Simple and Easy Indian Vegetarian Lunch Ideas with Recipes

In this post from my Food Tips series, I am excited to show you my favorite collection of Indian vegetarian lunch ideas. Along with lunch ideas, I will share all my practical knowledge, tips, and recipes to help you make your lunch quickly and easily.

What's for lunch is a common everyday question in every household. Though the question looks simple, the answer is different. 

Like everyone, I also needed help to decide on the lunch menu. And if you have a family with kids and elderly adults (like mine), it is more challenging to please different age groups. In this post, I will share everything I have learned from 15 years of cooking lunch every day.

Jump to:

• About Indian Cuisine
• Typical Indian Lunch
• Indian Vegetarian Lunch Ideas
• One-Pot Lunch Recipes
• Salad Lunch Recipes
• Meal Planning Benefits
• Tips for Preparing Indian Vegetarian Lunches
• Ideas to Reuse the Leftovers

About Indian Cuisine

Indian cuisine is vast, and I try to show some of the best vegetarian Indian recipes through these lunch ideas. While growing up, my family's kitchen was often filled with the scent of aromatic spices, making even simple meals feel special. 

You can recreate the flavors you get in your take-out favorites from Indian restaurants using my easy vegetarian recipes, and they can also be a part of your everyday vegetarian lifestyle.

Indian vegetarian food is much more than these popular recipes like matar paneer, paneer butter masala, aloo gobi, palak paneer, dal makhani, paneer bhurji, veg biryani, boondi raita, gajar ka halwa, aloo tikki, pav bhaji (popular Indian street food).

So, in this post, I will show Indian food that is less known through my thali recipes. You can also find your restaurant favorites with rich ingredients to satisfy your taste buds!

Typical Indian Lunch

Regular everyday lunch varies from region to region in Indian households. North Indian's staple food is roti or chapati. South Indians love to eat rice with various side dishes and curries. In Western India, some staple foods are corn, lentils, chickpea flour, and yogurt.

A typical Indian vegetarian lunch comprises these dishes.

• Chutney
• Vegetable Curry
• Lentil or Bean curry
• Flatbread or rice (Rice can be a main course or side dish depending on how we serve it).
• Raita or Yogurt

Indian Vegetarian Lunch Ideas

At home, we cook elaborate meals only for festivals or special occasions. Hence, most of these are simple everyday meals that my family enjoys! I will update this post with more and more lunch ideas, and I hope these inspire you to enjoy a healthy, home-cooked meal.

Spiced Basmati rice with Chana Masala

This is my favorite restaurant-style meal at home. Who doesn't love fluffy, aromatic basmati rice served with flavorful chickpea curry? Serve some cucumber cukes for the added crunch.

Saag Tofu with Chapati

This is a simple North Indian meal with vegan saag paneer and soft chapati. Serve it with a cucumber salad or sliced cucumbers.

Mixed Dal Tadka + Kale Jeera Rice

I have sauteed the kale and cumin while making regular jeera rice. And my Instant Pot mixed dal tadka recipe comes in handy when you are out of time. It's an easy recipe and tastes delicious!

Ulavacharu (Horsegram rasam), Malabar spinach chutney, Peanut gunpowder, Rice

This is a typical South Indian meal that I enjoy a lot. 

Quinoa Pudding with Coconut Milk, Aloo Saag, Roti

Make this quinoa pudding instead of regular rice pudding; everyone will enjoy it. While making the aloo saag recipe, I used green peas to make the gravy thick and filling enough.

Kidney beans curry with flatbread Chapati

This kidney bean curry is my variation of the famous Indian curry rajma masala. I added veggies to this curry to make it more filling and colorful. Instead of whole wheat roti, I sometimes serve it with plain basmati rice. Check out my rice cooker basmati rice recipe to make fluffy rice.

One-Pot Lunch Recipes

These single-pot lunch recipes are handy when we do not have time for an elaborate lunch. I love one-pot dishes as they are so convenient and taste delicious. 

Usually, I make one-pot rice dishes for our Sunday lunch. I sneak in as many veggies as possible in these dishes so that we do not need any side dishes.

Here are my favorite one-pot wholesome meals you can make even if you do not have time for elaborate cooking.

Kidney Beans and Rice: If you love rajma chawal, you should make this easy version of it. This easy recipe using rice, beans, veggies, and some Indian spices will make a delicious and filling lunch.

Masoor Dal Pulao: This simple yet flavorful dish combines whole red lentils (sabut masoor dal) with fragrant basmati rice. This easy-to-make recipe is a great way to add variety to your lunch menu, offering a tasty and wholesome meal that's perfect for any day.

Tomato Rice: This pressure cooker tomato rice will be a quick lunch with the goodness of mung sprouts. I make this on my busy days, as it is a convenient and delicious option everyone in my family will love.

Mint Rice: Fresh mint brings a refreshing touch to this dish. I used moong sprouts and veggies while making this one-pot dish served with leftover curry from breakfast.

Salad Lunch Recipes

If I have to cook for myself, I prefer these salad lunches. They are so easy to make, and we can whip a delicious meal quickly.

Meal Planning Benefits

It requires time and patience to cook and plan everyday meals. Though elaborate cooking is not possible for everyone and every day, we can easily make lunch at home with proper planning. 

With proper meal planning, 

• We can cook lunch at home every day even if we lack time.
• Enjoy a wholesome, fresh, homemade lunch every day.
• We can prepare food without spending much time in the kitchen.
• Lunch prep will be easy and less stressful.
• We can reduce food wastage and reuse the leftovers accordingly.

Tips for Preparing Indian Vegetarian Lunches

•  Soak the grain and legumes accordingly. Soaking will decrease the cooking time drastically.
• Plan all your meals for the whole week or at least a day. I usually spend less time in the kitchen if I plan it before.
• If you plan for the whole week, you can soak beans on the weekend and store the soaked beans in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
• I also keep the cooked beans in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. And freeze them to use for more months.
•  Make sprouts from green mung beans, moth beans, and black chickpeas on the weekend, and you can use them throughout the week.
•  Try to buy veggies and fruits ahead of time, mostly on weekends, to save time on weekdays.
• I use a pressure cooker and rice cooker while making the lunch as they allow hands-free cooking.

Ideas to Reuse the Leftovers

• You can always have your curry, dal, or chutney from lunch for dinner. Cook more portions of these dishes on busy days, and your dinner will be sorted out. If you want to avoid eating rice for dinner, you can have the leftover curry or dal with any flatbread, quinoa, or cooked millet.
• I have a detailed post on what to do with a leftover curry. Using leftover curry, I usually whip up a hot dinner in no time.
•  Reuse the leftover rice, quinoa, and millet to make fried rice, tamarind rice, lemon rice, curd rice, pilafs, and more. Check my millet recipes post, where I shared all easy recipes using cooked millet.
•  I use leftover rasam to make the flatbread dough instead of plain water.
•  Make chutneys for breakfast and reuse them for lunch and dinner. Chutneys will keep well in the refrigerator and freezer.
•  And if you are not bored with eating the same food for dinner, reheat curry or dal, cook fresh rice or roti, and enjoy your dinner! 

If you liked this post and my lunch ideas, please comment below. I would love to know your feedback. Happy cooking, and I hope this post is helpful to you!