Vegetarian
6951 recipes found
Potato Wedges
These oven fries are a deeply satisfying and nostalgic side dish that comes together with ease any night of the week. Seasoning the wedges with spices, grated Parmesan and garlic, and roasting them with more freshly grated cheese on top, ensures plenty of flavor in every bite. Soaking the cut potatoes in cold water before baking releases extra starch which leads to crispier outsides and creamier insides. Equally essential to that textural contrast is drying the potatoes fully before seasoning and baking them. Enjoy as-is, or serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
Little Gem Salad With Crispy Halloumi
Meet halloumi crumbs, a best-of-all-worlds garnish for salads, pastas and more. They’re crisp like toasted breadcrumbs, salty like Parmesan and still maintain some of halloumi’s signature chew. To make the crumbs, grate the sturdy cheese on the large holes of a box grater, then sizzle the strands in an oiled skillet. Here, pistachios and whole spices, like fennel or coriander seeds, are also added for a boost of flavor and even more textures. Even the simplest salad of crunchy, lemon-dressed lettuces can wow when these crumbs are showered on top. To make it a meal, serve it with roasted root vegetables, lentil soup or a grilled or roasted protein.
Cauliflower Satay
In this party-friendly appetizer, roasted cauliflower is paired with a shortcut version of the rich, creamy coconut and peanut butter satay sauce often served with chicken. To coax out deep, nutty flavor from the cauliflower, first roast it simply slicked with oil to help it caramelize, then coat it in a blended mixture of coconut milk, shallots, lemongrass and spices to bump up moisture and flavor and roast until tender. While your cauliflower roasts, you’ll prepare a supersimple peanut sauce by simmering coconut milk with red curry paste and peanut butter. (The salt and heat levels in store-bought curry pastes vary widely, so season your satay sauce accordingly.) Intended as an appetizer, this recipe is hearty enough to work as a main course when served with rice, but also pairs well with crispy or grilled tofu, grilled chicken or steamed vegetables, and can dazzle as the centerpiece for a main-course salad.
Skillet Cornbread
This cornbread recipe from photographer, documentarian and writer Pableaux Johnson is a simple and rustic standard. Baked in a hot skillet to encourage crispy edges and a substantially toasty bottom, cornbread is traditional to many regions in the South. This recipe was passed down by Mr. Johnson’s grandfather, Achille Leon Hebert from Baton Rouge, La., and it was served every Monday at Mr. Johnson’s legendary red beans and rice community table at his home in New Orleans. It traveled with him across the country on his Red Beans Roadshow, where he collaborated with local chefs and served dozens of communities over the span of almost a decade.
Chocolate Irish Cream Cake
In this rich but balanced dessert, two layers of moist and soft chocolate cake are sandwiched together with a ribbon of rich, creamy dark chocolate ganache infused with Irish cream, then frosted with a light, fluffy Irish cream buttercream. This cake keeps well at room temperature for a few days, so feel free to make it in advance of your next celebration. It’s worth noting that the Irish cream liqueur does not get cooked, so it will retain its alcohol content.
Quesitos (Sweet Cream Cheese Pastries)
A Puerto Rican bakery classic, these flaky pastries filled with sweetened cream cheese are easy to make at home. Like much of the island’s best food, these simple pastries reflect a range of cultural influences, including Cuban pastelitos de queso, and it’s their simplicity that makes them timeless. You can find them in bakeries across the island as well as in the states, with variations like guava, chocolate, bacon and even plant-based cheese. Experiment in your own kitchen, too: this recipe is very adaptable, and can be easily halved or doubled. This filling is less sweet than traditional ones, so don’t hesitate to be more generous with the sugar inside or on top. However you make them, they’re best enjoyed with a hot cup of coffee.
King Cake With Strawberry and Cream Cheese Filling
King cake, a sweetened, yeast-raised bread eaten throughout the many weeks of Carnival season, is rolled and twisted like a cinnamon roll. Traditional king cakes are flavored with cinnamon and sugar, but today the flavor combinations are seemingly endless; this version pairs strawberry jam and cream cheese. The cream cheese filling is flavored with lemon zest and a little sugar; a spoonful of flour adds structure. Dollops of strawberry jam contribute a concentrated fruity bite; if you want more fruit presence, opt for canned strawberry pie filling. The whole pastry is bathed in a lemony glaze before being topped with green, gold and purple sugar, a visual cue that identifies this wreath of baked dough as a king cake.
Pączki (Jam-Filled Doughnuts)
Biting into freshly prepared, pillowy soft pączki is among the joys of life well worth indulging in. Pączki (pronounced ponch-key) are Polish doughnuts typically filled with plum or wild rose jam and dusted with powdered sugar or drizzled with glaze, and sometimes topped with candied orange peel. In Poland, they are a traditional food eaten on Tłusty Czwartek (Fat Thursday) — the Thursday before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Pączki are less sweet but richer than typical doughnuts. They are also a deeper brown in color with a light ring around the middle. It takes time, patience and a little practice to prepare pączki at home. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, it will do most of the dough work for you. It is important to watch the oil temperature when frying pączki to ensure they cook through on the inside without turning too dark on the outside. Traditionally, spirytus, a high-proof alcohol with a neutral taste, is used in the dough so the pączki don’t absorb too much oil while frying, but other higher-proof spirits like vodka also work well. Pączki are best shared and eaten right away.
