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Are you in hurry? Had a busy day in the office and in no mood to plan and cook for long in the kitchen? No, problem. Here is a collection of 10 lazy vegan recipes for dinner or breakfast. These simple easy vegan recipes need only a few of your pantry staples and also quick recipes. And the whole cooking will not take more than 30 minutes.
These are my lazy recipes that are delicious and vegan too. But trust me even Omnivores will like these super easy and quick vegan recipes. These easy vegan recipes are perfect for quick breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes that take less than 30 minutes. So basically smoothies, porridge, quick pancakes, fried rice, veggies loaded soups are the best for easy vegan breakfast and vegan dinner recipes.
I’m a fan of rice recipes as that takes lesser time (and effort) to get cooked. And add lots of nutrient-rich veggies. That will just be so rich and filling. And when you are in no mood to eat rice, replace the grain part with some healthy whole food like quinoa, broken wheat, barley, etc.
These vegan dinner recipes make a complete soulful meal with minimum work and no preparation. These are not only a collection of lazy vegan recipes but also healthy and delicious too. Here I have mentioned 10 lazy vegan recipes only but I have 100+ vegan recipes on this blog actually. Also, read vegan appetizers here.
Meal prep
When we have to plan for quick and easy recipes, we need some staples in the kitchen available for the whole week. One of the most important is diced vegetables. You can prep your veggies and store them in the freezer for the rest of the week. And this way we can save up to 10 – 15 minutes from our cooking time.
Boil some pasta in salted water till fork tender. Strain out water with help of a colander and run under the water. Now allow it to cool completely. Rub a little oil to avoid being sticky with one another. Then refrigerate in freeze box with lid and store for the weeknight dinner menu. This will save some time while cooking on busy tiring weeknights. You can also make them instantly if you are making any pasta recipes unplanned.
Ideas for easy vegan dinner recipes & vegan breakfast recipes
Breakfast is the first meal of the day and it should be more filling and energizing. Also, we have to carefully add adequate amount of proteins, fibers to our menu. Protein is an important part of our daily diet. So we must include some protein-rich food in our diet.
Breakfast recipes may vary like vegan sandwiches, vegan breads, breakfast muffins, smoothies, shakes, vegan pancakes with compote, cereals, granola, vegan omelets, vegan crepes, overnight oats, vegan puddings, baked oats, etc. The list is long and I’m updating the link soon.
Whereas the lunch and dinner recipes are more of a vegan meal combo in which we can add grains, pulses, lentils, veggies in our diet for a complete soulful meal that is vegan as well as delicious and make with very simple pantry staples and you don’t need to plan and prepare well in advance. However, you can plan and do your meal prep accordingly to save some more time on busy weeknights.
Some of the great lazy vegan dinner recipes (or lunch recipes) are tacos, simple pasta with easy and homemade sauces, Chinese noodle bowls, rice bowls with dahl or any type of lentils, or lentil soups, rice with curry, burrito bowls, some whole grain bowls with roasted veggies and sauce, easy vegan tacos, some quick vegetable soups, salads, and some easy sides like roasted vegetables, salsa, salads too. The list is long in fact.
Here are some of the lazy vegan recipes that are quick, easy, healthy, and delicious too.
Best lazy vegan recipes when you are busy
1. Vegan Mexican Fried Rice
This is a superfast rice recipe with loaded veggies. You can also add some beans to this rice. Super simple, quick fried rice is just the perfect comfort food for your weekday dinner plan. Serve this with Pico de Gallo or salsa which takes no more than 2 minutes. This is gluten-free as well.
Ingredients – 7 – Rice, Tomatoes (diced/ canned), Onion, Garlic, Salt & Pepper, Fresh or frozen Vegetable (optional), vegetable stock.
How to Make Vegan Mexican Rice?
