20 Vegetarian Lunch Recipes That Are Healthy and Delicious
By Rupa Budhathoki | On 11 March 2024 09:46 AM
Lunchtime is one of the hardest times of the day to eat healthily. In comparison to the non-vegetarian diet, very limited options are available for vegetarians. Whenever it comes to the idea of making a vegetarian lunch, half of the day goes by just wondering what to prepare. When nothing hits the mind, we opt for lunch at restaurants.
However, it's time to bid farewell to the expensive salads at restaurants and prepare some delicious lunch at home. Here are some vegetarian dishes with the receipes that are healthy and delicious to enjoy at lunch with family, friends, or partners.
1. Chana Masala
Chana masala is an Indian-inspired dish. Within 30 minutes time with soaked chickpeas, you can get the lunch ready with a handful of ingredients. It is easier to make, and healthier to eat. If you love chickpeas, you will love this dish for lunch.
Just saute the onions, and garlic with spices in the oil and add chickpeas with diced tomato. Bring it to a boil, simmer and your dish is ready to be served. On top, serving chana masala with basmati or long-grain rice will make your tummy full.
2. Grilled Lebanese Salad
Salads are easier to make and healthier to eat. Another vegetarian lunch delight is Grilled Lebanese Salad. Even your kids will love to eat the greens when prepared this way. In less than an hour, lunch's ready.
All you need is mushrooms, french bread, and veggies of your choice. In easy two steps, you can have the salad ready for lunch. Grill the vegetables and bread until tender. After the grilling is done, in a large bowl, mix them all with salt, pepper, onion, and veggies of your choice. Your hungry tummy will bless you for the quick and delicious salad you served.
3. Tomato and Avocado Sandwich
The sandwich is a tasty, and healthy lunch that can be prepared in no time. In 10 minutes you will have a healthy lunch at your table.
If you have avocados that are getting wasted, try them on a piece of bread and you will not be disappointed. All you have to do is create a paste of the ripened avocados and toast the bread. Now, spread the avocado over the toast and top it as you desire. You can top your avocado toast with tomato and shallot. Voila! you're munching the healthiest snack.
4. Veggie Calzones
The aromatic, mouth-watering veggie calzones take less than an hour to be prepared. Buckle up and get ready to feast on a delicious healthy lunch.
Let's start with the preparation of the filling first. Saute mushroom, onion, and green pepper in oil until tender. Stir in tomatoes, combine with cheese, and set aside. Now, roll the dough into edible pieces, add in the fillings, and wrap it. It's now time to bake them until golden brown. With a preparation time of 25 minutes and a baking time of 35 minutes, the veggie calzones are ready.
5. Tomato-Garlic Lentil Bowls
If you are up to a tangy, creamy lunch, you ought to get your hands on tomato-garlic lentil bowls. Within 30 minutes, over 2 simple steps, you have your bowl ready to feast on.
Firstly, get the lentils ready with onion, garlic, and different seasonings. It will take you about 25-35 minutes to get a tender lentil. After the lentil is ready, stir in lemon juice and tomato paste. Top it with yogurt and you have your lunch ready. This truly is a healthy snack as a cup of lentil has twice as much protein and iron as quinoa.
6. Sweet Potato Panzanella
If you are looking for a lunch that's rich in flavor and texture as well as low in calories, sweet potato panzanella is the best fit. Within 30 minutes, you can have this delight prepared and enjoy a flavorful lunch.
Preparing this sweet potato Panzanella does not take much of your effort. Run through simple three steps and you will have the lunch ready to munch on. Initially, get the sweet potato boiled until tender. Secondly, bake the bread cubes for 5 minutes or until golden brown. At last, mix the cubed sweet potato and bread cubes with the spinach, onion, and herbs. The nutritional lunch is ready!
7. Grilled Eggplant Panini With Basil Aioli
Munching on this vegetable-loaded sandwich on your lunch will keep you full. With 45 minutes of preparation time, you can have a healthy lunch ready to serve your hungry tummy. This dish needs eggplants, mayonnaise, cheese, ciabatta rolls, red peppers, chives, and seasonings.
