What’s for Dinner?
When you think of having a delicious, satisfying meal, think vegetarian! Here are some recipes that will make your taste buds dance for joy, and at the same time nourish your body with healthy plant protein and valuable nutrients. We present here 100% plant-based recipes from three celebrated chefs who have presented with us at the Boston Veg Food Fest, and whose hearty soup recipes we featured in our subway and bus ads, shown below. Scroll to the bottom for vegan recipe websites and recommended cookbooks, plus online vegan cooking courses and classes. Enjoy!
Red Lentil Thai Chili
This recipe is a magic blending of Thai curry and chili (which you can make as hot or mild as you like) that results in an awesome, nutrient-dense meal featuring red lentils, sweet potatoes, and big, meaty kidney beans. Have this with a side salad of fresh greens and veggies, and be powered up from good nutrition and deliciousness. The recipe’s creator, cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz, writes, “It’s really satisfying and blessedly easy to make.”
Try this recipe, which makes enough chili to freeze for future meals. Explore Isa’s blog for a multitude of scrumptious recipes for all occasions, and check out her book page.
Cashew Cream Asparagus Soup
This recipe introduces a magic ingredient – raw cashew cream, a versatile ingredient which is used to replace dairy cream in soups, desserts, and cheesy fillings. Very easy to make, the trick is to use raw cashews (not roasted), to deliver rich creaminess to the dish. The recipe works well with asparagus or broccoli.
The creator of this recipe is chef Tal Ronnen, whose vegan meals for Oprah, Ellen DeGenerous, and the U.S. Senate have catapulted him to fame. Try Chef Tal’s recipes for Cream of Asparagus Soup and Cashew Cream. He is author of Crossroads: Extraordinary Recipes from the Restaurant That Is Reiventing Vegan Cuisine and The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes that will Change the Way you Eat.
Sancocho – Root Vegetable and Plantain Soup
This recipe and video by Rican Vegan for a one-pot wonder soup is more like a comforting stew of root vegetables simmered in a tantalizing blend of Latin flavors until the broth is gently thickened and rendered sweet and mild.
The dish in the above photo is by Terry Hope Romero, who offers a bounty of inspired new Latin cuisine in her cookbooks.
Additional Recipes
The variety and delight of plant-based cooking is endless, and can include the many international cuisines that put the emphasis on plant ingredients, such as Mexican, Greek, Asian, Middle Eastern, Indian, Ethiopian, and Italian. See our list of veg recipe websites and blogs and explore delicious main dishes, appetizers, soups, desserts, breakfast foods, and more!
Recommended Cookbooks
With hundreds of cookbooks in print that are filled with delicious recipes that are purely plant-based, how do you choose? Here is a selection of cookbooks that are recommended in these categories: Top 5 Must-Haves, Recent Bestsellers, Easy Everyday, Reference, Cuisines from Around the World, Health & Weight Loss, and Desserts.
In addition to the above, here are favorite cookbooks, both classics and new releases, chosen by various reviewers:
- 14 Best Vegan Cookbooks to Inspire Your Plant-Based Culinary Repertoire
- VegNews: 15 New Vegan Books for a Deliciously Ethical 2022
- MindBodyGreen: 19 Best Vegan Cookbooks for Beginners 2022
- One Green Planet’s Picks: 15 Vegan Cookbooks We Featured in 2019
- One Green Planet’s Picks: 15 Vegan Cookbooks We Featured in 2018
- Food Revolution Network’s 10 of the Best Plant-Based Cookbooks to Put You on the Fast Track to Health
- Good Housekeeping’s Picks: 15 Vegan Cookbooks (View Gallery)
- Forbes Picks: The Best Vegan Cookbooks
- Women’s Health Picks: 20 Best Vegan Cookbooks (View Gallery)
- Urban Tastebud’s 10 Best Vegan Cookbooks You Must Have
- The Greatest Hits: Our Top Vegan Cookbook Picks
- Vegan Cookbooks on Amazon
Online Cooking Courses and Classes
- Cook Wicked Healthy The same Chef Chad Sarno who co-created the Rouxbe’s Professional Certification Course (see below) provides, with his brother Chef Derek, a YouTube channel with a huge library of FREE classes teaching recipes, tips, tricks and techniques in a light-hearted and casual style. Chef Chad also has created a series of classes designed for cooking with kids, Wicked Healthy Kids, which demonstrate some simple, super delicious meals and snacks from whole plant ingredients that aim to help create healthy lifelong habits in the kitchen.
- Forks Over Knives offers acclaimed online courses in plant-based cooking at the basic and masters levels that build knowledge and confidence in culinary skills. Their 15-hour Cooking Essentials Course covers foundational plant-based cooking techniques from how to select and handle a chef’s knife, kitchen set-up, and daily meal planning, to preparation of 30+ whole-food, plant-based recipes, learning at your own pace and schedule.
Their comprehensive Ultimate Course offers 55 hours of instruction covering the basics plus extensive units on cooking methods, flavor balancing and seasoning, batch cooking, and making staples such as stocks, stews, sauces, dressings, and dairy alternatives. Learn pro-caliber techniques and preparation of 100+ whole-food, plant-based recipes. Receive instructor support and grading. Earn a certificate and 30 credits from the American Culinary Federation if course work is successfully completed within 90 days.
Both courses offer lifetime access to course content.
Their mini-course Intro to Meal Prep offers master plant-based meal prep, 5 hours of cooking and learning, and 70 whole-food, plant-based recipes.
See their description and syllabus for each course.
- Food Future Institute, created by renowned chef and vegan entrepreneur Matthew Kenney, offers a cutting-edge culinary education program committed to the elevated art of plant-based cuisine. Watch their home page video to see the kinds of eye-popping, elegant-yet-healthy dishes that raise cooking to high art. With over 100 lessons with videography, photography and infographics, students explore at their own pace the tools and techniques necessary to produce innovative plant-based cuisine at its most refined level. Their recipes are designed to be fun to cook, good for your body and in harmony with the planet.
- My Brownble Vegan Cooking and Lifestyle Online Program offers monthly, annual, or lifetime plans with a 7-day free trial or 7-day money-back guarantee. It includes 350+ instructional videos with new content added every week. It offers step-by-step cooking videos and recipes with printable PDFs, as well as lifestyle videos, kitchen tips, pantry staples, and specialty topics such as gluten-free, raw, kid-friendly, holiday dishes, and world cuisines.
- Veecoco membership gives access to 270+ video lectures with experienced chefs from around the world, with new content being added regularly. Emphasis is on international cuisines, with courses for Italian, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, and German traditional recipes in a fully vegan way. Also includes courses in raw foods essentials, vegan cheese-making, Swiss chocolate desserts, and Italian pastries. Learn tips such as how to replace meat in any of your favorite recipes. They offer 7-day free access, or choose a 6-month or 12-month membership, both with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Rouxbe’s Plant-Based Professional Certification Course builds cooking skills from the ground up, with personalized instructor support and grading. Complete the comprehensive 18 units with 200+ instructional technique videos within six months to receive certification. Courses begin approximately every 45 days, with access to materials 24/7. There is lifetime access to course materials, and a full refund for cancellation within 14 days.
See also Veg Recipe Websites & Blogs.