16 Vegetarian Recipes That Are Ready in Under an Hour

Chef Missy Robbins’ riff on spicy pomodoro—one of Food & Wine’s 40 best recipes—replaces pasta with chickpeas and kale.

Kay Chun’s quinoa salad has a short ingredient list—quinoa, curly spinach, radishes, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, and roasted almonds—and comes together in just two steps.

“Spring is the season when warm and cold ingredients ought to mingle on one plate, and this salad brings all that to life,” Andrea Slonecker writes. “To serve, keep the soft-cooked eggs and the roasted rabe on the warm side, rather than cold, and compose the salad on plates with a bit of artistic flare.”

This quick recipe from Meera Sodha combines garam masala-roasted acorn squash with a “very lightly simmered coconut curry” that includes plum tomatoes and black-eyed peas.

Kelsey Youngman makes this tagliatelle pasta with a meatless ragù when she wants comfort food on a weeknight. Charring the mirepoix under the broiler adds smoky flavor; it all comes together in an hour.

Andrea Nguyen’s recipe for Shaking Tofu (the “meatless sister” to her Shaking Beef recipe) only takes 35 minutes. If you want to save even more time, Nguyen says you can fry the tofu hours in advance and then heat it up with the sauce.

If you’re in the mood to have breakfast for dinner, give Gail Simmons’ za’atar baked eggs a try. They’re ready in 30 minutes and served with yogurt that’s mixed with finely chopped cucumber, lemon juice, sumac, mint, parsley, and za’atar.

This vegan-friendly pasta primavera from Ann Taylor Pittman uses pine nuts and macadamia milk (make sure you buy the unsweetened version) to create a creamy texture, and nutritional yeast in place of Parmesan for umami flavor.

These chilaquiles from Jasmine Smith are another terrific breakfast-for-dinner option—if you want to speed things up, you can use store-bought tortilla chips instead of frying your own.

Kelsey Youngman recommends using white or chickpea miso in the dressing for this vegan salad. (You can store the dressing in the fridge for up to three days if you want to make it ahead of time.)

Marcela Valladolid’s quick, vegetable-packed version of pozole features baby portobello and shiitake mushrooms, and uses chickpeas in place of dried hominy.

This fried rice recipe from JJ Johnson is packed with edamame, mustard greens, pineapple, bean sprouts, and carrot.

Bijou Thomas’ vegetarian main course uses a fennel bulb, fennel stalks, fennel fronds, andfennel pollen (or toasted and cracked fennel seeds, if you don’t have any). 

These veggie burgers from Chloe Coscarelli are paired with a “tangy-sweet vegan take on Thousand Island dressing,” made with tofu, ketchup, yellow mustard, agave, garlic, sweet pickle relish, chopped fresh dill, and kosher salt. It can be refrigerated for up to one week.

Hetty McKinnon says this soup is “like a hug” in winter. Garlic oil and ginger-and-turmeric curry paste add flavor—the paste can keep in the refrigerator for up to seven days and can be frozen, too, so it’s easy to prepare in advance. 

Juan Pablo Loza pairs mixed mushrooms with a “bright and lightly spicy guacamolada” in this quick taco recipe.