Cheap & Easy Vegan Dinner Recipes
Updated Jan 20, 2024
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
Whether you are trying to incorporate more whole foods into your diet, cut back your expenses, or add more simple vegan recipes to your dinner rotation, I have created the ultimate list of Cheap and Easy Family-Friendly Vegan Dinner Recipes!
While there tend to be endless options for vegetarian dinners, finding vegan-friendly dinner recipes can be a bit more challenging. Often plant-based dinner recipes are made with an extensive list of ingredients that can be expensive or hard to find. Or worse yet, they are an afterthought and lack flavor and substance.
While all of my plant-based recipes are made with simple, wholesome, easy-to-find ingredients, these vegan dinner recipes deserve to be the star of the show!
Simple Vegan Dinner Recipes
These cheap and easy vegan recipes prove that you don't need hard-to-find ingredients or extensive time to make a delicious, nourishing plant-based dinner.
1. Vegetarian Fajitas
From the sweetness of the onions to the char of peppers to hearty, earthy portobello mushrooms to the bold fajita seasoning, this simple vegan dinner comes together in under 30 minutes and is full of incredible flavor and texture.
2. Black Bean Sweet Potato Chili
This hearty vegan chili will quickly become a new favorite. Packed with nutrients, flavor, and plant-based fiber, this vegan dinner recipe is one of my all-time favorite 30-minute meals!
3. Instant Pot Cabbage Soup
Made with humble ingredients, this plant-based soup delivers big flavor with ease. Paired with some crusty bread, Instant Pot Cabbage Soup is the perfect cozy vegan dinner for a cold winter night.
4. White Bean Pasta
Made with seasoned white beans, wilted spinach, and blistered tomatoes. this pasta is insanely delicious and ready in under 30 minutes. Skip the parmesan to keep it vegan-friendly.
5. Sweet Potato Tacos
Sweet potatoes and black beans prove they are a match made in heaven in this easy 30-minute taco recipe.
6. Vegetarian Tikka Masala
Made with cauliflower, chickpeas, and a flavorful spiced tomato sauce, this vegan dinner is ready in less than 30 minutes. And you can find ALL the ingredients for this Indian dish at any grocery store!
7. Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli
Pasta Fagioli translates to pasta and beans, which are both staples for cheap vegan meals. Put them together in a flavorful broth, and you will be turning to this Italian soup again and again!
8. Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
Made with meaty portobello mushrooms that are stuffed with a flavorful veggie and quinoa mixture, this simple vegan dinner recipe is hearty, wholesome, and delicious.
9. Instant Pot Vegetable Soup
Everyone raves about this super simple, wholesome soup! This flavorful vegan recipe calls for basic ingredients you likely have on hand along with vegetable of choice, yet the flavorful is unbeatable!
11. Butternut Squash Curry
Made in just one pan, with only a handful of ingredients, this simple vegan meal is incredibly easy to make and insanely flavorful. We are talking a bit of dicing and simmering and a super hearty vegan dinner is DONE!
12. Copycat Sofritas
Chipotle is famous for its vegan sofritas and you won't believe just how easy (and affordable) it is to make a copycat version at home. This vegan meal idea comes together fast, has incredible texture, and is SO flavorful.
13. Kale Pasta
With vibrant greens, creamy chickpeas, and a bright light sauce, this pasta is a quick and easy vegan dinner idea!
14. Instant Pot Lentil Soup
With the addition of fresh onion, celery, and carrots, this vegan dinner recipe uses ingredients that you likely have on hand in your pantry right now, making this delicious, hearty soup extremely affordable.
15. Thai Noodles
Ready in just 15 minutes, these Thai noodles make a delicious vegan meal! They are made with everyday ingredients and insanely flavorful. You will love this simple recipe.
16. Minestrone Soup
Rich in fiber, nutrients, and plant-based protein, Minestrone Soup is a complete meal in a bowl. Made in the crockpot or pressure cooker, this vegan-friendly soup makes a hearty and cheap dinner.
17. Cauliflower Tacos
Made with seasoned, roasted cauliflower and finished with avocado cream, cauliflower tacos make a surprisingly hearty and flavorful dinner idea.
