Look, I’ll shoot you straight. I’m the furthest thing from a vegetarian. BUT that’s even more reason that you should trust me here. Even though I’m not a huge fan of veggies, I’m still a big fan of a lot of these vegetarian meal prep ideas.
I’m trying to eat healthier and save money this year so I’ve started instituting some meatless meals throughout the week! I’m starting small and we’ll see what happens.
My challenge with eating veggies has always been figuring out how to prepare them.
Meal prepping vegetables is a bit tricky
Some of these vegetarian meal prep recipes could also be work as a side!
Some of these are on my soon-to-try list! I’ll update this post regularly as I test my way through this list of vegetarian meal prep ideas. Want some more non-meat options? Check out these salad meal prep ideas or our list of recipes with roasted vegetables.
40 Vegetarian Meal Prep Ideas
I’ve broken the list up into 3 categories: vegetarian breakfast ideas, vegetarian lunch ideas, and vegetarian dinner recipes. Obviously some of these will be interchangeable, especially the lunch and dinner ideas. Use the list however makes sense to you!
12 Vegetarian Breakfast ideas
There’s some debate on whether or not eggs are allowed on a vegetarian diet. Technically, the definition of vegetarian means you avoid eating animal flesh. If you’re a vegetarian who eats eggs, then you’re an ovo-vegetarian.
Eggs can be a great source of protein and healthy fats. And they’re cheap! If you’re looking for vegetarian meal prep recipes because you simply want to eat more veggies and save money, then eggs are still a great option for you.
If you’re vegetarian out of moral reasons, then I’ll let your own sense of morals guide you on this one! We can also help you learn how to make overnight oats!
For the sake of this list of vegetarian breakfast ideas, I’ll keep them egg-free 🙂
1. Healthy Baked Oatmeal Cups – 6 Ways
Oatmeal is one of the best friends for vegetarian eaters! It’s filling, nutritious, and easy to make! These oatmeal cups look awesome and are the perfect grab and go option for early mornings. Make a big batch of these on Sunday and you’ll be good to go for the whole week!
2. Superfood Instant Pot Oatmeal in a Jar
If you’re looking for a quick vegetarian breakfast idea, then this instant pot oatmeal is perfect for you! You’ll have to own an instant pot, but if you do, then it takes no time at all to make these oatmeal jars!
This is also the best looking oatmeal I’ve ever seen. It’s got apples, walnuts, blueberries, sliced up carrots, and flax seed!
3. Slow Cooker Peanut Butter Oatmeal
I LOVE peanut butter so this recipe totally caught my eye when I saw it. This slow cooker oatmeal takes about 7-8 hours so you can put it on right before you go to bed or before you leave for work in the morning! You only need a few ingredients to make the oatmeal and then you can top it with whatever you want.
4. Sweet Potato and Black Beans Breakfast Burritos
These sweet potato and black bean burritos are the perfect vegetarian breakfast meal prep! They are super easy to make, filling, and you can re-heat them in about a minute and eat it on your way to work. You could also make a couple of eggs to stuff in the burrito for some extra protein.
5. Chocolate Chip Breakfast Squares To Go
Weekday mornings can be a blur. Who has time to cook and clean up the kitchen in the morning? Not me. Who wants to come home to a mess? Hard pass. That’s why meal prep is such a lifesaver. If you’re stumped coming up with a morning vegetarian meal prep idea, look no further than these breakfast squares. Prep them in advance over the weekend, and there will be a sweet treat waiting for you to grab and go on your way to work. To up the protein factor, eat one with a scoop of peanut butter and a banana.
6. Easy Chia Seed Pudding
Are you looking for a breakfast that’s vegan, gluten free, and comes together in minutes? Look no further than chia seed pudding. Mix and match your favorite flavor combinations. Store them in Mason jars for a quick and delicious breakfast on the go. They keep for up to five days to make for easy morning vegetarian meal prep option.
7. Make Ahead Vegan Breakfast Tacos
Who says you have to wait until dinner time to enjoy Taco Tuesday? Whip up these breakfast tacos over the weekend, pop them in the freezer, and grab one for breakfast whenever you need a satisfying meal on the go. It doesn’t even have to be Tuesday! The blend of spices makes for the perfect morning wake-up call for you and the whole family.