This is easy one-pot rice that doesn’t take more than 30 minutes. The process is also very simple to make this rice. This is perfect for
Heat oil in a pot. Sauté onion, garlic, jalapeno. Then add rinsed rice to the pot and sauté for 2 minutes. Then add vegetables (optional) and tomatoes (canned or fresh chopped and pureed). Season with salt and black pepper. Now add in vegetable stock and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes with lid closed.
Turn off heat when rice is completely cooked. Garnish with a lot of fresh cilantro leaves. And our one-pot meal is ready now.
You can make them on instant pot in just 10 minutes. Check out my instant pot Spanish rice recipe here.
2. Creamy Banana Oatmeal
This is an easy and 10 minutes quick recipe. You can make this either for breakfast or for your dinner. No restrictions. Add mashed banana and also any other fruit like diced apples to your porridge. Simmer this for 3 – 4 minutes in Almond milk and your healthy fruity porridge is ready. Among all the vegan lazy recipes, this is one of the quickest one for me.
Ingredients – 5 – Oatmeal, almond milk, mashed banana, sweetener (optional), almond slivers or any nuts
This creamy oatmeal is best because:
- It takes only 10 minutes – quick
- This has all goodness of fruits and nuts.
- This is super creamy and plant-based.
- Oatmeal is high in protein and fiber- suppress appetite.
- This has many other health benefits also.
3. Cauliflower Fried Rice – Lazy Vegan Recipes
This is again a healthy low-carb fried rice recipe. This is fried cauliflower rice. Loaded with lots of veggies this low-carb alternative is delicious and takes just 15 minutes to make this easy recipe.
You can prepare your cauliflower rice in advance and freeze it in a zip lock bag for weeks. When required, saute some frozen vegetables and riced cauliflower. A healthy dinner is ready in just 15 minutes.
How to make cauliflower rice?
Ingredients: Onion, Garlic, Veggies (frozen), Cauliflower rice, Soy sauce, Salt & pepper.
Process: Heat oil in a pan. Sauté onion, garlic and vegetables for 5 – 7 minutes. Then add riced cauliflower, soy sauce, pinch of salt and pepper. And cook for 3 – 5 minutes more. Garnish with onion greens or cilantro leaves.
4. Vegan Minestrone Soup – Lazy Vegan Recipe
Make this quick pasta soup for your quick dinner menu. Sauté vegetables, canned beans, tomatoes, and add small pasta into the soup pot. This is vegan and quick also. It takes less than 30 minutes to make this minestrone soup. Just use some small pasta for this pasta soup. This is a hearty Italian pasta soup with lots of nutrient-packed veggies.
How to make vegan minestrone soup?
Heat oil in a pot. Add chopped celery, onion, carrots. Saute for 2 minutes. Add veggies, canned beans, tomato paste, tomato puree, and mix well. Add seasoning, small pasta, and simmer till pasta is cooked al dente. The whole process takes less than 30 minutes. However, use small pasta or pre-cooked pasta for a quick result.
5. Roasted Veggies Quinoa Salad
This quinoa salad is one of the healthiest among these lazy vegan recipes. Loaded with vegetables, and high protein crispy tofu with tahini dressing, this quinoa salad is a super easy and quick recipe for your busy weeknight dinner menu.
How to make quinoa salad with roasted vegetables?
Step 1 – Make Roasted Veggies
Pre-heat oven at 400 degrees F. Take bite-sized vegetables, Spread it on greased baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes turning the pieces midways.
Step 2 – Make Crispy Tofu
- In a mixing bowl, take pepper, garlic, tamari, or soy sauce.
- Marinate tofu for 5 minutes. Coat it lightly with corn starch
- Then saute for 5 minutes till it’s a little crispy on the edges.
Step 3 – Make Quinoa
Rinse the quinoa nicely. Add water and quinoa to the saucepan. Once it starts to boil, reduce the flame to low and cover with a lid. Check after around 10 minutes. Fluff the quinoa with a fork. Turn off heat.
