No Cook Vegetarian Lunch Ideas
On hot summer days, many of us are looking for no cook meals vegetarian ideas that are quick, easy, and delicious.
Our house is old and without central air, but we have a box air conditioner that we occasionally use when it gets too unbearable. but for the most part, windows and screens are our cooling system.
For this reason, I will not run my oven and try not to cook over the stove. I want cool, easy meals to eat!
Even if your home cooling situation is more modern than ours, you may be craving cool things to eat!
No cook Vegetarian Lunch Meals
Cool foods like mayonnaise, cheese, and ice cream can sometimes be less healthy. How often do we cringe when our family members say, “Not salad again,” even though many of us could eat salads for every meal?
I base these no-cook vegetarian meals on the abundance of my summer garden and the local farmers’ markets.
Cold salads, cool pasta, no-cook sandwich ingredients, lettuce wraps, and chilled spring vegetable wraps are just a few of the things that are easy meals and refreshing to eat on a warm day.
I have also gathered some of my favorite no-cook summer meal ideas. They are easy to prepare and delicious, and most of them can be easily made into no-cook vegan meals by substituting vegan cheese and egg substitutes! And most of the time, you can leave off the lacto-ovo options!
What are 10 No Cook Summer Meal Ideas?
Here is a list of summer of my favorite no-cook vegetarian meals with easy recipes included below:
No Cook Lunch Recipes
These are just a few of my favorite no-cook lunch recipes for the summer that I am sharing in this post, but you can find lots more on the Vine Ripe Nutrition blog! See links to the recipes below.
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Fresh Summer Hummus Tacos
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Vietnamese Bun (Cold Noodle Salad)
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Fruit and Nut Wrap
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Hummus and Greek Salad
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Chickpea Nicoise
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Rainbow Kale Salad
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Orange, Avocado, Strawberry, Walnut and Spinach Salad
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Summer Panzanella with Trout
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White Bean Salad
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Strawberry Coconut Cream Overnight Oats
Summer Hummus Tacos
These tacos are from a sponsored post I did a few months ago as part of a Sabra Hummus recipe contest. You can also use black beans and lime juice to make some taco-inspired hummus to put in your taco.
Vietnamese Bun
Vegetarian Vietnamese Bun
“Bun” for the Vietnamese means thin rice noodles. Traditionally, it is often made with pork, but this version is made with either Smiling Hara Tempeh or No Evil Foods Plant meat. It contains a plentiful amount of the local produce of summer! I think this Vietnamese Bun recipe sounds delicious with one of these fruit popsicle recipes Fruit Popsicle Recipes.
I love this combination of fresh summer veggies, cold rice noodles, and savory sauce!
Makes four servings
10 ounces Smiling Hara Tempeh, No Evil Foods plant meat (you can also use pork, chicken, or other protein) I also love roasted tofu in mine!
4 cups lettuce or other salad greens (I used arugula from my garden) Romaine is also delicious!
Two thinly sliced carrots
One red bell pepper thinly sliced
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
2 slices green onion (optional)
1 cup napa or other cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 roasted peanuts
Rice noodles (I used Annie Chuns)
Vietnamese Bun Sauce
This bun sauce mixed with the crushed peanuts makes a delicious peanut sauce to add on top of this Vietnamese salad.
1/4 cup lime juice
One clove of garlic, minced
One teaspoon sriracha hot sauce or one of my favorite local brands Smoking J’s (use more if you like the heat)
One tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
One tablespoon of sugar
1/4 cup water
One tablespoon of soy sauce
Cut up and saute tempeh, plant meat, or other protein choice in a skillet with a drizzle of oil or other protein ahead of time and chop up all the ingredients. Prepare rice noodles according to directions. Don’t overcook.
Drain well and let cool. In a large bowl, layer noodles, lettuce, cabbage, red bell pepper, carrots, and green onion. Add your choice of protein and top with cilantro and peanuts. Add dressing on top.
Toss it around in your bowl and eat! This is a summer sensation, and I genuinely love this recipe. And I hope you will, too! Serve with Vietnamese summer rolls if desired.
Greek Salad
What makes this salad is the fresh local produce, my homemade Greek dressing! I mentioned that your family might tire of salads, but I can never tire of this Greek salad! You can skip the cheese, or you can add a vegetarian substitute like nuts!
Makes four servings of salad
4 cups of salad greens
One large tomato, chopped
One large cucumber, sliced
One red onion, sliced
20 Greek olives of your choice
1/2 cup feta cheese (several local creameries in Western North Carolina h some great options)
Lemony Greek Salad Dressing
This dressing allows you to make this salad twice and dress it!
Juice from 1 lemon
1/2 cup olive oil
One teaspoon minced garlic
One teaspoon oregano leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix ingredients and lightly toss the salad with about one tablespoon per serving.
