This 7-day vegan (vegetarian) meal plan includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes. If you are new to meal planning vegan or vegetarian or need some new vegan beginner recipes, this list will give you plenty of delicious options to choose from. We also added a FREE e-book you can download including all recipes with a SHOPPING LIST.
How to start a vegan diet?
To start a vegan diet that would stick in the long run, you need three things to consider:
- MANAGE YOUR EXPECTATIONS – We see a lot of failed attempts mostly due to the fact that they only wanted to eat exactly the same meals as before but vegan. And if those veganised meals didn’t taste the same as their non-vegan versions, they were disappointed and quit. I tell you now they will never taste exactly the same, but that doesn’t mean they are not tasty.
- KEEP ON OPEN MIND – You will come across lots of different ingredients you may have never heard of before. You need to be curious to try out new things, new tastes, new textures. If you keep an open mind, you will realize super fast that the number of choices to eat vegan is endless.
- LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE – Most people who start a vegan diet doesn’t have much experience in cooking vegetables. You need to leave some time for trial and error. You might need to make something a couple of times to see what flavors, what textures are the best to your taste.
Start with
- easy and simple recipes.
- vegetables and fruits that you already like.
- familiar ingredients.
Why do you need meal planning vegan?
When we first started eating plant-based/vegan, the first thing we struggled with was time to meal prep. We had so many go-to non-vegan recipes, which we could whip up quickly using only pantry staples. My husband just looked into the fridge and knew immediately what to make for dinner or lunch.
But after starting this new diet, making meals was not that easy at first. Vegan recipes tend to look a bit unusual or had some unfamiliar ingredients. It was harder to estimate how much time do we need to make them. Sometimes we only realized that there were some important overnight prep steps we forgot to do like soaking.
We really needed to PLAN EVERY MEAL IN ADVANCE. In the beginning, there was no room to improvise simply because we didn’t have enough experience. Later, it got easier and easier.
Why this is the best vegan meal plan?
We wanted to give you a list of vegan recipes that
- are vegan (and gluten-free)
- are easy to make
- have a short list of simple ingredients
- have no processed ingredients
- are made from scratch
- can be made ahead time
- keep well in the fridge
- have ingredients available all year around.
We created this list for you to successfully kick-start your vegan / plant-based journey. Watch a quick slideshow with all Vegan Meal Plan recipes.
Easy vegan breakfast recipes for your vegan meal plan
Where else would you start meal planning for a vegan/vegetarian diet? Of course, you would start with breakfast.
The below recipes are the first-ever vegan breakfast recipes we posted on My Pure Plants because these are the ones we eat regularly since the beginning of our plant-based journey. They are tried and tested like hundreds of times. There is not one bit we would change.
- Day 1 – Vegan Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
- Day 2 – Hummus and Veggie Sandwiches
- Day 3 – Red Lentil Pancakes
- Day 4 – Savory Vegan French Toast
- Day 5 – Vegan Blueberry Millet Porridge
- Day 6 – Veggie Pinwheels
- Day 7 – Red Lentil Waffles
Day 1 – Vegan Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
Oatmeal is one of the easiest breakfast to make. The only thing you need to remember is that you need 1 cup of quick oats and 2 cups of milk (how to make cashew milk). Other than that, just load it up with your favorite fruits, nuts, and seeds. We love to add chia seeds, flax seeds, nut butter (how to make peanut butter), almond slices, puffed seeds like quinoa or amaranth.
Day 2 – Hummus and Veggie Sandwiches
We love savory breakfasts and love to have a quick toast or sandwich for breakfast. Our go-to sandwich spread is this quick oil-free hummus topped with raw veggies. We love hummus and it is so easy to make one at home. You only need 5 ingredients and 5 minutes. If we want to mix it up, we make our 5-minute Tofu Cream Cheese or one of our Roasted Eggplant Bell Pepper Spread instead of hummus.
Day 3 – Red Lentil Pancakes
We love hidden veggie recipes and we especially love to cook with red lentils. This vegan and gluten-free pancake recipe is a natural protein boost to start your day. It will give you 10 light, fluffy, protein pancakes that are ready in a couple of minutes. We love to top our vegan pancakes with seasonal fruit and maple syrup.
