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Quick Veg Box Recipes

Delicious seasonal food recipes in under 20 minutes.

Not everyone has the time to spend an hour or more preparing fresh food from scratch. Yet most of us are aware of the nutritional value of seasonal food and want to reduce the amount of pre-prepared meals we buy from the supermarket.

So you might be surprised to find out that many of our veg box recipes can be prepared in 20 minutes or less.

Obviously the exact time depends on how mucky your carrots are, how fast a veggie chopper you are and how quickly you boil / steam stuff, but the 20 minute estimate is a time that most of us can spare to cook dinner.

To make it easier, I have collected our 20 minutes or less recipes together here, in an easy-to-search list.

Main Meals & Light Bites (17 recipes)

Side Dishes (18 recipes)

Salads (8 recipes)

Main Meal Dishes

Just 20 minutes gives you a main meal.

	Broccoli & Kale Stir Fry This is a great recipe for a quick lunchtime stir fry. It uses broccoli and kale (or dark-leafed cabbage or spinach) because these are so rich in nutrients. It can easily be adapted to have a Japanese style, if you prefer.
	Kale Pesto Pasta This is a brilliant way of sneaking kale past fussy eaters. The garlic helps reduce the bitterness of the kale and the pine nuts add a sweet, nutty flavour. It also works well with spinach, chard or black nero cabbage.
	Secret Vegetable Pasta This pasta recipe is a great way of using up seasonal veg box leftovers. And it's a great way of sneaking in some extra veggies without any fussy eaters noticing! This version uses runner beans and courgettes.
	Tomato And Artichoke Brunch This tomato and artichoke brunch recipe was inspired by a glut of fresh, ripe tomatoes and the arrival of a jar of pickled artichokes from Suma, our wholesaler. It's so quick to make and it's absolutely delicious.
	Mushroom And Butterbean Stir Fry This is a lovely 5-minute lunchtime snack.
	Miso-Style Soup In Japan, Miso soup is often eaten daily and is believed to help the digestive system. This variation on the original adds in a few vegetables, with optional tofu, to make a soup substantial enough for a lunch or light supper.
	Asparagus & Broad Bean Salad Asparagus and broad bean salad works best with early-season broad beans, so you don't have to remove the skins of the beans. The addition of a poached egg turns these simple springtime ingredients into a delicious meal.
	Sprouting Broccoli Stir Fry This is a great way of using in-season sprouting broccoli and end-of-season, stored carrots. My favourite way of eating this is with Thai-style bean curd, but firm tofu or Halloumi cheese both work well, too. It’s a really quick meal – just 10 minutes – yet is filling and tasty.
	Broad Beans Quinoa This is a delicious recipe for both broad beans and quinoa. It takes less than 15 minutes to make and works well as a delicious lunch or a summer party dish.
	Bruschetta With Tomato Salsa Late summer’s tomatoes are usually packed with flavour and really juicy. This recipe makes the most of them, adding fresh herbs and as much or little chilli as you want, to spice up a lunch time snack. If you don’t have bruschetta, this also works well with ciabatta or French stick bread.
	Warm Summer Courgette & Runner Bean Salad With Artichoke Hearts This delicious summer salad is best served warm. The courgettes and runner beans take on a buttery flavour, enhanced by the creaminess of the artichoke hearts.
	Carrot And Watercress Stir Fry Watercress is farmed most of the year nowadays, but it’s true season is spring. It’s packed with nutrients and is usually served raw in salads. But in this recipe, it’s lightly cooked in a stir fry and served with noodles. Delicious.
	Cauliflower Chickpea Pitta Pockets This is a lovely way of enjoy cauliflower. The chick peas give the meal a nutty flavour and the watercress means it’s packed with nutrients. If you can get hold of tahini (sesame seed butter), it adds to the flavour and is also full of calcium and essential fatty acids.
	Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus Sandwiches This is a delicious way of enjoying hummus, with the sweetness of the sundried tomatoes and the crunchiness of the seeds. Chickpeas mean it's packed with vitamins and gives you a great energy boost for hours afterwards - and it only takes 5 minutes to make!
	Swiss Chard and Sesame Stir Fry This lovely Swiss Chard recipe turned my hubby from dreading chard in our veg box to loving it! Easy to make, very colourful (if you use rainbow chard) and good for you, too, with a wonderful sweetness and a savoury crunch. Also works well with spinach.

Side Dishes

Turn into a light meal or main meal by combining several dishes, serving them with a jacket potato / rice / quinoa or even accompanying meat or fish.

