Thirty-six dinners that need one pot and one wooden spoon.
Soups first, including the two with noodles in them, then the stews and curries, then the pasta dishes where the pasta cooks in its own sauce, and two long ones at the end that are worth a Sunday.
Twenty-one are ours. A few of the others list cheese, ghee or a quarter cup of oil, and we have said so on each one with what to use instead.
1. Easy Red Lentil Soup
Ours. Red lentils collapse as they cook, so the soup thickens itself and nothing needs adding.
One pot, no oil, no cream, and better reheated the next day.
2. Quick Red Lentil Cream Soup
The fastest thing on this page, and ours. Fifteen minutes from a cold pan to a bowl.
Two cups of dry red lentils break down completely, so it is a cream soup with no cream in it. The quarter teaspoon of allspice is the part nobody expects.
3. Quick Broccoli Red Lentil Soup
Ours. Red lentils and canned tomatoes underneath, with broccoli florets added late so they keep their bite.
Put the broccoli in for the last few minutes only, or it goes grey. Twenty minutes for two large bowls.
4. Super Quick Sweet Potato Red Lentil Soup
Also ours, and closer to a dal than a soup. Sweet potato and red lentils with fenugreek and garam masala.
Fenugreek is the one spice here worth buying if you do not already have it. Twenty minutes, four servings.
5. Quick Green Peas Soup
Ours. Two cups of frozen peas and a cup of cooked chickpeas, blended. The chickpeas are why it holds you rather than being an appetizer.
Twenty minutes and nothing needs defrosting first. The lemon goes in at the end, off the heat.
6. Healthy Broccoli Cream Soup
Ours, and thickened with half a cup of rolled oats, which is cheaper than cashews and lighter than cream.
Between the potatoes and the oats there is nothing left to add. Thirty minutes, four to six servings at 147 calories.
7. Creamy Zucchini Soup
Ours. Three zucchini and a potato, with a third of a cup of cashews blended in for the body.
The dill is marked optional and it is the difference between a green soup and this one. Twenty-five minutes.
8. Creamy Parsnip and Cashew Soup
Ours, and seven ingredients long, two of them salt and pepper. The parsnips do all the sweetening.
Use young parsnips. An old one has a woody core that will turn the whole pot bitter. Thirty minutes, three servings.
9. The Easiest Butternut Squash Soup
Ours. A pound and a half of squash with fresh turmeric root and fresh ginger rather than the ground versions, which is most of the recipe.
Half a cup of cashews goes in at the blending stage, so it needs no coconut milk. Thirty minutes, four servings.
10. Creamy Vegan Mushroom Soup
Another of ours. A pound of mushrooms and a cup of brown rice, so it eats like a meal rather than an appetizer.
Rolled oats and sunflower seeds blended with water make the cream. Forty minutes, four servings.
11. Cauliflower Soup with Quinoa
Also ours. Celeriac is the ingredient doing the quiet work here, and half a cup of quinoa cooks straight in the broth.
Marjoram rather than thyme, which is a small change that shows. Twenty minutes, four servings.
12. Chickpea Broccoli Soup
Ours. Two cups of cooked chickpeas and half a cup of whole grain vermicelli, so one pot goes further.
The broccoli stems go in chopped alongside the florets, which is the part most recipes throw away. Thirty minutes, four servings.
13. Bean and Lentil Soup
Ours, and no oil goes near it. Three cups of cooked beans and a cup of soaked lentils in the same pot.
Half a bunch of chopped parsley goes in at the end and the juice of half a lemon after that. Both go in off the heat.
14. One Pot Vegan Minestrone Soup
Mixed beans, green beans, zucchini, carrot and celery in a tomato broth. Thirty minutes and it makes eight bowls at 106 calories.
The best value on this page. It costs almost nothing and feeds a table.
Get the recipe from Happy Kitchen.
15. Easy Vegetarian Borscht
Beetroot, cabbage, potato and carrot. Thirty minutes, eight servings, and only 75 calories a bowl, which is the lightest thing here.
The photo shows sour cream on top. Plain plant yogurt or blended cashews do the same job.
Get the recipe from Happy Kitchen.
16. Instant Pot Quinoa Vegetable Soup
Quinoa cooks in the broth, so it thickens the soup and feeds you at the same time. Turmeric, coriander and roasted cumin.
Thirty minutes, serves four at 242 calories.
Get the recipe from Spice Up The Curry.
17. Gluten-Free Pasta e Fagioli
Cannellini beans and gluten-free pasta in one pot, fifteen minutes start to finish.
The fastest thing this list borrows, and it is built entirely from cans and a box.
Get the recipe from Strength and Sunshine.
18. Quick Mushroom Noodle Soup
Ours. Five ounces of noodles cooked in the broth with mushrooms, potatoes and two cups of frozen peas.
Noodles keep swelling in the leftovers, so cook them separately if you are making this to reheat. Twenty-five minutes, four servings.
19. Easy Broccoli Miso Soup
Ours too, with eight vegetables in the pot, four tablespoons of white miso and three handfuls of whole wheat vermicelli.
The miso goes in off the heat. Boiling it flattens the flavor and kills the cultures in it. Thirty minutes, four servings.
20. Eastern Red Lentil Zucchini and Carrot Stew
Ours. Two cups of red lentils with potatoes and zucchini, thick enough to stand a spoon in.
The juice of half a lemon at the end is what stops a lentil stew tasting flat. Twenty-five minutes for three large servings.