Hummus Sandwich
Hummus is a bean spread made with tahini, sesame butter (think of peanut butter made with sesame seeds), traditionally garbanzo beans, lemon juice, garlic, and seasonings, whipped up in a food processor. It is very easy to make and stays fresh in the refrigerator for several days. It is also readily available at most grocery stores.
Hummus can be a high fodmap food if someone has IBS, so another sandwich may work better, or try this lower fodmap hummus recipe. This Greek Salad and Hummus Sandwich would be delicious with some sliced chilled cantaloupe.
To make the sandwiches:
Makes four sandwich halves.
One package of hummus or a batch from your kitchen
Sliced tomatoes
Sliced cucumbers
Lettuce
Sliced onions
Fresh sprouts (I use the local brand Sunny Creek Farm )
Sliced avocados
Slice the pita in half and carefully slice in the pita so you can add the fixings. Carefully layer the ingredients.
Amazing Fruit and Nut Wrap
When my family and I first moved to Asheville, there was an adorable little place called Pineapple Jacks, a smoothie and sandwich shop in my neighborhood. I loved their fruit and nut wrap, among many other menu items! They are no longer here, so this is my version of their wrap. Use whatever greens are in season. In the picture above, I used arugula and cucumbers from our garden. Make the poppy seed dressing below.
A side of mixed olives and grape tomatoes would be delicious with this wrap, which is one of my favorite no-cook vegetarian meals!
Makes four wraps.
Four whole wheat tortillas
2 cups of salad greens
1/3 cup of pistachios, 1/3 cup almonds, and 1/3 cup walnuts (adjust the nuts to make them low in fodmap; you can also substitute pumpkin seeds for pistachios)
Approximately 1/3 cup of red onion or the green parts of the green onion if you are trying to make low fodmap
1/2 cup sliced cucumbers
1/2 avocado sliced thin
Approximately 1/3 cup dried cranberries (but fresh local blueberries would be wonderful, too)
1/2 cup shredded white cheddar cheese (optional)
You can also add additional protein if you want!
Add the vegetables, nuts, fruit, and cheese to the flour tortilla in no particular order. Add a little dressing and wrap it up!
Poppy Seed Dressing
You should have some leftovers of this dressing to top a summer salad. I make this dressing ahead of time so the dried poppy seeds can soak up some of the ingredients.
Juice from one lemon
Two tablespoon honey
1/3 cup olive oil
Two teaspoons of poppy seeds (or you could even use chia seeds)
Pinch of salt
Mix and let set for at least 30 minutes and pour over your fruit, nut sandwich, or salad.
Chickpea Nicoise
In my cookbook, Farm Fresh Nutrition, I have a smoked trout version of this recipe, which I love and is also so delicious!
Rainbow Kale Salad
A little kale, bulgur wheat, and lots of veggies taste great with this post that I did for Toufayan Bakeries as part of a recipe contest. The first time I ever had salad in a pita was when my friend Sara brought them to my house back when we were in college!
Orange, Avocado, Strawberry, Walnut and Spinach Salad
Not only is this cool salad beautiful, it also contains lots of nutrients that make your skin glow! Make the recipe and discover more information on keeping your skin healthy and youthful!
I love the combination of strawberries, oranges, and avocados, it just makes me feel so good to eat it!
Summer Panzanella with Trout
Panzanella is an Italian bread salad, I think that it is just the thing to eat on a hot summer evening! For the recipe, click on the Picnic Food Ideas to Make Below. Some big, crunchy croutons add so much to this salad. You can also make them gluten-free and they would be super delicious!
White Bean Salad
This Mediterranean-style white bean salad is so versatile that it can be served as a salad, a sandwich filling, or an appetizer. I love the sour and salty addition of the black olives along with the olive oil dressing!
The sky is the limit on the possibilities!
Strawberry Coconut Cream Overnight Oats
Sometimes there is nothing cooler to eat in the summer than breakfast for supper and how much cooler can you get than right from the fridge? If you don’t want overnight oats for supper, eat them for breakfast. I love the fact that I can pull them out of the fridge and eat them!
This makes a delicious vegan version of overnight oats!
Make Some No Cook Meals Vegetarian Styl
I hope you love these no cook vegetarian meals and lunch recipes and no-cook dinners for summer that my family and I make when the weather heats us! Not only are they cool to eat but they are full of flavor and nutrition so you will feel your best when it’s time for summer fun! As a registered dietitian nutritionist here in Asheville, I love sharing ideas from my kitchen to keep people healthy!
If this is your first time stopping by to see what is cooking, welcome and I am so glad that you stopped by, if you have come by before-“welcome back and come back soon!” I will be posting a few more ways to stay cool this summer and have lots of new ideas that I will be sharing! Here are some additional no cook meal ideas.
I would love to hear about some of your favorite no-cook summer meal ideas below. it is always so helpful to learn from you! What do you love to eat and throw together when the weather gets hot outside?
Here is a little more about the Growing Vine Community Online Support Group!
