As much as I love a salad, when the evenings are cold and dark, I want to reach for something warm and filling. Enter these plant-based hearty meal ideas!
Hearty plant-based meals are 1) warm and comforting, 2) comprise of a balance of ingredients that will help you feel satisfied, without compromising your health goals like fast food would.
Not that there’s anything wrong with the occasional fast-food meal, but these are meal ideas that you would want to incorporate into your weekly routine!
Hearty plant-based meal formula
All you need to remember to create an endless number of hearty plant-based meals is: a grain, a green and a bean. Now I didn’t invent this formula (that would be Matt Frazier of No Meat Athlete), but it’s such genius that it’s worth sharing more widely. All you need to do is combine the three and voilà… healthy hearty meal: done!
| Grain examples | Green examples | Bean examples |
|---|---|---|
| Barley Brown rice Buckwheat Bulgur Millet Quinoa Teff Whole-wheat pasta | Collard greens Kale Mustard greens Rocket (arugula) Sorrel Spinach Swiss chard Turnip greens | Aduki beans Black beans Butter beans Cannellini beans Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) Edemame Kidney beans All types of lentils Peas Pinto beans Tempeh Tofu |
If you’ve been reading this blog for any time, you’ll know that not only am I a big fan of No Meat Athlete, I’m also a big believer in Dr Greger’s Daily Dozen (you can read more about it here).
We’re going to assume you’re making dinner with the following examples. (You can find hearty plant-based breakfast ideas here; please tell me in the comments if you’d like hearty plant-based lunch ideas!)
There are 24 Daily Dozen servings to aim for every day, 6 of which are related to exercise and hydration. That leaves us with 18 for food, which divided by 3 is 6. Still following? Haha the moral of the story is that we’ll be aiming for 6 Daily Dozen servings (or more) with each meal example.
Hearty plant-based meal examples
These are examples to get you inspired – feel free to replace the ingredients with whatever you have available in each given category!
You can also add as many other ingredients as you want, but each of these quick meal ideas already offer six Daily Dozen servings.
If you’re using dried beans (or lentils), you’ll want to soak them overnight or at least for a few hours before using them. If you’re using canned beans, they can go straight in after being rinsed.
Pasta with lentils and veggies in a tomato sauce
If you’re new to veganism, or want something quick to add to your arsenal of weekday evening meals, this is it!
| Grain | Green | Bean | Other vegetables | Herbs and spices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole-wheat pasta | Spinach | Green lentils | Can of tomatoes Aubergine (eggplant) | Basil (fresh or dried) |
- Cook a bit of chopped garlic / celery / carrot (whichever you have) in a small amount of water.
- Then add the aubergine, cook it until a bit of colour appears then add the can of chopped tomatoes and the lentils.
- While that simmers, cook the pasta according to the package instructions.
- Towards the end of the cook time, add the spinach to the sauce.
- Drain the pasta, combine everything in a bowl.
- Enjoy topped with fresh basil* and a bit of nutritional yeast for that cheesy flavour.
* If using dried basil, add it with the spinach.
Take it to the next level: grill some aubergine slices in the oven (or on the barbecue if you’re feeling brave) and add them on top or on the side of your pasta.
Chili and quinoa
Chili is one of those great comfort meals for chilly days. Bonus points if you can make it earlier in the day and let in simmer for a few hours!
| Grain | Green | Bean | Other vegetables | Herbs and spices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quinoa | Kale | Kidney beans Black beans | Can of tomatoes | Chili powder |
- Cook a bit of chopped garlic / celery / carrot (whichever you have) in a small amount of water with a bit of chili powder.
- Add the can of chopped tomatoes, the beans and the chopped kale.
- While that simmers, cook the quinoa according to the package instructions.
- Drain the quinoa, combine everything in a bowl.
Take it to the next level: enjoy this easy meal topped with avocado slices, lime and hot sauce.
Minestrone soup
Minestrone is my favourite soup to make because it’s so easy and I don’t even have to bother blending anything! I can assemble it earlier in the day and essentially set it and forget it. If you’re really organised, you could prep all the ingredients on the weekend and just chuck them all in some water on the day.
| Grain | Green | Bean | Other vegetables | Herbs and spices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pearl barley | Kale | Chickpeas | Can of tomatoes Courgette | Rosemary |
- Cook a bit of chopped garlic / celery / carrot (whichever you have) in a small amount of water.
- Then add the courgette, cook it until a bit of colour appears then add the can of chopped tomatoes, the chickpeas, the barley and the kale.
- Add enough water to cover it all, bring to the boil and cook on low for an hour*.
- Towards the end of the cook time, add the rosemary.
- Enjoy with some crusty bread.
* It’s the pearl barley that takes that long. If you’re in a rush, you can make the same recipe with pasta instead.
Lentil curry with brown rice
Confession time: in our house we enjoy our curry with homemade fries, but that doesn’t fit within the grain, green, bean formula, so here’s an adaptation!
| Grain | Green | Bean | Other vegetables | Herbs and spices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown rice | Spinach | Red lentils Tofu | Can of tomatoes | Curry powder |
- Dry fry the tofu until a bit of colour appears.
- Add a bit of chopped garlic / celery / carrot (whichever you have), a small amount of water and plenty of curry powder.
- Ad the can of chopped tomatoes, a can of coconut milk and the red lentils.
- While that simmers, cook the rice according to the package instructions.
- Towards the end of the cook time, add the spinach to the sauce.
- Drain the rice, combine everything in a bowl.
Take it to the next level: add vegetables such as cauliflower or sweet potato for a variety of tastes and textures.
This post was all about hearty plant-based meals
You may also like:
- Keep the munchies at bay with these 6 hearty vegan breakfast ideas
- The only 2 hearty plant-based soups you need in your life
If you want meal ideas for the rest of the week, make sure you check out my vegan meal plan and shopping list bundle!
That’s it from me, make sure you come say hi on Instagram so you can see the behind-the-scenes of my plant-based life!