Now assemble quinoa, veggies, tofu in a bowl. Add tahini dressing to it. Your healthy superfood is ready in just 30 minutes. The best part is while the veggies are getting roasted for 20 minutes, simultaneously the other 2 components will get prepared.
7. Strawberry Banana Smoothie – Easy Vegan Breakfast
This so so quick and simple that there can’t be a long recipe for this vegan smoothie. Quick breakfast option in fact. To make it more filling, add a tbsp of oat flakes to this. Just blend the ingredients in a blender and this healthy vegan breakfast smoothie is ready in minutes.
Ingredients – Almond milk, strawberry, banana, sugar or maple syrup.
Procedure – Add all the ingredients in a blender and blend it to a smooth puree. If it looks too thick, add more milk. Otherwise you can have it as a smoothie bowl also.
6. Quinoa Fried Rice – Lazy Vegan Recipes
Quinoa fried rice is a super simple savory recipe with lots of sautéed vegetables. Again it won’t take more than 30 minutes to make this quinoa rice. Quinoa is a good option when we are looking for easy quick recipes as its cooking time is really lesser as compared to the other grains like rice. Also, this is a healthier option than rice.
Ingredients – Onion, garlic, frozen veggies, quinoa, spices, oil.
How to make quinoa fried rice?
Spices you can add any of your choices. I have added ground coriander, cumin, a pinch of curry powder.
Sauté onion, garlic in a pan. Add vegetables and cook them on low flame for 5 – 7 minutes covering with a lid. In the meanwhile cook rinsed quinoa for 7 – 10 minutes. Fluff the quinoa with a fork.
Next add spices, salt, and pepper to the veggies and give it a nice stir. Now add the cooked quinoa and cook for 2 minutes on low flame. Garnish with lots of freshly chopped coriander leaves and a dash of lemon juice.
8. Vegetable Fried Rice – Easy Vegan Recipes
This vegan fried rice is a super easy and quick recipe for lunch or dinner. For me, this is a perfect lazy vegan recipe that I make so often. If you have lots of leftover rice, this is a quick and easy recipe. Even if you don’t have you can make your steam rice in just 10 minutes. In the meanwhile, you can take out your freezer/ fresh veggies and saute for 7 – 8 minutes. Once steam rice is ready, mix it with sauteed vegetables. Garnish with lots of coriander leaves.
Spices you can interchange with some soy sauce and some vinegar. Vegetables you can use fresh or frozen depending on availability. Again frozen veggies save almost up to 10 minutes of chopping. If you have leftover rice, then it takes hardly 10 minutes to make this rice.
9. Mexican Lentil Soup – Lazy Vegan Meals Recipes
Mexican lentil soup is a healthy high protein lentil soup loaded with lots of high-nutrient vegetables. This soup is perfect comfort food and takes up to 30 minutes. This is a high-protein lentil soup that is loaded with the goodness of vegetables also. This is a filling dish and hence this soup alone is enough for a healthy dinner. Add roasted tortilla to the soup for some extra. Vegetables are optional. But adding extra vegetables add more nutrition to the lentil soup.
How to make Mexican Lentil Soup?
Heat oil in a Dutch oven. Add onion, garlic, celery stalks, and veggies to the pot. Sauté for few minutes. Add lentil, spices, and stock. Simmer for 15 – 20 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves.
10. Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal
These healthy baked oatmeal bars are the perfect lazy vegan breakfast and you can store this for up to a week. Making this is quick, easy, and also a healthy breakfast option. You can make these baked oatmeal bars with alternate flavors as well.
Some more lazy vegan recipes (Easy Vegan Recipes):
11. Vegan Potato Curry
This is also one of the easiest curries, and hence I have picked this up for my lazy vegan recipes here. Super easy, simple, delicious curry made with pantry staples. It hardly takes 20 minutes to make this vegan potato curry. This is vegan, gluten-free, nut-free potato curry. You can simply serve this curry along with plain rice or steam rice.
