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Wondering “What should I make for dinner?” Here are vegetarian dinner recipes that you can use as ideas for whatever ingredients you have on hand.

What should I make for dinner? Recipes for when you don't know what to make

This post was created in partnership with ALDI. All opinions are our own.

We hear it all the time: “What should I make for dinner?” Or, “It’s too hard to eat healthy on a weeknight, so I end up with takeout.” Don’t we know it. Believe it or not, 8 years ago we were the people who ate breakfast cereal or microwave dinners. Seriously. It makes me laugh when people tell me that’s not possible, because I was absolutely the girl who had no clue about cooking or food. Even making pasta seemed mysterious (where to start without the blue easy mac box instructions?).

Related: Easy Dinner Recipes for Busy Lives | Easy Dinner Recipes for Family |Easy Vegetarian Recipes for Beginners

What should I make for dinner? Simple meal concepts

After 8 years of “research,” we’ve figured out a few things about how to eat whole foods, ditch our processed options, and actually enjoy it. It’s not perfect or glamorous, and we don’t have an Instagram-perfect plate every time. However, we make it work with simple concepts that we change up using the ingredients we have on hand. Our diet is about 80% vegetarian, so we’ve become accustomed to meals featuring eggs, beans, and whole grains to keep things filling. We’ve got a few vegetarian dinner ideas for you that aren’t groundbreaking, just simple concepts for a meatless plate beyond the standard meat-plus-2-veg formula.

Some of these vegetarian dinner recipes are part of a 7-day dinner meal plan we created for ALDI’s new Hello, Healthy blog, which features healthy living resources including recipes, tips, meal plans, videos, and eating guides. We know many of you are ALDI fans too (hi there!), and we’re excited that ALDI is committed to carrying better-for-you ingredients and expanding their affordable organic product offerings. We’re happy to join in this effort and hope you’ll check out the new online resource, which includes a new dinner meal plan from us.

What should I make for dinner?

Did you make these recipes?

If you make any of these vegetarian dinner recipes, we’d love to hear how they turned out. Leave a comment below or share a picture on Instagram and mention @acouplecooks.

Looking for more easy dinner ideas?

Still wondering “What should I make for dinner?” Some of our other top easy dinner ideas on A Couple Cooks:

About the authors

Sonja & Alex

Meet Sonja and Alex Overhiser: Husband and wife. Expert home cooks. Authors of recipes you’ll want to make again and again.

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5 Comments

  1. I will often make salads in the summertime with garden produce, my favorite is spinach, grape tomatoes, cottage cheese 2%, sunflower seeds and no dressing. Obviously the cottage cheese wouldn’t be considered a healthy oil but is it really that bad especially since I’m not using any salad dressing. Feedback is fine.

  2. Interesting collection of recipes. I found several I’d be interested in making, but I’m not sure my husband would like them. Poor guy, I’m always experimenting on him, and he generally takes it pretty well. The Honey-Lime Quinoa Stuffed Sweet Potatoes has been in my regular rotation for quite a while, and I love it. I actually do it as a casserole instead of stuffing the sweet potatoes. Definitely, recommend that recipe to everyone.