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If you’re looking for some vegetarian lunch inspiration, today I’m sharing several of my favorite quick, dairy-free, and egg-free options. Plus, you’ll find the recipe for a creamy Italian-style dressing below, which you can drizzle over easy lunch bowls this week.
While you could certainly eat practically any leftovers or recipes for lunch, I’m going to focus on options that are quick to assemble and require minimal reheating (if any).
How to Make Vegan Lunch Bowls
This type of meal is the one I make most often for lunch, because you can grab components from the fridge and assemble the perfect bowl in 10 minutes or less. I cook quinoa in the Instant Pot ahead of time, drain and rinse a can of beans, stir together a creamy dressing (recipe below), and chop a few sturdy veggies.
Then toss them all into airtight storage containers and store them in the fridge. This is your easy “salad bar” for the week ahead!
When you’re ready for lunch, all you have to do is add a scoop of everything to your bowl. I start with a base of quinoa and leafy greens, followed by some beans and sturdier veggies, like cucumber and cherry tomatoes.
For extra protein, you can add a sprinkle of hemp hearts or bake some crispy tofu ahead of time as a topping. Then generously drizzle on a sauce or dressing.
In the photos here, I’m using a tahini-based Italian dressing, which you can find in the printable recipe card below. Or try one of these other sauce ideas listed!
10 More Vegan Lunch Ideas
If you’re not in the mood to assemble a lunch bowl from the fridge, here are some other ideas that don’t require customization each day. You can prep them ahead of time and eat them right away!
1. Quinoa Black Bean Salad
This black bean quinoa salad is one of my favorite lunch ideas (vegan or not) because it’s easy to grab straight from the fridge. It takes about 30 minutes to assemble the day before, but then you can enjoy it for a chilled lunch for several days in a row.
Paired with quinoa, veggies, and black beans, it’s loaded with a variety of textures and flavors to keep things interesting.
2. Chickpea Salad Sandwich
This salad tastes like it’s made with tuna or chicken, but it’s not! It’s chickpea-based and gets its creaminess from avocado instead of mayo. Serve it with crackers or in a sandwich for a delicious plant-based meal idea.
3. Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps
These vegetarian lunch wraps are made with a crumbled tofu filling that is reminiscent of a chicken lettuce wrap (only there’s no meat). You can enjoy them warm or cold, so they are fast to assemble, especially if you have leftovers for lunch.
4. Veggie Sushi Rolls
I wouldn’t call these vegan sushi rolls the fastest lunch ever, because I do think they taste best when you roll them the same day you plan on eating them. However, they’re a lot faster than regular sushi because this rice isn’t actually rice– it’s a sneaky veggie that requires no cooking!
If you assemble the jicama rice ahead of time, you can roll these up in less than 15 minutes for a lunch that feels extra-special and delicious.
5. Vegan Sushi Bowls with Sriracha Sauce
This is another bowl that you can prep in advance. The creamy sriracha sauce makes it irresistible and is fast to stir together. Paired with baked tofu, crispy seaweed sheets, and roasted bell peppers, this has all the texture and flavor you love from sushi, without the effort of rolling it all up.
6. Vegan Quesadillas
I usually enjoy these for lunch when I have leftovers. The nacho cheese sauce and fatjia veggies with black beans can be stored separately in containers in the fridge, so assembling another quesadilla is quite fast! Just spread the cheese sauce and filling on the tortilla, then warm it on the stove for 10 minutes or less.
7. Vegan Nachos with Black Beans
Nachos are my favorite comfort food for lunch. When you make them with vegan queso instead of regular cheese, they are even more flavorful, too! I like to top mine with a quick sauteed mixture of seasoned black beans, red onion, and bell pepper.
But these are easy to customize as you see fit.
8. Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce
These spring rolls feel like handheld salads, only better! Made with rice paper, they are naturally gluten-free and taste ridiculously delicious when served with a quick peanut sauce.
9. Baked Falafel with Canned Chickpeas
Baked Falafel is not something I’d expect you to make from scratch for lunch, but if you have leftovers on hand, it makes the easiest topping or sandwich-stuffer. I love warming it up in the air fryer for 3 minutes, then arranging it over a bowl of homemade hummus and Mediterranean quinoa salad.
10. Socca Pizza with Veggies
This is not your average pizza! Socca can be baked ahead of time for an easy lunch idea, topped with a white bean spread (or hummus) and your favorite roasted veggies. I eat this chilled all the time, straight from the fridge.
Note: There is feta sprinkled on top of this photo, but it’s easy to omit to keep this recipe dairy-free and vegan.
Vegan Lunch Bowls with Creamy Italian Dressing
Ingredients
Quinoa Veggie Bowls
- 2 cups dry quinoa , rinsed well
- 1 pound leafy greens , such as arugula, spinach, or romaine
- 1 large cucumber , chopped
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes , sliced in half
- Green onions , chopped, for garnish
- Cooked beans (optional)
Creamy Italian Dressing
- ½ cup raw tahini
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon raw apple cider vinegar
- 3 to 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ cup water (plus 1-2 tablespoons to thin)
Instructions
- Drain the quinoa and transfer it to a saucepan over high heat with 3 cups of fresh water. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cover to cook for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, keep the lid on the pot, but remove it from the burner. Let it continue to steam for 5 minutes so the quinoa fully cooks without burning on the bottom of the pot.
- While the quinoa is cooking, chop the vegetables and prepare the dressing. I like to store each vegetable individually in its own glass container in my fridge, because then they can double as salad toppings each night. (In that case you may want to double the amount of veggies you chop so that you don’t run out during the week!) You might also want to roast your vegetables for variety, such as roasted red onions, zucchini, or beets. The options really are endless.
- To prepare the dressing, add all of the dressing ingredients to a blender and blend until completely smooth. (Or whisk them together in a mason jar.) Do be sure to use raw tahini, as the toasted one that is more commonly found in stores tastes much stronger and more bitter to me. Let the dressing meld for at least 10 minutes before tasting it; the flavor improves with time.
- Once everything is chopped, blended, and cooked, all you need to do is assemble your bowl. I like to start with a cup of cooked quinoa, 2 to 3 cups of leafy greens, and then a handful of each of your favorite chopped toppings. Drizzle the top generously with your favorite dressing and enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition
If you try these vegan lunch ideas, please leave a comment and star rating below to let me know how you like them. (And which ones you try!)
Why do I need to soak the quinoa if I am cooking it? The bag I bought from Costco doesn’t say it needs soaked before cooking.
Soaking just removes the bitter flavor that quinoa naturally has. Soaking ahead of time doesn’t really affect the cooking of it, and I only soak it when I’m not smothering the quinoa in a flavorful sauce, like curry or something.
I made the dressing exactly per the recipe. No subs and there was entirely too much water. I am so sad I wasted perfectly good tahini.
I’m sorry to hear that! Tahini can vary so much in texture, there’s a chance yours was a runnier in mine to begin with. I’d try putting the dressing in the fridge, and make sure you whisk it REALLY well. It always thickens up significantly when chilled.