19 Plant Based Pantry Recipes

Coronavirus. It’s all anyone seems to be talking about. Depending on where you live, there are growing restrictions as the government tries to contain the spread of COVID-19. Many stores are completely sold out of toilet paper, cleaning supplies and lots of canned and frozen goods. I thought it might be helpful to share some of our favorite plant based meals that use pantry staples (AKA things you might already have on hand or will stay shelf stable if you stock up!). You’re not doomed to eat boxed mac and cheese!

If you do need to brave the stores and would like to stock up, these recipes can give you a jumping off point so you know what you need. There’s nothing worse than going out to the store and panic buying a bunch of things that don’t really go together in recipes!

Tips

Even if you’re not typically plant based, many of the recipes are less expensive than recipes that call for meat or dairy products. Throwing a few plant based meals into your rotation is a great way to stretch your money.

Some of the following recipes do call for onion, celery and carrot (or mirepoix). A few also call for a green pepper. If you’re able to do a bit of food prepping, you could purchase a bag or two of each and spend time chopping them up. You can either pre-portion them out for recipes (what my game plan is today) or you can just portion them into one cup increments. These are all vegetables that freeze very well and many stores (at least around me) still have a plethora of fresh fruits and vegetables available. It tends to be frozen and canned foods that are completely sold out or limited.

When substituting powdered versions of onion, garlic or ginger for fresh, you can easily google how much you should put. Powdered spices are much more potent than fresh, so you don’t need as much! Also, don’t be afraid to play around with ingredients. You might make the recipe even better!

Dried beans/lentils are slightly less convenient than canned, but they last a long time and have a great shelf life.

A few of these recipes make large quantities (I’ve specified if they do). They all freeze well, so you could easily freeze half for another meal or, better yet, bring some to a neighbor in need.

Lots of these recipes also call for potatoes. Potatoes tend to last a long time as long as they are stored properly. Just having baked potatoes are a great dinner option too! We love to top baked potatoes with salsa and refried beans to make them even more delicious and filling.

Soups

Main Dishes

Teriyaki Stir Fry (Sprouting Wild Ones) – This is one of Peter’s all time favorite meals. He says it tastes like healthy Chinese take out. This calls for broccoli, but I’ve always just used frozen.

Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie (Budget Bytes) – This is always a crowd pleaser with any person I’ve served it to (vegan or not). We typically omit the mushrooms and add the lentils. This calls for mirepoix, but you can freeze to prep ahead of time.

Tomato Herb Rice with White Beans and Spinach (Budget Bytes) – This is a meal I’ve been making for years. I can’t even count how many times I’ve made it. It only requires a fresh onion and garlic, but you could probably substitute garlic and onion powder. Everything else is shelf stable and it’s ready in 30 minutes!

Lentil Sloppy Joes (Minimalist Baker) – In case you haven’t tried them, lentils are an amazing substitute for ground beef. They’re great in tacos, shepherd’s pie and also this sloppy joe recipe. It asks for half of a green pepper and half of an onion, which you could freeze ahead of time or omit (but you would likely want to add onion powder and maybe lessen the sauce just a bit). These are great on buns, in lettuce wraps or over baked potatoes!

Curried Chickpeas with Spinach (Budget Bytes) – This recipe is simple, comes together quickly and only requires onion and ginger as fresh ingredients. If you don’t have those on hand, you could easily substitute powdered versions. Serve over rice and/or with some na’an and you’ve got a delicious, filling dinner!

General Tso’s Tofu (Domestic Superhero) – I realize few foods are polarizing as tofu (except maybe brussel sprouts), but tofu is extremely inexpensive, stays good in the fridge for a long time and can even be frozen! My husband is an avid tofu hater, but he absolutely loves this recipe … probably because it’s drowning in delicious sauce! Serve with rice. Tip: If you’re trying to cut down on refined sugar, coconut sugar is an excellent swap here.

Cashew Ricotta Stuffed Shells (Making Thyme for Health) – I may be the only one who  keeps raw cashews stockpiled, but this is a recipe I always have all the ingredients for! It’s so good that non-vegans can never tell that it’s not real ricotta.

Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Lentils (Budget Bytes) – This recipe makes a massive amount, so it’s easy to make now and freeze half for a later date. The fresh ingredients are onion, potato and carrots, but everything else is kept in your pantry. Serve over rice or with some na’an!

Sides

Seeded No Knead Bread (Budget Bytes) – This is my all time favorite bread recipe. The texture is amazing and the crusty-ness (is that a word?) makes it phenomenal with soup. If you can’t find wheat flour (like me today) or don’t have the seeds on hand, this recipe from Pinch of Yum is a great white flour version.