Vegetarian Recipes
Seared Tofu Tabbouleh
With plenty of flavors and textures, this one-bowl meal from F&W’s Kay Chun is the perfect simple lunch or supper.
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Tofu Masala
This supersimple vegetarian dish from F&W’s Kay Chun is hearty, spicy and delicious with a glass of Chenin Blanc.
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Fresh and Juicy Veggie Burgers
This veggie-packed burger is made with chickpeas, artichokes, olives, asparagus and quinoa, then topped with melted cheese and marinated mushrooms.
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Quinoa Balls with Cauliflower and Cheese
Bloggers Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley mix quinoa with grated cauliflower, salty halloumi cheese and chickpea flour to make crisp, fluffy little balls to serve as an hors d’oeuvre or with tomato sauce as a main course. Soaking the quinoa overnight before cooking makes it more digestible.
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No-Bake Vegetarian Enchiladas
The recipe here is based on a dish created by chef Josef Centeno’s great-grandmother, who raised 12 kids. Because meat was expensive, she often made enchiladas using only vegetables, like carrots and potatoes. For his enchiladas, Centeno makes a sofrito, cooking carrots low and slow in olive oil with garlic and tomatoes.
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Cauliflower Gratin with Manchego and Almond Sauce
This outrageously rich sauce, flavored with salty, nutty Manchego, gets poured on sautéed cauliflower and baked until it's golden and bubbling.
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Chickpeas and Kale in Spicy Pomodoro Sauce
Chef Missy Robbins of Brooklyn's Lilia restaurant swaps chickpeas for pasta in her riff on spicy pomodoro. She finishes the dish with a shower of fresh herbs and salty pecorino cheese.
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Lemony Quinoa Salad with Shaved Vegetables
Eating quinoa is a great way for vegetarians to get protein. Jeremy Fox tosses nutty-tasting quinoa with crunchy shaved vegetables for a refreshing salad loaded with vitamins and minerals.
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Speedy Ratatouille with Goat Cheese
In traditional ratatouille, vegetables simmer together until they're falling-apart tender. Here, Melissa Clark cooks them quickly in batches, so they retain their flavor and texture.
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Vegetable Rainbow Salad
This salad from F&W’s Grace Parisi brilliantly combines some of the most exciting food trends of 2013 into one amazing recipe—pickled vegetables, uncommon produce, ancient grains and a cross-cultural dressing that includes miso and chipotle chile in adobo. If ingredients like lime radishes and baby orange cauliflower aren’t available at your farmers’ market, use equal quantities of similar vegetables.
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Spinach-and-Grape-Leaf Pie
Chef Alex Raij made this big, impressive pie, which she calls pastel de parra, to snack on throughout the weekend; a big slice is also satisfying as a meal.
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Vegetable Potpies with Sweet Potato Biscuits
"At every gathering these days, there will be a vegetarian," says Renato Poliafito. Baker Stefania Rubicondo brought these wonderful individual pies, filled with a mix of sweet celery root, brussels sprouts and parsnips in a sage-infused cream sauce and topped with tender biscuits made with roasted sweet potato.
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Eggs Baked Over Sautéed Mushrooms and Spinach
Drinking wine with eggs at lunch always feels so French to Kristin Donnelly, likely thanks to Elizabeth David's famous essay, "An Omelette and a Glass of Wine."
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Portobello-Mushroom and Red-Pepper Pizza
Depending on the size of the appetites around your house, this substantial pizza with its meaty portobello mushrooms serves two very hungry people or four if it's accompanied by a big salad. If you don't have fresh basil, stir some pesto into the peppers and mushrooms before putting them on the pizza.
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Chili con Tofu
Spicy chili seasonings work wonders for the bland flavor of tofu. For a more substantial, spicy chili, use the same weight of tempeh in place of the tofu. Since tempeh is not packed in water, there is no need to pat it dry before sautéing, but stir in up to one extra cup of water in Step 4 when adding the beans.
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Israeli Couscous and Tomato Salad with Arugula Pesto
Arugula pesto is peppery and bright. The trick is to blanch the arugula and squeeze it dry, so when you blend it with the pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and cheese, the resulting pesto isn't too wet.
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Artichokes with Scallion Vinaigrette
A generous portion of bay leaves in the steaming liquid here permeates the artichoke leaves and hearts with flavor and provides an enticing aroma as you serve the dish. The scallion vinaigrette balances the sweetness of the artichokes.
