10 Fast & Easy Plant-Based Dinners to Save Your Summer

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These are 10 of our current go-to dinners. My kids like them, they come together with minimal prep time and they don’t require a hot oven heating up the kitchen.

Summer is the time I pretty much want to put things on auto pilot. I don’t want to spend a lot of time thinking, shopping or prepping food, yet with 5 boys home all day I can’t exactly take a vacation. All too often the planning and advance prep go out the window, and after a busy day of summer fun I find myself at 4:30 wondering what we should eat for dinner. And even though those occasional Little Caesars nights may still happen every once in a great while, having a list of go-to meals ready to go is saving me.

At the start of the summer, I chose 10 of our favorite easy recipes. In theory we would eat about 5 each week, leaving the other 2 days to travel, leftovers, eating out or with friends/family, etc.. When I made my monthly Costco trip, I bought enough pantry staples to make everything 2-3 times. Now when I plan my meals I choose from this list and pick up any perishables or odds and ends during my weekly produce trip to Sprouts.

I am sure many of you have mastered something similar to this simplistic method of meal planning, but it has been huge for me. I have a thing for constantly trying new recipes, but during the summer I just want the food to appear with as little effort as possible.

I use the Plan to Eat website/app to make this even easier. Read more about why it works so well for me at the end of the post. I can even use it to share these recipes with you and your shopping list will be done!

But for now, here are the recipes we are enjoying again and again this summer:

1. Mango Taco Salad

This is my go-to company recipe at the moment. The Mango Salsa Recipe can be easily made in advance and I make a double recipe of the speedy taco filling with one can jackfruit and one can black beans. I don’t think anyone knows the jackfruit isn’t chicken. Pile it up with favorite taco salad fixings: tortilla chips, brown rice, red leaf lettuce or finely chopped spring mix, avocado/guacamole and some cashew sour cream and it makes for one hugely delicious salad that pleases even the anti-salad men I know.

2. Noodle Stir Fry

I keep several bags of frozen stir fry vegetables on hand and use them with rice or the brown rice & millet ramen noodles. Edamame, tofu and even garbanzo beans are a quick and satisfying protein. For crispy tofu, my favorite sauce and enough variations to keep you going til Labor Day, check out my eBook and use coupon code Summer25 for 25% off through July 15

3. Superfood Kale Salad

This kale salad is an amazing way to pack in the nutrients, and as long as I don’t leave out the maple-glazed walnuts my kids gobble it up. I use blueberries or halved red grapes instead of pomegranate in the summer and this is one salad that actually still tastes good the next day! And hang on to your kale stems, they work great in . .

4. Instant Pot Spaghetti

I recently discovered that chopping up the kale stems to use in this recipe mellows their flavor and is a quick and easy way to have everyone eating a bit more kale instead of tossing those tough stems in the trash. Just saute them with your onions until tender and finish the recipe as directed. We are loving this one on Friday nights before our Saturday swim meets–the lycopene in tomato sauce is known to help buffer your skin against sunburn, the whole grain pasta is a great source of energy. Watermelon is another sunburn protecting food and the greens in a simple spring mix salad are good for just about everything.

5. Instant Pot Potatoes and Carrots with Lentil Beef Gravy

This plant-based version of meat and potatoes creates super simple and satisfying comfort food that is far easier than the original. Just blend your cooked lentils with broth and a few seasonings and add more lentils or water until you reach your desired consistency. Everyone is always excited when this meal shows up.

6. Oil-Free Quinoa Black Bean Salad 

One of my favorite favorite summer meals over the past few years is this Mango Black Bean Quinoa Salad. It’s delicious to pack for picnics or on the go (although the quinoa can get a little messy, so eat it outside, not in the car!) and comes together quickly. It’s easily adaptable to suit your tastes and the lime juice dressing keeps the avocados tasty for leftovers the next day.

Many quinoa salads and salads in general have a lot of oil in the recipe. I find it really isn’t necessary. You will need to eat more salad to feel full, but you are getting healthy fats, protein, fiber and overall nutrition instead of the empty calories from fat.

7. Chili 

I have a favorite instant pot lentil chili in my e-book, but this is also a delicious recipe. I love the way chili is so easy to prep ahead. You can make a double batch and freeze, or sometimes I make chili kits. I place the lentils, onions, peppers and seasonings in a ziploc freezer bag and then when I’m ready to make it I just need to add canned tomatoes, broth, etc. It takes up less space in the freezer, doesn’t require the time to thaw that a finished batch of chili would, and makes it a cinch to whip up a fresh batch.

Chili on a baked potato makes for a great meal, or I’ll also often layer the chili or leftovers on brown rice or quinoa and top with cheese sauce for a quick & satisfying casserole. And a few tortilla chips always add a delicious crunch!

8. Sloppy Joe Lentils 

We are loving this recipe. It’s quick and easy to put together, we get several meals out of a double batch and it’s super versatile! You can certainly put it on a bun, but if you happen to be gluten-free or don’t want to sell your firstborn child to buy good quality, whole grain buns, it’s also delicious as a filling in tacos or taco salad or on top of potatoes. I even mixed leftovers with cooked pasta for a kind of bbq spaghetti. Everyone loved it! Or just eat it straight! It’s one of my favorite ways to make a lot of food fast.

9. Veggie Burgers

Now I have a delicious veggie burger recipe in my ebook, and it’s one of those recipes that can come together quicker than you think if you’ve managed to plan a bit. But I also keep some ready made burgers that just need to be popped in the oven in my freezer for busy days.

So easy. And delicious with avocado, tomato, greens, homemade bbq sauce, ketchup, etc.. If I happen to have cashew cheese on hand I’ll pull some out and add it to the burger as well.

10. Avocado Pasta

If you caught last week’s post you know this meal is so easy my 11 year old made it for lunch for a week. It works for dinner too and is easily made with things you probably already have on hand.

Plan to Eat

I have used Plan to Eat for more than 5 years now. Usually I like to find and use the free options for tools like this, but the minimal cost more than pays for itself by helping me keep track of what I need and pick it up when I’m already at the store.  A few of the reasons I’ve stuck with it so long:

• It’s a cinch to import online recipes, add them to my weekly plan which automatically populates my grocery list
• I can create a menu that I can reuse—a week’s worth of meals I can cycle through, or even a one day company combination that’s easy to recycle (taco salad).
• I can keep a staples list of things I buy regularly, then scan through and add anything I’m low on to the list
• It’s easy to scale recipes if I want to make a double recipe, etc.
• It integrates well between my computer and my phone so I can quickly create the list at home and then access it whenever I am in the store. I also have lists for places like Target, Walmart and Trader Joe’s that I only visit occasionally so I can get everything any time I happen to stop in.

For a little over $3 a month it’s been fantastic, and now I renew during their Black Friday sale. If you decide to subscribe let me know in the comments and I can share this meal plan with you and you will be set with the recipes and shopping list ready to go!

I hope you find a meal or two you can add to your go-to list and spend more time enjoying summer!

What easy, healthy foods are you enjoying this summer?