10 Easy-To-Make Vegetable Dishes For College Students
Whether it’s a new year’s resolution to eat healthier, or you’re trying to combat the iconic “Freshman Fifteen,” most of us need to incorporate more vegetables into our diet. In order to combat this college stereotype that all we eat is ramen, here are some easy to assemble vegetable dishes that any college student can start making now!
1. Vegetable Fajitas
For those of you who love Mexican food, this is your recipe. These fajitas are incredibly healthy as they are simply filled with stir-fried vegetables.
The beauty of this recipe is that these fajitas can be made with anything you can find in your fridge. While the recipe calls for specific ingredients, you can really include any vegetable that you want or have. This easy dish allows you to make the most of your grocery haul, and use any leftover vegetables that could be lingering in your refrigerator.
2. Veggie Chili
This recipe makes a hearty and filling chili that you can have any meal of the day. This vegetable dish is packed with benefits like large amounts of protein from the beans, and fiber from the vegetables.
You don’t have to buy many ingredients at all because all of the spice is contained in a sachet of chili mix. Like the previous recipe, this can also be customized with any vegetables that you have lying around.
3. Bowties And Broccoli
For any pasta fiends out there, this dish allows you to get your helping of pasta while also eating some vegetables. This recipe is incredibly easy as all you need to do is boil pasta, and then pour the broccoli florets into the same pot towards the end. This dish not only tastes amazing but only requires that you make one pot dirty.
Pasta is also considerably cheap, so it can help you save money while you’re on that college student budget.
4. Roasted Asparagus And Tomatoes
These vegetables can accompany any main dish that you want, or you can just eat this alone too! This vegetable dish is so simple to make, because you just line the asparagus and tomatoes onto a baking sheet, drizzle olive oil, season, and bake!
The recipe says to serve with any main dish, but I think this could also be paired very well with steamed white rice. That way you can make this its own main dish, but do whatever you like! What’s great about vegetable dishes is you can always adapt them to your own liking.
5. Coconut And Squash Dhansak
This vegetable dish is essentially a vegetarian curry that can be used as a great and healthy lunch or dinner. This curry takes only twenty minutes to cook, which is considerably fast and great for people who are on the go but want to stay healthy.
To speed up the cooking process even further, the linked website recommends microwaving the squash rather than roasting it in the oven.
6. Pasta With Creamy Greens And Lemon
If you haven’t gotten the trend here, pasta pairs extremely well with vegetables. Here the vegetable dish is easy and has a wonderfully light and creamy sauce. If you want to try something new with your pasta then this is the recipe for you.
7. Sriracha Honey Brussels Sprouts
This recipe is very easy to assemble because it only requires ten minutes of preparation. These brussels sprouts have a great flavor profile with a spicy, sweet, and slightly tangy sauce that is poured over them before baking. After they are done baking, even more flavor is added when you coat the brussels sprouts in the amazing sriracha honey mixture.
8. Everyday Salad
This everyday salad is so easy you could actually make it every day if you wanted to. The everyday salad is a vegetable dish that has refreshing ingredients like cucumber and complex texture with the inclusion of nuts. The serving made by this recipe is quite large so this could also be a meal in itself rather than a side dish.
9. Vegetable Fried Rice
If you are like me and eat rice more than anything else, then this is a great adaptation of your classic fried rice. The meat may be taken out of this fried rice, but do not mistake that for flavor being taken out. With soy sauce and sesame oil for seasoning, this veggie adaptation is packed with great flavor.
This is an excellent recipe if you have leftover rice, because believe it or not, older rice is actually better for making fried rice. Obviously not so old that it is rotten, but if your rice is a day old then this recipe is a great option. Older and drier rice is great for fried rice since it will not become mushy once you start adding soy sauce and stir-frying.
10. Vegetable Soup
For those cold winter days, this soup will both warm and fill you right up. This recipe is easy because you just need to pour all the ingredients into a pot and boil. With some potatoes and carrots in it, this soup is hearty but lower calories than most soups. This recipe makes six servings though, so you will have plenty of leftovers.
If you want the soup to be even more flavorful, you can substitute one cup of water with even more chicken broth. Or if you are vegetarian or vegan you can also substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth.
Because this soup has lower calories than other soups, it is a great option to make if you are on a diet. If you own a thermos, you can also use this recipe as meal prep and bring hot soup to class, letting you fight the cold both at home and on campus.