12. Whole wheat banana Pancakes – Easy Vegan Breakfast
This is a quick breakfast or dinner recipe. I prefer this for breakfast since this is sweet and provides energy for the day. These pancakes are healthy and whole wheat pancakes. This has the goodness of bananas also. Drizzle some chocolate syrup or strawberry compote for a sweet fruity flavor. This lazy vegan recipe is quick and takes less than 20 minutes.
12. Vegan Chickpea Omelette – Easy Vegan Breakfast
Make these quick gluten-free chickpea flour omelets in just 10 minutes and make a delicious yet filling breakfast or dinner menu. This is as simple as a normal omelet recipe.
You can make only with chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, salt. But adding onion tomatoes adds flavor too. Also add few chopped mushrooms, some greens for extra nutrition. But saute them before adding to the batter.
Tip:- Substitute regular salt with black salt which will give the taste of real omelets 🙂
How to make vegan omelette and sandwich?
In a bowl take chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper. Pour in water gradually mixing all ingredients giving this a pouring consistency & lump-free. Add finely chopped onions, tomatoes, green chilies, chopped cilantro leaves. If adding any other vegetables, then saute them first.
Grease a skillet and pour one ladle full of batter. It will automatically spread evenly on the pan. Flip when one side is done and cook on medium to slow flame.
How to serve the vegan omelette?
Serve the vegan omelet with toasts. Or Stuff some sauteed veggies into the omelet to make this healthy and filling.
13. Mashed Potatoes with Creamy Mushroom Gravy
14. Quick pasta in marinara sauce or green sauce
10 Best Lazy Vegan Recipes
Lazy Vegan Recipes
Ingredients
- 2 cups vegetable broth (for any of the recipes; as required)
- 5 – 6 tbsp chopped cilantro leaves/ green onions for garnish
- 1 tsp lemon juice wherever required
1. Vegan Mexican Rice
2. Banana Oatmeal
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup almond milk
- 2 tbsp maple syrup or brown sugar
- 1 ripe banana mashed
- 8 – 10 almond chopped/ sliced
3. Cauliflower Fried Rice
- 2 cups cauliflower rice
- 1 cup vegetables chopped frozen
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 garlic minced (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- salt & pepper as per taste
4. Minestrone soup
- 2 cup small pasta
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups chopped vegetables carrots, beans, zucchini
- 1 can beans (black/ red/ cannelini) or homemade pre cooked beans
- 1 can tomatoes
- 2 tsp oregano, basil dried herbs
- salt & pepper as per taste
5. Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 3 tbsp oil
- 2 cups vegetables (bite-sized) zucchini, eggplant, broccoli, etc
- 1 block extra firm tofu pressed & diced
- 2 tsp tamari or soy sauce
- 1 tsp garlic powder or 1 minced garlic
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1/2 cup tahini dressing or any salad dressing
- salt & pepper as required
6. Strawberry banana smoothie
- 10 – 12 strawberry roughly diced/ halved
- 1 banana (or frozen banana)
- 1 cup almond milk
- 2 – 3 tbsp maple syrup
7. Quinoa Fried Rice
8. Vegetable Fried Rice
- 2 cups cooked rice leftover rice
- 1 cup diced vegetable fresh or frozen (carrot, beans, peas)
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 garlic pod minced or 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 2 tsp ground spices (1 tsp corinader powder, 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/2 tsp chillipowder, 1/4th turmeric powder)
- salt & pepper as per taste
9. Minestrone Soup
- 1/2 cup red lentil (brown with skin)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion, celery, carrots (optional – corn)
- 1 tsp oregano herb or mixed herbs
- salt & pepper as per taste
10. Baked Oatmeal
- 1 cup oatmeal
- 1 ripe banana mashed
- 2 tsp chocolate powder
- 4 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups almond milk or as required to make the batter
- 4 + 1 tbsp peanut butter melted & 1 tbsp for topping
Instructions
1. Vegan Mexican Rice
- Heat oil in a pot. Sauté onion, garlic, jalapeno. Then add rinsed rice to the pot and sauté for 3 – 4 minutes. Then add vegetables (optional) and tomatoes (canned or fresh chopped and pureed).