Day 4 – Savory Vegan French Toast
This is a 3-ingredient, eggless french toast recipe using chickpea flour, dairy-free milk, and black salt. We love to top them with bruschetta made from fresh, ripe tomatoes, basil, and garlic. They are super tasty, extremely filling and imagine that they are also kid-approved. Our daughter loves them.
Day 5 – Blueberry Millet Porridge
This porridge recipe is a refreshing 4-ingredient alternative to the classic oatmeal. In combination with blueberries, it is a perfect breakfast to kick-start your day. Cooking millet for breakfast is easy and the outcome is somewhere between rice pudding and oatmeal. You’ll love it I am sure.
Day 6 – Veggie Pinwheels
No, you are wrong! Pinwheels are not only spectacular appetizers, but they are stunning for breakfast and even for lunch if you have any left. We love how colorful they are. Not to mention you can easily mix and match depending on what you have on hand. You can use your favorite tortilla brand and vegan cream cheese, or you can make our Flourless Tortilla and our Tofu Cream Cheese recipe to make this meal truly homemade and from scratch. If you can’t eat soy or don’t like tofu, don’t worry, make this Oil-free Hummus or Roasted Beetroot Hummus instead. We love these veggie pinwheels with both spreads.
Day 7 – Red Lentil Waffles
Do you love crispy, nutritious and delicious waffles? Well, we do also. Would you have guessed that red lentils make awesome waffles? Me neither, but after creating our Red Lentil Pancakes recipe, I really wanted a red lentil waffles recipe. And no, you will not taste the red lentils. Especially after you top them with maple syrup and seasonal fruit.
Easy vegan lunch and dinner recipes for your vegan meal plan
Most of the people who start eating vegan or vegetarian are primary concerned about what vegans eat for lunch and dinner. In short, they eat a rainbow of veggies, grains and legumes. We try to make sure that we load our dishes with lots of different ones so they never get boring. Below there are SEVEN delicious examples.
Also to kill two birds with one stone. Ohhh, scratch that. It is not really a vegan-friendly metaphor. So to make our lives easier especially when life gets busy, we have this neat system in place:
We cook dinner in a larger batch so that the leftover from dinner would be enough for next day’s lunch!
All of the below recipes keep well in the fridge for several days. Not to mention they are freezer friendly too. If you jump to the bottom, you can see how we are meal planning vegan for an entire day using the below recipes.
- Day 1 – Vegan Mushroom Risotto
- Day 2 – Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese
- Day 3 – Vegan Bean and Millet Chili
- Day 4 – Vegan Portobello Fajitas
- Day 5 – Vegan Eggplant Meatballs
- Day 6 – Vegan Jackfruit Beef Stew
- Day 7 – Vegan Beetroot Burger
Day 1 – Vegan Mushroom Risotto
You might think that making risotto is time-consuming, or you have to stir it continuously or you need special rice. No, not at all. This basic vegan risotto recipe is done under 30 minutes. Topped with sauteed mushrooms in soy sauce is the perfect add-in.
Day 2 – Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese
If you love easy and quick, you cannot go wrong with spaghetti bolognese. Whether you use store-bought marinara sauce or homemade, you are ready in 30 minutes. Our favorite vegan ground beef is cauliflower and walnut mince. This seemingly weird combination is a true whole foods plant-based alternative. Not to mention it works because cauliflower gives the minced texture, while walnut adds the meaty richness.
Day 3 – Vegan Bean and Millet Chili
This the best hearty, meaty and satisfying vegan chili my husband has ever made. It is loaded with whole foods like veggies, legumes, and grains. All the good stuff. Ridiculously easy and healthy. And the best part is that it is perfect for batch cooking as it keeps well in the fridge and in the freezer.
Day 4 – Vegan Portobello Fajitas
It is a sheet pan meal, which means you chop your fajitas veggies (portobello mushrooms, bell pepper, onion), spice them up, drop them on a sheet pan and bake them in the oven. Voila! Grab your favorite tortilla (or try our grain-free tortilla recipe), spread some guacamole, salsa, and sour cream. Now fill them up with veggies and your vegan fajitas is ready to go!