	Beetroot Hummus Here's a quick and nutritious recipe to use up cooked beetroot and add a new twist to a traditional dish.
	Boiled Beetroot This recipe is best done with baby beetroots, whilst they're nearer the size of golf balls than tennis balls. They cook more quickly and taste sweeter.
	Butternut Squash / Pumpkin Puree This butternut squash recipe (also great with pumpkin) is incredibly simple and makes a great weaning food for little ones. Or you can serve it as a side vegetable for older eaters!
	Garlic Mushrooms This garlic mushroom recipe is a quick and easy starter, which is delicious served with fresh, home-made bread or bread buns - or even a side salad. The mushrooms are full of vitamins and minerals and the garlic is bursting with detoxifying and immune system boosting properties, so it's pretty good for you, too.
	Creamy Mushrooms These creamy mushrooms have a hint of balsamic vinegar and tomato, to give them even more flavour. They're ideal with toast, for a light lunch, or maybe as a jacket potato topping.
	Aioli (Provencal Garlic Sauce) This garlic sauce can be used as a dip for bread or raw veggies or as an accompaniment to fish or vegetable bakes.
	Classic Chick Pea Hummus Hummus (or humous) is a traditional Middle Eastern dip. It's a delicious way of using chick peas. It takes 5 minutes to make, so it's quick and nutritious.
	Brussel Sprouts With Garlic And Almonds Frying Brussel Sprouts with a little garlic and then dressing them with cream and almonds puts a whole new slant on sprouts.
	Brussel Sprouts Salad Fresh, young sprouts work well in this raw salad. The sweetness of Balsamic vinegar gives it a delicious twist and the pumpkin seeds and pine nuts give it a nutty crunch.
	Asparagus & Hollandaise Sauce This is perhaps one of the most indulgent ways of enjoying asparagus. But as the season doesn't come round very often, a little of something naughty every now and then is probably ok?!?
	French Beans With Almonds Toasting the almonds brings out the nuttiness of their flavour and adds a delicious twist to French beans.
	Yellow Courgette And Mange Tout Bring out the buttery flavour of these delicious spring and summer vegetables with this simple recipe.
	Lemon Butter Courgettes This is a delicious recipe for using early-season courgettes - packed with flavour.
	Fennel And Carrot Coleslaw If you enjoy the slightly aniseed taste of fennel, then you’ll love this coleslaw. If you’re not yet convinced, then rest assured that the carrots and other ingredients temper the aniseed and you might actually find you enjoy fennel!
	Brussels Sprouts With Nutmeg Brussels sprouts are something that most people either love or loathe. By cooking them carefully, you can avoid the infamous “sprouts-stink” and the nutmeg brings out the best of their flavour.
	Courgette With Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce This recipe is a scrummy way of enjoying courgettes - particulary if you fancy a change. The sun-dried tomatoes and wholegrain mustard bring out the sunshine flavour of the summer veggies.
	Butterbean and Pumpkin Seed Dip The pumpkin seeds and sunflower oil mean this dip is packed with healthy omega fatty acids, as well as essential vitamins and minerals. The butterbeans give it a protein-packed, creamy texture and the lemon juice gives it a real lift. And the best bit is it only takes a few minutes to make!
	Purple Cauliflower and Romanesco with Blue Cheese Sauce This was initially an experiment, but as a recipe for purple cauliflower and / or Romanesco, it's delicious. It takes 20 minutes start to finish and looks impressive, too.

Salads

Salads can make a light meal, just as they are. Or you can add bread / potatoes / rice / couscous / quinoa to make a main meal.

	Coleslaw Home-made coleslaw is quick, delicious and easy. It's just a case of grating / slicing the ingredients and mixing them with the dressing.
	Beetroot & Orange Salad The combination of beetroot, orange and coriander is fragrant and the flavours really compliment each other.
	Watercress, Spinach & Goats' Cheese Salad I invented this recipe one lunchtime when we were all craving salad – in the depths of winter. The warm goats’ cheese and delicious dressing makes this salad a filling winter or springtime treat. You can also use kale, chard or beetroot leaves.
	Early Courgette Salad Early courgettes are packed with flavour and are a real treat, whereas later in the season you may be fed up with them! So here’s a recipe to help you enjoy them with in-season broccoli.
	Mediterranean Grean Bean Salad This salad is simple to make and packed with flavour. Using the earliest French beans of the season makes it a delicious treat. Feta, pine nuts and the dressing give a Mediterranean feel.
	Broad Beans Salad This is an unusual way of serving broad beans, but makes a lovely change. This is a peppery salad, making the most of the freshest early summer ingredients.
	Broad Beans Rice Salad This rice salad is spiced up with early summer veggies - fresh tomatoes, broad beans and extra nutrients from kidney beans. The optional dressing adds to the nutty flavour of the brown rice and the whole thing takes just 20 minutes! If you don't fancy a lemon dressing, you can mix in Cheddar cheese instead!
	Beetroot and Fennel Salad With Sage Croutons This recipe combines raw fennel and beetroot with freshly cooked sage croutons, halloumi cheese and an orange dressing, to make a deliciously crunchy summer salad.

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