5 Fast Vegan Meals: Friday 5

My first Friday 5 post talks about 5 fast vegan meals you can make when you come home and are starving but have no food prepped. These all take 15 minutes or less to make, because no one likes being hangry!  I hope you get some good ideas!

 



 

If you read my last post, you know that my goal for the rest of the year is to post twice a week.  For August, I am running an “Ask Me Anything” theme in which readers can submit questions they want answered.  The first question I received was one that we can all relate to.

 

 

What’s your go-to meal when you get back late from work or a run, you haven’t prepared anything in advance, and just need something to eat NOW? Cuz you know we’ve all been there!!

 

Oh I have definitely been there before.  I come in the door, after having not eaten for a few hours, my stomach growling and angry with me, and I yank open my fridge only to see that I already ate through everything I meal prepped.

 

 

 

Cue HANGRY RAGE.

 

 

5 fast vegan meals for runners

 

That’s where my pantry comes and saves the day.

 

5 Foods I Always Have In My Pantry

 

  • Dried quinoa
  • Dried lentils and cans of beans (black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, edamame, etc.)
  • Sweet potatoes 
  • Nut/seed butter (almond butter, peanut butter, and/or tahini)
  • Bread (tortillas, rice cakes, loaf of bread, just something carby)

 

I consider these to be necessities for a vegan pantry, or honestly ANYONE’s pantry.  Why?  They have long shelf lives, they are high in quality protein, they have other healthy attributes like vitamins minerals and phytonutrients, and you can mix and match them to create different meals.  From these 5 items, I can make 5 fast vegan meals in 15 minutes or less.  Honestly, I could probably make more, but 5 sticks with the Friday 5 theme 🙂

 



 

 

5 Fast Vegan Meals in 15 Minutes or Less

 

1. Nut Butter and Fruit Sandwich

 

If I am at Defcon-5 on the hunger scale and just need to eat something IMMEDIATELY, I make a sandwich with nut butter.  If I am lucky and have fruit, I will make a nut butter and strawberry or banana sandwich.  This meal takes less than 5 minutes and typically will have 15-20g of both protein and fats, plus a hefty dose of Vitamin C and potassium (which are great for athletes!).

 

5 fast vegan meals in 15 minutes of less PB sandwich
Vegas breakfast meal – almond butter and banana sandwich with granola!

 

2. Toast with black beans and mango

 

Similar to the nut butter and fruit sandwich, it I am at a serious I am so hungry now stage, I will make myself some toast with mashed black beans and mango.  This usually is something that can hold me over while I make one of the meals below.  Again, this will have usually 10g of protein and 5ish g of fat.  If you have mango available, that will add in Vitamin C as well.  This will also take less than 5 minutes to make.

 

5 fast vegan meals in 15 minutes bb toast

 

3. Sweet potato and black bean wrap

 

If you aren’t at a 10 out of 10 on the hangry scale, you can modify my sweet potato and black bean quesadilla recipe.  The original recipe calls for corn, peppers, kale, and a spicy vegan cheese.  But if you’re out of those ingredients and need food now, you can boil it down to the essentials: sweet potato, black bean and tortilla. Poke some holes in a sweet potato and nuke it for 8-10 minutes in the microwave. While it’s cooking, warm a tortilla in a skillet.

Open a can of black beans and mash some in a bowl with paprika, ground black pepper, cumin, or any other spices you like.  Add the cooked sweet potato to the black bean mash and mix it around to incorporate.  Then slather it on the tortilla, add cooked tempeh/salsa/avocado if you have it and eat!  It’ll take 8-10 minutes to make and will have about 10g of protein, lots of carbs, and maybe 3-5 grams of fat.

 

 

cheesy vegan sweet potato black bean quesadillas
Vegan sweet potato black bean quesadillas

 

4. One-pot quinoa and lentils 

 

This one is my favorite.  If you use 1/4 a cup of dried quinoa and 1/4 a cup of lentils, this will take 12-15 minutes.  Add 1/4 a cup dried quinoa, 1/4 cup lentils to a pot, plus 1 cup of water and bring to a boil.  Then reduce to a simmer and cook for 12-15 minutes, until water is absorbed.  If you have a green like kale, spinach, broccoli, etc, then add those to the pot after 10 minutes and cover with a lid.  That will steam the veggies.  In 15 minutes you will have a complete meal, with about 8-10 grams of protein.  Plus it’ll make about 2 cups worth, so you’ll have some leftovers (unless you’re REALLY hungry)

 

 

One Pot vegan meal

 

5. Sweet potato stuffed with quinoa and black beans (and tempeh if on hand)

 

This recipe is modified from my tempeh stuffed acorn squash.   Add 1/2 a cup of quinoa and 1 cup of water to a pot.  Bring it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes.  Similar to number 4, if you have a green in your fridge, add it with 5 minutes of cooking time left.  Nuke a sweet potato in the microwave for about 8-10 minutes.

 

Also, if you have a block of tempeh (which is something I ALWAYS keep in my fridge), cut it into 12 slices (3 servings of 4) and cook in a skillet for 5 minutes each side.  No need to use oil; I sprinkle nutritional yeast on it for some breading and flavor.  If you don’t have tempeh, no worries, you will still have a substantial meal without it.  Drain the can of black beans and add it to the quinoa when it’s done cooking.  When the sweet potato is done cooking, cut a slit in the middle and stuff it with the quinoa and black bean mixture.  Just a sweet potato, beans and quinoa will have about 10g of protein.  If you add tempeh you’re closer to 20g

 

Chopping up tempeh

 

 

 

 

There you have it.  5 fast vegan meals in 15 minutes or less.  All the macro information was based off of MyFitnessPal.  We’ve all been there at the end of a long day, so I hope these ideas help fight that hangry feeling.

 

 

What do you think of these options?  Leave a comment below!  If you make one of them and share it on socials, take @RabbitFoodRuns or use #RabbitFoodRunner to share the love.  I’m linking up with Confessions of a Mother Runner to share other meatless recipes.

 

Do you have a question you want to ask?  Submit it here or in the form below and stay tuned for the answer. 

 

 

 

Buen provecho,

Becca

 

 

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