Vegetarian
6951 recipes found
Sheet-Pan Pumpkin Pancakes
This light and fluffy pancake is a perfect fall breakfast for a group, and comes together much more quickly than cooking individual pancakes in a skillet batch by batch. You could even mix all of the dry ingredients together the night before to make this large-format pancake even faster. It is lightly sweetened and gently spiced with cinnamon and ginger, but feel free to add about 2 tablespoons of your favorite pumpkin spice blend instead of the cinnamon and ginger. Serve with butter and maple syrup for the full experience. A serving tip: If you cut the large-format pancake into 12 pieces, each piece is equivalent to one large pancake.
Coconut Saag
Saag paneer is a classic North Indian dish — but it’s also endlessly riffable. Swap out the paneer for feta or halloumi, the mustard greens for kale or spinach, and so on. This is a particularly stellar riff, in which coconut milk enriches an already aromatic and verdant sauce that can be paired with either the traditional paneer, or extra-firm tofu. The final hit of coconut oil infused with smoky cumin seeds and red chile powder adds loads of depth, making this dish quite possibly the most luxurious way to eat a pound of greens.
Caramelized Onions
Soft, caramelized onions can add sweetness and richness to any dish that calls for sautéed onions, but they are especially good in soups, curries, sandwiches, pastas and dips — which is to say, everywhere. (Keep a container on hand, refrigerated for 1 week or frozen for a couple months.) Typically a time-intensive process, this recipe speeds things up by starting the onions covered to help release their liquid and repeatedly pouring in water and scraping the bottom of the pan to incorporate the delicious browned bits. Be sure to stand by and stir the onions often to prevent burning, although you’ll want to anyway to soak up their smell.
Scalloped Potatoes
Scalloped potatoes are a classic comfort food side dish, simple enough for a family dinner and festive enough for a spot on the holiday table. Consisting of thinly sliced potatoes that are layered and baked in a cream sauce, they are a cousin of French Dauphinoise potatoes — the notable difference being the absence of cheese in the former. Dress these up with a handful of chopped herbs or serve as-is, browned and bubbling on top, alongside prime rib or roasted chicken.
Air-Fryer Baked Potatoes
Cooking baked potatoes in an air fryer is an excellent option when it’s too hot to turn on the oven, or when you’re cooking for a smaller group. The machine’s circulating heat evenly crisps potato skins to perfection. Though simply delicious with a pat of butter and a sprinkle of chopped chives or scallions, these spuds also make perfect vessels for leftovers; add chopped, roasted broccoli, crispy crumbled bacon or a mound of chili for a heartier meal.
Sheet-Pan Zucchini, Tomatoes and Feta
The star of this speedy supper is the golden-topped, lightly scorched feta that remains irresistibly spreadable and melty when sliced. Thanks to the direct heat of the broiler, charred and burst tomatoes add juiciness to the sheet pan, along with tender zucchini spears. You could also scatter some arugula or baby spinach over the ingredients, gently tossing to wilt, and eat this dish right out of the pan with some bread for a warm, late-summer salad. During other times of year, you could swap the zucchini for asparagus or broccolini.
Cumin and Cashew Yogurt Rice
Yogurt rice is a nostalgic dish for many South Asians, and especially South Indians. It’s the ultimate comfort food, and a no-fuss dinner that’s easy to put together. Cool, creamy yogurt and crunchy, warm spices create a dreamy contrast that makes this dish feel more whole meal-worthy than snack-friendly (though it’ll serve you well for both). Traditional versions include mustard seeds, curry leaves and urad dal, but this variation includes a different set of pantry staples: cumin seeds, cashews and red chile powder. The trio, plus fresh green chiles, gets sizzled in ghee, enhancing all the rich, smoky, spicy flavors, then gets poured directly over the yogurt rice. Add grated carrots and zucchini to give the rice more heft, or try it with a different combination of spices.
Pasta With Corn, Mint and Red Onions
Practically a no-cook recipe, this celebration of corn, tomatoes and plenty of herbs is about as easy as summer pasta gets. A dollop or two of ricotta adds milky softness, enriching the tangy, garlicky tomatoes and plump kernels of corn, but you can leave it out if you prefer. Although this dish is best with seasonal tomatoes and freshly shucked corn, it’s also excellent made with frozen corn and year-round grape tomatoes, cut into cubes. You can serve this versatile salad warm, at room temperature or even cold as a pasta salad. And leftovers make a terrific lunch the next day.
