Category: 100+ Vegetarian Recipes

Kale Chips

There are just a couple details to get right for the perfect kale chips. This is how I make crispy pom-poms of kale everyone loves to snack on.

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This is my love letter to kale chips, a constant in my kitchen throughout the year. We bake them 3 or 4 times a week, even if we’re out in the trailer with a tiny oven. Even when it’s too hot for a reasonable person to turn on the oven. This is because kale chips are simple to make, and also because they’re *SO* good. Everyone loves snacking on them – even raw kale haters. They’re also an easy way to add a fantastic nutritional boost to all sorts of soups, salads, pizzas, and stir-fries by throwing a handful on (or in) whatever you’re eating. I’ve tweaked my technique little by little over the years to get the best results, outlined below! First thing to know – there are some details to get right.

Crispy baked kale chips in a bowl

How To Make Great Kale Chips

To make the best kale chips, a specific type of kale (curly!) is massaged with a delicious slurry of olive oil, nutritional yeast, and a bit of salt. Don’t skimp on the nutritional yeast, you’ll want to load up to get the perfect crispy crust on your chips. Bake until crisp and enjoy. The recipe is fantastically straight-forward, but the details matter. Here are the key pointers.

  • The type of kale matters. Purchase curly kale, premier kale, or curly purple kale. These types of kale have much more volume than kale varietals with flat leaves (for example, lacinato kale). The increased volume will result in crisped pom-poms of kale – exactly the best kind of kale chips.
    bunch of curly kale on a marble kitchen counter
  • Use dry kale. Make sure your kale is as dry as possible before starting. This will promote crisping and minimize steaming as the chips bake. You only want olive oil, nutritional yeast and a bit of salt to coat the leaves (below), no water drops.
    ingredients for kale chips in a mixing bowl
  • Avoid over-baking. Kale chips go from crisp to brown and sad in a flash.They’re like pine nuts in that regard. The pro-tip here is: set a timer.

How Do You Keep Kale Chips Crispy?

Allow them to cool completely. Store in and airtight container or jar.

Variations

You can make variations on kale chips by adding dry seasonings and spice blends. I like to add most seasonings after they bake. This way your spices don’t burn. I use this approach for curry powder and za’atar – two favorites. You can also look on this page of spice blends for other homemade blends I like to make and keep on hand.

baked kale chips on a baking sheet after baking

What Can you Crumble Kale Chips Over?

I like to crush kale chips over a wide range of soups, pizzas, tacos, and the like. The joke around here is, if it’s savory, I’ll crumble kale chips on it. Here are a few links to ideas and inspiration.

More Recipes with Kale




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Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

Imagine a Shepherd’s Pie with the flavors of an Indian samosa – that’s what’s going on here. Vegan, make-ahead, one-dish meal with a split pea (or lentil) base, mashed potato crust, and spices.

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This recipe uses a number of my favorite techniques: mashing, slathering, and drizzling. Imagine a Shepherd’s pie meeting the flavors of an Indian samosa. That’s where we’re headed. Shepherd’s pies are typically lamb or meat based, but this is a veg-friendly version.
Make Ahead Vegan Samosa Shepherd's Pie

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie: The Process

Here’s how this shepherd’s pie comes together. It’s pretty straight-forward. You make a hearty, flavor-packed, vegan base using split peas (or lentils), chopped mushrooms, spices, and crushed tomatoes. Layer this under a thick slather of mashed potatoes and baked until the top is golden and a bit crusted. If I know the week ahead is going to be a crusher, I’ll assemble everything over the weekend, and all I have to do is pop it in the oven a bit later in the week. Give it a go, this has been on repeat all winter.

Individual Pies!

You can certainly create smaller, individual pies – they’re cute, and people love getting their own individual pie.

Sweet Potato Variation

You can absolutely swap in sweet potatoes here, just give them a quick peel first.

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Pomegranate Yogurt Bowl

A simple breakfast yogurt bowl made with Greek yogurt, fresh pomegranate juice, puffed quinoa cereal, toasted sunflower seeds, and honey.

