Vegetarian
6940 recipes found

Salty, Spicy Vegetable Soufflé
Overseasoned or overcooked vegetables gain new life from being folded into unseasoned eggs to make a frittata, quiche filling or soufflé.

Cinnamon Crunch Banana Bread
This easy cake — no mixer required — is a popular staple at Bakesale Betty in Oakland, Calif. Pie, cake, cookies and a legendary fried chicken sandwich are the only things on the menu, but locals start lining up long before opening time. They’re that good. Betty herself, the baker Alison Barkat, adds a cinnamon-sugar topping and honey to the classic banana bread formula for a deeply caramelized, moist result.

Sweet Potato Soufflé
This soufflé is not too sweet to serve as a starter at your Thanksgiving table, but it also makes an impressive dessert and it’s easier than pie to make. You can make individual soufflés or one large one.

Spinach Dip With Garlic, Yogurt and Dill
Lemony, garlic-laden and full of chopped herbs and Greek yogurt, this ultra-creamy spinach dip is a fresher, tangier take on the retro kind made with dehydrated soup mix. It’s best to take the cream cheese out of the fridge at least an hour ahead so it can soften; otherwise you can heat it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it up. Firm, cold cream cheese won’t mix into the dip as easily. Serve this with any combination of cut-up vegetables, crackers, toast and sturdy chips.

Real Sour Cream Onion Dip
Why make this classic dip with dried onion soup mix when it's almost as easy, and far more delicious, to make it from scratch?

Everything Bagel Dip
Think of this as a deconstructed everything bagel with extra schmear. A little tangy from sour cream, this spread can be used as a dip for pretzels, potato chips, raw vegetables and, yes, bagel chips. But it's just as good on a sandwich — or even a bagel, if you're crazy for everything spice. One thing to note: If you're making it by hand, make sure to keep your cream cheese quite soft. It'll make things a lot easier.

Smoky Paprika Cheese Skewers
Bathed in a ruddy paprika and shallot oil, and grilled until singed, these golden cheese skewers are a savory delight. You can make them with any kind of cheese that’s tolerant of high heat — also called grilling or frying cheese: Halloumi, queso panela and provolone are some widely available options.

Roasted Garlic and White Bean Dip With Rosemary
The idea of adding a whole head of garlic to a dip might scare you, but compared to its bracing raw counterpart, roasted garlic is sweet and mellow. This dip is garnished with a sprig of sizzled rosemary that's for more than just looks: Frying the herb infuses the olive oil with its fragrance. Spoon the remainder over your finished bowl for a hit of rosemary you wouldn’t get with just the minced leaves, then scoop it up with warm pita, cucumber spears, and carrot sticks.

Smoky Eggplant Dip With Pita Chips
The most persuasive way to convert an eggplant hater is to fry it (the eggplant, not the hater). A less messy approach, however, is to make dip. Velvety, smoky dip with a tangy bite has seduced many an eggplant-hating guest.

Paneer con Tomate
Pan con tomate, the Spanish dish of grated tomato on grilled or toasted bread, is summery and extremely satisfying. Grating a tomato somehow emphasizes everything delicious about it, heightening sweetness and acidity. Paneer con tomate is built on the same principle, but swaps the bread for pieces of crisp-edged, lightly fried cheese. Here, the tomato pulp is seasoned not with olive oil, but with a glug of coconut oil infused with mustard seeds and curry leaves. If you’ve got homemade paneer, which is looser and softer, then there’s no need to fry it. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.

Parmesan Cream Crackers
Crackers can be made with just flour and water (as in water crackers, or matzo), but like almost everything else, they’re better with richer ingredients. These are typically made with butter, oil, and milk or cheese, or both, along with flavorings like seeds, herbs and spices. I like a simple, flakey, buttery cracker, often with cheese. This could stem from my childhood addiction to Cheez-Its. Once you get the hang of it, which will take exactly one try, play around. You might skip the cheese and add freshly chopped rosemary or thyme to the dough. Swapping pepper for salt as a topping makes a difference. Or top with minced garlic or onion, sesame or poppy seeds, or whatever is on your favorite commercial cracker. In every case, you are going to make it better.

Herby Potato Salad With Smashed Olives
As with coleslaw, there are two schools of potato salad: the mayonnaise-based and the vinegar-based. This recipe plants itself firmly in the latter camp with bright, punchy flavors. The dressing here is a classic red-wine vinegar and Dijon vinaigrette that develops great flavor after marinating with capers, smashed green olives and thinly sliced shallots. Just fifteen minutes in the dressing softens the shallot’s bite, and a quick soak brings canned olives to life. There may appear to be too much dressing when you add the cooked potatoes, but as the potatoes cool, they’ll absorb it beautifully. (The key is to add them to the dressing as soon as they are cool enough to handle.) Any small potatoes will work for this recipe, and a mix of colors looks particularly nice. The most important detail is that the potatoes should be roughly the same size so that they cook evenly.

Naan-o Paneer-o Sabzi (Bread, Feta and Herb Platter)
The heart and soul of the Iranian table, this humble and satisfying meal is a simple combination of briny cheese, fresh herbs, walnuts and flatbread. Taken together, they make a perfect bite, known as loghmeh in Persian. A summer platter can include cooling watermelon, crunchy grapes and crisp Persian cucumber. Think of the suggestions below as an open canvas and add your preferred summer fruits and vegetables. Enjoy this for breakfast or brunch with a cup of hot black tea, as an afternoon snack, or as a beautiful, refreshing and light dinner with a glass of your favorite beverage. This is meant for those long, lazy summer nights when all you want to do is nibble and get lost in good conversation with good friends.

