30 Meatless Meal Ideas
Try these delicious and satisfying meatless meal ideas that work any day of the week! Here are our favorite recipes and tips for incorporating more plant-based foods into your diet.
Looking for fun and delicious meals built around plants? As cookbook authors with over a decade of experience creating vegetarian and vegan meals, we understand the challenge of finding exciting and flavorful plant-based meals.
We’ve spent years perfecting these recipes in our own kitchen, testing them out on our family (our toughest critics!). In this post, we’ve found all the dishes that consistently earn rave reviews. These favorite meatless meal ideas including both vegetarian recipes and vegan recipes, perfect for any night of the week!
Our top meatless meal ideas
This tasty falafel burger is easy and bursting with Mediterranean flavor! Smother in sauce for a satisfying meatless meal idea.
This broccoli mac and cheese irresistibly creamy and filled with this nutrient-dense veggie! Mix in your side dish in for an easy one-pot dinner.
These veggie nuggets are so delicious and made with a simple combination of vegetables, oats, and flavorful spices. They're a meatless recipe everyone loves (kids and adults!).
This delicious red lentil curry is packed with flavor and plant based protein, topped with a sparkling cilantro chutney that makes it shine! Serve with rice as a hearty meatless dinner.
This baked Eggplant Parmesan recipe (aka eggplant parmigiana) is classic Italian comfort food at its finest, with crispy eggplant rounds, savory marinara, and gooey cheese.
This falafel bowl makes a satisfying meal, full of bright Mediterranean flavors! Featuring homemade baked falafel and crunchy veggies, it’s a delicious healthy meatless meal idea for lunch or dinner.
Try lasagna roll ups for a fun twist on the classic dish! These individual portions are packed with cheesy goodness and make a perfect weeknight dinner. Plus, it’s a protein packed vegetarian meal!
This sweet potato lentil soup is cozy and creamy: a delicious mix of aromatic vegetables with a hint of savory spices. It’s a healthy vegan soup that’s also budget friendly—great as a dinner idea with crusty bread or a simple make ahead lunch.
This easy rice bowl comes together in a flash! This fast dinner stars black beans and veggies with zingy cilantro lime ranch sauce.
This pita pizza recipe makes a fast and easy meatless meal! Pita bread stands in as the crust of these personal pizzas.
Welcome to the tofu sandwich of your dreams! This incredible vegan sandwich stars crispy breaded tofu, tangy Russian dressing, and crunchy pickles that create a flavor explosion everyone will love.
Everyone loves this easy vegetarian fajitas recipe! This Tex Mex meatless dinner is full of big flavor and beautiful colorful veggies. As two cookbook authors, fajitas is something we know will always please a crowd, whether it’s served with tortillas or as fajita salad.
Need quick easy dinner ideas for tonight? These meatless 5-minute tacos actually deliver in minutes. Prepare to be amazed!
Here’s one of our favorite meal prep ideas: salad meal prep dinners! Prepare the greens mix, then mix and match toppings, proteins, and dressings to make different bowl meals.
This Moroccan chickpea stew is hearty and satisfying: packed with healthy vegetables and a cozy blend of spices!
This breaded tofu is a game-changer for fast and easy meatless meals! It comes out crispy on the outside and seasoned on the inside, and it comes together in a flash. This one is a huge hit in our house as a vegan dinner, or as a meatless protein to top salads and bowl meals.
This vegan meatballs recipe is easy to put together, full of protein, and packed with flavor! A perfect go-to plant based and meatless dinner.
This easy cauliflower stir fry is a healthy and easy dinner idea! It’s full of nutrients and covered in a punchy sauce.
This tofu bowl with rice stars crispy tofu, fresh veggies, spicy mayo and crunchy bits of fried onion! A deliciously healthy vegan dinner to fill your day with meatless goodness.
This sun dried tomato pasta is creamy, cozy, and a crowd-pleasing dinner idea! This recipe is simple to make with maximum wow-factor.
This vegetarian chili recipe is a family favorite everyone loves! It has the best flavor and is so easy to whip up.
This stuffed peppers recipe is a hit every time! The roasted bell peppers are filled to the brim with melty cheese and Italian flavor.
These crispy, crave-worthy vegan crab cakes are truly amazing! These patties will wow eaters of any diet. Serve them up with tartar sauce as a fun plant-based dinner or appetizer!
