30 Minute Vegetarian Meals for Busy Weeknights

By Anjali Shah on December 27, 2020

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These quick and easy 30 minute vegetarian meals are your answer to healthy and nutritious weeknight dinner ideas! Plus, learn all my tips and tricks to making meals in a snap!

30 minute vegetarian meals collage: grilled cheese, tacos, pesto pasta, Mexican pizza, green salad, asparagus soup

You know the feeling when you’ve come home from work, you’ve had a long day, but dinner needs to be made!

There are some nights when my energy is low, and my family is hungry! That’s when simple 30 minute vegetarian meals are the answer to this common weeknight dilemma.

The infamous 30 minute meal is necessary! But sometimes it feels like even the so called 30 minute meal doesn’t actually take that short amount of time.

By the time you gather the ingredients, chop the vegetables, and cook your meal, you’ve exceeded that 30 minute mark!

I loved watching Rachel Ray’s 30 minute meals, and I’d watch in awe as she quickly and seamlessly gathered her ingredients, chopped her veggies like a pro, and prepared a meal in no time at all.

But she was a professional, and I was just a home cook, or so I thought. Then I figured out that creating a 30 minute meal just took a little ingenuity.

With these tips and tricks, plus my favorite 30 minute vegetarian meals, you’ll have simple to make dinners that are family friendly, easy, and absolutely delicious!

Top Tips for Making 30 Minute Vegetarian Meals

Keep your cooking methods simple.
Stock your pantry with shelf stable go-to ingredients.
Wash and sort your groceries when you get home from the store.
Preheat your oven before you begin prepping the rest of your ingredients.
Use quick cooking vegetarian protein sources.
Gather all your ingredients before you begin cooking.
Use your 30 minutes efficiently. While one thing is cooking, prep another part of the recipe.
Use quick cooking shortcuts. For example, frozen vegetables, microwavable rice.
Use a garbage bowl.

Keep Your Cooking Method Simple

The 30 minute meal is not the time to try out a new cooking technique! It’s also not the best time to decide to work with a new and unusual ingredient. Instead, stick to the basics, and follow easy and familiar recipes.

Opt for one pot meals, Instant Pot dinners, or sheet pan meals. These are easy and quick to pull off!

Stock Your Pantry with Vegetarian Essentials

When it comes to quick and easy 30 minute vegetarian meals on busy weeknights, it’s essential that you have a stocked pantry with quick cooking ingredients.

What you choose to have in your healthy pantry will depend on the types of foods you enjoy eating. For example, if you enjoy Mexican recipes, keep salsa, taco shells, and refried beans. If you love Italian, make sure you have pasta, marinara sauce, canned tomatoes, and olive oil. However, for vegetarian meals there are some essentials.

30 Minute Vegetarian Meals: Essential Pantry Ingredients

Oils, vinegars, and condiments
A variety of spices
Canned goods (tomatoes, beans, broth, coconut milk, nut butters)
Grains and legumes (brown rice, whole wheat pasta, legume pasta, oats, lentils, breads, and tortillas)
Nuts, seeds, dried fruit

Prepare Your Vegetables in Advance

When you get home from the grocery store, the last thing you probably want to do is wash and prepare your vegetables. However, taking the time to do it as soon as you get home will save you tons of time during the week.

It should only take you about 30 minutes, and will make your weekday cooking a breeze. Wash your lettuce, clean your produce, and chop an onion. Not only does this speed up weekday prep, your vegetables will also last longer, and you’re more likely to use them, if they’re ready to go!

Preheat Your Oven

This might seem like a no brainer, but if you’re using your oven, be sure to preheat it as your very first step! Don’t begin prepping anything else until you’ve preheated your oven. Especially if you need a high temperature. You can waste a lot of time waiting for your oven to get hot enough to cook your meal!

Same goes for boiling water. If you’re making something that requires boiling water, like pasta, make that your first step.

Use Quick Cooking Vegetarian Protein Sources

While I love cooking dried beans, it takes a lot of time. Instead, use canned beans, or cook your beans on the weekend, and store in the refrigerator so they’re ready to go!

Other quick cooking vegetarian protein sources include lentils, tofu, tempeh, chickpeas, and eggs.

Take Out All Your Ingredients and Equipment

Before you begin cooking gather all of the ingredients as well as any tools and equipment and place them at your work space. Use a large baking pan to place all of your ingredients into so you’re not trying to balance everything in your arms!

This saves you time going back and forth to the refrigerator or the pantry to grab an item.

Use Your Time Efficiently

While it’s a great idea in theory to prep all your vegetables, and measure all of your ingredients, when you’re making a 30 minute meal, this can actually take you more time!

Instead, while one part of the recipe is cooking, prep the next part. For example, while you’re pasta is boiling, make the sauce. Or while your vegetables are roasting, prepare the vinaigrette.

It’s Okay to Use Shortcuts

When you’re making 30 minute vegetarian meals, it’s totally okay to use shortcuts. Not everything you prepare has to be made from scratch. For example, you can use frozen stir fried vegetables that are already chopped. Or prepared pizza dough for a homemade pizza.

This also applies to prepared sauces, or quick flavor enhancers like soy sauce, dijon mustard, harissa, garlic paste, etc. These add tons of flavor without a lot of cooking time.

Use a Garbage Bowl

While you’re gathering your equipment, grab a large bowl to fill with your garbage. Throw in your vegetable scraps, wrappers, seeds, or whatever else you accumulate while you’re cooking. This will save you back and forth trips to the garbage can!

Now that you’ve got some tips and tricks to help you save time, and cook efficiently, here my favorite 30 minute vegetarian meals!