Julia Child’s Eggplant-Walnut Dip
This recipe from the second volume of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" is nontraditional but very Julia Child, with her famous love of cocktail snacks. Caviar d'aubergines, fluffy eggplant caviar, is popular in the South of France, but this one contains raw ginger and hot sauce, two of the least-French ingredients imaginable. Feel free to tinker with the spices (cumin and coriander are also good) and the heat level. This dip ripens very well over a few days in the refrigerator. Taste and re-season before serving.

Grilled Corn, Mexican Style
Not only is this recipe very easy, it results in the kind of deep flavor associated with the crunchy street corn of Mexico. In many parts of Mexico, though, that crunchiness is highlighted with a creamy chile-lime sauce. This is more unusual than the tried, true and unbeatable butter-salt-and-pepper combination, and only slightly more complicated. Just mix together mayonnaise, freshly squeezed lime juice, chile powder, salt and pepper. It’s pretty authentic, and a combination that brings out the grilled flavor, and balances the sweetness of fresh corn perfectly.

Cucumber, Melon and Watermelon Salad
Watermelon and feta has been in vogue for some time (and forever in Greece). I decided to throw in some of my endless supply of cucumbers and mix it up with the melons. I cut the melon and cucumber into medium-size dice (1/2 to 3/4 inch), but you can also make this more like a salsa and cut the produce into fine dice.

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks
To enjoy the full-range of cauliflower in one dish, from raw and snappy to caramelized and tender, cut a head into slabs and grill only one side. Flat sides beget more charring than florets because they provide more direct contact with the grill. To ensure the cauliflower doesn’t dry out, grill just one side. The tops will remain juicy and sweet, while the undersides will become deeply browned and nutty. Before grilling, any small bits of cauliflower that would fall through the grates are added raw to a lively sauce of dill, lime juice, chile and peanuts. Feel free to swap in another sauce you like on cauliflower or grilled dishes, like buffalo, parsley-olive or a nutritional yeast dressing.

Figs Stuffed With Goat Cheese
Here's a super-simple appetizer. Fresh figs are halved and stuffed with any creamy, flavorful cheese. A good blue works, but creamy goat cheese, drizzled with balsamic vinegar, is even more crowd-pleasing.

Lemony Whipped Feta With Charred Scallions
A spin in the food processor and a little olive oil and cream cheese take feta from crumbly and coarse to airy and spreadable. Whipped feta is wonderful on its own, but for a smoky sweetness that makes it special, flavor the dip with scallions that have been blackened in the oven. Serve with pita chips or buttery crackers, and if you’re an overachiever, top the dip with charred cherry tomatoes and a drizzle of honey.

Maque Choux
This classic Cajun side dish is a sweet, hot, juicy, milky, buttery combination of corn, onions and peppers. It’s often cooked in rendered bacon fat and enriched with heavy cream, but this version relies upon only butter and a little water in their place, which allow the ingredients’ flavors to sing more clearly. While it is commonly understood that Fat Equals Flavor, there is a point at which too much fat actually masks complexities in flavors and dulls their vibrancy. Try the maque choux this way and see if you notice how bold and lively it tastes. If you miss the smokiness that bacon imparts, try instead a pinch of smoked paprika stirred in at the end.

Caramelized Corn With Fresh Mint
This is an invincible weapon in the culinary arsenal: whole corn kernels, simply tossed in a hot skillet of melted butter, and showered with fresh mint when they start to pop and turn brown. It's sweet and savory all at once. And it's divine.

Borani-yeh Karafs (Celery Yogurt Dip)
Borani is an Iranian yogurt-based dish that highlights one ingredient, typically a vegetable. This one combines crisp celery with Greek yogurt for a cooling snack. Dried mint and dried dill are Iranian pantry staples and are always ready to be used in an array of dishes. Don’t think of them as substitutes for fresh herbs but as stars in their own right. You can use fresh dill, if you prefer, but the dried mint here delivers a unique flavor and fragrance not found in its fresh counterpart. The dried cranberries add texture and color, and balance the celery with a hint of sweetness. Serve this dish as a dip or dig right in with a spoon.

Spicy Corn Pakoras With Mango-Tamarind Chutney
Crisp and deeply seasoned, pakoras are Indian fritters that can be made from almost any vegetable. To emphasize the corn flavor here, fine cornmeal joins the more traditional chickpea flour — along with fresh corn. A ridiculously flavorful chutney, which is sweet, hot and a little sour, accompanies the dish. But a jarred version from the supermarket would certainly work in a pinch.

Buffalo Cauliflower Dip
The most negotiable part of Buffalo wings, it turns out, are the wings. Buffalo crudités can be just as crisp, Buffalo chicken dip just as tangy, and Buffalo cauliflower dip just as spicy and alluring. The whole dip — from caramelizing cauliflower to stirring together the creamy hot sauce base and baking on the generous layer of cheese — is made in one pan. You can bring the pan right to the table with dippers of choice and watch it disappear. Just because classic dishes are made a certain way — and Buffalo wings have a cult following, no doubt! — don’t be afraid to riff on them once in awhile. That's how new classics are made.