Everyday Nourishing Foods

menu icon
search icon
×

30+ Indian Vegetarian Lunch Ideas with Real-Life Thali Inspirations

Modified: Published: by . 9 Comments

Looking for Indian vegetarian lunch ideas? These lunch plates are from my everyday cooking, featuring real thali-style combinations made with dal, curry, stir-fries, and more. Get inspired by the way I assemble simple, homemade meals using pantry staples.

indian vegetarian lunch ideas with recipes collage image

Each plate includes a combination of dal, curry, or stir-fry, steamed rice, millets, or flatbread, and sometimes a salad or chutney - just like a comforting home-cooked Indian lunch.

Need help planning your next meal? Try my Indian Menu Planner tool — it gives you instant meal ideas. Or explore quick and easy Indian dinner recipes that are perfect for busy evenings.

Jump to:

Real-Life Indian Lunch Plate Ideas

Get real Indian vegetarian lunch inspiration with these thali-style meal ideas. They feature homemade dishes and real lunch plates and include links to recipes.

You don’t have to cook elaborate meals to enjoy a satisfying Indian lunch. Use these lunch plates as a base and swap ingredients based on what’s in your fridge.

Simple One-Bowl Meals

Bowl of rice served with flavorful chickpeas and spinach curry (chana saag).
Close-up of black-eyed peas curry served with rice and colorful vegetables.
Vegan chickpea curry served with basmati rice, cucumber, onion, and lemon slices on a black bowl.
Adzuki Beans curry bowl with rice, onion rings, cucumber, and tomato slices.
Bowl of rice and chickpea curry topped with cucumber slices.
Bowl of basmati rice served with chickpea kale curry.
Bowl of rice with hearty chickpea and lentil curry, garnished with fresh herbs.
Creamy coconut lentil curry surrounding a scoop of rice, served in a bowl.
Bowl of rice and dal with a colorful salad of cucumber, tomato, and onion.
Rice bowl topped with red lentil dal and served with cucumber, onion, and tomato salad.
Close-up of spinach dal, cucumber slices, and rice on a plate.
Bowl of rice topped with colorful mixed vegetable curry, garnished with herbs.
Bowl of rice served with creamy black beans curry, tomato, and onion slices.

Thali-Style Balanced Plates

Indian lunch plate with vegetable pulao, mixed veggie curry, cucumber, and onion salad.
South Indian lunch plate with rice, carrot stir fry, cucumber slices, and ulavacharu served on a stainless steel plate.
Indian lunch plate with rice, rasam, zucchini and potato sabzi, and tomato chutney.
Healthy lunch plate with rice, kale dal, leafy stir-fry, and cucumber slices.
  • Kale Dal
  • Amaranth leaves stir-fry
  • Rice
  • Cucumber
Indian lunch plate with rice, dal, spinach chutney, and sliced cucumber.
Indian lunch plate with rice, dal, spicy mint chutney, salad slices, and a small sesame sweet ball.
Indian lunch with rice, coconut rasam, cucumber peanut salad, and spinach chutney.
Potato rice with zucchini curry, onion, and cucumber salad.
Traditional Indian lunch with rice, plantain curry, rasam, and a small dal portion.
Plate of mung sprouts salad, rasam, dal, and rice with chutney.
Lunch plate with rajma salad, coconut rasam, spinach dal, and rice.
Healthy millet lunch plate with gongura dal, cucumber tomato raita, and fresh salad slices.
Lunch plate with kale rice, dal tadka, cucumber slices, and a brownie.
Chickpea salad, vankaya pachadi, kadhi, and rice on a steel plate.

Chapati-Based Plates

Lunch plate with spinach paratha and creamy makhana cashew curry.
Indian lunch plate with roti, saag tofu curry, and salad.
Healthy lunch plate with roti, aloo saag, quinoa pudding topped with strawberries, and microgreens.
Lunch plate with roti, peas and potato curry, cucumber slices, and microgreens.
  • Potato Peas Curry
  • Chapati
  • Cucumber and Microgreens
Indian lunch with roti, rajma curry, carrot slices, and sunflower microgreens.
Indian lunch plate with roti, dal, and roasted paneer and vegetables in a bowl.
Chapati with capsicum spinach curry and fresh salad.

Tips for Preparing Indian Vegetarian Lunches

Planning ahead can make weekday cooking much easier and faster. Here are a few tips I follow in my kitchen:

  •  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 for more months.
  •  On the weekend, make sprouts from green mung beans, moth beans, and black chickpeas, which you can use throughout the week. They stay in the fridge for 3–4 days and can be used in salads, curries, or stir-fries.
  •  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 lunch as they allow hands-free cooking.

Feeling stuck? Try my Indian Menu Planner Tool to generate fresh lunch or dinner combinations in seconds.

If you are out of time, explore easy and quick Indian dinner recipes that are perfect for busy evenings.

More Food Tips: Simple Everyday Vegetarian Cooking

Comments

  1. Navi says

    5 stars
    Wonderful explanation of each recipe.

    Reply

  2. Mahi says

    Hi savitari,

    Your lunch ideas seems amazing.I just want to request you that can you link all your lunch recipes in lunch ideas as many of them does not have link.I live in Australia and I hardly know how to cook so it would be great if you just help me sharing link of all your lunch ideas so that I can follow your instructions before making any recipe .

    Thanks
    Mahi

    Reply

    • Sravanthi says

      Hi Mahi,
      Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm in process of posting all these recipes. And if you are looking for any particular recipe, let me know. I will post that first.
      Thanks, Sravanthi.

      Reply

  3. Mohini says

    Pls share aloo kurma recipe which you have posted with coconut milk pulav

    Reply

    • Sravanthi says

      Hi Mohini, Sure, will share it very soon. Thank you for stopping by.

      Reply

  4. Niharika Khamkar says

    5 stars
    Want to try each of them! <3

    Reply

    • Sravanthi says

      Thank you so much Niharika. Please do try them and you will like them 🙂

      Reply

  5. Anusha says

    Hi Sravanti, Dishes looks yummy. I couldnt find the recipe for Coconut rasam, if you can share the recipe that will be great

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *