20 Enticing Vegetarian Recipes for Seniors That Everyone Will Adore

Plant-based diets have long been associated with benefits, including reduced risk of cancer, decreased blood pressure, lower risk of heart disease, and much more. They’re also an easy way to decrease calorie intake and promote weight loss. These vegetarian recipes for seniors all make it easy to get seniors started with plant-based food.

Don’t worry though.

The senior doesn’t need to become vegetarians or vegans overnight to get benefits from these recipes. Even just having a few more plant-based meals every week can be powerful.

The recipes we’re featuring today follow a variety of styles. Some would be ideal as a light lunch or even breakfast, while others are heartier and best served for dinner. Some also attempt to mimic meat-based meals, making them ideal for reluctant eaters.

Our Favorite Vegetarian Recipes for Seniors

• Extra Vegetable Fried Rice
• Chickpea Salad
• Vegetarian Cheddar Cheese Grits with Black Beans and Avocado
• Vegan Huevos Rancheros
• Creamy Italian Quinoa Soup
• Vegan Stuffed Zucchini Boats
• Zesty Zucchini Pasta Salad
• Easy Vegetarian Bolognese
• Oil-Free Chickpea Salad
• Vegan Broccoli ‘Cheddar’ Soup
• Vegan Thai Green Curry
• Vegan Huevos Rancheros
• Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwich
• Vegetarian Rainbow Buddha Bowl
• Zucchini Frittata
• Veggie Fried Rice
• Huevos Rancheros with Pinto Beans
• Walnut and Lentil Bolognese
• Vegetable Fajitas with Smoky Lime Sour Cream
• One-Pot Veggie Lentil Soup

Extra Vegetable Fried Rice

Who doesn’t love fried rice? This recipe from Cookie and Kate has the advantage of being instantly familiar. It’s also bright, colorful, and filled with plenty of different textures – features that guarantee that seniors will love it.

The use of brown rice adds to the fiber content while helping to keep the GI of the dish low. Of course, you don’t need to stick to the specific vegetables used in the recipe. Whatever you have in the fridge is certain to be delicious.

Chickpea Salad

Looking for something light and delicious? If so, then this chickpea salad from Natasha’s Kitchen is tough to beat. The salad combines chickpeas, cucumbers, tomatoes, and cheese. It’s a little like a Greek salad, although there are some differences that make this version simply fantastic.

Adding chickpeas to a salad is a masterstroke. After all, while salads tend to contain plenty of nutrients, they’re often not that filling. The use of chickpeas increases the protein content of the salad dramatically, so the meal should keep seniors satisfied for hours.

Vegetarian Cheddar Cheese Grits with Black Beans and Avocado

This simple and insanely delicious recipe comes from Return to the Kitchen. The author describes it as being like Mexican grits, but without spicy seasoning. This approach could be perfect for seniors, as many don’t like having too much spice with their meals.

Plus, as the author points out, if you want to make things more interesting, you can always throw some hot sauce in.

I really love this recipe for caregivers, as it is so simple. All of the ingredients are common pantry items, ones that you probably already have at home. You’re relying on canned beans too, so there’s no need to worry about soaking them first. Just make sure to focus on low sodium canned beans and rinse them thoroughly.

Vegan Huevos Rancheros

This take on huevos rancheros comes from The Devil Wears Parsley. It’s not just a vegetarian dish, but also a vegan one. Don’t worry though, even meat-eating seniors are likely to enjoy this one.

Perhaps the most powerful thing here is that this is a savory plant-based breakfast. That combination is surprisingly difficult to find, as most savory breakfasts rely on eggs or meat. A recipe like this is much healthier, especially for seniors who need to watch their saturated fat intake.

Creamy Italian Quinoa Soup

Quinoa has become somewhat famous as a superfood. This isn’t surprising either, as the pseudograin contains a surprising amount of nutrients for its small size. Most of the time, you see quinoa cooked and served much like rice, but this recipe from Platings and Pairings shows that you can easily change things up.

While you might not expect to see quinoa in a soup, the tiny pseudograin works surprisingly well. It gives the soup a fantastic texture and also adds protein that you wouldn’t get otherwise – making this a filling dish.

This soup makes our list of great vegetarian recipes for seniors for another reason too, the fact that it helps with hydration. Dehydration is a surprisingly big issue for seniors, especially as some seniors are reluctant to drink water regularly. Serving a soup like this one is a fantastic way to keep them both hydrated and satisfied.

