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Who doesn’t want easy vegan recipes? Even the best home cooks and chefs want amazing food in a hurry. I love spending time in the kitchen, working on complicated recipes with multiple parts, but not everyday. If I had to cook like that on the regular, I would not eat. Or maybe I would just resign myself to eating popcorn and tahini cookies for dinner every night.
The reality is you can make delicious, filling, well-balanced easy vegan recipes in under 15 minutes start to finish…cook time included…no joke. Don’t believe me? Keep scrolling, baby!
Vegan crab cakes over a bed of arugula tossed with a lemony dressing? Yes, even this restaurant-ready, gourmet-tasting dish takes under 15 minutes to make. The high sodium pre-prepped taco mixes aren’t invited to our under-15-minute dinner party. You can make meaty and flavorful lentil walnut tacos from scratch. Or a colorful mango quinoa salad in just a few minutes. And just because it has more than 5 ingredients doesn’t mean it’s going to take 5 hours to prepare. 
Even better, these recipes aren’t for one serving, but a full 4. That means you can feed more than yourself, or eat these quick and easy vegan recipes throughout the week. Yes, you can make all of these vegan recipes in under 15 minutes. I filmed a video to show you how it’s done 😉
Vegan Hearts of Palm & Chickpea Crab Cakes | Easy Vegan Recipes
Ingredients
- 1 can hearts of palm, drained
- 1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
- 1/4 cup vegan mayo
- 1 1/2 tbsp old bay seasoning
- 1 tsp ume vinegar
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup panko crumbs + 1/2 cup more for breading
- 1/2 or 1 full bag of arugula
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Place the hearts of palm into a food processor, and pulse a few times just to chop.
- Add the chickpeas, vegan mayo, old bay seasoning, ume vinegar, and mustard, and pulse to combine. Don’t over process it though, you still want some crabby texture.
- Add 1/2 cup of the panko, and pulse one more time to combine.
- Pour the other 1/2 cup panko into a shallow bowl.
- Form the mixture into small patties (I can make 8) making sure to pack the mixture tightly, and then coat in the panko.
- Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a skillet on medium heat. Or feel free to deep fry if you like it like that.
- Pan fry for 3 minutes on each side.
- Do this with the remaining batter. I usually fit 4-5 patties on the skillet at a time. When they are cooked, transfer them to a plate covered with paper towel.
- To make the arugula salad, simply place the greens in a mixing bowl, add the olive oil, and lemon, and use your hands to lightly massage as you toss.
- Serve the cakes over the arugula and with a dollop of vegan mayo and lemon wedge.
Mango Black Bean Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 1 package pre-cooked quinoa, heated in microwave according to package instructions
- 1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
- 1/2 ripe mango, diced
- 1/2 shallot, minced
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 3 tbsp fresh lime juice, about 2 limes + more to garnish
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 bag pre-washed mixed greens
- salt to taste
- 1/4 to roasted pepitas
- chili flakes for garnish
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl combine the quinoa, black beans, diced mango, shallot, cumin, fennel seeds, and lime. Stir well.
- Then add the mixed greens and olive oil. Use salad tongs or forks to mix the ingredients together.
- Season to taste with salt, red chili flakes, and more lime juice.
Lentil Chili Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp grapeseed or coconut oil
- 6 green onions, white parts, minced (green parts saved for garnish)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 cup chopped walnuts, finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 can lentils, drained
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1/2 bag baby spinach
- 1/2 avocado, sliced
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 lime
- 6 corn tortillas
Instructions
- Warm oil in a skillet on medium heat.
- Add the garlic and greens onions, and sauté about 1 minute.
- Then add in the walnuts to toast for about 1-2 minutes.
- Add chill powder and cumin to also toast for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Now add a can of cooked lentils, and a can of diced tomatoes. Stir well, and season with a little salt.
- Bring it to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, and stir in the spinach. It will wilt as you stir it into the hot food.
- Season to taste with salt.
- While the filling cooks, warm up tortillas in a skillet, or microwave for 30 seconds.
- Fill the tortillas with the lentil chili, and top with avocado, green onion, cilantro, and lime.
My husband and I love your crab cake recipe! How brilliant! the only thing different I do is blend the chickpeas first and air fry on 365 for 14-15 min. Thanks for sharing this ingenious recipe. I feed this to my non-vegan guests as well, and they rave about it.
Hey, i want to make tha crab cakes today, but in Germany you can’t buy all products.
Can you please tell me the ingredients from the old bay seasoning? So i can mix it by myself.
Thank you, i love your recepies.
Michaela
Hi! I recommend seeing if you can order the Old Bay online. I think it’s a proprietary blend that would be hard to replicate. Or try googling to see the ingredients and try making it yourself. Good luck!
Just made and ate the vegan crab cakes recipe and they taste exactly like crab cakes! My boyfriend is not vegan but has a shellfish allergy so I made this for him and we both love it! Thank you for this recipe!
Greetings from the Turks and Caicos. My vegan friend recommended your blog and all your recipes look so scrumptious! I tried the “Crab Cakes” for lunch today and OMG it was DELICIOUS! I will definitely be trying more of your recipes!
Fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing that with me 🙂
Fantastic!!
Yay!!! So happy you enjoyed them!!
Fantastic!! Thank you so much for trying. Yeah, Old Bay can be pretty salty. Enjoy 🙂
Hello Jenne, what can I replace old bay seasoning with? thanks!
Good question. If you can find another shellfish or seafood seasoning that may work.
Just made Palm & Chickpea Crab Cakes and they came out perfectly !
Handsome recipes 🙂
Fabulous! Thank you so much for trying, Julie 🙂
I am going to have to give that Mango Black Bean salad a try!
Yes, please! Let me know how you like it 😉