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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
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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!)
made this tonight, had to use store bought dressing as i ran out of time to make it before i had to get back to work. still delicious! i used chickpeas from a can, rinsed, didn’t bother cooking them as i wanted to have this as a mostly cold salad. now that everything is in the fridge, i’m sure it’ll taste even better.
thanks!
Hi Megan,
What would be the best way to assemble this early in the morning to take to work? Would adding all the ingredients in a glass bowl and eating it around noon be a good idea, I really do not like when my greens get soggy!
I usually pack the greens, quinoa, and roasted veggies in one big bowl (with leafy greens on top!) and then keep the dressing in a separate container so you can toss them together right before serving.
Do the seeds in the dressing pit this in your “special treat” category for combining? Thanks , Megan. ?
This combination actually digests beautifully for me, perhaps because quinoa is technically a seed, too? Pseudo-grains are always a little tricky when it comes to food combining, so it usually takes a bit of experimentation to see how they digest best for you. If it’s an issue, you can always skip the quinoa base and just serve these dressings over a bunch of roasted veggies and a large bed of leafy greens.
Thank you!!
My dressing was a bit bitter. I’m wondering if the tahini got bitter because I put it in the refrigerator?
Did you use tahini that was labeled as “raw?” Traditional roasted tahini (which is more common in grocery stores) has a more bitter flavor, so that could affect the taste.
Oh yum!!! Can’t wait to try this!
This dressing is AMAZING! Thanks Megan!
This is a delicious dressing Megan (I just made it)! Thanks. And all the best with the birth and baby. Good for you for changing plans that just didn’t feel like right. We had a midwife home birth and it was right for us. Sounds like you are making decisions congruent with your values and that is empowering!!
I am allergic to almonds and I’ve read that sesame seeds are a solid alternative, so perhaps it’s the same in reverse? I’ve made sesame flour (in sub. of almond) out of ground sesame seeds and the results have been great!
I am allergic to sesame seeds. Is there a substitute you’d suggest for the tahini?
Soaked cashews work great for me.
Yum. Cashews make for great creaminess, too!
Try soaked sunflower seeds.
Hello LeAnn,
I suggest you replace the tahini (sesame) with sunflower seeds butter. I make a mayonnaise with sf butter and it’s delicious.
My aunt bought us a huuuge fruit basket when I had my son filled with grapes and oranges apples. It was massive. The problem wasn’t having healthy meals for me. It was I was starving an hour after I ate them. That feeling of satiation was never there. I’m in early stages of a new pregnancy. My dietician told me to start making meals in second trimester and freeze them. I plan to do just that and run them through a food saver to make sure the nutritional value doesn’t go down from being stored in deep freeze for months. Angela liddons from “oh she glows” blog “perfect bean burger” being one of them because it is chock full of vegetables. In a pinch I can given my son a burger with ketchup from freezer as an instant meal. Also a macaroni and cheese casserol made with added squash purée is another one I was thinking of making. I would eat a salad but my 2 year old won’t. So thinking of ideas for the both of us that is instant. I like ur idea of making your pizza crusts in advance.
We do have some freezer meals (and frozen pizza crusts) ready to go, but the problem is that I am the only one in the house who will eat them! My husband hates casseroles, and my toddler hates all entree-like meals. He won’t eat burgers or mac n’ cheese. (What a weirdo, right?) The only thing we have in common is that we all like smoothies. 😉 So, I keep my fridge stocked with easy things to stir-fry or throw into a salad for my husband, and then my 2-year-old prefers snack-like plates filled with fruit, cheese, crackers, nuts, etc. Easy enough, but definitely not traditional!
Hi Karen,
Green smoothies with nut butters are perfect when you have a new baby and a picky toddler! I remember I would throw in blueberries and frozen spinach (I have since discovered the triple washed fresh baby spinach, so luckily I won’t be doing frozen spinach again, lol!). At that stage, I also did a lot of eggs!! Everyone ate them, they cook up real fast, and they have good protein. And you can pair them with all kinds of fun stuff to make them a complete yummy meal for young ones–like buttery toast, or you can have a side salad for adults. You could also soak and sprout quinoa and legumes, cook them, and freeze them, and then have them ready as the base of any meal (also having some cooked meat on hand, for those who eat it, makes meal prep a flash and so filling!). LIFE SAVER!!
Megan, I just finished prepping this for a nice meal tomorrow! I’m just soaking the quinoa over-night b/c I find that soaking it longer helps remove that bitter taste. I added a bunch more quick veggies to the roasting pan, including baby zucchini (pre-washed from TJ’s!) and mushrooms. I’m adding canned chic peas on the side b/c believe it or not my toddler LOVES them! The sauces you included sound cool but I am going with a green goddess-type dressing with fresh cilantro and avocado! Thanks for this great, super healthy and super filling quick week-day meal! 🙂