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Sweet Potato Tamales
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Mushroom Bolognese
Top Chef finalist Sarah Grueneberg created a vegetarian version of Bolognese that’s as rich and delicious as the meat version.
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Ricotta Gnudi with Chanterelles
These tender gnudi, adapted from Nancy Silverton's Mozza Cookbook, are delicious with buttery chanterelles.
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Asian Steamed Buns with Bok Choy and Chinese Chives
The Baker Creek catalog includes lots of seeds for Asian greens, including some that Jere Gettle found on his travels in Thailand. Here, a blend of mild bok choy with spicy mustard greens and oniony Chinese chives fills puffy, savory buns.
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Grilled Baby Carrot Wraps with Poblano Cream
About 15 slender baby carrots—grilled until charred, then tightly rolled inside a tortilla with poblano-spiked sour cream—make for a superb vegetable wrap.
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Twice-Cooked Broccoli with Hazelnuts and Garlic
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Eggplant and Goat-Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato Tarragon Sauce
Golden eggplant slices sandwich tangy, melting cheese, all set off by a fast tomato sauce flavored with the unusually complementary tarragon.
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Beet Gnocchi with Walnut-Sage Butter
Jenn Louis (an F&W Best New Chef 2012) found these intense beet gnocchi in northwestern Italy. They are sweet and earthy and so delicious, they barely need a sauce. When the beet greens are fresh enough, Louis adds them to the walnut-sage butter.
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Chilled Fennel-Grapefruit Velouté with Lemon Olive Oil
Chef Hiroki Yoshitake cleverly uses grapefruit oil to boost the flavor in his chilled four-ingredient soup. Lemon olive oil is a terrific alternative, and easier to find in the US. The citrus oil is used in two different ways: for sautéing fennel before pureeing it with grapefruit juice, and for garnishing the soup before serving.
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Fresh Lima Bean Gratins
Fresh lima beans are only available for about eight weeks a year. Here they appear in a buttery gratin.
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Poached Eggs with Sunchokes and Comté Polenta
David Bouley serves eggs en cocotte with three purees—fennel, sunchoke and polenta—plus Comté foam. Home cooks can pair baked eggs with cheese polenta, evoking Bouley's Comté foam with polenta puree.
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Grilled Eggplant Parmesan
This grilled-vegetable version of eggplant Parmesan, like the one Grace Parisi’s Calabrian grandmother used to make, is much lighter than the fried kind.
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Asparagus Tabbouleh
This superb version of tabbouleh has chopped asparagus as well as traditional bulgur, tomato, parsley and mint.
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Swiss Chard with Sweet Garlic
To make this simple side dish, chef Michael White simmers garlic in milk, which mellows its flavor. Then he purees the garlic and, just before serving, adds it to the sautéed chard.
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Red Lentil Dal with Tamarind and Asparagus
During her stay in Bangladesh, Naomi Duguid fell in love with dals (soupy lentil dishes) known as tok dal, or tart dal. "They all have an intriguing balance of tartness from tamarind and lime, and sweetness from slow-cooked onions." While asparagus isn't a traditional ingredient, Duguid was inspired to add it because Bangladesh is so fertile, and many green vegetables grow there.
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Fusilli with Roasted Eggplant and Goat Cheese
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Ravioli Nudi in Tomato Sauce
Hear the name ravioli nudi—literally, naked ravioli—and you may envision little sauceless pasta packets, but in fact it's not the sauce that's missing, but the pasta itself. Ravioli filling, in this case spinach and ricotta, is simmered like tender little dumplings. To save time, buy precleaned spinach from the salad bar.
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Vegetable Sandwich with Dill Sauce
Stacked high with slices of tomato, onion, cucumber, avocado, and provolone cheese, this is a vegetable sandwich that even confirmed carnivores will love. You can add or substitute other fresh vegetables; radishes, spinach, or grated carrot go particularly well here. When you can't get good tomatoes, don't buy lousy, cotttony ones; use twice the amount of lettuce instead.
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Five-Vegetable Stir-Fry with Lentils
A dinner of Brussels sprouts, turnips, carrots, and lentils may sound more like a punishment than a treat, but believe us—the combination is delicious. In fact, the general effect is actually rather delicate.
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Shaking Tofu
This vegetarian version of the Vietnamese dish Shaking Beef is ready in less than 45 minutes.