How to Cook a Really Good Vegetarian Meal

A good vegetarian meal includes a wide variety of foods and flavors.


A really good vegetarian meal features more than vegetables and offers just as much flavor, variety and interesting ingredients as a meal that includes animal products. Vegetarian meals can be quick and easy or exotic and time-consuming to prepare. To get ideas for really good vegetarian meals, eat out in restaurants that offer vegetarian entrees and search through cookbooks and the Internet for recipe ideas.

Meal Planning

A good vegetarian meal, like any meal, is tasty, attractive and nutritionally balanced. You can achieve this by using a wide variety of whole grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts and seeds to create your meals. Plan your meals to include a good mix of colors, tastes and textures. If you are a vegan and do not eat any animal products at all, you may want to include meat or dairy substitutes in some of your meals to make sure you are getting all the nutrients you need from your diet.

Vegetarian Pantry

In addition to onions, garlic, potatoes and other fresh vegetables that can be stored for limited periods of time, keep a variety of vegetarian ingredients on hand in your cupboards and refrigerator. Foods to keep cold include soy milk, soy cheese, soy yogurt, tofu, tempeh and vegetarian bacon, sausage and other meat analogs, including frozen veggie burgers. Fill your freezer with frozen fruits and vegetables. Stock your cupboards with dried and canned beans, split peas and lentils, high-protein grains and grain products made with quinoa, oats and amaranth, high-protein pastas and buckwheat noodles and brown and wild rice. Keep a supply of nuts and nut butters, dried fruit, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, vegetable stock or bouillon, soy sauce, flavored vinegars and other condiments and seasonings on hand. For cooking, use olive or canola oil. Extra-virgin olive oil, sesame oil, cold-pressed flaxseed oil, walnut oil and oils from other nuts and other seeds are good for seasoning and making salad dressings.

Menu Ideas

Some classic dishes, such as minestrone soup, vegetarian lasagna, bean and vegetable chili and tofu and vegetable stir-fry, combine foods in one pot or casserole. Add just one or two side dishes, such as bread or salad, and you have a satisfying and nutritionally complete vegetarian meal. For more variety in your cooking, collect ethnic recipes from countries and areas of the world such as India, Japan, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Chefs and home cooks in these countries feature vegetarian cuisines and make good use of common vegetarian ingredients.


Although a vegetarian diet can be restrictive with respect to the types of food eaten, there is no reason for any meals to be lacking in good nutrition. The main nutrition concern in a vegetarian diet is protein. A good vegetarian meal provides plant protein from legumes, soy products, whole grain, nuts or seeds. Many of these foods also contribute calcium, iron, vitamin B-12, vitamin D and other nutrients normally supplied by meat and dairy products.

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  • Vegetarian Delights image by Brett Mulcahy from
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