Vegetarian
6939 recipes found
Roasted Potato Salad With Jalapeño-Avocado Dressing
As one of the most adaptable dishes, potato salad has withstood countless reimaginings. In this version, roasted potatoes are paired with two types of beans: Cannellini beans offer a hearty creaminess, while green beans add a welcome crisp-tenderness. If you have garlic or onion powder in your spice rack, use it to add some umami to the roasted potatoes. The avocado dressing is zingy and full of lively flavors; make it as spicy as you can handle, and if you are looking for more tanginess, substitute the mayonnaise with sour cream or crème fraîche.
Classic Carrot Salad
Maybe your family has made carrot salad forever, or maybe you’ve seen it at potlucks, but if you’re not familiar with this Southern classic, your inner voice might be screaming, “Raisins don’t belong in salad!” But relax: This just might be the only time they do. The soft, sweet raisins complement the crunchy carrots, which are finished with a tangy dressing. Soak the raisins in hot water to give them a different, more plump texture. If you aren’t a fan of mayonnaise or yogurt, use 2 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice, and add some chopped fresh parsley. Let the crunchy-sweet flavors roll over your tastebuds as you realize you’ve made a simple, and delicious, dish in less than 15 minutes.
Gajjara Kosambari (Carrot Salad)
There are countless variations of this style of salad from Karnataka, but my favorite is a simple version made with crunchy raw carrots, dressed with a little tempered fat, coconut, citrus and chopped herbs. If fresh coconut isn’t available, keep a bag of frozen grated coconut in the freezer. It’s easy to find at most Indian grocery stores and, when you have it on hand, you can bring this salad together in less than five minutes.
Corn Salad With Tomatoes, Feta and Mint
Fresh raw corn shucked from the cob is ideal here. The juice from the tomatoes delivers just the right amount of acidity, so there’s no need for vinegar. Eat this as is, by the bowl, or toss it with cooked rice or beans for a more filling meal — you’ll want to add oil and vinegar accordingly. In midsummer, with peak-season produce, there is nothing better.
Kale Salad With Cranberries, Pecans and Blue Cheese
This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredients list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen. How about a kale salad? (Stick with me, please.) Just make a mustardy vinaigrette that’ll stand up to the greens — mustard, olive oil, a splash of lemon juice, salt and pepper — then drizzle it over clean, chopped kale with a host of big-flavored mix-ins that wink at whatever season you’re in without being dorky about it: dried cranberries or currants, say; pecans toasted with maple syrup and a pinch of cayenne; some crumbled blue cheese; a spray of croutons. Sweet, salty, spicy, sour. That and a chilled glass of red wine? Why don’t we eat salads for dinner more often? Sam Sifton features a no-recipe recipe every Wednesday in his What to Cook newsletter. Sign up to receive it. You can find more no-recipe recipes here.
Taco Seasoning
Skip the powdered, packaged stuff and make your own taco seasoning, adjusting the spices to your family's taste. The recipe below makes enough to season one pound of browned ground beef or chicken (it even works with crumbled tofu), but you can easily double or triple it and store it in airtight container so it's ready to go on a busy weeknight.
Hummus from ‘Jerusalem’
There’s a lot of unattended prep time in this recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi for hummus, which was featured in The Times in 2013. The unusual yet helpful addition of baking soda speeds the process. Cooking the chickpeas with baking soda softens them, allowing for less time on the stove as well as a smoother, creamier finished product. (If you find that your hummus is too stiff, loosen it with a little water.) A plate of this hummus served with fresh pita, chopped olives and pine nuts makes for a perfect lunch.
Corn Salad With Tomatoes, Basil and Cilantro
High summer produce comes together in this simple mix, tangy with lime juice and full of fresh herbs. Even in the height of the season, corn gets a touch sweeter when heated, and the easiest way to do it is in the microwave. It takes just a few minutes to zap the corn cobs in their husks, which makes them easy to shuck. The silks will slip right off the sweeter and still-crisp corn. Picking basil and cilantro leaves by hand then tearing them right over the salad keeps their delicate fragrance intact. Serve this with anything off the grill or alongside tacos or sandwiches.
Vegetable Noodle Salad With Sesame Vinaigrette
This pasta salad is bursting with more than two pounds of sweet summer vegetables and brightened by a rich, tangy sesame-ginger vinaigrette. The angel hair pasta is broken into pieces for easy scooping, making it perfect for picnics and potlucks. It’s a great make-ahead meal that travels well — and develops even more flavor as it sits. You can prepare it a few hours ahead and keep it at room temperature.
