A Pantry-Friendly, Totally Vegetarian Comfort Food Meal Plan
Whether or not you describe yourself as vegetarian, having a few meatless comfort dishes in your back pocket at all times can be pretty handy. These types of recipes can mean a reprieve from the rich, meaty meals that tend to blur together over the holidays. They’re also a way to feed vegetarian friends, and even just an excuse to make fewer midweek trips to the grocery store during the coldest days of winter.
Our new vegetarian comfort food meal plan does all of these things, and it will even help you use up some of those lentils, chickpeas, pasta, and grains in your pantry for a head start on spring cleaning. Cook along for a colorful week of wintery panzanella, leafy greens, and chili crisp.
For more meal planning inspiration, click through for last year's vegetarian winter meal plan, plus our brand-new vegan and pescatarian plans. Or head over to our collection of easy vegetarian recipes for even more ideas.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Drew Aichele1/7MONDAY: Quick Chana Masala
Start your week off nice and easy by turning a few cans of chickpeas into this speedy skillet chana masala. Make some extra basmati rice so you’ll have leftovers to eat for lunches for the next few days, served with fresh cilantro and some raita if you have some extra plain yogurt floating around in your refrigerator.
Photo by Alaina Sullivan2/7TUESDAY: “Cromlet” With Wilted Greens and Fennel and Olive Salad
Continuing with the chickpea theme, this big, crispy pancake is made with chickpea flour, which gives it a rich, nutty flavor. Personally, when I throw together a chickpea pancake for a hurried dinner, I top it with whatever else happens to be in the refrigerator—lightly dressed herbs, kale sautéed in garlic, pickled chiles, you name it. This one is topped with oyster mushrooms, greens, and a fennel and olive salad for a one-plate dinner full of colors and textures.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton3/7WEDNESDAY: Toasted Orzo With Saffron and Fennel
As the world’s biggest fan of the world’s tiniest pasta, I find myself eating orzo almost weekly, especially when I’m looking for a grain or pasta that will cook in less than 10 minutes. This orzo with saffron and fennel would be welcome as part of a lavish dinner party spread, accompanying a roasted branzino for the fish-eaters in the crowd, but it’s also great on its own, or paired with some roasted carrots.
Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott4/7THURSDAY: Radicchio, Fennel, and Olive Panzanella
Like chickpea pancakes, panzanella is one of my favorite ways to improvise with scraps of pickled and fresh ingredients I have lying around. In the summer, it’s a no-brainer way to use juicy tomatoes and fresh basil, but during the winter, it’s a way to team up those hardy, bitter chicories with the heel of great sourdough that’s getting stale on the counter. Leave out the salami to keep this vegetarian.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton5/7FRIDAY: Lentils With Caramelized Onion Aioli and Crispy Chili Oil
Mezcla, by Ixta Belfrage, was one of our favorite cookbooks of the year because it’s full of unexpectedly great combinations, like plantains and feta (who knew?), or in this case, lentils and chili crisp. While your lentils are simmering, make a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough to bake after dinner to kick off the weekend in style.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Erika Joyce6/7SATURDAY: Vegetarian Lasagna With Easy Roasted Tomato Sauce
This vegetarian lasagna, created by certified lasagna expert Zahra Tangorra, of Zaza Lasagna fame, has a secret. The sauce is baked. That means to coax this sauce along, all you have to do is throw a few cans of tomatoes, some thinly sliced onions and garlic, and some salt and pepper into a baking dish and roast it until the tomatoes are caramelized, concentrated, and sweeter than ever. It makes one of the best vegetarian lasagnas you’ll ever have.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Erika Joyce7/7SUNDAY: Soft-Boiled Tea Eggs (and Cháo)
As Frankie Gaw, the author of First Generation, wrote for Epi a few months back, the soft-boiled tea eggs from his book go with just about anything. That’s why we want you to spend part of your Sunday making a big batch of them. You can start by eating one or two with a bowl of cháo for dinner tonight, but you’ll also want to pack them as snacks to bring to work throughout the week. Or, take a tip from Gaw and dip them in everything bagel seasoning for a hand-held breakfast.