21. Cauliflower Couscous Stew
One of ours. A cup of whole wheat couscous goes in near the end and drinks up whatever liquid is left.
Garam masala with half a bunch of fresh dill, which sounds wrong and is not. Thirty minutes, four servings.
22. Rich Vegan Baked Beans
Ours, and the longest thing here at just over two hours, nearly all of it the oven working alone. Dried white beans, soaked overnight, in a clay pot.
Dried mint and savory instead of the usual smoked-and-sweet treatment, which is what makes it taste Balkan rather than American.
23. Easy Creamy Coconut Lentil Curry
Ours. Lentils and coconut milk in one pot, with couscous cooked alongside to serve it on.
It is the richest thing on this page, and a cup of coconut milk is where that comes from. Thirty minutes, three servings.
24. Creamy Chickpea Curry with Buckwheat
Also ours. Three cups of chickpeas and three potatoes, with buckwheat cooked in the same pot instead of rice.
A teaspoon of nutmeg in a curry is unusual, and it is the thing people ask about. Forty minutes, four servings.
25. Sweet Potato Lentil Curry
Ours too. Sweet potato and lentils in one pot, forty-five minutes, serves five.
The lentils break down and thicken it, so no coconut milk is needed unless you want it.
26. Black Bean Quinoa Chili
Black beans and quinoa with roasted corn and green chiles. The quinoa thickens it into something between a chili and a stew.
An hour, serves four at 338 calories. Chili is always better the second day and this one especially.
Get the recipe from Nuts and Twigs.
27. Sweet Potato Chili
Sweet potato against chili powder, cumin and paprika, which is the combination that makes chili taste like more than beans.
Fifty minutes and it makes six. It freezes in portions better than almost anything else here.
Get the recipe from The Urben Life.
28. Chickpea Cauliflower Curry
Half a cauliflower and a can of chickpeas with cumin, curry powder and fresh ginger. Thirty minutes, serves four.
Grated fresh ginger rather than ground is what makes the difference in a curry this quick.
Get the recipe from Flavorful Eats.
29. Coconut Curry Chickpeas
Three tablespoons of garam masala over two large onions cooked down slowly, then chickpeas and coconut milk.
Forty minutes, serves eight at 316 calories. It lists a quarter cup of oil or ghee. Take the oil, or use a splash of the coconut milk to soften the onions instead.
Get the recipe from Foodess.
30. One Pot Chickpea Kale Pasta
Orecchiette cooked straight in the broth with chickpeas, kale, broccoli and cherry tomatoes.
Thirty minutes, serves four at 366 calories. It asks for a quarter cup of milk and says milk of your choice, so any plant milk works.
Get the recipe from A Cedar Spoon.
31. One Pot Creamy Mushroom Pasta
Up to a pound and a half of crimini mushrooms cooked down with garlic, then pasta and broth in the same pot with coconut milk for the cream.
Thirty minutes, serves four at 458 calories. The vegan parmesan on top is optional.
Get the recipe from Zardy Plants.
32. Vegan Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
Two-thirds of a cup of sun-dried tomatoes blended into the sauce, which is where all the flavor comes from.
Twenty-five minutes, serves six at 286 calories. Reserved pasta water loosens it rather than more oil.
Get the recipe from Zardy Plants.
33. Mediterranean Orzo Pasta
Orzo with zucchini, two colors of pepper, oregano and chili flakes. Forty minutes, serves four at 358 calories.
It finishes with half a cup of feta, which is not vegan. Leave it off, or crumble in marinated tofu.
Get the recipe from A Cedar Spoon.
34. Dairy Free Risotto
Arborio rice, white wine and broth, stirred until the starch does the creaming. No dairy at any point.
Thirty minutes, serves four at 416 calories. The stirring is the recipe. Do not walk away from it.
Get the recipe from The Urben Life.
35. Mushroom Youvetsi
A Greek orzo stew with portobello and white mushrooms, pearl onions, red wine and a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon.
Sixty-five minutes, serves four. The cinnamon is what makes it Greek rather than Italian, and it is not optional.
Get the recipe from Chef’s Pencil.
36. Mushroom-Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Rice and mushrooms rolled in pickled cabbage leaves and braised in tomato with a bunch of fresh dill.
Eighty minutes, serves five, and the longest thing here. This is a Sunday, and it reheats all week.
Get the recipe from Chef’s Pencil.
Why soup fills you up on fewer calories
Soup is the slowest way to eat a meal, and slow is the part that matters.
Dutch researchers once fed people tomato soup two ways: a teaspoon every five seconds, or a tablespoon every fifteen. The rate was identical, a quarter of a cup a minute either way, and nobody chewed anything, because it was soup. The only difference was how long the soup spent in the mouth. Twenty-four seconds of every minute for the teaspoon group, twelve for the tablespoon group.
The teaspoon group stopped after about four minutes. The tablespoon group carried on for closer to six and got through a third more soup. The same experiment run with orangeade gave the same answer: small sips satisfied at about a cup and a half, large ones needed two cups.
So the useful instruction is not to eat slowly, which nobody can really act on. It is to use a smaller spoon.
Cooking these without oil
Most of the borrowed recipes here start by softening onion and garlic in oil. Three or four tablespoons of the broth does the same job, added a splash at a time whenever the pan dries out.
Where a sauce wants richness, coconut milk, blended cashews, rolled oats or the starch from the pasta water will get you there. Several of ours use exactly that trick and say so in the method.
And, always, seek health consciously.