Day 5 – Vegan Eggplant Meatballs
5-ingredient meatless meatballs are the perfect candidate for meal planning as you can use them in different ways. Serve these eggplant meatballs with a hearty marinara sauce on spaghetti and you have yourself a lovely dinner. Take a baguette add meatballs, marinara sauce and vegan cheese and you have a delicious meatball sub for lunch.
Day 6 – Vegan Jackfruit Beef Stew
A rich and filling veggie stew should definitely be on your weekly rotation. Depending on the season and what you have on hand, this vegetable stew is the perfect base. It is hearty, flavorful and loaded with veggies. For good measure, we also added some jackfruit chunks to have something beefy to bite on but that is totally optional. Perfect for batch cooking and keeps well in the fridge.
Day 7 – Vegan Beetroot Burger
These Vegan Beetroot Burgers are so easy to make using only 7 simple and common ingredients. Also no need to pre-cook or pre-bake the beetroot. We use raw grated beetroot, canned white beans, and oats as the main ingredients. You can add everything in a food processor and your veggie patties are ready in 5 minutes. The result is a real crowd-pleaser, hearty and delicious. Not to mention freezer-friendly.
More vegan meal planning ideas
Have you seen our Vegan Dinner Plans for the Holidays? Not yet? You can also download them for FREE in the form of a printable e-book with a shopping list.
Furthermore, we gathered you lots of creative and delicious recipes to use make your meals interesting using well-known ingredients. You can check all of our recipe roundups or choose from the below list:
- Vegan Recipes Using Marinara Sauce – 15+ recipes
- Vegan Recipes Using Cashew Alfredo Sauce – 10+ recipes
- What to Eat with Hummus – 25+ recipes
- What to Eat with Ratatouille – 25+ recipes
- 15-min Quick & Easy Vegan Meals – 45+ recipes
- Must-try Vegan Eggplant Recipes – 30+ recipes
- The Best Gnocchi Sauces – 20+ recipes
- TVP recipes – 10+ recipes
- Oyster Mushroom Recipes – 20+ recipes
7-day Vegan Meal Plan
Ingredients
Day 0 – Sunday
- 1 dinner Vegan Mushroom Risotto
Day 1 – Monday
- 1 breakfast Vegan Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
- 1 lunch Vegan Mushroom Risotto
- 1 dinner Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese
Day 2 – Tuesday
- 1 breakfast Hummus and Veggie Sandwiches
- 1 lunch Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese
- 1 dinner Vegan Chili
Day 3 – Wednesday
- 1 breakfast Red Lentil Pancakes
- 1 lunch Vegan Chili
- 1 dinner Vegan Eggplant Meatballs
Day 4 – Thursday
- 1 breakfast Savory Vegan French Toast
- 1 lunch Vegan Eggplant Meatballs
- 1 dinner Vegan Portobello Fajitas
Day 5 – Friday
- 1 breakfast Vegan Blueberry Millet Porridge
- 1 lunch Vegan Portobello Fajitas
- 1 dinner Vegan Jackfruit Beef Stew
Day 6 – Saturday
- 1 breakfast Veggie Pinwheels
- 1 lunch Vegan Jackfruit Beef Stew
- 1 dinner Vegan Beetroot Burger
Day 7 – Sunday
- 1 breakfast Red Lentil Waffles
- 1 lunch Vegan Beetroot Burger
- 1 dinner Vegan Mushroom Risotto
Equipments You Need
Instructions
Why is there a Day 0?
- We cook dinner in a larger batch, so that we can have enough leftovers for next day's lunch. So, to start the weekly rotation, we cook the Vegan Mushroom Risotto for Sunday dinner, which will be our Monday lunch as well. What we cook for Monday dinner will also be our Tuesday lunch. And so on.
Rach
Hi Emese and Nandi, thank you for this comprehensive guide! This is such a valuable resource for anyone transitioning to veganism. I love that these are all easy, simple meals with readily available ingredients. Thanks again for the inspiration!