This vegetarian tortilla soup is so flavorful and easy to make! It’s full of zesty flavor, featuring black beans and adobo sauce.
These vegan lentil sloppy joes are deliciously filling plant-based dinner made with lentils, tomatoes, and seasonings! The tangy flavor makes them a crowd-pleaser, and they’re a huge hit at our house.
This eggplant lasagna recipe layers eggplant, homemade marinara, and a flavorful three-cheese filling! It’s a hearty meatless dinner recipe that pleases everyone.
Try this creamy vegan mac and cheese recipe, made with all whole foods! A luscious cashew sauce blankets tender noodles, creating cozy pasta comfort food that everyone will love.
This tofu broccoli stir fry comes to the dinnertime rescue! Broccoli florets and tofu cubes are tossed in a tangy, savory sauce for a meatless meal idea everyone will love.
This quesadilla recipe comes out crispy on the outside with perfectly melty cheese! Here are 3 few tricks for a next-level quesadilla, and loads of variations.
These cauliflower tacos with breaded cauliflower, refried beans, and creamy Yum Yum sauce are all about one thing—big flavor! It's one of our top fan favorite meatless meal ideas.
These sweet potato black bean enchiladas are a total crowd pleaser! This reader favorite meatless recipe is easy and full of flavor.
This vegan lentil loaf recipe is a deliciously satisfying meatloaf without the meat! It’s made with lentils, nuts, and seasonings, then brushed with a tangy glaze.
More meatless recipe resources
Here on A Couple Cooks, we’ve got thousands of meatless meal ideas! Here are some more recipe resources to browse:
- Try our top 50 Vegan Recipes, 50 Vegetarian Recipes, or 50 Plant Based Recipes
- Go for Vegetarian Breakfast Ideas or Vegan Breakfast Ideas
- Make Vegan Soup Recipes or Vegetarian Soup Recipes
- Try Vegetarian Appetizers or 25 Tasty Vegan Appetizers
- Opt for a meal plan with a 28 Day Vegetarian Meal Plan, 28 Day Vegan Meal Plan or 28 Day Plant Based Diet Meal Plan
Meatless Meal Ideas: Falafel Burger & More!
Print RecipeThis tasty falafel burger is easy and bursting with Mediterranean flavor! Smother in sauce for a satisfying meatless meal idea. For more ideas, see the article above.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 burgers
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
For the falafel burgers (double to make leftovers*)
- 15-ounce can chickpeas (1 ½ cups cooked)
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1 large carrot
- ½ red onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- ½ cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, loosely packed (or parsley)
- 6 tablespoons flour (or gluten-free flour)
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons coriander
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons grapeseed or vegetable oil (for frying)
For serving
- 4 buns
- Tomato
- Cucumber slices
- Red onion slices
- Lettuce
- Quick Cucumber Sauce, Dill Sauce, Tahini Sauce (vegan) or Cilantro Sauce (vegan)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Dab the chickpeas with a paper towel to remove extra moisture, then place them in the bowl of a food processor. Add the sesame seeds, then process until a paste-like consistency is formed. (If you don’t have a food processor, use a potato masher or fork to mash them in a bowl until they’re mostly mashed.) Scrape the mixture into a bowl.
- Add the carrot, red onion, garlic, and cilantro to the bowl of the food processor; pulse until finely ground. (If you don’t have a food processor, use a large size grater to grate the onion and carrot, then finely grate the garlic and finely chop the cilantro.) Scrape the vegetables into the bowl with the chickpeas.
- Stir in the flour, cumin, coriander, kosher salt, and black pepper. Mix with a spoon until combined, then form 4 round patties and place them on a baking sheet.
- In a medium frying pan, heat ¼ cup oil over medium heat. Carefully add the patties to the pan. If you have one, top with a splatter screen. Fry for about 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown on one side. Flip and fry for another 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown, turning down the heat as necessary.
- Transfer the patties to a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and baked through. Remove the patties from the oven and let them cool for at least 15 minutes to firm up.
- Meanwhile, make the falafel sauce. To serve, place on a bun with tomato, cucumber, red onion, and lettuce, and top with sauce. The burgers save well in the refrigerator for 1 week, so they’re great to make ahead and eat throughout the week. They also freeze well!
Notes
*It’s easy to make 8 and freeze the rest for eating later: they also save well refrigerated for up to 1 week. Just double everything!
from A Couple Cooks
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Sonja Overhiser
February 19, 2025 at 09:30AM
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