Vegan Stuffed Zucchini Boats

For something a little different, why not try these stuffed zucchini boats from The Conscious Plant Kitchen? The recipe uses black beans, so it should provide a decent protein hit, in an easy-to-eat snack.

Of course, you could easily play around with the idea and fill the boats with other types of beans. Carine offers a few suggestions in her post.

If you’re just aiming for a vegetarian meal, rather than a vegan one, you could try adding some grated cheese or sour cream on top of the zucchini boats as well.

Zesty Zucchini Pasta Salad

Spiralized zucchini (or zoodles) can be a fantastic pasta alternative, as it’s less processed and lower in carbs than traditional pasta, plus it offers more nutrients as well. The low carb content means that zoodle-based meals are particularly relevant for diabetic seniors.

This recipe from Toaster Oven Love makes the introduction to zoodles easy, by using a 50/50 mix of spaghetti and zoodles. There’s a host of other nutritious ingredients too, including tomatoes and artichokes. Trust me. You won’t be disappointed when you try this recipe out for yourself.

Easy Vegetarian Bolognese

This recipe from Midwest Foodie is a fantastic one if you want a meal that looks just like the real thing, but still falls into the category of vegetarian recipes for seniors. Seriously, you wouldn’t even know this was vegetarian at first glance.

An even more awesome feature is that this bolognese manages to mimic both the texture and the flavor of ground meat. The effect isn’t perfect, of course, as no vegetarian dish is exactly the same as its meat-based counterpart. Even so, this recipe gets closer than most.

The recipe also includes a decent amount of protein, making it a filling meal as well.

Oil-Free Chickpea Salad

I love finding creative ways to use chickpeas – and this recipe definitely fits the bill. It comes from the experts over at Plantbased on a Budget and I can’t sing the praises of the salad enough.

Why? For one thing, it’s an incredibly easy meal to make. You only need to combine a handful of ingredients together to get a delicious and filling salad. The recipe even includes a list of add-ins, just in case you want to play around with the flavor profile.

You could use this smashed chickpea salad in the same way as tuna salad (so it would make an excellent sandwich filling). It can also be served as a dip, perhaps with some crackers or chips on the side. Or, grab a fork and eat the salad as-is.

Vegan Broccoli ‘Cheddar’ Soup

This vegan soup comes from Feasting at Home and it’s a sight to behold. Seriously. The bright green color looks simply amazing in the bowl, especially with a little corn sprinkled on the top.

There’s actually a trick to getting the soup that color, as regular broccoli soup doesn’t look nearly as exciting. I won’t spoil it for you though. You’ll need to check out the recipe to see how to get the color just right.

One thing to remember though. Green vegetables like broccoli are typically high in vitamin K. This important nutrient can interact with blood thinning medications like warfarin, making them less effective.

Seniors using blood thinners don’t need to avoid vitamin K, as the nutrient is still needed. However, medication levels may need to be adjusted to account for vitamin K intake. Because of this, consistent vitamin K intake is often best. Keeping the amounts consistent involves a little meal planning and talking to the senior’s doctor to find out the best amount of vitamin K for their needs.

Vegan Thai Green Curry

Want a filling Thai green curry recipe that doesn’t rely on meat? This version from Eat With Clarity could be perfect. It uses some ingredients that you don’t normally see in a green curry, including chickpeas and yellow capsicums, but the change isn’t a bad thing at all. In fact, you’ll be quickly coming back for seconds.

This is also an excellent dish for seniors can caregivers as it only takes around 35 minutes to make, including prep time and cooking. You’re making four servings as well – enough for the whole family.

Eat With Clarity also offers plenty more vegetarian and vegan dishes, including a delicious-looking Thai red chickpea curry and another that relies on sweet potatoes and chickpeas. Honestly, why look anywhere else for new recipes?

Vegan Huevos Rancheros

This recipe comes from Mindful Avocado and is a vegan version of the classic huevos rancheros dish. This means, somewhat surprisingly, that you’re making huevos rancheros without actually using any eggs.

Don’t worry though. Skipping the eggs doesn’t make this breakfast any less delicious.

Plus, decreasing egg intake may be crucial for seniors following heart healthy diets. And honestly, even if the senior can still eat eggs, sometimes it’s nice to have a change and go with something purely plant-based.

