Our Best Vegetarian Soups and Stews
We have plenty of brothy soups, slow cooker stews, chilis, curries and more. To get vegetarian recipes like these delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Slow-Cooker Lentil Soup With Sausage and Greens Recipe • 5★
The seasonings in Italian sausage — fennel, red pepper, garlic — pair beautifully with lentils, and here, they make for a punchy take on lentil soup. The sausage's flavors are reinforced by adding more garlic and pepper to the soup itself, for pops of flavor.
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Healthy Soups and Stews
Whether you’re feeling under the weather or just want a hot and slurpable meal, these healthy soups and stews — like chicken noodle soup, pasta e fagioli, cabbage soup, gochujang potato stew, vegetable soup and more — will warm you from top to toe.
Spiced Chickpea Stew With Coconut and Turmeric Recipe • 5★
Spiced chickpeas are crisped in olive oil, then simmered in a garlicky coconut milk for an insanely creamy, basically-good-for-you stew that evokes stews found in South India and parts of the Caribbean. While the chickpeas alone would be good as a side dish, they are further simmered with stock, bolstered with dark, leafy greens of your choosing and finished with a handful of fresh mint.
Tomato Lentil Stew With Crispy Potato Recipe • 5★ • 1 hr
This hearty one-pot stew makes the most out of kitchen staples thanks to some smart cooking strategies. Carrot, celery and onion are familiar vegetables for creating an aromatic base, but here, cutting them slightly larger gives them a more prominent presence and flavor in the stew.
Spiced Pea Stew With Yogurt Recipe • 5★
Inspired by a warmly spiced Persian stew traditionally made with peas and tomatoes, this version allows the sweetness of the peas and the warmth of onions, ginger, cumin and turmeric to lead. It tops the pea stew with a fresh pea topping made from a portion of the just-cooked peas, plus crushed sesame seeds and chopped cilantro, all of which add vibrant color and texture when sprinkled over the stew just before serving.
Tomato-Watermelon Salad With Anchovy Bread Crumbs Recipe • 5★
Slightly sweet and very savory, this juicy, colorful salad is perfect for summer, when tomatoes and watermelon are at their peak. Briefly marinating the tomatoes helps season them thoroughly and draws out their juices, which lend a soft, round note to the tart sherry vinegar in the dressing.
Halloumi, Peach and Cucumber Spoon Salad Recipe • 5★ • 25 min
Halloumi is a traditional Cypriot cheese made from a mixture of goat’s and sheep’s milk (and sometimes cow’s milk). It is a semi-hard, unripened, brined cheese.
The most famous thing about Halloumi is its high melting point. Unlike most cheeses that turn into a puddle when heated, Halloumi holds its shape. This allows it to be grilled, pan-fried, or even deep-fried until the outside is crispy and golden brown while the inside becomes soft and chewy.
Key Characteristics:
- Texture: It has a distinct "squeaky" texture against the teeth (similar to cheese curds).
- Flavor: It is quite salty and savory because it is preserved in brine.
- Cooking: It is rarely eaten raw; it is almost always served cooked.
Best Substitutes for Halloumi
Finding a perfect match is tricky because of Halloumi's unique "non-melt" property, but depending on what you are cooking, here are the best alternatives:
1. Paneer (Best for texture)
Paneer is an Indian fresh cheese. Like Halloumi, it does not melt when heated.
- Pros: It holds its shape perfectly and can be grilled or fried.
- Cons: It is very mild and unsalted. You will need to add extra salt or marinade to match Halloumi’s flavor.
2. Queso Panela or Queso Blanco (Best for frying)
These are Mexican "basket" cheeses.
- Pros: They have a high melting point and a similar squeaky texture.
- Cons: They are slightly softer than Halloumi and may release more moisture when cooking.
3. Bread Cheese (Juustoleipä)
A Finnish/Scandinavian cheese often sold in the U.S. as "Grilling Cheese."
- Pros: It is specifically designed to be heated and has a very similar charred exterior and squeaky interior.
- Cons: It can be harder to find and is often a bit sweeter/buttier than Halloumi.
4. Kefalotyri or Kasseri
These are harder Greek cheeses.
- Pros: They have a similar salty, sheep’s milk flavor.
- Cons: They will melt eventually. They are best used for Saganaki (pan-seared cheese), where you want the cheese to get gooey but stay in one piece.
5. Extra-Firm Tofu (Best Vegan Substitute)
If you are looking for a non-dairy option:
- Pros: When pressed and pan-fried, it mimics the texture of grilled Halloumi.
- Cons: You must marinate it in lemon juice, salt, and nutritional yeast to get close to the cheesy, tangy flavor.
Summary Tip:
If you use Paneer as a substitute, soak it in salted water for 20 minutes before cooking to help it mimic the salty profile of Halloumi!
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Tomato-Avocado Salad With Creamy Feta Dressing Recipe • 5★ • 25 min
With the help of a small blender or food processor, this recipe yields a rich walnut-feta dressing, ideal for drizzling over a mix of seasoned tomatoes, chickpeas and avocados. The dressing can be made without electricity by mashing the feta and mincing the walnuts, cilantro and garlic, but if you have an appliance on hand, don’t miss out on the luscious quality of the blade-blended dressing.
