10 Vegetarian Freezer Meals
Stocked with a steady supply of tasty, slimming-friendly leftovers, your freezer is the key to saving money, reducing food waste and staying on track on the days when you’re too tired to cook from scratch.
If you’re a vegetarian, or you enjoy adding meat-free meals into your week, it can be tricky to know which veggie dishes are best for batch cooking. While there are lots of healthy vegetarian recipes that freeze and reheat well, others are best cooked fresh.
To help you pack your freezer full of meat-free lunches and dinners, we’ve rounded up 10 of our favourite slimming-friendly vegetarian meals that are perfect for freezing.
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Creamy Tomato Pasta
Rain or shine, nothing perks you up after a long day quite like a big bowl of creamy pasta. This Creamy Tomato Pasta tastes even better when all you have to do is reheat it and eat it. It’s already one of the easiest pasta recipes you’ll ever make, so trust us when we say it’s well worth doubling up on ingredients and making extra to stash in a freezer drawer.
This dish is absolutely jam-packed with fresh veggies, and you can pretty much throw in any bits and bobs that need using up. While you can freeze the pasta and sauce together, for best results we’d freeze the sauce and cook the pasta fresh each time.
Sneaky Mac and Cheese
While we’re talking about pasta, we can’t forget to give a big shout out to our family-friendly Sneaky Mac and Cheese recipe. If you didn’t see the list of ingredients, you’d never guess how many tasty vegetables make their way into the velvety cheese sauce.
Forget about the super high-calorie versions of macaroni and cheese you’ve tried in the past – once you taste how cheesy and satisfying this one is, you’ll be serving it week after week. Thanks to light spreadable cheese and reduced-fat cheddar, a portion of pasta goodness comes in at just 238 calories. Spoon individual servings into freezer-safe containers and tuck them in the freezer until you need some hearty, hidden-veg comfort food.
These ROSOS Glass Food Storage Containers with Airtight Lids can go from the freezer into the oven to make reheating leftovers as convenient as possible.
Mushroom Chilli
There’s something about the tomatoey, richly-spiced flavour of a chilli that only seems to get deeper and more delicious a day or two after cooking it. Even though there’s no meat in our Mushroom Chilli, the same rule applies, which means it’s well worth making more than you need.
The store cupboard-friendly recipe brings loads of flavour to the table, for very little cost (and very few calories!). A few weeks in the freezer won’t do any harm to the way it tastes, so portion it into individual servings, make sure you add a label, and your future self will thank you the next time you feel like skipping the chopping and stirring.
Vegetarian Tikka Masala
A curry is always a safe bet when it comes to picking a freezer-friendly recipe. Just like a chilli, the flavours in the sauce get deeper over time: so you’ll often find it tastes even better the next day.
If you’re planning a batch-cooking day this weekend, add our Vegetarian Tikka Masala to your list. It’s low on calories but big on flavour, thanks to fragrant spices and subtle heat.
We’ve used tinned chickpeas and chopped tomatoes for this one, making it a budget-friendly banger.
If you freeze a few portions, simply leave them to defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat them in the microwave or in a pan on the hob. Keep an eye on it – if it looks a little dry, add a splash of water to bring it back to life.
Vegan Campfire Stew
Just because meat is off the menu doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the hearty deliciousness of Campfire Stew. Instead of pork, jackfruit is the star of our Vegan Campfire Stew – it’s really good at soaking up other flavours and shreds just like slow-cooked meat.
You can use practically any vegetables in this recipe, and it’s great for using up store cupboard staples like tinned beans and pulses. You’ll find our method has you covered, whether you fancy cooking this in your slow cooker, oven or Instant Pot: so it’s ready on a schedule that suits you.
Freeze in individual portions to make it easier to defrost and reheat on a rainy day.
If you’re in a rush, this recipe cooks in about 40 minutes in an Instant Pot. If you don’t already have one, they’re a handy bit of kitchen kit, and we have lots of recipes to get you started right here.
Cauliflower Madras
When you’re craving the convenience of a takeaway, knowing that you have some of this Cauliflower Madras in the freezer is a lifesaver. Not only will it save you money and calories, it doesn’t skimp on flavour, so you won’t feel cheated out of your dream dinner.
If you follow our recipe exactly, we’d say this ends up as a curry with a medium-spicy kick. It’s super easy to adapt the quantities until it’s exactly as fiery as you like it – ramp up the heat or make it milder if you prefer.
Once you’ve defrosted any leftovers from the freezer, it’ll reheat in the microwave or on the hob. Serve with some fluffy rice or any of your favourite Indian-inspired side dishes.
Vegan Lentil Hotpot
Topped with a layer of gloriously golden spuds, nothing warms you up quite like our Vegan Lentil Hotpot. The rich, savoury filling is homely and satisfying, even without any meat in the mix.
We always think lentils are underrated – they’re a budget-friendly ingredient and so versatile. Low in fat, high in protein and full of fibre, they’re handy to have in the cupboard, whether you’re vegetarian or not.
If you’ve frozen this recipe, make sure you leave it to defrost overnight in the fridge and then transfer it into an ovenproof dish. Reheat it in a moderate oven for around 20 minutes, or until it’s nice and piping hot all the way through.
Homity Pie
Cheese, onion, potatoes and leeks inside a crispy filo pastry case? Sign us up! Not only is this Homity Pie delicious when it’s freshly made, it’s surprisingly freezer-friendly too.
It’s well worth spending an hour and a half batch-cooking this hearty pie at the weekend, slicing it up and stocking it in your freezer. Despite how cheesy and filling it is, each portion works out at a slimming-friendly 288 calories.
The next time you need something comforting for dinner, you’ll be able to grab a slice, defrost it and heat it up in the oven.
You’ll need a 23cm, shallow cake tin for this recipe. Ideally you should go for a loose bottomed or spring form tin as this will make getting your pie out much easier!
Curried Creamy Carrot Soup
Homemade soup is a batch-cook’s best friend. We’ve put together a whole separate list of our best soups for batch cooking, but one of our favourite vegetarian recipes is this Curried Creamy Carrot Soup.
The ingredients list is nice and simple, and the method couldn’t be easier. You won’t be able to get enough of the thick, velvety, mildly-spiced soup – so you’d best plan ahead and make some room in the freezer for a few extra portions.
Perfect for lunches or a light dinner, we recommend serving with a wholemeal bread roll to mop up every last drop.
Porky Pie
It might sound far from vegetarian, but we promise there’s no meat in our wholesome Porky Pie. An ideal crowd-pleaser when you’ve got veggies and non-veggies round the table, the potato-topped pie is brimming with vegetarian mince, Quorn sausages and blitzed-up veg that we’ve hidden in the sauce.
This generously-sized pie will easily feed 6 adults so, if there are only a couple of you, there’ll be plenty of leftovers to stash away in the freezer for a busy week. Proper comfort food, you’ll always be happy to find an extra portion hidden in a freezer drawer!
What are your top vegetarian freezer meals?
We’d love to know your batch-cooking tips and tricks. Share your pictures with us over in our Facebook group – nothing makes us happier than seeing your lovely posts!
Adn, for more inspiration, take a look through the Pinch of Nom Gallery to see what everyone else has been cooking up lately.
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