8. Dried Apricot Bars with Walnuts
A handful of healthy ingredients plus a food processor makes for a quick breakfast bar that’s packed with vitamins and other ingredients to get your day started right. These bars are vegan and gluten free. Plus, they’re so good, you’re going to want to take an extra one for your afternoon snack or toss some in your kids’ lunch boxes.
9. Gingerbread Granola
There’s cinnamon, ginger, molasses, and maple syrup. This granola really will conjure up memories of your favorite gingerbread cookie. Keep the recipe gluten free by using gluten-free oats. Tempting as it may be to just eat this by the handful, you can also serve it with yogurt and grapefruit. As a special seasonal treat, you can also add pomegranate arils for a burst of flavor and color.
10. Cheesy Cauliflower Breakfast Egg Cups
Breakfast on a budget is nice, but not if it means eating lunch at 10am. That isn’t the case with these egg cups. These savory gems are protein-packed thanks to the eggs. They also get a wallop of flavor thanks to the tomatoes, basil, and cheese. Eat them warm or cold, so they’re perfect to dish up before morning carpool.
11. The Ultimate No-Bake Breakfast Cookie Bites
You’re a grown up. You can eat dessert for breakfast if you want. No judgement here! If you want something that tastes like an after-dinner treat but is actually loaded with fiber and protein, these breakfast cookie bites are for you. You can even add dark chocolate shavings. We won’t tell! Stash them in the fridge or store them in your freeze for up to six weeks.
12. Make Ahead Super Green Vegan Quinoa Burritos
Unless you’ve been living under a culinary rock, you know that Green Goddess dressing has been all the rage for quite some time. These burritos are served with Green Goddess’s spicy sister. A serrano-chile spiked avocado dressing spices up quinoa, kale, and mung beans for a delicious lunch that’s perfectly portable. Don’t just take my word for it. The original recipe creator actually designed it to feed her family on an airplane — it doesn’t get much more on-the-go than that!
15 Vegetarian Lunch ideas
In my opinion, lunch is one of the easier meals to go meat-free. Salads, wraps, and soups are great and you can totally get by without something heavy. Dinner though, is much, MUCH tougher for me to go without meat.
When I was looking for some vegetarian lunch ideas, I really wanted to find some recipes that were healthy, light, and easy to store or reheat. Hopefully these help you out!][‘
13. 10-Minute Chickpea Curry
This recipe checks just about every box there is. It’s delicious and done in just a few minutes. Plus, it only requires a handful of ingredients and each portion comes out to about $2. Is there a better vegetarian meal prep idea out there? I’m not sure. The original recipe calls for garam masala, turmeric, ginger, and chili flakes. If you want to dial up the heat with more spices you can.
14. Mediterranean Vegan Meal Prep Bowls
If Lunchables were sophisticated, healthy, and vegan they’d look a lot like these Mediterranean Vegan Meal Prep Bowls. The quinoa and hummus make it a filling lunch (or dinner!), and the other ingredients bring a variety of color and texture to the dish. In a half hour, you can knock out four bowls to take care of several lunches or dinners for the week.
15. Thai Quinoa Salad with Peanut Dressing
For a year now I’ve been obsessed with all things thai peanut! From salads, to wraps, to tacos, and pizza. This thai salad looks truly amazing. The edamame with the quinoa and the perfect peanut dressing to bring it all to life.
This is by far one of my favorite vegetarian lunch meal preps on this list. My advice is to prep the veggies and the dressing separately and each day, use however much you want for lunch! 100 bonus points for no crazy long diary entry before the recipe.
16. Vegetarian Mason Jar Burrito Bowls
These mason jar burrito bowls might just be the easiest recipe on this entire list to meal prep. Simply take all the ingredients, stuff them into a mason jar, and each day, you’ve got your lunch ready to grab and go.
17. Southwestern Power Salad with Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing
One of my wife and I’s favorite meal is a grilled chicken southwestern salad that we make with an avocado, creamy cilantro dressing. This southwestern power salad is almost identical! It’s loaded up with veggies, beans, sweet potatoes, and pepitas!
When it comes to vegetarian meal prep recipes, I personally think salads are by far the easiest! All you have to do is prep the veggies and dressing and you’re done! Lunches are covered for the week.
This creamy cilantro lime dressing would also go great with a veggie taco salad, or even on a breakfast skillet of potatoes and veggies.
18. Tempeh Taco Salad Meal-Prep Bowls
I haven’t tried this tempeh taco salad yet, but for a vegetarian option, it looks amazing.