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I’m hoping this breakfast yogurt bowl sets the tone for my entire day. I love the pretty pomegranate swirl intertwined with ribbons of a Turkish black pine honey a friend gifted me. There are little puffed BBs of quinoa, toasted sunflower seeds, some bee pollen, and creamy clouds of Greek yogurt. It was a fluke, with everything just falling into place after I reached for the pomegranate juice leftover from my ongoing juicing experiment.

yogurt bowl topped with pomegranate juice and honey

Pomegranate Yogurt Bowl: Extra Credit

I can imagine cooking down a bunch of the fresh pomegranate juice to make a thick homemade pomegranate molasses the next time around, although I love the brightness of the fresh juice and the way it tangles with the honey and yogurt.

yogurt bowl topped with pomegranate juice and honey

How To Make Fresh Pomegranate Juice

The quickest way I’ve found to juice a pomegranate is to cut it in half or quarters. Use a citrus juicer, I like the hand squeeze type, to press the juice out.

small bowls filled with toppings like honey and bee pollen for yogurt bowls

So, for today, it’s just a quick hi, and this bit of inspiration to make your breakfast pretty, tasty, and special.

yogurt bowl topped with pomegranate juice and honey

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breakfast bowl nearly empty with spoon

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Sweet Potato Tacos

These sweet potato tacos are so simple, and so good! Tortillas are slathered with smashed, roasted sweet potatoes. Top with black beans, sliced avocado, quick pickled red onions, a bit of cheese, and squeeze of lime. Fantastic.

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This is a quick write-up of the smashed sweet potato tacos we’ve been making for lunch recently. They couldn’t be more simple to make and are loaded with great ingredients to keep you going for the rest of the day. Tortillas get slathered with a layer of roasted, smashed sweet potatoes which are topped with a sprinkling of black beans. From there it’s all about the extra toppings like sliced avocado or guacamole, quick-pickled red onions and serrano chiles, and a bit of cheese. I use Bulgarian feta, but cotija would be good, or skip it altogether if you’re vegan. A squeeze of lime, and some sliced scallions are the finishing touch!

Sweet Potato Tacos on a plate with lots of toppings

Sweet Potato Tacos: Added Bonus

To make these tacos extra specia,l use homemade tortillas. My favorite way to make them is to use freshly made masa. There’s nothing quite as perfect as a hot tortilla made from fresh masa. Check at a local market or grocery store specializing in Mexican ingredients to start. Ask around. My second choice here, use masa harina. There are some fantastic brands like Masienda selling masa harina made from heirloom corns.

Smashed Sweet Potato Taco Recipe

A Few More Ideas

I love sweet potato tacos like these served with something bright and fresh. Something to cut the creaminess of the sweet potato.  This coleslaw, or this corn salad are great options. They’re also A-plus with a dollop of homemade guacamole slathered on top, the onions deliver some crunch and are strong enough to punch through. Also, if you love good homemade salsa, this is a favorite.

small bowls of sweet potato taco toppings including pickled onions, sliced avocado, black beans

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Winter Penne Pasta

An inherited produce box packed with greens inspired this simple, one-pot winter penne pasta with a sauce made from a full bunch of kale, shallots, garlic, and goat cheese.

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This winter penne pasta was inspired by the contents of a produce box. I seem to inherit CSA boxes. Friends and neighbors forget to put holds on their subscriptions before leaving town, and sure enough, they end up in my kitchen. When I was a kid there was a house that was always happy to take in stray animals, I’ve become the equivalent for CSA boxes. And I have to say, it’s pretty great.

penne pasta made with winter greens like kale and goat cheese on a floral plate

That said, cooking through a box is always a challenge of sorts. I mean, you want to cook your way through it before things start to go bad, sad or wilted. This always forces me to adapt and try out ideas I might not have considered otherwise. You also have the element of surprise that comes along with each box because you never know exactly what will be inside each one. Although, there is one thing I do know. The box, whichever farm it comes from, usually includes lots and lots of greens – kale, spinach, lettuce, chard, arugula. If I’m lucky, all of the above.

Winter Penne Pasta: Inspiration

Tonights box? A quick glance told me I would need to put a dent in the greens right away. That was the tone setter. Everything else I grabbed from staples in nearby cupboards and the refrigerator. It all came together into this simple, one-pot, winter penne pasta. The sauce is made from one bunch of kale, shallots, garlic, and goat cheese blended.  It creates a vibrant green sauce to coat the penne, offering a nice alternative to tomato sauce, mushroom ragù, or pesto.

green sauce in food processor to pour over penne pasta

Winter Penne Pasta: Variations

You might tweak it with a different cheese – Parmesan or pecorino, for example. Or even ricotta. You could top it with a some chopped black olives or toasted nuts. I kept it simple here. You can reheat any leftovers the next day, with a splash of water. The pasta holds up nicely. Penne is a nice shape to hold the green sauce, but a second favorite choice is actually a version with gnocchi in place of the pasta.

