21 Family Friendly & Fast Vegan Meals
These fast vegan meals are great for the whole family. I love eating healthy. Even better if it’s quick and cheap! What I don’t like is sifting through thousands of recipes only to find out the recipe is complicated or takes a lot longer than I wanted.
Even worse is when I find a recipe that sounds delicious but my family ends up hating it.
Don’t worry: I’ve done the sifting for you! You’ll have enough plant-based family meal recipes to last an entire month’s worth of weekday dinners. Probably even a few lunches with leftovers. YUM!
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Bonus: They’re all entirely vegan, plant-based, easy to make, budget-friendly, and family-friendly.
A Month’s Worth Of Budget Family Friendly Plant-Based Meals
Once you find some recipes below that you want to try, check out my post on how to successfully meal plan so that you aren’t tempted to order take-out mid-week. The struggle is real, y’all!
1) Roasted Pumpkin Coconut Curry
Alicia at Eat Your Way Clean created this recipe involving fresh roasted pumpkin and Thai red curry paste. Zucchini adds extra veggies and coconut milk makes it creamy.
- Versatile Thai flavoring paste; authentic blend of aromatic spices
2) Ratatouille
Nora from A Clean Bake did her take on this French staple. While it may look complicated, it is actually really easy since you’re basically slicing tomato, eggplant, zucchini, and onion into rounds then covering with tomato sauce. Check out her recipe here.
3) Pot Pie
Melissa from Vegan Huggs recipe makes pot pies easy and accessible. Pre-made pie crusts and frozen vegetables equal a quick weekday meal.
Baking in individual ramekins gives everyone their personalized pot pie. This is a plant-based family meal favorite for the fall.
4) Eggplant Meatless Meatballs Spaghetti
Emese and Nandy from My Pure Plants have a unique take on meatless meatballs using eggplant and marjoram. Their recipe can be baked oil-free to keep calories down.
If you plan ahead, you can roast the eggplant a day ahead of time to really cut down on dinner prep. Meal planners can make a batch of these ahead of time and freeze them to use later.
5) Spicy Vegan Paneer Naan Wraps
I’ve been making a lot more Indian recipes lately, and my spicy vegan panner wraps have become famous in my house!
This is a fast and healthy recipe you can make tonight. Perfect for the hot weather and packed full of veggies.
My recipe uses quick-cooking vegan paneer and fresh veggies. The dressing contains ingredients you probably already have in your pantry.
6) Slow Cooker Chili
Elena from Happy Kitchen Rocks keeps prep work to a minimum. Combine everything into a slow cooker and you have a delicious dinner 8 hrs later. Her recipe is high in protein, vegetables, and…..oh yeah…..flavor!
I use this secret weapon multi-purpose kitchen gadget to save me oodles of time cooking.
7) Sesame-Soy Marinated Tofu Poke Bowl
Another one of my recipes, these vegan poke bowls are fun for kids and grownups alike!
8) Creamy Tomato Soup
Bintu from From A Pantry has created a creamy tomato soup recipe that is nice and flavorful. It can be made via a regular stovetop or pressure cooker for extra speed.
Using canned tomatoes keeps prep time drastically down. You basically combine all the ingredients, cook, and blend.
9) Vegan Mediterranean Rice
Courtney and Chris from Know Your Produce have a simple rice recipe that can be made in 20 minutes. Have leftover rice (or quinoa) from last night’s dinner? Sauté it with veggies in a skillet for a delicious family meal.
10) Creamy Garlic Pasta
Gwen from Delightful Adventures created a creamy vegan garlic sauce using silken tofu. Her sauce recipe can be made ahead of time so the only thing you need to prepare is pasta.
11) 30 Minute Curry
Stacey from Stacey Homemaker has a curry recipe that can be completed in 30 minutes flat!
Add in whatever veggies you like. It’ll go great with the Thai red curry paste and coconut milk that’s in the sauce.
12) Tangy Slow Cooker Stew
Camilla from Fab Food 4 All uses chestnut mushrooms instead of beef for that hearty earthy flavor.
