheese!
Obviously I have to include one of mine. I adore this soup for so many reasons: the cozy factor! the spices! the fact that it’s basically a pile of vegetables! There is no better place than soup to hide handfuls of spinach, and the combination of sweet potatoes and lentils is so filling.
Half Baked Harvest | Creamy Golden Rice with Spiced Chickpeas
We make this dish at least once a month. It’s a Meatless Monday staple, and I think it was how I got Joey into the idea to begin with. Super cozy and again with the sneaky vegetables: there’s a fair amount of spinach in here that no one will ever notice.
A few adjustments: I add 1 teaspoon of yellow curry powder to the golden rice to amp up the spices, and I don’t add the extra broth at the end. We frequently double the chickpeas because I like a higher ratio of protein to rice. Finally, she suggests serving with greek yogurt and herbs, but I make a sauce with them: yogurt, mint, cilantro, and lime juice. That brightness absolutely makes the dish sing, so don’t skip it.
Smitten Kitchen | Baked Farro with Summer Vegetables
Sure, a pile of baked vegetables is better when they’re all summer-fresh, but I can attest that this dish is still perfectly delicious when made in the dead of winter with well-drained canned corn.
I add some extra Italian herbs to the tomato sauce and bake it in a 3 quart Pyrex, but other than that I have no notes. It is so damn good.
Budget Bytes | Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie
This is a fun one for a hearty winter dinner since the veggies it uses are all still great in the winter. I did enough tweaking to this one that I may eventually post my own recipe, but here goes:
I amped up the spices in the gravy and added: 1 teaspoon each of oregano and cumin and 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
Instead of pre-cooking the lentils, I added 1/2 cup of dry lentils and 1 cup water to the broth after the tomato + flour thickened. I simmered on high for 5 minutes then added the peas. They cooked up just fine in the oven.
I also made my mashed potatoes right then. I’ll write that up if I ever post this recipe, but you know how to make those, right?
Half Baked Harvest | Sheet Pan Cheesy Poblano Corn Enchiladas
Another one that’s great in the summer! In this pile of super flavorful vegetable filling, you won’t even notice that there isn’t any meat! But if you’re here in the dead of winter, have no fear: I make these in winter with canned corn. I just drain it very well and don’t roast it on the sheet pan with the rest of the veggies. I add a teaspoon of cumin to the vegetable mixture and I use less salsa in the pan, but otherwise make it as directed (though they never turn out as pretty!)
They aren’t amazing left over, so I often make them in batches for the two of us. Once the filling is ready, it’s less than half an hour to enchiladas - the length of time to preheat your oven and bake them.
Smitten Kitchen | Summer Squash Pizza
Pizza this simple has no business being so good. A mass of zucchini and some gruyere turn into something astonishing with very little fussiness. We make this one again and again, and every time one of us remarks “I can’t believe this is so good!”
The only thing that might trip you up here for a weeknight dinner is the yeasted dough. You can probably make it ahead and store until you need it, but we’ve also googled yeast-free pizza dough and made it that way a few times. (Or, you know… buy some at the grocery store. That works too.)
I like to add 1/2 teaspoon each of adobo and red pepper flakes to the breadcrumbs before they get sprinkled on for a little extra flavor.
The Kitchen Girl | Vegetarian Lentil Chili
I personally think that this recipe is more of a stew than a chili (this is the gold standard of chili to me), but we make this recipe a lot in winter, and it was actually my introduction to lentils!
Over the years I’ve tweaked a lot in this recipe: I use a full onion and more carrots, I use an extra few cloves of garlic, I add mushrooms after the onion and garlic have softened, and I use less chili powder and salt. But it’s simple, so make it your own. Perhaps I’ll get around to posting my version sometime soon.
Smitten Kitchen | Winter Squash and Spinach Pasta Bake
This dish is shockingly good, though it’s in the oven pretty long for a weeknight. I make mine in a 9x13 Pyrex and bake 45 minutes covered and then 30 minutes uncovered
A few changes: I swap 1/2 cup of the ricotta for 4 oz of goat cheese. I also skip the fontina and use all parmesan. I add 1 teaspoon basil and 1/2 teaspoon rosemary, and I use 6 cloves of garlic instead of 3.
The Endless Meal | Lentil Coconut Curry
I love a good curry, and this one is delicious with lots of flavor in a surprisingly limited ingredient list. I sometimes add some curry powder or garam masala, but this is a great starting point for a lentil curry recipe.
(Note: for a huge variety of authentic North Indian lentil recipes, check out Manjula’s Kitchen, where she has a whole category just for lentils.)
Pinch of Yum | Brussels Sprouts Tacos
I made these tacos after I was done writing this blog post, and I came back and bumped another recipe so I could include them. They are O-M-G good.
I never would have thought of sprouts as taco filling, but they are brilliant! I used Penzey’s Arizona Dreaming for the taco seasoning (not affiliate, I just love it). Changes to the sauce: all cilantro, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 jalapeño, 2 scallions, 1 teaspoon coriander seeds. It can no longer be described as chimichurri at that point, but it’s better, I promise!
Toppings make the taco, so don’t sleep on making pickled red onions (slice thin and cover with a 50/50 mixture of water and white vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt). If you can’t find cotija (I never can), use feta!
Honorable Mentions:
Smitten Kitchen | Mushroom Lasagna: Another one that’s a bit long in the oven for a weeknight, but it’s worth eating dinner a bit late (speaking from experience here). Is it particularly healthy? Um, no. Lotta butter, lotta whole milk, lotta cheese. BUT! It is ridiculously delicious and very good leftover. I used a full 2 pounds of mushrooms. I also loathe heating milk separately for my bechamel, so I added the garlic to the butter (no biggie if the butter browns a bit) and just eased the milk into the flour-butter mixture.
New York Times | Vegan Bolognese with Mushrooms and Walnuts: The walnut and mushroom mixture isn’t going to convince you that you’ve used meat, but it will satisfy! This is a really delicious bolognese that holds its own against the real deal. I skipped the marmite and used more soy sauce.
Smitten Kitchen | Pizza Beans: Yes, it’s beans baked in pasta sauce, but it’s also… kind of great? I added some Italian seasonings to the sauce but otherwise made as directed. Must be served with garlic bread, in my humble opinion. (I’m serious! I made fresh garlic bread for each serving of leftovers.)
Do you have any favorite vegetarian dinners? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