Armenian Cucumber Salad With Cantaloupe and Prosciutto
This salad pairs Armenian cucumbers, also known as yard-long or snake cucumbers, with ripe cantaloupe, ribbons of prosciutto, and mint and pistachios, while a tart lemon-sumac dressing keeps the salad fresh and bright.
Portuguese Kale Soup Recipe • 4★ • 5 hrs 45 min
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Furikake Egg Salad Sandwich Recipe • 5★ • 25 min
This egg salad sandwich is an umami-filled dream. Slices of soft bread are filled with a mayo-rich and Dijon-spiked egg mixture that gets an herby lift from chopped dill and the satisfying sea-like flavor of furikake.
Charred Broccoli and Salmon Noodle Salad Recipe • 5★ • 25 min
The ever-so-popular pair, broccoli and salmon, shine again in this warm salad that actually feels like a real meal. Both are seasoned with miso and soy then roasted until the broccoli is charred and the salmon just cooked through.
Crunchy Noodle and Tofu Salad Recipe • 5★
With crisp noodles and vegetables coated in a tangy dressing, this salad is reminiscent of the ubiquitous Chinese chicken salad, which isn’t actually Chinese in origin. Stripped of the chicken and given a more accurate name, this vegan take is a fresh salad with lots of textures and no active cooking.
Ginger Scallion Broccoli Salad Recipe • 5★ • 20 min
This versatile salad sings with bright zesty ginger and lemon and is fantastic warm, cold or in between. Blanched broccoli florets are tossed in the vibrant dressing while warm, which helps the vegetable soak up all of the dressing’s tangy flavor.
Tzatziki Chickpea Salad Recipe • 5★
Vibrant with the sharp creaminess of tzatziki, the Greek yogurt dip, this dish embodies the cool, easy eating of the warmer months. Crisp cucumbers and hearty chickpeas are dressed with a lemony and garlicky Greek yogurt mixture.
Herby Potato Salad With Smashed Olives Recipe • 5★
As with coleslaw, there are two schools of potato salad: the mayonnaise-based and the vinegar-based. This recipe plants itself firmly in the latter camp with bright, punchy flavors.
Slow Cooker Senate Bean Soup Recipe • 5★
This ultrasimple bean soup has been on the menu at the U.S.
Hamburger Soup Recipe • 5★
Not to be confused with tasting like an actual burger, this soup is actually named after ground beef, which is sometimes referred to as “hamburger” in certain parts of the United States. Here, it’s combined with any mix of vegetables you like or have on hand, making it an ideal one-pot meal to use up odds and ends from both your crisper and freezer.
Lemony White Bean Soup With Turkey and Greens Recipe • 5★
Bright with lemon and herbs, and packed with hearty greens, this highly adaptable soup can be either light and brothy or thick and stewlike, depending on your preference. Smashing some of the beans to release their starch will give you a thicker soup that’s almost worthy of a fork.
White Bean Salad With Roasted Cauliflower Recipe • 4★
This is the kind of substantial salad that’s nice to have on hand, no matter the occasion. If you have time, it’s best made with large dried white beans, such as cannellini, simmered at home.
Roasted Pepper, White Bean and Mozzarella Salad Recipe • 5★
Sweet, fruity jarred roasted peppers power this hearty cannellini bean salad that comes together with almost no preparation. Like many jarred vegetables, store-bought roasted peppers are a timesaver without any sacrifice in flavor; opt for fire-roasted ones, if available, for smokier notes.
Classic Bean Salad Recipe • 5★
You can use any kind or combination of canned beans to make this classic picnic salad, but a mix of white beans, chickpeas and red kidney beans makes it especially colorful. Although this is delicious when freshly made, it gets even better as it sits.
White Bean Salad With Crispy Cheese Recipe • 5★
This hearty, no-cook salad has a range of textures and flavors that make it particularly satisfying, all without much effort from the cook. The canned white beans are dressed in a bracing red wine vinaigrette that enlivens their soft earthiness with a welcome tang.
White Bean Salad With Fennel and Celery Recipe • 5★ • 15 min
Like so many bean salads, this one is delicious the day it's made, but gets even better as it sits. You can marinate the beans in the dressing ahead of time, and they’ll soak it up and become more flavorful in the fridge.
Fresh Corn and Black Bean Salad With Corn Chips Recipe • 5★
This superquick corn and black bean salad is enlivened with crackly corn chips, in the spirit of salads like fattoush, panzanella and crispy noodle salad. When corn is at its peak, its subtly sweet raw kernels are plump and juicy, and the perfect addition to salads.
Chilled Avocado Soup Recipe • 4★
This chilled soup couldn’t be easier to make, packing a lot of flavor into a quick dish of just a few ingredients. Fresh, green and somewhat tart, it’s quite refreshing on a warm day.
Spiced Chickpea and Lentil Salad Recipe • 5★
This chickpea salad, adapted from my cookbook “Linger: Salads, Sweets and Stories to Savor” (Knopf, 2025), mirrors the humble ingredients but standout flavors of harira, a North African soup that is steeped in tradition. Like the hearty tomato and legume soup it derives from, this salad is made from simple ingredients but achieves great depth of flavor by roasting the onions, celery and tomatoes with spices.