Cheesy Breadsticks
While cheesy breadsticks made with pizza dough are a classic appetizer at pizza chains, making them at home doesn’t require much effort — and guarantees you can enjoy them when the cheese is as ooey-gooey as can be. These are baked in a metal pan to ensure a soft interior with a crisp crust. They’re topped with a swipe of garlic-herb butter and a shower of mozzarella and Parmesan for a thick layer of melted cheese in every bite. For that true pizzeria experience, be sure to dip your breadsticks in marinara, ranch or a combination of the two.
Microwave Nutella Pudding Cake
This warm, gooey, flourless chocolate cake requires just three ingredients, five minutes and a zap in the microwave. Nutella does the heavy lifting here, standing in for sugar, fat and flour and offering its milky cocoa sweetness and toasty hazelnut flavor to every spoonful. This cake is best slightly underbaked so the center is molten like a lava cake. A dollop of vanilla ice cream or Greek yogurt is optional, but a wonderful way to balance the richness of the cake beneath.
Salted Lassi
Lassi, a refreshing yogurt-based drink from the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, is often consumed in hot weather as a cooling, hydrating beverage that promotes healthy digestion. Variations abound, but this simple salted version remains beloved. Some salted lassi include kala namak (black salt), which has a more pronounced sulfuric flavor, but standard salt and sea salt are often used as well. Other popular seasonings are cumin seeds (used here) and chaat masala. Using South Asian dahi (yogurt) is ideal for achieving the drink’s classic tart, creaminess. Avoid using Greek yogurt or skyr in its place, as they can be too thick, but if you can’t find dahi, plain whole-milk yogurt will work well.
Yuzu-Miso Soba Noodle Soup
Sour like lemon, bitter like grapefruit, sweet like mandarins and tangy like oranges, yuzu might be the consummate citrus — and it brings all of that complex magic to this light, clean noodle broth. Miso pairs harmoniously with yuzu, bringing savory notes to balance the tartness. Yuzu juice is sold at Japanese and Asian grocery stores (or online), but if you are not able to access it, you can substitute with lemon juice for a broth that is equally impactful. Lemon tends to be more sour than yuzu, so add the fresh juice incrementally until you achieve your desired balance. A squeeze of lemon juice and the thinly sliced lemon slices inject a further jolt of freshness to the yuzu broth, brightening yuzu’s floral and herbal flavors.
Porcini Ragù
As a child living in Tuscany, Ixta Belfrage fell for a pasta rich with dried porcini mushrooms, served at the lone restaurant in the tiny mountain village of Acone. In her cookbook, “Mezcla” (Ten Speed Press, 2022), she pays homage to the power of porcini mushrooms, which are typically gathered from the wild and taste of it, luscious and nutty. They offer a shortcut to glory in this ragù that almost defies the name, because it doesn’t demand hours on the stove and attains a velvety intensity in practically no time at all. Leave the porcini to soak and swell back to life; chop; gently fry with tomato paste, garlic, chile and parsley; rain down black pepper; melt in some Parmesan; swirl with pasta water and porcini broth and let it bubble. A dab of cream, then a slicking and coating of the pasta, and it’s on the table.
Lo Han Jai (Buddha’s Delight)
On Lunar New Year’s Day, many Cantonese families will make a pot of lo han jai, also known as Buddha’s delight. The vegan dish is rooted in Buddhist tradition, which prescribes that a meat-free diet be observed during the new year as a form of self-purification and to welcome good luck. Delicious any time of year, Lo han jai has transcended Lunar New Year and is nowadays enjoyed as an everyday dinner dish. There is no single recipe for lo han jai — families are likely to have their own versions — but the key is to create a textural dish by bringing together dried and fresh vegetables. Swap out any of the ingredients you cannot find and consider substituting with other vegetables such as carrot, sugar snap peas, lotus root, baby corn or cauliflower.
Roasted Kabocha Squash
Naturally sweet kabocha squash takes on a caramelized richness when brushed with maple syrup and coconut oil and roasted. The flavorful dish is equally at home alongside a holiday roast, on a bed of whipped ricotta or atop a grain bowl. Coconut oil works exceptionally well here, adding a subtle nuttiness and sweetness that other oils lack, though vegetable oil will work too. Best of all, the kabocha skin is edible so no peeling required. Don’t forget to save those seeds for roasting.
Creamy Cauliflower-Cashew Soup
Creamy and comforting, this cauliflower soup happens to be vegan, and takes its silky texture from being simmered and thickened with roasted cashews. The nuttiness of the cauliflower and the cashews is balanced by the addition of a tart apple. The preferred thickness of creamed soups varies, so if the soup feels too thick, just adjust it to your ideal level of creaminess, adding more stock or water — and an additional sprinkle of salt — as needed.
