These low-calorie vegetarian recipes are a great option for tonight’s dinner. Each serving contains 400 calories or less, while also featuring hearty vegetables like portobellos and zucchini. These recipes are full of fresh veggies and satisfying proteins like chickpeas and tofu. Recipes like Creamy Fettuccine with Brussels Sprouts & Mushrooms and Chile-Lime Cauliflower Quesadillas are delicious, filling and can help you meet your nutrition goals.
Many of these recipes take about a half hour to prepare. Others are casseroles, so they’re in the oven for a while. Whenever possible, we incorporate time-saving tricks to make meal prep faster, like using presliced mushrooms or flavoring tofu with taco seasoning. With some of these recipes, we point out easy side dishes to round out the meal, such as salad, rice, rice noodles or cornbread. And if you happen to have leftovers from dinner, these meals make terrific next-day lunches.
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Creamy Fettuccine with Brussels Sprouts & Mushrooms
Sliced Brussels sprouts and mushrooms cook quickly and cling to the pasta in our fall version of pasta primavera. Look for presliced mushrooms to cut prep time. Serve with a tossed salad.
Roasted Carrot Tart with Carrot-Green Pesto
In this vegetarian main-dish recipe, you use the entire carrot from root to greens, so there’s less waste. Roasted carrots are layered on top of a creamy ricotta base with pesto made using the carrots’ green tops. Untrimmed carrots can be tough to find, but when you do, cut off the tops and store them separately, or they’ll draw moisture from the carrots. If you don’t have carrot greens, use 1 cup of parsley instead.
Spinach & Artichoke Dip Pasta
If you’ve ever wanted to make a meal from warm spinach and artichoke dip, this creamy pasta is for you. And here’s what’s almost as good as the flavor of this comforting dish: This healthy dinner takes just 20 minutes to prepare.
Eggplant Lasagna Rolls
Vegetarians and meat-eaters alike will devour these comforting lasagna rolls. We use thinly sliced eggplant in place of pasta to cut the carbs. Pre-roasting the eggplant helps develop the flavor and softens the slices for easy rolling.
Beefless Vegan Tacos
Take taco night in a new direction with these healthy vegan tacos. We’ve swapped crumbled tofu for the ground beef without sacrificing any of the savory seasonings you expect in a taco. You can also use the filling in burritos, bowls, taco salads and to top nachos.
Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Tomatoes, Beans & Almond Pesto
Looking at a tangle of spaghetti squash tricks your brain into thinking you’re about to eat a serving of eggy noodles, when in fact, you get a nice calorie and carb savings in this healthy recipe. Giving tomatoes a stint in a hot oven makes them candy-sweet.
Mushroom Shawarma with Yogurt-Tahini Sauce
The bold spices and cooling, creamy tahini-yogurt sauce make these vegetarian pitas a home run for lunch or dinner. The meaty, umami-rich mushrooms do enough heavy lifting so you don’t miss the meat.
Chile-Lime Cauliflower Quesadillas
Poblano peppers add a touch of heat to these vegetarian quesadillas, but a sweet bell pepper is tasty, too, if you want a milder option. Start these quesadillas in the oven and finish them in a skillet for melty cheese and crispy tortillas.
Cherry Tomato & Garlic Pasta
This easy and healthy pasta recipe takes just 20 minutes to prep, so it’s a perfect weeknight dinner. Cooking garlic cloves whole and then mashing them into the sauce not only saves time, it creates a mellow garlic flavor that melds seamlessly into the silky burst cherry tomatoes.
Vegetarian Udon Noodle Soup
This Japanese-style udon soup recipe uses several Asian ingredients that are available at most grocery stores, including udon noodles, mirin (cooking wine), miso, and sesame oil. All will keep for months in the pantry or fridge.
Portobello Mushroom Pizzas with Arugula Salad
Roasted portobello mushrooms stand in for pizza crust in these comforting individual “pizzas.” An easy arugula side salad is a vibrant accompaniment.
Mushroom & Tofu Stir-Fry
This tofu veggie stir-fry is quick and easy, making it a great go-to weeknight meal. Baked tofu has a firm, toothsome texture that crisps well in a hot pan. You can find it in flavors like teriyaki and sesame, both of which are delicious here. Or opt for a smoked version, which has the same texture with a more robust flavor. Serve over brown rice.
Creamy Spinach Pasta
This might be one of the creamiest light pasta dishes you’ve ever had! The mascarpone cheese adds a richness to the spinach pasta that’s unexpected—especially in a healthy pasta recipe.
