Friends! Happy Saturday!
I’m so excited it’s the weekend. After another insane work week (so fun though), a visit from some friends, and just general summer lyfe craziness, I’m all into this whole weekend thing.
But that’s why summer is so wonderful, right? We’re all off doing fun things in the sun, being all happy and whatnot, so we don’t really have time to think about (nor do we want to think about) what to make for dinner.
We want effortless! We want simple! We want seasonal ingredients! We want crazy delicious!
Luckily, we can have it all.
These are my 15 go-to summer meals. The ones I reach for when I seriously don’t want to spend time mixing and stirring or when we have an insanely busy night planned. They’re totally guaranteed to satisfy your tastebuds and stomach, and you are going to luuuuuve them.
15 Easy Healthy Vegan Meals for Summer
Vegan Greek Chickpea Lettuce Wraps
A new favorite! They’re filled with all the things: marinated chickpeas, fresh cucumbers, katamala olives, and THE most addictive lemon tahini sauce ever. These are just too good. You must must must make them now please :)
Vegan Cheese Plate
We have this meal…every week. It’s just so simple to throw our favorite ingredients onto a plate and call it dinner. Mixing it up with different flavors and textures really keeps things interesting each week, and have you ever seen a more Instagrammable meal in your life?! I think not.
The Big Vegan Rainbow Bowl with Maple Almond Butter Dressing
Fun fact: this salad was in a magazine! It’s light, yet it’s totally filling and full of bright flavors and colors. Oh and the dressing? Totally drinkable. Mark has it every week!
Cauliflower Sweet Potato Herb Salad
Another new favorite! I’m not the biggest cauliflower fan in the world. Unless, that is, it’s done right. And oh boy is this salad right. I love the textures, the freshness of the herbs, and the lemon tahini dressing on top so so much. I actually planned my herb garden around this recipe because I knew I’d need to have mint, parsley, and basil on hand to make this all the time!
Honey Mustard Lentil Vegetable Salad
Is there anything better than honey mustard? I think not. Add in some fresh summer veggies and lentils (one of my favorite vegan proteins), and you’re well on your way to an easy, delicious, and simple summer meal. Plus it’s great warm or straight from the fridge!
ps. to ensure vegan friendliness, be sure to use maple syrup instead of honey
Peanut Butter Sweet Potato
Okay, this is ridiculous. But I’ve gotten so many people hooked on putting peanut butter and cinnamon on their sweet potatoes, I really should have stock in the sweet potato business. I love this as a meal if I really don’t feel like cooking, yet I want something warm and comforting and satisfying. Seriously don’t knock it til you try it!
Cheesy Vegan Zucchini Roll-Ups
We just made these again last week! Actually, I’m pretty sure that this recipe has quickly become the #1 recipe I make on a regular basis. We love love love this stuff. Plus it totally tricked my meat and cheese-loving dad. So good, you guys.
Strawberry White Bean Caprese Salad with Honey Black Pepper Granola
These colors! This salad right here just screams summer to me. The fresh strawberries, the beautiful basil, the creamy avocado…this is one of my favorite recipes ever. And once you throw granola croutons onto a salad, you’ll never choose the bread version again.
ps. to ensure vegan friendliness, be sure to use maple syrup instead of honey
Vegan Black Bean Ceviche
My. Kind. Of. Dinner. Serve it up with some tortilla chips or spoon it over some rice / quinoa, and you have a powerhouse of a dinner right there! It’s super limey, which goes great with the Mexican spices we’ve got goin’ on all up in hurr. Plus, it comes together in minutes…you really can’t beat it!
Protein Fried Rice
So many of you have tried this recipe, and you all have loved it! It’s kind of ridiculous how a protein-packed ingredient can easily stand in for rice in this recipe. It’s totally grain free, so it’s light yet full of flavor. Plus you can customize the meal with your favorite summer veggies!
Caribbean Rainbow Salad
This might be the craziest salad I’ve ever made. It’s definitely not an every day thing for me, but when I have a bunch of fresh fruits and veggies I need to use up in the fridge, this is my go-to. It’s modeled after my favorite salad at one of my favorite restaurants in Pittsburgh, and I can’t get over the textures and flavors. It’s seriously the bomb.
Bean, Kale, and Grain Bowl with Mandarin Dressing
Simplicity at its best! The mandarin dressing on this grain bowl is out.of.this.world. SO SO good. Especially when massaged into kale. I switch up the protein and grain in this salad often, so feel free to do the same!
Curry Cauliflower and Kale Grain Salad
This salad was modeled after the curry cauliflower salad from Trader Joe’s. I was kinda skeptical, especially because this savory salad is mixed with raisins, but I can’t get over these flavors! Slightly spicy from the curry, sweet from the raisins, and totally satisfying thanks to the quinoa. Ridiculous.
Buffalo Chickpea Pizza
P-I-Z-Z-A! (psst. anyone else remember that Mary-Kate & Ashley song?) There’s nothing better, right? I love spicy foods, so this pizza really satisfies. The sauce is made from a mixture of hummus and hot sauce, and it’s topped with spicy chickpeas. Perfetto after a long summer day!
ps. to ensure vegan friendliness, be sure to use vegan cheese
Thai Zucchini Noodle Bowls
Ah, finally. You knew Thai Peanut was going to work its way in here somewhere! I love my Thai peanut sauce, and I use it very very frequently on the blog. These noodle bowls are super fresh because they’re made with brown rice noodles and zucchini noodles, and they’re topped with sautéed veggies like mushrooms and peppers. Plus, you’ll pretty much want to bathe in the Thai peanut sauce.
Don’t say I didn’t warn ya. ;)
What are your favorite summertime meals? Always looking for something new to add to the blog!
Speaking of: I’ll have a cauliflower recipe, a dip recipe, and a salsa recipe coming soon!
Dawn says
i loved the rainbow bowl
It was just amazing
The taste was amazing,
and the process to make it wasn’t that hard at all!
Alexa [fooduzzi.com] says
SO happy to hear that, Dawn! We’re obsessed with the bowl too! That dressing though… *heart eye emoji*
sharon says
OK ! I will sign up cuz these look really good . also healthy and EASY ! thanks !
Alexa [fooduzzi.com] says
Thanks, Sharon! Hope you like it :)
Joshua Howard says
Thank you for these great recipes! Two days ago I made buffalo chickpea pizza and it was sooo delicious! Have you tried to cook it?
Alexa [fooduzzi.com] says
So glad you liked it!! What do you mean when you say “cook it”?