Orange Marmalade
Marmalade techniques abound, and many are complicated, but everyone can master this easy recipe with good old-fashioned navel oranges and a little patience. Most traditional recipes are made with Seville oranges, a fragrant citrus that often requires blanching to remove some of its bitterness. To mimic the unique tangy bittersweetness of Sevilles, this method simply uses a combination of oranges and lemon. Rest assured, it will not taste cloyingly sweet, but rather balanced and bright, as all great fruit preserves should. One step that can’t be rushed, however, is an overnight soak to extract as much pectin from the boiled peels as possible — this will keep the marmalade spreadable and buoyant.
Roasted Spiced Squash With Whipped Feta and Pistachios
Sweet and nutty, squash never fails to bring quiet luxury to the plate. Here, a generous dusting of cumin and coriander accentuates its earthiness and tempers its sweetness. (The cumin and coriander could easily be replaced with a spice blend like ras el hanout, baharat, garam masala or five-spice powder). Thin-skinned varieties of squash such as butternut, honey nut or delicata are easy to prepare (as they need no peeling), and the skin adds an essential textural bite to this dish. The velvety whipped feta is adaptable and versatile; you can add a handful of herbs to inject some color or drizzle in a tablespoon or two of olive oil for a richer finish. For an even heartier dish, roast some chickpeas alongside the squash. Have some bread or flatbread on hand to mop up the whipped feta.
Stovetop Berry Crisp
You don’t need to wait for summer’s ripest fruit to enjoy a fruit crisp. This quick, small-batch version delivers jammy fruit beneath a crispy topping any night of the week, no matter the season. Start by making the topping in the microwave, then as it crisps, simmer the berries on the stovetop. Once they resemble a compote, add more berries for pops of freshness. You can use a mix of berries or just blueberries, and they can be fresh or frozen — no need to thaw the frozen ones first. Because the topping is already cooked when it’s scattered on the fruit, it won’t get soggy, delivering a brown-sugary crunch in every bite.
Microwave Sticky Toffee Pudding
You’re just 10 minutes away from a bowl of soft, date-flecked cake draped in a brown sugary sauce. This speedy take on sticky toffee pudding is made for one or two people and doesn’t require turning on the oven — just the microwave. Topping your warm cake with cold ice cream, whipped cream or sour cream is a welcome contrast and helps temper the sweetness. A few toasted pecans on top would add a nice crunch.
Fairy Bread
If you go to a children’s birthday party in Australia or New Zealand, you are very likely to find fairy bread: triangles of untoasted white bread covered with margarine or butter and “hundreds and thousands” (you can use round rainbow sprinkles stateside). Fairy bread is a much-loved treat with fairly murky origins; one variation is hagelslag, a Dutch treat that uses chocolate sprinkles instead of rainbow-colored rounds. After one bite of fairy bread, it is clear why the combination of soft bread, creamy butter and crunchy, sugary sprinkles is beloved by so many — and may be soon by you, too.
Triple-Chocolate Brownies
Featuring a terrazzo-esque contrast from a melted bittersweet-chocolate batter studded with shards of white chocolate and milk chocolate, these luxurious brownies owe their rich flavor and nuanced texture to a few essential details. The batter employs both melted dark chocolate and cocoa powder, a combination that provides complex flavor and a fudgy bite. Snappy chunks of milk and white chocolates get folded into the bittersweet base, creating a multidimensional celebration of chocolatiness. Both dark brown sugar and granulated sugar are key to obtaining that hallmark shiny surface and a velvety soft interior. About midway through the baking process, the baking pan gets tapped on the counter, resulting in a brownie that deflates until desirably gooey but not dense, which will please just about every type of brownie lover.
Chocolate Crepes
These cocoa-infused crepes are delicious rolled up and eaten as-is, but for a more celebratory dessert, dress them up with your choice of chocolate-hazelnut spread, whipped cream, powdered sugar and berries. Making crepes isn’t complicated, but it does require a bit of patience. Letting the batter rest for the full 15 minutes (or up to overnight) allows the flour and cocoa powder to hydrate, which contributes to a tender and slightly bouncy texture when cooked. To minimize frustration while cooking, use a good nonstick skillet and avoid cooking the crepes too hot and fast—medium heat is ideal.
Persian Love Cake
The origins of Persian love cake, a fragrant and tender cake adorned with rose petals, are shrouded in a romanticized story of unrequited love. Set in bygone lands with the scent of cardamom and rose wafting through the air, the tale tells of a Persian prince and the girl who won his heart by baking him this magical cake. It’s unclear from where this tale first sprung, but the timeline is certainly recent: The earliest mentions of Persian love cake do not date back to ancient or even modern-day Iran, but possibly to a chef in Australia in the early 2000s who prepared an almond flour-based cake and called it Persian love cake. Perhaps the combination of almonds, cardamom and rose water, ingredients typically used in Iranian baked goods, inspired the name. This version uses a combination of almond flour and all-purpose flour, which makes for a delightfully light crumb. The perfume of lemon and rose water in the cake is echoed in the syrup that drenches the cake, as well as in the icing that drapes it. Like every good romance, this take on Persian love cake will keep you coming back for more.