There are three parts to this recipe, the refried beans, the tofu scramble, and putting the whole thing together. Don’t worry though, it isn’t a complicated recipe and there are amazing pictures to guide you through every step of the way.

Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwich

This chickpea salad sandwich recipe from Vanilla and Bean shows that vegetarian recipes for seniors don’t need to be complicated. In fact, the best ones are often simple. After all, caregivers are often short on both time and energy, you don’t want a meal that’s going to require extensive planning and a long shopping list.

Chickpeas make life much easier, as you can use them straight out of the can. Canned chickpeas are already cooked, making the process simple indeed.

One thing to remember, however. If you’re preparing this recipe for a senior, look for low salt chickpeas and rinse them before using them. This should help to keep the sodium content as low as possible, which is great news for heart healthy diets.

Vegetarian Rainbow Buddha Bowl

Buddha bowls, like this one from Lively Table, are simply fantastic. They’re an easy way to combine many delicious ingredients into a single meal.

But, unlike a regular meal, the different parts of a buddha bowl remain separate. This makes it easy to add extra parts to the meal or remove ones you don’t want. So, for example, if the senior doesn’t like brussels sprouts, no big deal, you can put something else in their place.

The visual style of the bowl is incredibly relevant to seniors too, as appetite often decreases with age, making seniors more reluctant to eat. Brightly colored meals with different shapes can help to make food more interesting, which can encourage seniors to eat.

Zucchini Frittata

What could be simpler than a frittata for breakfast? You end up with a filling and delicious meal, one that only requires a handful of ingredients. In the case of this recipe from I Heart Eating, there are only five ingredients to think about and they’re all easy to find.

Simple recipes like this aren’t a bad thing though, not at all. You end up with familiar flavors, ones that you already know the senior will love.

Veggie Fried Rice

Simple and delicious, this veggie fried rice has everything going for it. The recipe itself comes from The Natural Nurturer and can be varied in plenty of ways. What’s more, the recipe ends up tasting much like takeout fried rice, even though it’s a much healthier dish.

That’s not all.

This can also be an incredibly useful recipe for caregivers, as it’s so easy to prepare. Seriously. You can even make it using frozen vegetables and pre-cooked rice. What could be simpler than that?

If you’re focusing on low carb eating, the rice can be swapped for cauliflower rice instead. Doing so gives you a surprisingly similar flavor and texture profile, along with more nutrients and fewer carbs. Sounds like a winner, right?

Huevos Rancheros with Pinto Beans

Vegan huevos rancheros recipes are all well and good, but sometimes you want to skip the meat and still enjoy your eggs. That’s where this recipe from The Herbeevore comes into play.

There’s another interesting thing about the recipe too – it uses pinto beans rather than the black beans that you normally see with huevos rancheros. Swapping out the beans makes this an even more interesting dish, one that’s delicious and satisfying.

Walnut and Lentil Bolognese

Doesn’t this bolognese recipe look amazing? It comes from The Modern Proper and you wouldn’t know that the dish is entirely free from meat. Instead, the combination of brown lentils and walnuts gives you a rich and somewhat nutty flavor that’s surprisingly close to beef mince.

There’s an extra blending step in the recipe, which is optional, but well worth the effort. Doing so gives the entire meal some extra creaminess, making it even better. Honestly, this is a recipe that even meat lovers are certain to enjoy.

Vegetable Fajitas with Smoky Lime Sour Cream

This recipe comes from Jenny at Kitchen Skip and we have to say that it looks simply amazing. The smoky lime sour cream is really what brings the whole thing together, giving you a fantastic flavor combo that brings everything up to a new level.

Another great thing is that you could easily use the vegetables and sour cream in a completely different way, perhaps as a side dish, rather than in fajitas. Jenny offers a few suggestions as part of her post and I’m sure you can think of plenty more yourself.

One-Pot Veggie Lentil Soup

To round the list off, check out this recipe from Pick Up Limes. The soup is delicious, using brown lentils as the main source of protein, along with plenty of other ingredients to create an amazing flavor.

The soup makes a particularly good introduction to lentils, as all the flavor ingredients guarantee that it won’t be boring in the slightest. It also happens to be a very nutritious and filling soup. What could be better?

