'Why I Love These Easy, One-Pot, Protein-Packed Vegan Dinners'

Merle O’Neal, known for sharing high-protein vegan recipes and testing viral meals on YouTube, recently posted a video featuring three easy, one-pot dinners. Each dish focuses on fiber, flavor, and plant-based protein – all with minimal cleanup.

In the video, O’Neal explains that she created the lineup out of “a primal need to stop doing so many dishes.” Like many viewers, she doesn’t have a dishwasher, so these meals are designed for efficiency and batch cooking. They’re also ideal for anyone trying to boost protein intake while keeping meals simple.

The recipes featured are a red lentil dal, a creamy roasted vegetable pasta, and a hearty lentil soup. While not all hit the 30-gram protein mark on their own, O’Neal shares tips for adding ingredients like tofu, soy milk, or chickpeas to reach that target.

Try all three recipes

One-pot red lentil dal

The first dish is a red lentil dal from Maya at FitGreenMind. O’Neal likes its simplicity and nutrition profile. “It’s simple. It’s minimal ingredients and super healthy,” she says.

She sautés garlic and ginger in olive oil, then adds a blend of cumin, coriander, curry powder, and paprika. Red lentils follow, along with tomato paste, water, and coconut milk. The dal simmers until thick and creamy.

Lentils are rich in magnesium, potassium, and fiber. One serving of red lentils contains 8 grams of fiber and 18 grams of protein, according to O’Neal. “That is something to write home about,” she says.

To boost the protein, she recommends several tweaks. “I would add some nutritional yeast… chickpeas… tofu,” she explains. She also suggests replacing part of the coconut milk with soy milk, which can add up to nine grams of protein per cup. With these adjustments, she estimates the dish can reach over 30 grams of protein per serving.

Creamy roasted vegetable pasta

The second recipe comes from Carly at PlantYou. It’s a baked pasta dish loaded with vegetables, roasted garlic, and creamy cashew sauce. O’Neal says it’s not strictly one-pot if you make the sauce from scratch. “Technically it’s [not a] one pot because she calls for cashew cream (likely homemade) in this,” she says. “But she does say you can also use vegan cream cheese if you want to.”

She soaks cashews in boiling water, then blends them with garlic, lemon juice, and salt to create the cream. The roasted veg include red pepper, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, onion, artichokes, and a full head of garlic.

Once roasted, the vegetables are mixed with pasta and cashew cream. The result is rich, tangy, and deeply flavorful. “It’s such a rich, delicious sauce,” she says. “It’s creamy, it’s got the tomato. But then it has this really interesting acidity and briny flavor.”

To increase the protein, she recommends her classic silken tofu sauce, chickpeas, or nutritional yeast. “This is absolutely delicious,” she says. “I’ll make my own personal version of it, but it’s a brilliant idea.”

One-pot green lentil soup

The final meal is a lentil soup inspired by a recipe from Minimalist Baker. O’Neal uses green lentils for this one, which she says are more peppery and fibrous than red lentils.

The soup includes parsnips, carrots, celery, baby potatoes, garlic, and shallots, all simmered with broth and fresh thyme. O’Neal adds tomato paste for acidity and says a squeeze of lemon or crushed tomatoes would also work well.

“Legumes for life,” she says. “That’s a mantra to go by.”

To bump the protein further, she suggests adding nutritional yeast and more lentils. She also points out that this soup is great for freezing, meal prep, or making in large batches.

You can find more of Merle O’Neal’s recipes and videos on her YouTube channel.