18. Lentil Meatballs
Made with tender lentils and spiced to perfection, these vegan meatballs are not only a cheap and easy vegan recipe, but they also win the approval from meat-eaters.
19. Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili
This hearty vegan-friendly chili is made with simple ingredients, to create a simple, hearty vegan dinner that is filled with plant-based protein.
20. Easy Ratatouille
Transform humble vegetables into a spectacular stew packed with flavor. Ratatouille is a simple vegan dinner idea that is a great way to use up fresh summer vegetables like eggplant and zucchini.
21. Lentil Chili
Full of flavor, nutrients, and plant-based protein, you can make this vegan meal on the stovetop or in the Instant Pot. It comes together with minimal effort to deliver a hearty and healthy meal that is perfect for busy nights.
23. Vegetarians Enchiladas
These are one my family's favorite vegan dinner recipes. Made with zucchini, kale, corn, beans, peppers, and onions, these Vegetarian Enchiladas are bursting with flavor and texture.
24. Instant Pot White Bean Soup
This vegan dinner idea takes humble ingredients and turns them into a comforting soup loaded with nutrients and flavor in just over 30 minutes.
25. Italian Roasted Vegetables
Made with hearty root vegetables, squash, peppers, and fresh tomatoes, serve this dish with crusty bread and a side salad for one simple, yet memorable vegan meal.
26. Vegetarian Potstickers
This vegan recipe is a great way to clean out your produce drawer, and while they do require a bit more hands-on prep, these vegan-friendly potstickers are actually rather easy to make AND make eating your vegetables.
27. Lentil Tacos
Ready in under 30 minutes and made with simple, affordable ingredients, this Lentil Taco Meat is perfectly seasoned and creates a delicious family-friendly vegan recipe.
28. Butternut Squash Chili
Featuring tender butternut squash, creamy white beans, and a rich, thick, and spicy broth, this chili is a cozy and wholesome vegan dinner idea.
29. Refried Bean Burritos
These burritos are one of cheapest and easiest recipes to make when you are looking for a flavorful simple vegan dinner.
30. Asian Noodle Salad
Made with fresh veggies and a light sesame dressing, this plant-based recipe is hearty enough to make a delicious vegan dinner option.
31. Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos
The subtle sweetness of the sweet potatoes plays off the earthy black beans to create a simple vegan dinner that is creamy, hearty, sweet, and robust.
32. Vegetarian Egg Rolls
Despite the word egg in the name of this recipe, this recipe is not made with eggs or any animal products. Instead, it is filled with crisp tender veggies to create a fun and delicious vegan-friendly dinner recipe.
33. Spinach Quinoa Salad
Quinoa Spinach Salad is a simple, protein-packed, refreshing vegan salad that is hearty enough to make a light, yet filling vegan dinner.
34. Southwest Baked Quinoa
Dump, mix, bake, and serve! Whether you serve straight from the pan or use for burrito filling, this quick and easy recipe is filled with protein, fiber, and flavor.
I hope you find a few new vegan-friendly dinner recipes to try here! Please leave a comment and let me know your favorite or send a request my way!
Hello Kristen
Thank you for all these recipes.
I bought a cabbage that was on sale yesterday and thought I would make your cabbage soup.
The cabbage I purchased us quite a pale green. It is called a flat cabbage from Taiwan. Would this be suitable to use or should I use a regular green one?
Hi Yvonne! You are welcome! As for the cabbage, while it would work, I recommend a regular green one. The cabbage from Taiwan is known for its mild and sweet flavor and would be best suited to enjoying raw or in a salad or stir-fry.
Thank you Kristen. I appreciate your help, and I will use a regular green cabbage.
This is one of the very best guides to the variety of foods available and how to to cook with them that I have ever received. You have made it much easier for us to stay with our choice of dieting and yet giving us the variety we need. Thank you for this gift.
You are so very welcome, Frank! So happy to help you with healthier options.
I can't express how grateful I am that you gathered all your vegan recipes together in one place! As you know, (I am Kristen's mom) I am old school so I plan on printing all of them out to have available to me in a binder right at my fingertips. I am so proud of you and all the hard work you do to help people make affordable, delicious meals.
I know Vegan cooking is new to you Mom! Happy to help--as you have helped me so much through the years 🙂