5 Nutritious Vegan Meal Prep Recipes

Meal prepping can be a useful, nutritious, time and money-saving way of cooking food.

For many, it helps take pressure off day-to-day preparation, particularly for very busy people, but it can also make it easier to ensure you eat balanced meals. Meal prep can help with shopping on a budget, and even minimize your household food waste – a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions. (It also definitely doesn’t need to take a whole day to do.)

With all that in mind, here are five nutritious, delicious, vegan meal prep recipes.

5 nutritious meal prep vegan recipes

There are several different ways to meal prep, and these vegan recipes include some of the most simple. Make-ahead meals are perfect for work lunches and post-work dinners as they involve preparing an entire dish in advance that perhaps just requires reheating.

Batch cooking is another way of prepping, but it’s often how many of us cook and prepare large one-pot meals like curries, stews, and soups anyway. It involves preparing a large quantity of the same recipe – such as a chili – then splitting it into portions for freezing.

Another time-saver that doesn’t require too much prep but can really make a difference on the day is chopping, portioning, and sometimes cooking individual ingredients ahead of time so that the final meals are faster and easier to put together when you’re ready to eat.

High protein lasagna

Photo shows someone wearing blue oven gloves and holding up a large dish full of vegan lasagna — PlantBaes Try this high-protein vegan lasagna

This lasagna recipe from Sarah Cobacho of PlantBaes is absolutely packed with protein and super easy to batch cook ahead of time. Incorporating textured vegetable protein (TVP) – which is particularly affordable and high in protein – in place of mince, and both silken tofu and nutritional yeast means it’s also rich in calcium and B vitamins.

Find the recipe here.

Bean, orzo, and pesto salad

Photo shows four colorful bowls of orzo, bean, and pesto salad on a table — Plant Baes This orzo salad contains plenty of carbs, protein, and veggies

Another one from PlantBaes, this bean, orzo, and pesto salad can easily be prepared and split into portions for the week ahead. However, if you prefer, the various ingredients can also be measured, diced, and refrigerated separately for quick assembly on the day.

Find the recipe here.

High protein mac and cheese

Four dishes of meal prepped high protein vegan mac and cheese with greens ontop — Plant Baes Serve this high-protein mac and cheese with a side of greens for added vitamins

You might not think of vegan mac and cheese as being particularly high in protein, but this recipe – also from PlantBaes – combines wholewheat pasta (more protein and more fiber than white), cashews, lentils, soy milk, and nutritional yeast, plus potato.

It requires around 15 minutes to prep and 15 minutes to cook, but may take a little longer if you are doubling or tripling the recipe and batch cooking for the week ahead. Serve with your favorite greens or a quick side salad.

Find the recipe here.

Couscous salad jar

Talking of salads, this high-protein couscous, tofu, and veggies dish from Maya Leinenbach at FitGreenMind is super quick, easy, and nutritious. It’s also flavored with maple, harissa, and a hummus-lemon dressing. Each jar of salad will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.

Find the recipe here.

Easy pesto pasta salad

Vegan orzo pesto pasta salad — Nuts & Twigs This pasta salad is served cold, making it ideal for batch cooking

Regina Pearce (of Nuts & Twigs) created this recipe as a comforting summertime dish that is tasty and nutritious but quick to prepare. It can also be served cold, making it an ideal packed lunch or quick after-work dinner. This version makes four cups of salad, but you can easily double or triple the ingredients to prep for a full week of meals.

Find the recipe here.