I know a lot of you subscribe to CSAs and I’d love to hear your favorite ways to use up your greens. I have a bunch of go-to green-intensive recipes I rely on, but if you’re doing something unique or unexpected with them on your end please share. I suspect Melissa Clark’s kale salad will continue to be in high rotation around here all winter. I keep making it, in part because unlike other green salads that go south shortly after being dressed, this kale salad likes to party. It’s delicious, and just gets better as it sits around, fully dressed, waiting for people to notice it. Other favorites? You can’t go wrong with a hefty pot of Ribollita – I trade off between that and various takes on this lentil soup to which I add lots of chopped kale.

penne pasta made with winter greens like kale and goat cheese on a floral plate

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Anna Jones’ California Salad

A California-inspired Miso, Avocado, & Lima Bean Salad from A Modern Way to Eat, by Anna Jones. Seasonal greens and beans are tossed with an assertive, creamy miso dressing. There are crunchy seeds, and broccoli, and avocado – it all comes together into a brilliant, beautiful, feel-good salad.

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I think of this as my friend Anna Jones’ California Salad. I discovered it when cooking through her cookbook, A Modern Way to Eat. The book is a 352-page stunner, and an example of a first book going very right. You have Anna, who has substantial professional experience as a London-based writer and stylist (you’ve likely encountered her work on the pages of Jamie magazine). She paired up with one of my favorite photographers Brian W. Ferry. The book was published last year by 4th Estate under the guidance of Louise Haines (Nigel Slater’s editor) and Georgia Mason in the U.K., and is set for U.S. release by Ten Speed Press in the United States. It’s really good. And this salad is a good indicator. Anna Jones california salad with beans, miso, avocado in big ceramic salad bowl

The Salad

I thought I’d share Anna’s California-inspired salad made with miso, avocado, & lima beans. It’s the kind of substantial salad I love, particularly in the winter. Seasonal greens are tossed with an assertive, creamy miso dressing. There are beans, crunchy seeds, broccoli, and avocado – it all comes together into a brilliant, beautiful, feel-good salad. It’s inspired by her time spent in the golden state.

Anna Jones california salad with beans, miso, avocado in big ceramic salad bowl

Anna’s California Salad: Ingredients

A few thought on the salad ingredients here.

  • Beans: Use whatever white beans you like here – butter beans, corona beans, limas. I couldn’t resist pan-frying mine and then chopping them, Anna uses them whole.
  • Ponzu Sauce: Related to ponzu sauce, Anna says, “Ponzu is a sweet-sour-salty mixture of soy sauce and a Japanese citrus called yuzu lime–the zippiest citrus flavor I know. It’s available in most Japanese shops. If you don’t have ponzu, a little soy mixed with lime juice will work.”
  • Miso: The dressing really takes on the character of whatever miso you choose. Just keep in mind some miso pastes are stronger and more salty than others. You can always adjust to your tastes.

Anna Jones california salad with beans, miso, avocado in big ceramic salad bowl

I’ve taken a few snapshots of some spreads from Anna’s book down below. To give you a sense of what the vibe and aesthetic is.
Anna Jones California Miso Avocado Salad
Anna Jones California Miso Avocado Salad
Love all the charts like the one above.
Anna Jones California Miso Avocado Salad

More About Anna Jones

You can read more about lovely Anna here, and here. You can follow her on Instagram here. She also comes to the West Coast now and then for book signings & events, so keep an eye out. xo Anna, and congrats!
Anna Jones California Miso Avocado Salad

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Harissa Spaghetti

A unique and flavor-packed spaghetti recipe. Whole wheat pasta noodles, olives, kale, and toasted nuts are tossed in a pan for a tangle with a garlic-charged harissa and olive oil sauce. This one is an easy weeknight win!

