Twenty vegan recipes ordered by how long they take, from five minutes to a slow cooker you start in the morning.
Two are ours. There are dinners, a breakfast, a soup or four and one batch of cookies, because a busy week needs those too.
1. Chickpea Avocado Salad
Five minutes and nine ingredients. A can of chickpeas, an avocado, lime and a lot of cilantro.
Serves four and nothing gets cooked. The fastest thing on this page.
Get the recipe from Flavorful Eats.
2. One Pot Vegan Mac and Cheese
Eight minutes, one pot, gluten-free and nut-free. The pasta cooks in the sauce so there is nothing to drain.
Serves four. This is the recipe for the evening when nobody has any patience left.
Get the recipe from Strength and Sunshine.
3. Sweet and Sour Mango Lassi
Ten minutes and it makes three at 199 calories. Sour and sweet together rather than only sweet, which is how a lassi should be.
Not a meal, but it is the thing to make when there is a curry on the table.
Get the recipe from My Chef’s Apron.
4. Lemony Greek Chickpeas
Fifteen minutes, serves four. Chickpeas with a lot of lemon and oregano, and very little else.
Good hot as a side and good cold the next day out of the fridge.
Get the recipe from Flavorful Eats.
5. Vegan French Toast
Fifteen minutes and it makes six slices. No eggs and no dairy, and it still soaks and browns the way it should.
Slightly stale bread works better than fresh. Fresh bread falls apart in the soak.
Get the recipe from Strength and Sunshine.
6. Quick and Easy Vegan Stir Fry Noodles
Ours. Water in a properly hot pan instead of oil, which is the hardest swap in cooking and works here.
Serves three. Get the pan hot before anything goes in or the vegetables steam instead of catching.
7. Chickpea Sloppy Joe
Mashed chickpeas in a smoky tomato sauce, piled into a bun. Twenty minutes, serves four at 378 calories.
Twelve grams of protein a serving, which is the most of anything here. Mash them roughly so there is still texture.
Get the recipe from Champagne Tastes.
8. Vegan Pumpkin Pasta with Spinach
Twenty minutes and it makes eight servings, which is the largest batch on this list.
488 calories a portion, gluten-free, and the pumpkin does the creaming rather than any cream.
Get the recipe from My Chef’s Apron.
9. Vegan Thai Basil Fried Rice
Twenty-five minutes, serves four at 246 calories. Thai basil is worth seeking out, because sweet basil is not the same thing.
Day-old rice works far better than fresh. Fresh rice steams and clumps.
Get the recipe from Nuts and Twigs.
10. Coconut Milk Quinoa Breakfast Bowl
Quinoa simmered in coconut milk rather than water, which changes it completely. Twenty-five minutes, serves four at 449 calories.
Make the batch and reheat it through the week with different fruit on top.
Get the recipe from Moderately Messy RD.
11. Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Thirty-four minutes and it makes twelve. Gluten-free, nut-free and egg-free all at once, which is a hard combination for a cookie.
A cookie is a cookie and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Some weeks need one.
Get the recipe from Strength and Sunshine.
12. Creamy Vegan Mushroom Soup
Also ours. Forty minutes, serves four, and creamy without any cream in it.
Brown the mushrooms properly before any liquid goes in. That step is the whole flavor.
13. Easy Vegetable Soup
Forty minutes, six servings at 298 calories and eight grams of protein.
The recipe offers vegetable or chicken broth. Take the vegetable and the soup is unchanged.
Get the recipe from Gypsy Plate.
14. Pennsylvania Dutch Pot Pie
Not a pie at all. Pennsylvania Dutch pot pie is a thick noodle stew, and the square noodles are the whole point.
Forty minutes, serves four at 379 calories. It lists a chicken seasoning blend, so check the jar or use a poultry-style vegan blend.
Get the recipe from Nuts and Twigs.
15. Lentil Bolognese
Forty-five minutes and it makes ten servings at 195 calories, which is the best value on this page.
Eleven grams of protein a portion, and it freezes in batches. Make the whole thing even if you are two.
Get the recipe from I Heart Eating.
16. Sweet Potato and Black Bean Stew
Forty-five minutes, serves four at 303 calories and nearly ten grams of protein.
Sweet potato and black bean is a combination that works every time, and this one reheats well all week.
Get the recipe from Cinnamon and Kale.
17. Vegan Lentil Curry
Eighteen grams of protein a serving, which is the highest number on this page.
Fifty minutes, serves four at 546 calories. It is the most filling thing here by a distance.
Get the recipe from Well Fed Baker.
18. Vegan Tortilla Soup
Fifty minutes and it makes eight bowls at 329 calories. Crisp tortilla strips on top are what make it.
Bake the strips rather than frying them and add them at the table, not before.
Get the recipe from Champagne Tastes.
19. Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Soup
An hour, mostly the oven. Roasting the cauliflower and garlic first is what gives it the depth.
Serves four at 310 calories. Light on protein at four grams, so bread or beans alongside.
Get the recipe from Well Fed Baker.
20. Slow Cooker Greek Lemon Potatoes
Four hours in a slow cooker, serves six, and about ten minutes of your actual attention.
Start it before you leave in the morning. It is a side rather than a dinner, so plan something to go with it.
Get the recipe from Flavorful Eats.
The two that save the most time
The lentil bolognese makes ten servings and freezes. The pumpkin pasta makes eight. Between them that is most of a week for about an hour of work.
Everything else here is quick because it starts from a can.
And, always, seek health consciously.
