These flavorful and nutritious vegetarian dinners are a great way to support your heart health. Each meal is made low in sodium and saturated fats to align with a heart-healthy eating pattern. Plus, to help combat pesky symptoms of inflammation like digestive issues, muscle aches and joint stiffness, these tasty dishes are packed with foods that have anti-inflammatory properties. This includes a variety of deep-orange and dark-green vegetables, legumes, whole grains and healthy fats. You’ll be making healthy and delicious recipes like our Chickpea Pasta with Mushrooms & Kale and Veggie Fajitas Recipe on repeat once you try them.
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Red Lentil Soup with Saffron
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This hearty red lentil soup uses spices common in Persian cuisine: turmeric, cumin and saffron. Enjoy it with a warm baguette or steamed rice.
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One-Pot White Bean, Spinach & Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo with Lemon & Feta
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This one-pot pasta dish with white beans, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes is lively and vibrant and leaves you with an easy cleanup. Toasting the orzo before adding the broth adds another layer of flavor. Another dark leafy green like chopped kale or Swiss chard can stand in for the spinach, but may take longer to wilt in the pan. If you use a sturdier green, add it to the pan during the last 5 minutes of cooking time.
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Mushroom & Tofu Stir-Fry
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This tofu veggie stir-fry is quick and easy, making it a great go-to weeknight meal. Baked tofu has a firm, toothsome texture that crisps well in a hot pan. You can find it in flavors like teriyaki and sesame, both of which are delicious here. Or opt for a smoked version, which has the same texture with a more robust flavor. Serve over brown rice.
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Eat-the-Rainbow Vegetable Soup
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This vibrant and wholesome soup recipe helps support your well-being. It’s packed with a variety of colorful vegetables, like tomatoes, which contain lycopene, a phytochemical that may help reduce inflammation. The base of the soup is prepped ahead of time and stored in separate containers. Simply add the broth and heat it in the microwave when you’re ready to eat. If you don’t wish to travel with vegetable broth or don’t have access to a microwave, you can use reduced-sodium bouillon instead and just add hot water.
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Meal-Prep Roasted Vegetable Bowls with Pesto
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Your co-workers will be jealous when you pull out this healthy lunch of roasted veggies and brown rice. Put together 4 lunches when you have time and you will have packable lunches (or ready-to-eat dinners) for several days--just grab a container on your way out the door in the morning.
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Ash-eh Reshteh (Persian Bean & Pasta Soup)
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Ash-eh reshteh is a hearty bean and noodle soup that’s packed with fresh herbs. The vegetarian soup is often made for Nowruz, the Persian New Year, but it’s delicious any time.
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Veggie Fajitas
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These veggie fajitas are packed with sweet bell pepper and red onion. Creamy avocado and warm tortillas complete the meal. The veggies alone make a great meal-prep recipe to have on hand. Serve them over rice, or heat them up over tortilla chips topped with melting cheese. To get a little char on your tortillas, place them over a medium gas flame and cook until darkened in spots, flipping once. Place on a plate and cover with a clean kitchen towel to keep warm.
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Three Sisters Stew
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This Three Sisters Stew recipe is easy to make, nutritious and delicious. The Three Sisters are corn, beans and squash, which have been planted together for centuries by Native peoples and havespiritual significancefor some. In New Mexico, it is often said that a healthy environment means a healthy culture, which leads to healthy people, and the way these vegetables grow in the garden exemplifies this notion of interconnectedness. The beans climb the cornstalks, the squash leaves shade the soil, limiting weed growth, and the beans fix nitrogen into the soil as well as help stabilize the cornstalks. This stew is perfect for a cold winter day, and wonderful as an encore the next day if you have any leftovers. This recipe is part of our spotlight,There's a Movement to Revitalize Indigenous Cuisines and Knowledge—Here's Why That Matters.
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Vegetarian Sliders with Black Beans, Chard & Poblanos
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These vegetarian sliders are filling, flavorful and make for a great protein-packed main dish. Take your time patting the beans dry: it keeps the sliders from falling apart. You can make 8 larger patties, to fit regular-size buns, but try to keep them about 1/2 inch thick so they'll heat through under the broiler without burning.
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Vegan Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Bowl with Creamy Green Sauce
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In a vegan riff on green goddess dressing, cashews provide a creamy base with tons of flavor from herbs and apple-cider vinegar. Drizzle it all over this bowl of quinoa and roasted vegetables to make a satisfying vegan dinner or easy packable lunch that is ready in just 30 minutes.
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Vegan Mushroom Bolognese
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This Bolognese sauce recipe is adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. We swap out the beef and pork for button mushrooms to keep this traditional comfort food vegan yet weighty with umami flavor. And while some recipes call for red wine, this recipe sticks with Hazan's white wine selection.
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Black Beans & Avocado on Quinoa
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Healthy fats, plant protein, vitamins and minerals are just some of the benefits to this delicious vegetarian main dish.
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Lentil Sloppy Joes
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This simple recipe for slow-cooked sloppy joes is perfect for vegetarians as the traditional beef is replaced with heart-healthy lentils.
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Rainbow Grain Bowl with Cashew Sauce
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This vibrant bowl is packed with nutrients to keep you full for hours. Look for precooked lentils in the refrigerated section of the produce department.
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Stuffed Sweet Potato with Hummus Dressing
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Hearty yet simple to prepare, this stuffed sweet potato with black beans, kale and hummus dressing is a fantastic 5-ingredient lunch for one!
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Pressure-Cooker Grain Bowl
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Whip up this healthy vegetarian grain bowl with ease in your Instant Pot. Pressure-cooking the sweet potato is faster and yields the perfect texture. A drizzle of homemade spicy dressing takes this easy dinner to the next level.
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Slow-Cooker Vegetarian Bolognese
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Beans stand in place of ground beef in this hearty vegetarian sauce that's ready when you are—thanks to the crock pot. The prep is quick and easy to do in the morning before heading off to work. When you get home, just cook up some whole-wheat pasta to serve it over and dinner is ready. If you have leftovers, freeze them for an easy meal another day.
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Bean Burgers with Spicy Guacamole
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These bean burgers will even please carnivores. The cornmeal coating gives a pleasant crunch and smoked paprika, cumin, cilantro and guacamole add Southwestern flavor.
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