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Earmark this harissa spaghetti for an easy weeknight meal. You won’t be sad about it! The inspiration? One of the condiments that survived my recent refrigerator scouring was a three-quarters full tube of harissa. It’s the beautiful brick red, earthy, and often potent North African spice paste. I earmarked it for a spaghetti dish I had in mind. Whole wheat spaghetti, inky black olives, kale, and toasted nuts tossed in a pan to tangle with a garlic-charged harissa and olive oil sauce. Little flecks of lemon zest brighten each bite. I did it, and it’s wonderful.

spaghetti tossed with harissa oil, kale, and walnuts served on a platter

Choose your Spaghetti

You can use whatever spaghetti you love here, of course. Keep in mind, there are many interesting pastas to explore these days. They’re made with everything from red lentils or chickpeas, whole wheat to quinoa. I love the added nutritional punch you get from using some of these. The spaghetti below is made from farro and add wonderful dimension to the overall dish (this one).

harissa spaghetti ingredients arranged in bowls on counter

Let’s Talk Harissa

Keep in mind as you head into this recipe that the range of harissas available for purchase is vast – trust your taste buds, and if any of you have favorite brands, give a shout in the comments. One tube might be tastelessly tomato-y, the next tongue-torchingly hot. That being said, the best road to a great harissa is to make your own, but I’d be lying if I said I’m religious about it – hence, the tube of red in my refrigerator door.
spaghetti dinner tossed with harissa oil, kale, and walnuts on a table being served

Make Your Own Harissa

I don’t have a homemade harissa on 101 Cookbooks at the moment. But a number of people have mentioned favorite recipes in the comments.

  • ValHalla: “I use Deborah Madison’s recipe from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. (There’s also an amazing stew with harissa in that book.”
  • Bryan: “I swear by the Zuni cookbook recipe for harissa. it’s totally labor intensive but totally worth it. Plus, it’s a great excuse to finally use up a significant number of spices from the pantry. It’s full flavored, well balanced, a little spicy, and the recipe makes a ton. Perfect for freezing.”
  • I’ve also had good results with this recipe.
  • Kitty also mentioned the following about buying harissa in jars instead of tubes. “There are many kinds of harissa, and many degrees of “heat” for the paste. I would recommend purchasing a jarred harissas rather than the one in the tube. I have always found the latter to have a metallic aftertaste.”

If you have a favorite harissa, give a shout in the comments!
spaghetti tossed with harissa oil, kale, black olives and walnuts served on a platter

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Herbed Rice Salad with Peanuts

An herb-packed rice salad recipe with peanuts, toasted coconut, and a strong boost of fresh lime. It’s recipe to keep in your back pocket.

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This rice salad is for all the herb lovers out there. It’s for those occasions when basil, and mint, and cilantro are booming in your garden, or at the market. And it’s a great way to use leftover rice (or other favorite grain). I’m not shy with the amount of herbs I use in relation to the quantity of rice here. I also load up with a generous amount of toasted coconut and never skimp on the peanuts. A bold boost of lime pulls everything together and keeps it all bright.

rice salad recipe filled with lots of herbs and topped with peanuts

Rice Salad: Make it Easy

Aside from the chopping of the herbs, you can prep the components of this salad a couple of days ahead of time. Specifically, the rice, coconut, and peanuts. I like to wait until the day of to chop all the fresh herbs.

Rice Salad Variations

My preference is to make this recipe with brown jasmine rice, but use whatever rice you tend to keep on hand. Short grain brown rice is also great. You can also make a twist on rice salad by using any number of other grains – or a blend!  Try farro, or quinoa, or even wheat berries if you come across them. Another favorite variation is adding roasted cherry tomatoes when they’re in season. It really takes everything over the top in a great way. And if I have arugula on hand, you better believe a few handfuls of that is going in here as well.
ceramic bowl filled with rice salad recipe topped with lots of herbs and topped with peanuts

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Quinoa Power Bowl

A quinoa power bowl makes the perfect working lunch. The base is simply quinoa and mung bean, and the magic comes from the deeply sautéed and spiced celery. This bowl welcomes as many, or few, toppings as you like – roasted cherry tomatoes, salted dill yogurt, quick pickled red onions, chopped olives.

