Five Sharp

Vegetarian Sunday dinners

A vegetarian Sunday dinner is not a meat dinner with the meat removed. The plans here build the centrepiece around something that can carry a table on its own — a whole roasted cauliflower, stuffed aubergine, a paneer curry, a mushroom ragù — and then time the sides and the bread around it exactly the way a roast would be timed. Every plan on this page has been checked component by component: the stock in the risotto, the sauce on the greens, the gelatin in the pudding. If a plan fits everywhere except one dish, it is listed separately below as an almost-fit, with the reason, so you can decide for yourself.

What counts: No meat, poultry, fish or shellfish anywhere in the meal — not in the main, not in a side, not in the stock, the sauce or the dessert. Dairy and eggs are fine.

10 plans in the Sunday Gallery.

What vegetarian plans look like

Most common mains

  • vegetarian8
  • egg2

How they're cooked

  • Pan-seared4
  • Baked3
  • Stewed2
  • Deep-fried1

Cuisines

  • Brazilian2
  • Italian2
  • American1
  • Colombian & Venezuelan1
  • Hungarian1

Diets they fit

  • Pescatarian10
  • Vegetarian10
  • Nut-free6
  • Gluten-free1

The plans

Cuisines that fit vegetarian well

Cooking methods common in vegetarian plans

Want a plan like these for your Sunday?

Five Sharp builds the whole dinner — recipes, timeline and shopping list — around what your household actually eats.