Her recipe uses balsamic vinegar and soy sauce to give that tangy Worcestershire taste. Aside from chopping up some vegetables, the slow cooker does most of the work.
Cooking the stew in this will make sure you have more than enough for leftovers.
- Spacious 6 quart manual slow cooker serves 7+ people or fits a 6 pounds; roast; polished, silver stainless steel exterior with black accents and plastic handles. The lid should be left unlocked while cooking, as the additional pressure can result in the food being overcooked
13) Baked Manicotti
Rebecca from Strength & Sunshine does her take to ‘veganize’ this comfort food. Her recipe is soy-free and uses store-bought ingredients to keep assembly time to slightly longer than it takes to boil noodles.
14) Eggplant and Zucchini Curry
María from The Cookware Geek has a curry recipe that takes 30 minutes from prep to serve. Turmeric gives it that lovely yellow hue. A comforting curry using fresh from the garden produce.
This is another recipe that utilizes Thai red curry paste so it’s perfect to use up any leftover.
15) Lazy Falafel
Rhian from Rhian’s Recipes deconstructs the falafel sandwich. Her recipe uses the ingredients of the falafel without all the fuss.
It’s all cooked in a single skillet so even cleanup is a breeze. Tuck the filling into your choice of pita, and take it on the go.
16) Spanish Beans with Tomatoes
Kate from Veggie Desserts creates far more than just desserts. Her recipe is a low-calorie Spanish bean stew that’s ready in 20 minutes.
*Note, lima beans are the same as butter beans used in the recipe.
17) Busy Person Fried Rice
I’m throwing in another one of my own budget-friendly and fast vegan meal ideas – this recipe is great any night of the week. I will often use leftover rice and frozen vegetables to make this as easy and quick as possible. Although simple, my family requests it frequently.
18) Nut-Free Mac & Cheese
Emese and Nandi from My Pure Plants made a cheese sauce without the typical cashews. Their recipe uses sunflower seeds and vegetables to create the sauce.
Optional mushroom eggplant topping for an extra dose of veggies. Another plant-based family meal favorite!
Related recipe:
19) Hearty Mushroom Stew
Gwen from Delightful Adventures has a stew recipe that can easily be made via a stovetop or pressure cooker.
This stew is full of comforting veggies. Also, this recipe uses my favorite cooker to get the meal ready fast.
- 7-IN-1 FUNCTIONALITY: Pressure cook, slow cook, rice cooker, yogurt maker, steamer, sauté pan and food warmer.
Related recipe:
20) Creamy Coconut Korma
Diana from Little Sunny Kitchen has a healthy take on the usually cream-filled korma.
Her recipe uses coconut milk, tomatoes, and butter beans as the main ingredients. You could also add other vegetables like potatoes.
I recommend using this traditional storage to keep all of your Indian spices fresh.
21) Shepherd’s Pie
Kate from Veggie Desserts has a vegan take on shepherd’s pie that only takes 30 minutes. The base of her recipe is mushrooms and lentils with smashed new potatoes on top.
I love to cook in these to match the rustic cooler weather feel this comfort food invokes.
21 Family Friendly & Fast Vegan Meals – Conclusion
With all of these recipes, you now have over a month’s worth of easy plant-based family meals. If you want to save even more time, I suggest trying to cook food in batches and freezing the extra.
By planning out your meals at the beginning of the week and advance preparation, you’re more likely to stick to your plan. Not eating out or buying impulse grocery purchases will save you a lot of money.
Let me know your favorite recipes in the comments.
What a great selection of vegan recipes, shall certainly be trying some of them! Thank you for linking to my stew:-)
You’re very welcome! It looks delicious.
Hi, I always save quick and easy recipes if I see one, as you can never have enough. Thanks for adding our mac and cheese and eggplant balls in this great selection.
My husband can’t wait to eat the eggplant “meatballs.” I love that it isn’t super time-intensive.
So many great recipes to choose from! Thanks for including my vegan shepherds pie and Spanish beans!
Great ideas in here!!! Cant wait to try some of these! Love seeing more vegan blogs popping up, its so refreshing! 🙂 Great job!