Za’atar and Labneh Spaghetti
Creamy labneh produces a pasta dish with the texture of an Alfredo, but with a bright tang that brings levity. A Middle Eastern yogurt that is strained or hung until the texture of soft cheese, labneh provides a rich, luscious texture, but strained yogurts, like Greek yogurt or skyr, are suitable substitutes. Be sure to add the dairy at the end, and don’t let it come to a boil while you stir. Boiling will cause the yogurt to break, leaving you with a sauce that isn’t creamy or rich. If the pasta sauce tightens up and breaks from sitting for too long, there’s a simple solution: Add some reserved pasta water and stir vigorously over medium-low heat until the sauce comes back together, lusciously smooth, saucy and glossy.
Chilled Soba in Dashi With Tomatoes and Corn
This chilled noodle dish is extremely refreshing on a hot summer’s day. Corn, shiitake mushrooms and tomatoes simmer with water to make a vegan take on dashi that is packed with umami. The buckwheat noodles have a lovely nutty flavor, adding depth to the dish, but feel free to try with different noodles, such as thin wheat noodles (somen) or rice noodles. The dashi is extremely light and clean, while the toppings add bursts of flavor. The balance between sweet, salty and sour is very delicate, so be sure to be somewhat pedantic when measuring for seasoning. You can get ahead by making the dashi a day in advance and chilling it overnight.
Easy Baked French Toast
Perfect for an impromptu breakfast or brunch, this baked French toast requires barely any prep and delivers results that are so rich and custardy that the dish veers into bread pudding territory. Though many baked French toast recipes require stale bread — or bread that has been soaked or toasted — this one requires no extended soaking and involves a relatively short bake time. It can easily accommodate whatever type of bread you have: Rustic bread will retain more texture, but standard fluffy sandwich bread works as well, with even less resistance. This recipe allows you to customize its sweetness levels as desired, with cinnamon sugar and maple syrup passed tableside to ensure it tastes just right to you and any guests.
Green Salad With Tomato-Basil Vinaigrette
This ebullient green salad is dressed with ripe, sweet tomatoes marinated in sherry vinegar and fresh basil. The garlicky croutons add loads of crunchy texture, giving this a bit more staying power. Serve this as is for a substantial salad course or side dish, or bulk it up with the likes of cubed tofu or shredded chicken, avocado, jammy eggs, tuna, chickpeas, cheese or nuts and seeds.
Zaalouk (Eggplant and Tomato Salad)
Zaalouk is a Moroccan cooked salad, similar to baba ghanouj and moutabal, that highlights eggplant in all its glory. Just a few ingredients come together to create a lightly aromatic, herby and melt-in-your mouth dip. There are many ways to prepare zaalouk; what varies is the way in which the eggplant is cooked. It can be steamed, boiled, chargrilled, baked or, as in this recipe, simply cooked on the stovetop with the rest of the ingredients. Zaalouk is commonly served as a starter, however, feel free to enjoy it as a side or as a spread in a tasty sandwich with grilled meat or vegetables.
Vegan Green Goddess Dressing
Green goddess dressing was served for the first time, in the 1920s, at the Palace Hotel, in San Francisco, at a banquet in honor of George Arliss, who starred in the play “The Green Goddess.” Herbaceous, creamy and tangy, the original recipe used mayonnaise, scallions, chives, tarragon, parsley, anchovies and vinegar. This vegan rendition mostly sticks to tradition, but employs tahini for body, basil for sweetness and soy sauce for a flavor that’s similar to anchovy. Keep the dressing thick for a dip, or thin it to coat sturdy salad leaves like romaine, iceberg, escarole or radicchio.
Grilled Broccoli and Halloumi Salad
This recipe steers the broccoli, cheese and raisins from Southern broccoli salad to the grill, with a few updates. Cooked over fire, slender spears of broccoli get sweet and smoky, and the cheese (a sturdy, grillable one like halloumi) gets crispy and chewy. Raisins are replaced with fresh grapes, which skip the grill and get tossed with lime zest to become extra-sour bursts. Shower this dish with lime juice, olive oil and mint for a classic combination made anew. For a heartier meal, serve over quinoa, salad greens or grilled bread.
Green Salad With Warm Goat Cheese (Salade de Chèvre Chaud)
Some dishes are showstoppers, while others are ordinary, unfussy and exactly what you want on a slow evening when nothing need be achieved or sought after. This is a simple salad, with the smallest exalting touch: rounds of goat cheese coated in beaten egg and the sheerest veil of bread crumbs, then gently pressed in a hot pan until dark gold. They come served over a careless toss of greens — you can add fresh herbs like dill or parsley for featheriness and a bright lift — in a dressing that requires no more than oil, vinegar, mustard and a single shallot. Eat immediately, when the greens are fresh and cool, and the cheese is still warm, faintly crackly on the outside and oozy within.