Grilled Mushroom Skewers in Red Chile Paste
Fire up the grill and let the aromas of vegetables and chile-marinated mushrooms charred over an open flame permeate the neighborhood. This simple recipe is fun to assemble, and a crowd pleaser, making it ideal for cookouts. Meaty king oyster mushrooms are smothered in a guajillo chile sauce that includes earthy achiote, which stains the mushrooms red. Liquid aminos or soy sauce add saltiness and umami, and maple syrup brings a touch of sweetness. If you don’t have the vegetables below on hand, you can easily swap them out for others that will cook in the same time frame. Serve this as a main dish with your favorite cooked grains or salad, or as a side dish to just about anything.
Giardiniera
Making giardiniera (pronounced jar-deen-YAIR-uh and Italian for “from the garden”) is a tradition in many Italian American households, but it does not require the work you might expect of a long-handed-down custom. This is preserving with no lids to seal; it takes only an hour or so of preparation and two or three days of waiting, and keeps in the refrigerator for weeks. In many ways, what follows is more technique than recipe, with flexibility to suit your mood or tastes. If you love carrots, add more. Or introduce zucchini, eggplant, onions or green beans. If you want it extra-spicy, add more serranos, red pepper flakes or even a bird’s-eye chile. Chop the vegetables uniformly so that the brine will work its magic evenly: mincing makes a great relish for a hot dog, while larger pieces are better for a side dish.
Grilled Figs With Pomegranate Molasses
These are wonderful. First you toss them in a mix of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, then you grill them on both sides just until they soften and grill marks appear (at which point they are warm all the way through and just beginning to become jammy), then you remove from the grill and brush with pomegranate molasses. It’s a match made in heaven. Serve while the figs are still warm, as a first course with goat cheese, or as a dessert with ricotta or yogurt.
Grilled Mushrooms With Chive Butter
Throwing whole mushroom caps onto the grill is a standard and effortless approach, but, because of their concave shape, they often steam rather than sear on one side, which does nothing to concentrate their meaty flavor. Instead, try slicing mushrooms into thick, hearty wedges and threading them onto skewers, flat sides facing out, and you’ll be able to sear them successfully. This recipe calls for seasoning the mushrooms with a paprika rub, grilling, then topping with a lemony herbed butter that offsets their smoky char. Serve them as a side, or as a vegetarian main with virtually anything: green salads, couscous salads, grilled vegetables or, for heartier appetites, potatoes of all stripes like latkes, French fries or baked potatoes.
Wonton Wrappers
Hong Kong-style wonton wrappers are distinguished by their small square shape, thinness and the addition of eggs to a flour-based dough. The eggs yield a richer, more supple dough, which helps it roll into nearly paper-thin sheets. After they’re wrapped into wontons and cooked, they taste like a delicate noodle, allowing the flavors of the filling shine. Premade wrappers are sold in the refrigerated section of Chinese and other markets, and those options work great. But if they’re not available nearby, they can be made at home with basic pantry ingredients. A pasta machine makes it easy to roll the dough, but rolling by hand works, too.
Chopped Salad With Jalapeño-Ranch Dressing
This chopped salad is fresh, festive and excessive in a celebratory way. While most salads opt for the lightest layer of dressing to optimize the produce’s flavors, this one calls for the dressing to generously coat the crisp ingredients. Inspired by Caesar salad, ranch dressing and the dinner-worthy salads popularized at chain restaurants like California Pizza Kitchen, this salad is punchy and satisfying, thanks to rich ingredients, like avocado, Cotija and a mayonnaise-thickened dressing, plus those with bite, like radishes, corn kernels and tortilla chips. Pair the salad with grilled tofu, chicken, shrimp or burgers — or nothing at all. This salad eschews subtlety, and hits all the right notes.
Perfect Boiled Eggs
If your goal is perfectly smooth, blemish-free boiled eggs that jump out of their shells every single time, I’ve got bad news: No technique in the world can promise that level of perfection. But armed with data from scientific tests done with more than 90 testers and more than 700 boiled eggs, this technique for boiled eggs — technically steamed, as they cook in just an inch of water — will maximize your odds. Fresher eggs will take slightly longer to peel, but they should peel just as cleanly as older eggs. The eggs in this recipe should be cooked straight from the refrigerator; reduce cooking times by 1 minute if using room-temperature eggs.