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This quinoa power bowl is the kind of lunch I liked to pull together back in the days we would work in our studio in San Francisco’s Chinatown. It was something I would make regularly because it checks all the boxes — interesting, seasonal, filling, and nutritious. The base is simply mung beans and quinoa topped lots of good stuff. I’d argue, the magic *really* comes from deeply sautéed and spiced celery. The celery brings an incredible amount of flavor and depth to the rest of the dish, and welcomes all sorts of other toppings – roasted cherry tomatoes, salted dill yogurt, quick pickled red onions, chopped olives.

quinoa power bowl topped with tomatoes, yogurt, onions

The Key to an Easy Power Bowl

I tend to keep a range of cooked beans and grains on hand, and that is one little trick that makes something like this easy to pull together. So, if you want something like this quinoa power bowl to come together quickly, the key is to make components ahead of time. Do a bit of meal prep. I tend to cook components for the week on the weekends, in big batches, and then keep an amount I think we might eat in the refrigerator.  Freeze the the rest after allowing it to cool completely. This way I always have cooked quinoa, barley, brown rice, mung beans, just a quick thaw away.

quinoa power bowl topped with tomatoes, yogurt, onions

Keep it Simple or Load it Up!

When it comes to power bowls, you can make things simple, or flared them out with as many toppings as you like (as pictured). This was a late summer version, but I imagine an autumn version with roasted delicata squash, or baked mushrooms, or herb jam would be great later in the year. Or do a homemade labneh in place of the yogurt.

quinoa power bowl topped with tomatoes, yogurt, onions

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Grapefruit Curd with Ginger

This vibrant grapefruit curd is perfect slathered on scones, waffles, and shortbread. A jolt of freshly pressed ginger juice makes it extra special.

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I started thinking about this grapefruit curd while traveling in Marrakech, Morocco. I was admiring the diverse plants outside Peacock Pavilions when Maryam kindly brought us tea and a platter of incredible lemon bars. The lemon flavor of the curd was intense and bright, made from citrus picked on the property. The shortbread foundation was extra thick and structured. Think deep-dish lemon bar perfection. And there I found myself, standing in the North African sun, thinking about all the citrus that would waiting for me when I got home to California, and all the different curds I would make.

grapefruit curd in a glass jar on a counter

All The Different Citrus Curds!

And I did. I got right to it. I made minneola curd, blood orange curd, lemon curd with a kiss of clove, and this one, grapefruit curd with ginger. It’s my favorite. You get an intense, assertive hit of grapefruit with enough ginger to notice. It begs to be slathered on everything.

wood cutting board topped with slices of grapefruit

What Pairs Well with Grapefruit Curd?

Grapefruit curd is wonderful on a long list of things. Scones, biscuits, toast, and English muffins to start with. Wayne puts it on pizzelles. I swirl it into Greek yogurt. And I like to make some before family comes to brunch because it is perfect with all of the following.

two jars of grapefruit curd in glass jars on a counter alongside lots of grapefruit

A Couple Details

You can sweeten this curd with granulated sugar or honey, and I include instructions for both down below. In general, I use a one-pan method to make curd, which (I hope) makes things easy for you – not fussy or technical.

Ginger Grapefruit Curd

Beyond Curd Inspiration

While I was in Morocco I shot with my Polaroid Land camera quite a lot. It takes pack film which is still readily available. Each shot develops over the course of a few minutes, and you peel it away from its backing. You can see my shots spread out on the table up above (land cam shots on the right). I love this camera, but in all honesty, it is not a system for the faint of heart. I carry an external light meter/timer, sizable packs of film, lens adapters/rangefinders, bags for the trash the film produces, and a small box to protect the damp prints from scratches and dirt. The film is also temperature sensitive. Beyond that, the list of issues goes on – but I love the little prints it makes, and the feel they have. Hopefully some of that magic is retained in a few of these scans – a handful of my favorites from this trip.

Ginger Grapefruit Curd

I look forward to returning someday – I’d also love to visit Fez, a city that has been on my travel wishlist for a long time. In the meantime, I’ll keep cooking from my stack of Moroccan cookbooks so I have a deeper understanding when I do return – a shortlist of a few of my favorites for those of you who are interested (The Food of Morocco, Mourad: New Moroccan, Arabesque, and A Month in Marrakesh). Also! Paula Wolfert maintains a fantastic Facebook group focused on Moroccan cooking, it’s an incredible resource that you might want to check out if you’re interested in diving deeper.

Ginger Grapefruit Curd

Exploring the Medina in Marrakech.

Ginger Grapefruit Curd
Ginger Grapefruit Curd

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