Oatmeal
For a loving bowl of oatmeal you can pull off first thing in the morning, use a trick from Samantha Seneviratne: Cook the oatmeal in a skillet instead of a pot. The oatmeal will be creamier and more evenly cooked in under 10 minutes, ready to be topped to your heart’s desire. Plus, a skillet is easier to wash, making this recipe extra kind to your still-waking-up self.
Lemon Pesto Pasta
While not as well known as pesto alla Genovese, lemon pesto is a delicious variation that adds a jolt of brightness. Used in Italy as both a pasta sauce or spread for crostini, its preparation is similar to classic pesto by combining basil with cheese, nuts and extra-virgin olive oil, but the addition of the lemon zest and juice gives it a unique flavor and color. This simple weeknight pasta sauce comes together quickly in the food processor and can be made ahead, as it keeps in the refrigerator for up to one week. You can also drizzle the pesto over a Caprese salad or grilled zucchini, or smear it over crusty, toasted bread as a topping, as they do in Italy.
Roasted Potatoes
These basic roasted potatoes are a versatile and easy side dish that can be made with just olive oil, salt and pepper, or dressed up with fresh herbs or garlic powder. This recipe aims for the sweet spot where creamy, tender interior meets golden, crispy exterior, but for extra-crispy potatoes, roast them for an extra 5 or 10 minutes. The longer the potatoes roast, the crispier they will be on the outside, though they will become slightly drier on the inside, so don’t overdo it. Baby yellow or red potatoes are called for here, but larger potatoes work, too; just chop them into 1-inch pieces before roasting.
Spicy Tomato and Nectarine Salad
When it comes to savory tomato salads, the iconic Caprese salad feels unsurpassable because its formula is simple but sublime: sliced fruit, bright herbs (basil) and rich cheese. This salad started out basic as well, initially combining tomato with stone fruit and a spicy honey-jalapeño vinaigrette, but surrendered to Caprese’s gravitational pull to eventually include fistfuls of fresh herbs (basil, mint or cilantro) and cheese for richness. (Salty ricotta salata shavings stand up to the zippy vinaigrette without overpowering it.) Seasoning your individual elements to taste might seem excessive, but it builds better flavor. Some salads are built to tower, but this salad feels fancy, fresh and less fussy when layered directly on the platter, served flat.
Kosua ne Meko (Eggs With Pepper Relish)
A hard-boiled egg split slightly down the middle and stuffed with a chunky tomato relish, kosua ne meko is a quick Ghanaian snack sold by street vendors. Classic versions include hard-boiled eggs that have been cured by dredging them shell-on through dampened salt a day before. The relish, referred to as “raw pepper,” can taste different depending on the vendor, but it always has crushed tomatoes, red onions and chiles. For home cooks, this can be a simple dish made quickly (or ahead) to share broadly — at the beach, a picnic, an afternoon cocktail party or a potluck brunch. An asanka, a small mortar and pestle with a rough interior, is used to prepare the raw pepper, but a food processor can also step in. Simply salting the egg before adding the relish, or after, can at least hint at the salt-dredging technique.
Grilled Halloumi and Zucchini With Salsa Verde
A punchy salsa verde can instantly elevate any simply grilled vegetable, but in this recipe, it does double duty, serving as a garlicky, herby marinade and a finishing sauce for chunks of halloumi and zucchini. Firm, salty halloumi, which originated on the island of Cyprus, is a rare cheese that grills well, because of its high melting point. The key to getting a nice char on the halloumi and zucchini is to cut both into pieces of similar sizes, so they make good contact with the grill, and to be gentle when threading the pieces of halloumi so they don’t tear. These would make a nice meat-free main course, or an unexpected grilled side as part of a larger cookout spread.
Crispy Zucchini Hero
Massive and tasty, this vegetarian sandwich celebrates sweet zucchini, pan-fried until golden and crispy. The veggies are tucked into one long soft roll for easy assembly, and drizzled with an oregano-spiked oil-and-vinegar dressing that seasons the sandwich with tangy zest. The zucchini can be fried up to 30 minutes ahead of time; be sure to hold the pieces on a rack set over a sheet tray to prevent steaming and to keep them crisp. For best results, build the sandwiches right before serving.
Chilled Zucchini Soup With Lemon and Basil
During the warmest days, there is no more welcome promise than a no-cook meal. A blender or food processor makes quick work of this peak summer zucchini soup, which requires no cooking and is best served chilled. Cashews thicken the soup while adding a creamy silkiness and a gentle sweetness. Since taste buds don't register the flavors of cold foods as well as warm ones, chilled soups require generous seasonings. Here, the mellow raw zucchini is bolstered by the hefty use of garlic, miso, lemon juice and basil. The soup can be prepared ahead and chilled in the fridge for up to 24 hours or it can be served right away, chilled with ice cubes.