And, it’s an easy way to make 3-4 lunches! Double the recipe and you’ve got food for a week.
19. One Pot Enchilada Orzo
One-pot recipes are my favorite. Less clean-up and they are usually easier to cook. Just layer in ingredients every few minutes as directed!
It makes a pretty big batch, so you’ll be sure to have leftovers to eat throughout the week for extra lunches or dinner!
This one-pot enchilada orzo looks amazing and would make for a great vegetarian dinner recipe.
20. Healthy Make-Ahead Burritos
These healthy burritos by YummyMummy are incredibly easy to prep and one of the cheapest recipes on this list! All you need are tortillas, beans, rice, and any veggies you want to add. The beans make this a decent protein option. You could even make some taco style tofu to add to them! Bake them, freeze them, and you’ve got a vegetarian friendly lunch ready for you.
21. Vegan Power Bowl
With only 4 main ingredients, this recipe is one of the easiest meal preps on this list! The diced up roasted onion sweet potatoes, chickpeas, and kale make for a super healthy combo that is sure to make you feel great.
The chickpeas are sauteed with a little bit of brown sugar, salt, pepper, and chili powder. By themselves, they could be a great snack or side.
Even if you’re not vegan, this recipe is a win for all tastes
22. Lemon White Bean Kale Soup
I haven’t tried this white bean soup yet but it looks incredible. The recipe will take some prep time to soak the beans. With the kale, potatoes, and cannellini beans, this one will definitely be a winner for us.
23. Chopped Kale Power Salad
If you aren’t mindful of the food choices you’re making, then a vegetarian diet may not actually be very healthy. It’s easy to load up on starchy carbs and cheese when you’re avoiding meat.
This kale power salad is the perfect vegetarian meal prep recipe that is healthy, relatively cheap, and easy to make in advance.
It’s got all the vegetarian “power food” staples: Kale, chickpeas, sweet potatoes, beans, almonds, and avocado.
24. Rainbow Power Salad
This recipe comes to you from my all-time favorite food blog, Pinch of Yum. This rainbow salad comes stocked with a bunch of veggies, and the magic green sauce that has made their blog famous.
Once the veggies are prepped, this recipe is super easy to eat throughout the week! The key is to keep the sauce separate until you’re ready to eat each meal. Then just put a little bit on your veggies, toss it up, and you’re ready to eat!
25. Black Bean Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes
This black bean and sweet potato salad is super versatile. You could stuff it into tortillas for tacos, put it on a bed of lettuce for a true salad, or top of a bowl of quinoa to make it a power bowl.
Lots of options and ways to change it up, which makes this an awesome vegetarian meal prep recipe. You could make this meal once and then eat it several different ways.
26. Meal Prep Veggie Stir Fry
My wife and I LOVE all things asian food, especially any kind of stir fry. This veggie stir fry is the perfect vegetarian meal prep. Easy to make, loaded with veggies, and reheats really well the next day.
The best part about this recipe is that you could use nearly any vegetable that you have on hand. Have some leftover carrots or bell peppers? Use them. Leftover onions or broccoli, add it in. It’s a great “kitchen sink” kinda meal.
Even better, this recipe is healthy! Some asian stir frys use a ton of brown sugar and honey, but this one only has a bit of brown sugar.
27. Meal Prep Vegetarian Kung Pao Quinoa Bowls
Here’s another awesome asian vegetarian recipe. Kung pao style veggies in a bowl with quinoa. This recipe is also super easy to meal prep because it has so few ingredients other than the sauce. Quinoa, carrots, chickpeas and broccolini. You could also top the bowls with peanuts, green onions, or other goodies.
11 Vegetarian Meal Prep Ideas for Dinner
Like I said before… Going meatless for dinner is tough for me, especially after a workout. But if you’re up for a #meatlessmonday, then this list of vegetarian dinner recipes should help you find some great options! Give them a try and see how you like them.
Personally, I think the recipes with pasta or the classic bean/lentil combination are the most filling and hearty.
28. Deliciously Rich Lentil Bolognese
There’s no doubt that some recipes can be a bit bland or repetitive, but this one is packed with flavor. The blend of onion, carrots, red bell pepper, and lentils makes for the perfectly rich bolognese.
The veggies take a bit of time to prep, but once you’re done, this one will be a staple in your diet.