How to Get Ready for Vegetarian Cooking

Vegetarian cooking doesn’t need to be difficult. Following recipes, like the ones above, can get you on the right track. Don’t forget about cookbooks either. Here are some of our favorites:

• Love Real Food. This cookbook comes from the author of Cookie and Kate and is a well-loved vegetarian entry – with more than 4,300 Amazon reviews and an average rating of 4.7 stars.  
• Plant-Based on a Budget. Here’s another cookbook from an author on this list. Not only is the cookbook itself excellent, but it’s ideal for caregivers, as the meals are inexpensive and are simple to prepare.
• The 30-Minute Vegetarian Cookbook. Like the previous example, this cookbook gives you fast and easy meals to prepare, ones that are still very healthy.
• The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook. This cookbook comes from American Test Kitchen and it’s seriously comprehensive. There are 700 different recipes to choose from, so you’re bound to find some that you enjoy.
• The Modern Proper: Simple Dinners for Every Day. This cookbook hasn’t been released yet, but it is available for preorder. It comes from the same people that created the Walnut and Lentil Bolognese featured in the list above. That recipe is reason enough to try the cookbook for yourself.

Stocking your cupboard with vegetarian staples can help as well. Below is a short list of ingredients to get you started.

• Lentils (red, green, and brown). The individual types taste and behave differently, so it’s worth having multiple options at hand.  
• Beans (canned and dried). Dried beans are lower in sodium, but canned beans are much more convenient. It’s worth having multiple types of beans too, that way you can make a variety of recipes.
• Tofu and tempeh. These ingredients are both made from soybeans and make an excellent meat substitute.
• Sauces (e.g. bolognese sauce). Cans, jars, and pouches of sauce can feel like cheating sometimes, but honestly, they can be a lifesaver. It’s much easier to throw in a jar of sauce than to deal with multiple spices and ingredients. Being able to do this when you’re short on time and energy makes all the difference to caregivers everywhere. Just be sure to read the ingredients label carefully and always choose healthy low sodium products, ones with few additives.
• Herbs and spices. These are important too, as they provide your meal with plenty of flavor. You might even need to use more spice than normal when preparing vegetarian recipes for seniors, as sense of taste can decrease with age.

And finally, there are the kitchen tools.

Most of what you have will already be perfect when preparing vegetarian meals for seniors. However, here are a few additional tools that can make things even easier.

• Spiralizer. Spiralizers are most famous for allowing you to make zucchini noodles (zoodles), but they can be used with other vegetables too. They’re fantastic when you want to make meals that look as interesting as they taste.
• Instant Pot. An Instant Pot is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your kitchen, as it does so many different things. Some, like this one, can even at as an air fryer, along with their more familiar functions of pressure cooking, slow cooking, roasting, steaming, and baking.
• A good steamer. Having some way to reliably steam your vegetables is critical on a plant-based diet. This folding steamer basket is a particularly good choice, as it can be used in almost any pot.

Things to Consider When Cooking for Seniors

The vegetarian recipes for seniors that we’ve featured are all delicious and nutritious. However, you might need to adapt somewhat to meet the senior’s needs.

Here are some common areas to think about:

• The calorie content. You might need to increase or decrease the calorie content of a meal, depending on whether the senior needs to lose weight, gain weight, or stay stable. Swapping full fat ingredients for low fat ones is an easy way reduce calories. Many recipe creators will offer suggestions for creating healthier versions of their dish.
• Sodium. Seniors often need to follow low-sodium diets. You can help by using herbs and spices for flavor, rather than salt.
• Medication interactions. Some foods interact with medications (like vitamin K rich foods and blood thinners). Check with the senior’s doctor so that you know which ingredients to watch out for.
• The fat. Some seniors need to keep their fat intake low. While many vegetarian recipes are naturally low in fat, this isn’t always the case, so be sure to check the ingredients carefully.
• Anything undercooked or raw. Seniors often have weakened immune systems, so they’re more vulnerable to infection.  Be careful with unpasteurized juices, soft cheeses and anything that uses raw eggs as an ingredient (like homemade mayonnaise) as well, as they can easily contain harmful bacteria.
• Ease of preparation. Some vegetarian recipes are simple. Others are pretty complex, especially when they’re trying to mimic the flavor and appearance of meat-based meals. The simple options tend to be much better for caregivers. Why make things more complicated than they need to be?

Finally, do you have any favorite recipes that we missed? Please let us know in the comments section.