- Season with salt and black pepper. Now add in vegetable stock and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes with lid closed.
- Turn off heat when rice is completely cooked. Garnish with lot of fresh cilantro leaves. And our one-pot meal is ready now.
2. Banana Oatmeal
- Add oatmeal and almond milk in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil. Add mashed banana into it. Simmer for 3 minutes without stirring.
- Turn off heat and add sweetener (maple syrup). If adding sugar, add it while simmering. Garnish with chopped nuts or fruits of choice.
3. Cauliflower Fried Rice
- Heat oil in a pan. Sauté onion, garlic and vegetables for 5 – 7 minutes.
- Then add riced cauliflower, soy sauce, a pinch of salt, and pepper. And cook for 3 – 5 minutes more. Garnish with onion greens or cilantro leaves.
4. Vegan Minestrone Soup
- Heat oil in a pot. Add in chopped celery, and other veggies for 2 minutes.
- Then add tomato paste, canned tomatoes, pasta, canned/ cooked beans to the pot.
- Next add the broth, seasoning (Italian mixed herb), and simmer till pasta is cooked al dente.
5. Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad
- Making Quinoa – Add rinsed quinoa and water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Then lower the flame and simmer for 15 minutes covering with a lid.
- Roasted Veggies – Pre-heat oven at 400 degree F. Take veggies of choice. Chop into bite-sized pieces and place it on a baking tray. Drizzle some oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Bake them at 375 – 400 degree F for 15 – 20 minutes.
- Crispy Tofu – In a pouch or bowl, take soy sauce/ tamari, garlic powder, black pepper, and little corn starch. Marinate the tofu for 10 minutes. Then drizzle little oil on a skillet. Place the marinated tofu chunks and saute for 5 minutes.
- Assemble – Now assemble quinoa, roasted vegetable, crispy tofu in a mixing bowl and add tahini dressing or any of your salad dressing to it. Garnish with green onions or cilantro leaves.
6. Strawberry Banana Smoothie
- In a blender add chopped strawberry, banana, almond milk, maple syrup. Blend it for 1 minute or till it's smooth.
7. Quinoa Fried Rice
- In a skillet heat oil. Add chopped onion, garlic and saute for a minute. Add diced vegetables and saute for 3 – 5 minutes till it's cooked al dente.
- Now add cooked quinoa, soy sauce, a dash of white vinegar, pepper, salt if required. Cook on low flame for 3 – 5 minutes. Turn off heat and garnish with green onions or chopped cilantro.
- In place of soy sauce and vinegar, you can also use ground spices like all spices or curry powder for different curried flavour. Add a tsp of lemon juice to this.
8. Vegetable Fried Rice
- Heat oil in a skillet. Add a pinch of cumin seeds. Now add diced vegetables, chopped onion, minced garlic and saute on high flame for 2 minutes. Then reduce the flame and cover it with a lid.
- Next add ground cumin, coriander, paprika, a pinch of turmeric powder, stir them well. Cover and cook till veggies are well cooked (not mushy).
- Add in leftover rice or cooked plain rice, season with salt and pepper. Give it a gentle stir mixing all ingredients. Cook them on high flame for 2 minutes. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and a dash of lemon juice.
9. Mexican Lentil Soup
- Heat oil in a Dutch oven. Add onion, garlic, celery stalks, and veggies to the pot. Sauté for few minutes. Add lentil, spices, and stock. Simmer for 15 – 20 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves.
10. Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal
- Preheat oven. Just mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and bake for 20 – 25 minutes at 200 degrees C. Don’t over bake them.
- Remove from oven and spread some peanut butter on the baked oatmeal.
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Stella
Great recipe ideas for a busy weeknights dinner. These are simple n fuss free recipes. I love all of them.