29. Enchilada Meal Prep Bowls with Butternut Squash and Cauliflower Rice
Most of the recipes on this list are filled with all of the usual vegetarian ingredients into some variety of a bowl or salad. They’re all great and super healthy! But if you want something with a bit more to it, then this enchilada meal prep bowl might be perfect.
30. Roasted Vegetable and Chickpea Meal Prep Bowls with Lemon Tahini Sauce
I haven’t made this recipe yet, but my wife and I have been looking at making recipes with tahini sauce lately so this one came up!
All you have to do is prep the veggies, spread them out in a sheet-pan, and roast them! Add whatever grain you want (rice, quinoa, etc), and the lemon tahini sauce.
This one is super low in carbs and would be great as a side or full on meal.
31. Jerk Spiced Crispy Tofu Meal-Prep Bowls
This tofu actually looks pretty darn good! My goal was to find some vegetarian meal prep recipes to consume less meat. I wasn’t originally looking for tofu meals, because I’m not too concerned about getting in enough protein each day.
But, if you eat vegetarian 100% of the time, then tofu is a great source of protein for you. The key to this recipe is to get extra firm tofu and cook it on high heat with oil. Once cooked, you can pair the crispy tofu with any veggies or potatoes that you want!
I bet, it’d also be pretty good wrapped up in a tortilla with some salsa or avocado.
32. Creamy Coconut Green Curried Green Lentils
About a month ago my wife made a carrot, kale, and lentil stew for the first time and it was amazing. I’m hoping to try this curried lentil recipe soon!
With the coconut milk and curry, I think this will be a super rich and filling option, especially over a bowl of rice with some veggies.
33. Vegan Burrito Bowl
The great thing about most vegan and vegetarian recipes is how easy they are to prep in bulk. This burrito bowl only has a few main ingredients + making the salsa (you could also just buy some to save time). Some of the ingredients come canned, which cuts out your prep time and others you can do in one long chopping session.
You can get creative with whatever toppings you have on hand with this one!
34. Crockpot Vegetarian Curried Lentils
I’ll be real, lentils are not the most photographic of foods. Even if it doesn’t look great, it tastes amazing and takes maybe 10 minutes to prepare before putting them in your crockpot or slow cooker.
This one also might just be the cheapest recipe on the whole list! So if you’re really trying to save some money, this one is a win for you.
35. SLOW ROASTED SPRING LEEKS + TOASTY FARRO WITH WALNUT ROCKET PESTO
This recipe isn’t the easiest on the list but it looks amazing. Walnut pesto, arugula, and toasted farro (I didn’t even know what farro was until now!).
If you really want to treat yourself and prove to others that vegetarian meal prep recipes can still be delicious, then you need to give this one a try. This one is also vegan friendly!
36. Tomato Risotto with Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables
This tomato risotto rice with veggies looks incredible. My wife and I haven’t tried it yet because we’ve been trying to eat low-carb (sorry risotto). But if you want a rich, flavorful vegetarian dinner recipe, this one is sure to fill you up!
37. Instant Pot Spinach Mushroom Pasta
I purposefully didn’t include a ton of pasta dishes on this list because I’m trying to eat lower-carb, but pasta is one of the easiest ways to eat vegetarian! Easy to make and easy to reheat! This spinach mushroom pasta dish checks all the boxes: vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free.
38. Instant Pot Sweet Potato, Lentil, and Chickpea Soup
Soups and stews are my favorite ways to make really satisfying vegetarian meal preps. Salads are great, but sometimes you want something that fills you up and makes you feel warm inside. This instant pot recipe looks amazing and like the perfect fall or winter soul-warmer. It’ll take you about half an hour to make 6 servings!
39. Roasted Brussels Sprout Polenta Bowls
File away this allergy-friendly meal idea for an easy entertaining option as well a vegetarian meal prep option. The carmelized onions and balsamic Brussels sprouts are taken up a notch thanks to the harissa sauce. If you’re not familiar with harissa, this isn’t your average hot sauce. In addition to the heat from the peppers, there are layers of lemon and garlic as well. This hearty and filling dish is comfort food at its finest.
40. Easy Vegan Red Lentil Dal
This one pot meal comes together in under half an hour. Save leftovers for lunch or make a double recipe to take care of your meal prep for the week. This red lentil dal dish also freezes well. That means that you can whip up a batch, freeze it, and the next time life gets in the way of cooking, you can reach for your freezer door instead of the takeout menu. This dish is full of protein, fiber, and iron, not to mention tons of flavor.
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