Prepare the aioli first. For aioli blend in mayonnaise, basil, parmesan cheese, chives, garlic cloves with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Now, broil or grill the vegetables. Get the vegetables filing in the ciabatta rolls and grill until the cheese melts.
8. General Tso's Cauliflower
An alternative to a classic chicken dish, try General Tso's Cauliflower for lunch. Deep-fried cauliflower florets, coated in a sauce will be a good treat to your tastebuds. Serve the cauliflower with rice, and it will be sufficient to keep you full.
In this dish, you will have to create a thin batter first with flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder. After the batter is ready, dip the cauliflower florets and fry them in hot oil until light brown. Prepare the sauce for the coating by whisking orange juice, soy sauce, sugar, vegetable broth, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Cook it until thick and add the florets.
9. Chard & White Bean Pasta
Chard & White Bean Pasta is a gluten, nut, and soy-free healthy vegetarian lunch. If you are looking for a lunch with nutritional benefits, you must try this. For this, you will need pasta, beans, Swiss chard, potato, and seasonings. You well know how the pasta is made, don't you? If you're a beginner, lookout for the direction in the package and prepare the pasta first. After the pasta's done, cook the beans, potato and chard. When the beans are done, add on pasta and serve it with a sauce.
With easily available ingredients, you can prepare a hassle-free healthy lunch at home.
10. Italian Herb-Lentil Patties with Mozzarella
A dish that is simple to prepare and loved by all, know the recipe for Italian Herb-Lentil Patties with Mozzarella here. In an hour, you will have this most loved, easy to prepare lunch ready. Some of the essential ingredients are dried lentils, uncooked instant oatmeal, mozzarella cheese, and marinara sauce.
After you have the required ingredients, cook the lentils first. After the drained lentils cools down slightly, combine it with the seasonings and oatmeal. When you have the combined mixture, make patties out of it and cook them until golden brown on both side. Now, top it with cheese, cook until it melts and your dish is ready to be served. Adding marinara sauce is optional here.
11. Spicy Peanut Soup
Chase away winter's chill with spicy peanut soup. Know the recipe and enjoy cafe-like spicy peanut soup at home. It will just take an hour to get the soup ready with the essential ingredients at hand. The basic ingredients required to prepare the soup are sweet potato, peanut butter, vegetable broth, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, unsalted peanuts, and seasonings.
Cook carrots and sweet potatoes with curry paste, peanut butter, vegetable broth, and tomatoes. Bring it to a boil, simmer the combination, and get a blended soup. After the soup is ready, sprinkle the peanuts and the soup is ready.
12. Thai Pasta with Spicy Peanut Sauce
Pasta is one of the easiest dishes to prepare and enjoy. With readily available ingredients, prepare the delight in 30 minutes and enjoy it with your beloveds.
To prepare this dish, you will need linguine, peanut sauce, carrots, green onions, bean sprouts, lime juice, and seasonings. After you have the basic ingredients at hand, cook linguine as per the package directions and drain the water. Now, combine all the veggies, peanut sauce in a pan and add the drained linguine. Toss to coat and enjoy the lunch.
13. Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
Get the fruit and veggie-rich salad on the table and treat yourself to a healthy lunch. A sweet, savory plate of the salad will suffice your hungry tummy all while keeping you healthy. In just 30 minutes, with ingredients present at hand, prepare the salad and enjoy.
For this, you will need sugar, almonds, romaine, strawberries, poppy seeds, milk, and sour cream. After you have the ingredients, caramelize the sugar and add almonds to it. Now, take a large bowl and add romaine, strawberries, whisked dressing ingredients, and toss it with the salad. Sprinkle with the candied almond and serve immediately.
14. Black Bean Burritos
Satisfying, low-calorie burritos is another healthy lunch you can have. Give your concentrated 10 minutes, and get ready to dive into the flavors of burritos. All you will need is rinsed and drained black beans, warmed tortillas, Mexican cheese, lettuce, tomato, and chopped onion.
