With the new year around the corner, it’s tempting to want to start fresh, to reinvent the way we feed ourselves and our families. But here at Epicurious what we’re craving isn’t a new way of cooking or eating. Instead, we’re entering 2022 with the resolution to cook more of the meals we love—without putting too much pressure on ourselves.
That’s why we’re starting the year with not one but three comfort-food-focused meal plans—one vegan, one vegetarian, and one pescatarian. We want to keep things easy, so some of the dishes we highlight in each plan can be easily transformed into a different meal the next day or paired with whatever’s already in your fridge or pantry. We hope these meals are soothing to eat—and also therapeutic to cook.
Below you’ll find a vegan meal plan filled with some of our favorite vegan recipes, including cozy enchiladas, a luscious chocolate pudding, and dairy-free mac ‘n’ cheese. The first week of the new year should be low-key and enjoyable, so feel free to switch around meals and swap in ingredients as needed.
Saturday: A breakfast you can freeze and a warming soup
Recipes: Sweet Potato Date Muffins and Vegan Mushroom Menudo
Set yourself up for a lower-stress new year by stocking your freezer with an easy breakfast. For these hearty sweet potato date muffins, you’ll simply pop some sweet potatoes in the oven, then purée their sweet, roasty flesh to fold into the muffin batter. Along with bananas, the purée keeps these muffins moist, while dried dates add sweetness and rolled oats provide extra texture.
If making your own purée feels like too much for the first day of the new year, canned sweet potato or pumpkin purée would be delicious too. Not into muffins? Bake the batter in a loaf tin. No dates? Go for dried prunes, cherries, apricots, or whatever dried fruit you have on hand.
For dinner, whip up a double batch of Epi contributor Jocelyn Ramirez’s sweet, smoky chile sauce—made with guajillo and pasilla chiles—so you can add half to her meatless menudo. (You’ll use the rest of the sauce tomorrow.) Here, frilly snow mushrooms stand in for the tripe in traditional menudo, providing a nice bite. Earthy hominy helps round out this deeply satisfying soup, and a garnish of cilantro, chopped white onion, and a squeeze of lime juice adds freshness.
Sunday: Cozy enchiladas and chocolate pudding
Recipes: Vegan Roasted Garlic–Potato Enchiladas and Chocolate Avocado Pudding
These hearty enchiladas start with the same chile base that you prepared for yesterday’s soup. To make tonight’s dinner, you’ll blend the chile sauce with tomatoes and vegetable broth, then fill corn tortillas with creamy, garlicky potatoes that have been mashed with almond milk and nutritional yeast. Bake them until they’ve warmed through, and top with sliced white onion, cherry tomatoes, avocados, and cilantro for a burst of freshness.
We wouldn’t leave you without some vegan dessert ideas, and this chocolate pudding is both luscious and simple. Blending ripe avocado with chocolate makes sense: the avocado’s high fat content is what gives this fuss-free dessert its silky texture. Making the pudding is easy: Just purée avocados with vanilla, cocoa powder, maple syrup, agave nectar, then add a dash of hot water and some orange juice, which adds a bit of brightness. Leave it to set in your fridge while you’re making the enchiladas. If you want to gild the lily, you could even top each serving with coconut milk whipped cream.
Monday: The creamiest vegan pasta
Recipe: Easy Vegan Mac and Cheese
We ate a lot of vegan takes on mac ‘n’ cheese in order to zero in on this winning method. The most delicious recipe we tried relies on cashews for a creamy texture, nutritional yeast for cheesiness, and white miso for an earthy, savory flavor. To make this comforting pasta dinner, you’ll blitz together everything in a blender—except for the macaroni, don’t blitz the macaroni!—then toss it with cooked elbows or the pasta of your choice.
Tuesday: Creamed greens, minus the dairy
Recipe: Coconut Creamed Greens
Our holiday diet hasn’t been super heavy on greens—more like super-heavy on cookies—and if you’re in the same camp, you’ll definitely welcome this rich, fragrant, one-pot dish. You’ll sauté onion, garlic, and ginger in coconut oil, then add hardy winter greens to gently simmer with creamy coconut milk, chile, and spices. Top the dish with toasted coconut flakes for extra crunch, and serve it with farro, quinoa, or rice. Need a refresher on how to cook different kinds of grains? We gotchu.
Wednesday: A can of beans works its magic
Recipe: Butter Beans, Paprika, and Piquillo Peppers
The trick to transforming a can of beans into a delicious meal is to simmer them in flavorful aromatics and spices. Tonight, you’ll cook your beans in a quick pan sauce of caramelized red onions, garlic, tomato, sweet smoked paprika, and sherry vinegar. For a hint of sweetness, add jarred piquillo peppers toward the end. These beans are delicious served on their own or with a slice of toast. If you end up with any extras, turn leftover beans into a spectacular lunch by tossing them into a simple salad with garlicky breadcrumbs, croutons, toasted nuts, or whatever your heart desires.
Thursday: A meal to make on autopilot
Recipe: Dooboo Jorim (Braised Tofu)
Joanne Lee Molinaro, author of The Korean Vegan, loves recipes that are foolproof even when your brain is on autopilot (and so do we). This braised tofu—which she claims “practically makes itself”—is one of them. All you have to do is whisk together Molinaro’s simple, spicy soy-sauce based dressing, then sear and braise your tofu with onions, carrots, and mushrooms. The dressing will yield more than you need for the tofu, but it’s delicious when served as a dipping sauce for dumplings or poured over cooked vegetables.
Serve this with some kimchi that’s prepared without seafood, and make a big pot of rice—save some for kimchi fried rice tomorrow.
Friday: Turn leftover rice into something better
Recipe: Kimchi Fried Rice
And just like that, the first week of 2022 is coming to a close. End it with this savory, punchy, couldn’t-be-simpler kimchi fried rice. Grab your leftover rice, chop whatever vegetables you have in the fridge, and that’s about as hard as it gets. Sauté the veg, then add your rice from last night, along with chopped kimchi—again, be sure to pick up a brand that doesn’t contain any seafood—and fragrant perilla leaves.
Want more ideas to help you start the new year off on the right foot? Check out our vegetarian and pescatarian meal plans for extra inspiration.
