Think You Hate Veggies? These Easy Recipes Will Change Your Mind.

No more boring side salads. Here are fourteen ideas that make eating more vegetables easy and delicious.

By now, we’re all aware — maybe too aware — of the importance of eating enough protein. But when it comes to weeknight cooking, getting your vegetables in can turn into an afterthought, often in the form of a handful of salad greens thrown onto your plate. If you’re looking for something a bit more exciting, these recipes highlight affordable grocery store staples like cabbage, broccoli and spinach, short but powerful ingredient lists, and bold flavor combinations that’ll make getting your five servings a day a breeze.

1. Lemony Miso Cabbage

“One of the best things I’ve made in a long time, truly shows the beauty in simplicity! I used a big purple cabbage and made it for meal prep. I’ve been taking bites every time I’ve opened the fridge. It’s so addictive.”

Got cabbage? Chop it up and follow this super simple recipe from Kay Chun, which has you cooking it on the stovetop and covering it with an umami miso butter. Before you know it, you’ll have eaten a whole head, and your body will thank you.

2. Ginger Scallion Broccoli Salad

“We love this recipe. I have been sharing with friends and family. Super easy and delicious!”

Boiled broccoli is a hallmark of busy weekday cooking, easily spruced up here into a hearty side with a few tweaks from Kay Chun. The blanched broccoli is tossed with a simple dressing of lemon juice, miso and scallions.

3. Sautéed Baby Bok Choy

“Love the dish’s strong, rich taste with a hint of sweetness. I substituted coconut aminos for soy sauce due to food sensitivity to soy.”

Bok choy is my personal emergency vegetable, the kind that sits in your fridge for the sole purpose of being quickly cooked up alongside a main course. In this recipe from Sam Sifton, baby bok choy is first stir-fried, then steamed, in order to maintain its crunchy texture while still cooking it all the way through.

4. Miso Creamed Spinach

“Chef’s kiss. Made exactly as written, served over noodles to stretch. Delicious.”

In this recipe from Kia Damon, a take on a classic steakhouse side, miso and Parmesan form a savory cream sauce. It’s all made in one pan, with no need to blanch the spinach beforehand, and it immediately elevates your dinner from a dish to a meal.

5. Scrunched Cabbage Salad With Fried Almonds

“This is one of the best recipes ever. Dinner guests could not say enough about it including: ‘This is cabbage?’”

Massaging (or “scrunching,” which is more fun) raw cabbage leaves with salt makes them tender and pliant, ready to absorb Cybelle Tondu’s lemony, garlicky dressing. Fry some nuts in olive oil while the cabbage softens, and sprinkle on top for a lovely crunch.

6. Zucchini With Shallots

“My new favorite side dish recipe from NYT! This was unbelievably delicious and easy!”

This reader favorite from Pierre Franey is a classic for a reason. It’s just as good with supermarket zucchini as it is with your summer garden bounty, and takes 15 minutes to prepare. It’s the perfect accompaniment to any grilled chicken or fish on the table.

7. Corn and Celery Stir-Fry

“Holy wow. This was so much better than the sum of its parts. I had no idea corn and celery could transform into something so good.”

Echoing a Northern Chinese dish of corn kernels stir-fried with pine nuts, this riff from Hetty Lui McKinnon calls for thinly sliced celery, adding another dimension of crunch and aroma to the mix. She also adds scallion greens toward the end of cooking, sliced into large pieces, for a pop of sweetness and green.

8. Stir-Fried Iceberg With Garlic-Ginger Oil

“Best use of iceberg lettuce I’ve ever seen.”

Lettuce in sandwiches or in salads is great, but cooking it like Kay Chun does — stir-fried with garlic and ginger, then hit with a little soy sauce and vinegar — will blow your mind.

9. Miso-Parmesan Asparagus

“Best asparagus recipe ever. Two of us inhaled several pounds of asparagus with miso and Parm.”

This deceptively simple but fancy-feeling recipe from Andy Baraghani relies on miso and butter to add a powerful umami kick, boosted by grated Parmesan sprinkled in at the end. The key is to slice the asparagus on a steep diagonal, which ensures that you get evenly cooked stalks and tips in each bite.

10. Mashed Cauliflower

“What a surprise. This is a fabulous recipe. I elevated my cauliflower side to a new high.”

When you desire a little more nutritional value in your white mashed vegetables, cauliflower is a surprising, but excellent choice. It’s made the same way you would make mashed potatoes, but Ali Slagle recommends boiling them in milk to infuse them with a little creaminess.

11. Carrot Salad With Cumin and Coriander

“Even the spouse, who is not a raw carrot fan, liked it.”

The hardest thing about this quick recipe is grating the carrots, which get tossed in a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, coriander and cayenne. Then, let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes before eating, to let the carrots soak up some flavor.

12. Charred Green Beans and Lemony Yogurt

“We made this to have as a side dish for a recent dinner party. They were a huge hit! Everyone raved about the dish, and scraped extra yogurt off their plates.”

Yossy Arefi provides a foolproof formula for crunchy green veggies, in this case, green beans, which get crisp-tender after a quick broil, then piled on top of lemony yogurt. It only takes 15 minutes to whip together.

13. Roasted Radishes

“Made the recipe as is. Ate one to try it. Proceeded to eat the entire pan. 5/5 no notes.”

Aside from eating them in a sandwich with plenty of butter, roasting radishes very simply with salt and pepper brings out a kind of sweet, different dimension to the vegetable. A drizzle of honey is optional, but highly recommended to highlight their sweetness even more.

14. Mushroom Piccata

“Ten stars! Served it over polenta. SO GOOD!”

Two pounds of meaty mushrooms get the piccata treatment in this recipe, a reader favorite from Kay Chun. Use a mix of mushrooms for more texture, roast them in the oven, and toss in a sauce made from garlic, lemon juice, capers and parsley.