Vegetarian Meal Prep

Vegetarian spice crusted cauliflower steak with butternut squash puree and crunchy snap pea salad.

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Tasty Vegetarian Meal Prep

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This vegetarian meal prep recipe has been burning up my FlavCity YouTube page for 2 years running now. My goal was to bring massive flavor and creativity to a vegetarian meal prep for the wee recipe. This one makes 5 servings for the week and is my take on a classic steakhouse dinner, but done veggie style.

The spice crusted cauliflower steak is a show stopper. The key is to oven roast it first, and then pan sear it. This way the cauliflower cooks all the way through and really has that crusty crust like a beefy steak would. You gyd have been asking for more vegetarian recipes, so I need to get on it, in the meantime check out all the veggie sides dies that accompany my meal prep recipes.

Easy Vegetarian Recipes

All of my meal prep recipes are easy, the goal is to provide you will lots of flavor and creativity, but not much work. The butternut squash puree in this recipe is really easy, boil the squash and toss everything in the blender, the flavors of the orange zest and cinnamon are dynamite! Make sure to navigate to the recipe section of my site and search by the category easy for more recipes.

The Best Corn Salad Side Dish Recipe

I love this funky little charred corn and sugar snap pea salad. It’s fresh, crunchy, and pairs with the other two components of this meal prep perfectly. I actually developed this recipe in the winter, so I used frozen corn kernels, but it would be even better with fresh corn kernels off the cob!

The key is to get the corn in a hot pan before the other ingredients go in, this will allow the corn kernels to get slightly charred in spots. If you want to do this on the grill in the summertime that would be a great idea. After 6-7 minutes, you can go in with the red onions, garlic, and sugar snap peas, but only cook for a few minutes, we want the veggies to remain crunchy.

If you guys have any requests for more veggie meals or a certain vegetable you want to see me make a meal prep out of just let me know!

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Vegetarian Meal Prep

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 5 meals
Author: Bobby Parrish
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Ingredients

For the cauliflower:

  • 2 large heads of cauliflower
  • 1 teaspoon each of smoked paprika cumin, & ancho chile power
  • ½ teaspoon dried thyme
  • Veggie oil
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly cracked black pepper

For the garlic yogurt sauce:

  • 4-5 cloves roasted garlic recipe below
  • 2 tablespoons freshly chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
  • Zest and juice of ½ a lemon
  • 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • Couple cracks of fresh pepper
  • ½ cup greek style yogurt

For the butternut squash puree:

  • 1 medium size butternut squash about 2 pounds, cubed
  • 1 tablespoon real maple syrup
  • Zest of half an orange
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon of ghee unsalted butter, or coconut oil
  • Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly cracked black pepper

For the corn and snap pea salad:

  • 2 cups of frozen corn kernels
  • 1/3 cup red onion chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 cups sugar snap peas sliced. About 6 ounces
  • ½ a red bell pepper diced
  • 2 tablespoons freshly chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
  • 2 tablespoons almonds chopped & roasted(optional)
  • Zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • Veggie oil
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions

  1. Cook’s Notes: To make the roasted garlic, cut off the bottom portion of a bulb of garlic and season the inside with a tiny shot of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Place the garlic in a tin foil pouch, add a little shot of water, seal the pouch, and roast for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. When ready, you can squeeze the garlic cloves out.
  2. To make Ghee/Clarified butter, get the recipe here: https://www.flavcity.com/clarified-butter
  3. You can buy chopped butternut squash, but it’s more expensive. Watch my video to see how I carefully cut and peel a butternut squash.
  4. Begin Cooking:
  5. To make the butternut squash puree, bring a medium size pot of water to a boil. Season the water with 1 teaspoon of salt and carefully add the cubed squash to the water. Boil for 15 minutes, making sure you don’t overcook the squash. When a fork goes in and out of the squash with relative ease, it’s ready. Drain the squash and place it in a blender. While the squash is hot, add everything else to the blender along with ¼ teaspoon of salt and a couple cracks of pepper. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy, using a plunging stick or wooden spoon to help the mixture blend. If it is too thick, add a splash of milk. Check for seasoning, you may need a touch more salt. Set aside.
  6. For the cauliflower steak, pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F. Cut the ends off both heads of cauliflower, the parts that don’t have the root attached. Cut the cauliflower into 1/2 inch thick steaks, going from the top, to the bottom, and through the stem. You should be able to get 6 steaks, although the recipe calls for 5.
  7. Make the steak spice rub by combining the smoked paprika, ancho chile powder, cumin, and thyme in a small bowl. Mix well. Drizzle a shot of veggie oil on both sides and rub it evenly over the steaks. Season with a generous pinch of salt and spice rub on both sides, rub the spice rub into the cauliflower. Place the steaks on a sheet tray and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside. Cauliflower steaks can sit at room temperature for a while after they have been baked.
  8. While the cauliflower is cooking, make the corn salad by pre-heating a large cast iron pan over medium-high heat with 2 teaspoon of veggie oil. Add the corn kernels and cook for 7-10 minutes, or until the corn is slightly charred, stirring a few times. Lower the heat to medium, add the red onions, garlic, along with ½ teaspoon of salt and a couple cracks of pepper. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring often. Turn the heat off and add the mixture to a large bowl. Add all of the remaining salad ingredients along with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, ¼ teaspoon salt, and a couple cracks of pepper. Mix well and check for seasoning, it may need a little more salt or lemon juice.
  9. To finish the steaks, pre-heat a large cast iron pan over medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon of veggie oil for 2 minutes. Use a spatula to carefully place 2-3 of the cauliflower steaks in the pan and sear for 3 minutes, or until the steaks are nicely browned on the first side. Use a spatula to carefully flip the steaks, and sear for another 3 minutes. Remove from pan and sear the remaining steaks.
  10. Assemble your meal prep containers and enjoy! The steaks and butternut puree can be frozen for 2-3 months, but the salad can only be kept in the fridge for 5 days. For re-heating, I prefer to take the lid off the containers, wrap in tin foil, and heat for 10-15 minutes in a 400 degree F oven. If using the microwave, cover the containers with a wet paper towel so the food stays moist. The salad should be eaten cold or at room temperature.

Recipe Notes

Macros:
380 calories per meal
14.8 grams of fat per meal
48.2 grams of carbs per meal
12 grams of protein per meal
12.6 grams of fiber per meal

4 thoughts on “Vegetarian Meal Prep”

    1. This was an older blog post/recipe and back then I used what is sold as “vegetable oil”…….these days I don’t like to use it – I MUCH prefer olive oil or avocado oil. Typically “vegetable oil” is extracted using chemicals, which is why I don’t like to use it, unless you can find a vegetable oil that specifically also identifies as being “expeller pressed.”

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