One-Pot Coconut Milk Curry with Chickpeas
The assortment of vegetables in this vegan one-pot dish adds varying textures and flavors to make each forkful exciting. The sweet potato balances the savory spices nicely. Serve this bright and flavorful curry with rice or rice noodles.
Roasted Red Pepper, Spinach & Feta Penne Pasta
In this quick 20-minute dinner recipe, tender penne pasta is combined with garlic, roasted red peppers and spinach and topped with crumbled feta cheese for a fast and easy Mediterranean-inspired meal. This recipe was graciously shared by EatingWell reader Dottie Carpenter, who states, “Recipes are no good if they’re not shared!”
Gochujang-Glazed Tempeh & Brown Rice Bowls
If you’re a tempeh skeptic, you’ve probably never had the firm soy-based slabs slathered with a sweet-and-spicy barbecue sauce. We give this easy BBQ tempeh combo a punch of umami with tamari and add a little heat courtesy of gochujang.
Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole
Think of this vegetarian enchilada casserole as a veggie-packed Mexican-inspired lasagna with corn tortillas standing in for the noodles! If your peppers are mild and you like heat, opt for spicy pico de gallo. This easy vegetarian dinner recipe is sure to become a new family favorite.
Zucchini Noodle Primavera
This primavera recipe cuts carbs by swapping out the pasta for zucchini “noodles.” This quick vegetarian dinner is chock-full of colorful vegetables smothered in a light, creamy sauce. We like using prepackaged spiralized zucchini noodles to keep this recipe ultra-fast, but if you have a spiralizer and zucchini on hand, you can easily make your own.
Slow-Cooker Tofu Lo Mein
Crisp-tender veggies cooked in a sweet sauce and served with noodles and tofu is a refreshingly different slow-cooker dinner. Removing the excess moisture from the tofu helps it soak up the sauce, giving the unassuming ingredient full flavor.
Chickpea & Potato Curry
This fast Indian-style curry comes together with ingredients you most likely have on hand, like frozen peas and canned tomatoes and chickpeas. Plus, using these spices shows how simple it is to make a sauce for an easy vegetarian recipe. Serve with whole-wheat naan to sop it all up.
Stuffed Potatoes with Salsa & Beans
Taco night meets baked potato night with this simple recipe for loaded baked potatoes with salsa, beans and avocado. This easy, healthy family dinner comes together with just 10 minutes of active time, so you can make it on even the busiest weeknights. This recipe is just as delicious with sweet potatoes in place of russets.
Jackfruit Sloppy Joes
Meaty jackfruit makes these vegan sloppy Joes rich and filling. Jackfruit, a starchy tropical fruit, is mildly nutty and sweet, a blank canvas for a warm and spicy sauce like the one for this quick meat-free sandwich.
Vegetarian Gumbo
This flavorful vegan dinner is a veggie version of the South Louisiana classic. It’s chock-full of butternut squash, tomatoes, poblano peppers and okra, to name just a few. This vegetarian gumbo is a quick dinner packed with flavor and spice that’s done in only 30 minutes. To make it a meal, serve it with cornbread drizzled with olive oil.
Buttermilk Fried Tofu with Smoky Collard Greens
Dipping tofu in buttermilk makes the coating stick for a crispy pan-fried tofu that is reminiscent of fried chicken. Spicing up the collards with paprika coats them with smoky flavor while keeping this dish vegetarian. And this quick, easy and healthy dinner comes together in just 25 minutes, so it’s great for busy weeknights.
Crispy Chickpea Grain Bowl with Lemon Vinaigrette
Our favorite part of these vegetarian grain bowls is the tangy lemon vinaigrette, which ties together a satisfying combo of quinoa, toasted pumpkin seeds, and roasted chickpeas and kale. Whip them up for easy meal-prep lunches or a healthy and satisfying dinner.
Instant Pot Lentil Soup
This Instant Pot lentil soup is quick enough to prepare when you get home from work. This vegetarian soup recipe is full of aromatic vegetables, brown lentils and fresh spinach. A splash of balsamic vinegar brightens the flavor, and a garnish of radish and parsley gives this comforting soup a fresh finish.
Broccoli-Cheddar Spaghetti Squash Casserole
Tender strings of spaghetti squash replace pasta in this cheesy gluten-free casserole that’s studded with broccoli. Cheddar cheese melts into a bubbling topping. If you have meat-eaters at your table, this is a recipe that goes especially well with roasted chicken or pork.