Carrot Risotto With Chile Crisp
Simple yet surprising, this pantry risotto is a study in contrasts: Luscious, creamy risotto is topped with caramelized carrots that are roasted with spicy chile crisp while you make the rice. The risotto base — a classic approach using shallots, garlic and white wine — is the foundation for a cheap though lush meal that can be cobbled together with pantry ingredients. This one is subtly sweetened with freshly grated carrots, then topped with a pile of smoky roasted carrots. Don’t underestimate the versatility of chile crisp: This tingly, crunchy condiment can animate any number of rich dishes like risotto, pizza and macaroni and cheese with a robust dose of heat. In recipes, as in life, opposites attract.
Vegan Bolognese With Mushrooms and Walnuts
Some may balk at this version of Bolognese, the classic Italian ragù, because it bypasses the meat and dairy that are traditionally integral to the dish. But this recipe is equally rich, robust and complex, owing to seared mushrooms and toasted walnuts, which are bolstered by balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, soy sauce and Marmite. A popular British sandwich spread made from concentrated yeast extract, Marmite brings salty, bitter notes to the sauce, but you can substitute a vegetable bouillon concentrate paste — or skip it entirely. Enjoy the sauce over cooked pasta or employ it in this vegetarian lasagna Bolognese.
Rotkraut
This recipe for rotkraut, a tart dish of pickled red cabbage simmered with warm spices in a dry red wine, came to The Times from Debbie Himmler of Cincinnati. The dish, a nod to her grandparents’ German heritage, makes regular appearances on her family’s Thanksgiving table, but can be served year round. It’s best prepared a day or two ahead, and also freezes well — a real boon if you’re planning a big meal. Just reheat it in a covered saucepan on the stove the day you plan to serve it.
Charred Scallion Dip With Lemon and Herbs
This creamy scallion dip could be the cooler cousin of ranch dressing or sour cream and onion dip. Grilled scallions add smokiness, while fresh chives and raw scallions lend brightness to the tangy, herb-flecked dip. If you don’t have a grill or grill pan, you can broil the scallions in your oven. Once assembled, the dip benefits from chilling to round out the flavors. At least an hour works, but it's better after a day. It needs nothing more than potato chips alongside, but it’s also great with crudités, crackers, grilled vegetables, fried chicken or slathered on sandwiches.
Bread-and-Butter Pickles
For these pickles, I spiced up classic, sweet bread-and-butter slices with allspice and coriander. Generally, the smaller the cucumbers, the more crisp the pickles will be. I used very small Kirby cucumbers, and a month later mine still crunch with each bite.
Egg Curry
Eggs have long been an important source of nutrition across the country, and form the base of many classic regional dishes. In Andhra Pradesh, this spicy, tomato-rich egg curry would have firmer, more crumbly yolks (boiled for about 11 or 12 minutes), but I like to cook them a little softer (8 minutes, max).
Vegetable Pulao
Pulao is a weeknight staple in many Desi households, as it can be made in one pot, has a flexible ingredient list and makes no sacrifices on flavor. Whole spices, which give the pulao its intense, complex flavor, are key in this recipe. But the beauty of pulao is that it can be easily adjusted according to your preferences and what you have around. You can swap the carrots for cauliflower, or the potatoes for sweet potatoes. In a pinch, a frozen bag of carrots, peas and corn will work just fine. And if you don’t have one of the spices, fret not and carry on. Pulao is often served with achaar, or pickle, yogurt and papad — but it’s also wonderful by itself.
Mac Salad
Hawaii’s mac salad is not the summer standard of cookouts on the mainland (what locals call the rest of the United States). The pasta is cooked past al dente, until swoony and soft all the way through. In this version from the chef Mark Noguchi, Gooch to friends, there’s a little punch-up of Tabasco and trace sweetness, like a sidelong glance, from grated carrots and a grace note of sugar. The marquee ingredient, of course, is mayonnaise. ‘‘Just so you know, you’ll be using a lot of mayo,’’ Gooch warns. ‘‘Obscene, guarantee-going-to-make-you-raise-your-eyebrow kine of lot.” Yet somehow what you end up with is richness without weight, leavened by tang and salt. In Hawaii, a scoop would be served with a plate lunch, alongside rice and a main dish, like chicken katsu.