Now, saute onions and green pepper until tender and stir in beans. After the beans are ready, fill the tortilla with the vegetable mixture, and sprinkle with cheese, tomato, and lettuce. Now, fold the sides and ends over the filling, roll up, and munch on the burritos.
15. Mushroom Pear Melts
Enjoy a scrumptious open sandwich in your lunch. Prepare within 25 minutes and have a happy tummy. The basic ingredients for this lunch are shiitake or baby portobello mushrooms, toasted bread, thinly sliced riped Bosc pears, and slices of provolone cheese.
Here, preheat the broiler. On the other hand, cook the mushroom until tender. Now, get a broiler pan and place the toast slices, top it with mushroom, and layer with pears and cheese. Broil until cheese is lightly browned. TA-DA! the lunch's ready.
16. Quickpea Curry
Cope up with your busy weeknight and give a change of taste to your tastebuds with this colorful curry. With ingredients at hand, get the curry ready in less than an hour and enjoy a healthy delight. In order to make this curry, you will need some basic ingredients. The basic ingredients include undrained diced tomatoes, rinsed and drained chickpeas, sweet potato, coconut milk, uncooked whole wheat pearl couscous, green peas, and seasonings.
Now, indulge in cooking with the ingredients. It's time to cook the chickpeas. Saute onion, garlic, and stir in tomatoes, chickpeas, sweet potato, and coconut milk, bringing it to a boil. Cook until tender. Whilst the chickpeas are being cooked, prepare couscous and peas separately as per the package directions. It's now ready to be served: top with chickpea mixture, peas, and yogurt if desired.
17. Asparagus Soup with Lemon Creme Fraiche
If you do not want to munch on greens, you can make soup out of it and gulp on. Here is a simple recipe that you can try for a healthy diet. Asparagus is full of antioxidants and having it will definitely prevent your health from different diseases. All you need to have this dietary soup is asparagus, red potatoes, vegetable broth, creme fraiche or sour cream, grated lemon zest, butter, and seasonings.
After you have gathered the ingredients, cook the asparagus and potatoes until tender. Stir on broth, lemon zest, and seasonings, and bring it to a boil. After the mixture cools down slightly, blend them all and get a smooth mixture. Now, heat the mixture and garnish to serve.
18. Black Bean and Sweet Potato Rice Bowl
Let go of the same old boring dishes, and try your hands on this rice bowl that'll leave you awestruck. The best part: you can tweak the ingredients as you wish and prepare the dish. A quick and filling lunch bowl and a way to munch veggies for your kids too.
You'll need uncooked long grain rice, sweet potato, fresh kale, rinsed and drained black beans, and a chili sauce with other seasonings. Now, boil the rice until tender. Until then, cook the potato and beans. When both are done, add rice to the potato mixture, toss well, and serve with chili sauce. Not just filling your hungry tummy, you are munching on a healthy fibery diet too.
19. Chipotle Lime Avocado Salad
Salads: as easy as they are to make, healthier they are. With a handful of ingredients and 15 minutes of your concentrated time, you will have a healthy lunch at your table. You will need avocados, tomatoes, cucumber, lime juice, chipotle pepper, and chives. Easy to make, a boon to health.
You just need a small bowl, where you can whisk the juices. After done with the whisking, drizzle them on the avocado and cucumber combination. Now, serve them over tomatoes. Easy peasy recipe for healthy munching.
20. Avocado Quesadillas
Not just for the sake of lunch, have these avocado quesadillas for nutrition intake too. Healthy eating for a healthy living. An easy recipe that you can get done in 20 minutes and feed on a hungry tummy. The basic ingredients for the avocado quesadillas are corn tortillas, shredded Mexican cheese, avocado, and pico de gallo.
After you have the ingredients at hand, moisten and heat the tortillas, sprinkle with cheese, and add the avocado and pico de gallo. Cover the tortilla on the base with the other on the top and cook until lightly browned and the cheese melts. Your delicious and hearty lunch is ready to be served with additional pico de gallo.