How to celebrate Earth Day? Honor Earth Day by eating more eco-friendly meals. After all, what you put on your plate can be so impactful in reducing your environmental footprint. Try these Top 25 Earth Day Recipes, which are plant-based and promote biodiversity and global food traditions, to celebrate Mother Earth.
Celebrate Earth Day by helping to protect the planet with your fork. Did you know that your daily food choices can make a significant impact on the environment—including carbon footprint, water and land use, and pollution produced? By eating more plant-based, favoring seasonal and local produce, and reducing food waste you can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, and deforestation, thus making a gentler impact on our earth. You can even promote regeneration of the soil through your food choices. I’m sharing my Top 25 Earth Day Recipes; each is 100% plant-based, promotes seasonal foods, includes biodiversity of ingredients, and reduces food waste.
Eat and Live Goodness,
Sharon
Top 25 Earth Day Recipes
Smoothies, Smoothie Bowls
This 5-ingredient smoothie is not only easy to make but flavorful too! With five plant-based ingredients, orange juice, bananas, pistachios, kale, and avocado, you can enjoy a nutrition-packed, gorgeous green smoothie. Smoothies are a great way to reduce food waste, too—through in vegetable scraps you can’t use in dishes!
This smoothie bowl has the superfood ingredient, matcha tea. It only takes 5 minutes to make and gives you the freedom to be creative with the toppings. Try to include seasonal produce and earth-friendly proteins like tree nuts to make it really green.
Breakfast Entrees
Red Quinoa Berry Breakfast Bowl
Made of whole grains and fresh berries (use frozen or dried if they are not in season), this recipe can be a great way to celebrate biodiversity in a plate, as it includes ancient grains, seeds, and berries.
Easy Cauliflower Chickpea Tacos
Skip the red meat, which has a negative impact on the planet, and go for earth-friendly chickpeas and cauliflower in these plant-based tacos. They’re yummy too!
Rustic Vegan Corn Potato Sausage Skillet
One way to reduce your eco-footprint is to trim meats from your diet. This recipe features earthy new potatoes, sweet corn, and plant-based sausage to power up the hearty nutrition. You can include seasonal produce, as well as frozen vegetables when fresh is not available.
Celebrate global traditions on Earth Day to honor food cultures. You can start with my family’s recipe for Swedish waffles, which is a staple in Swedish households. Simple, delicious, and filled with whole grains, this budget-friendly, family-friendly recipe is also light on environmental footprint.
Salads
Greek Mizuna Salad with Sumac Spice Vinaigrette
Olives, lemons, cucumbers, peppers, pistachios, tomatoes, and sumac spice bring Mediterranean flavors to this twist on a Greek salad featuring mizuna—a variety of greens showcasing the rich array of vegetables available on our planet.
French Green Lentil Salad with Cherry Tomatoes
Pulses, like beans and lentils, are the most eco-friendly of protein sources; try this global recipe for a French lentil salad which packs in the nutrition, while minimizing food dollars.
Southwestern Black Bean Quinoa Mango Salad
Celebrate global flavors with this colorful explosion of a salad, that includes a balance of whole grains, pulses, fruits, and vegetables all in one bowl.
Tuscan Asparagus Fennel Farro Salad
Take a trip to Tuscany with this spring grain salad. Farro is an ancient wheat that hails from Tuscany—it has a low carbon footprint, and can be the basis of many dishes featuring seasonal, local produce.
Entrees
Skip the beef burgers and make your own healthy, economical, planet-friendly burgers that can be the basis of your fabulous sandwich—top it with seasonal produce for a fresh taste.
Double Chickpea Vegetable Pitas
With only six ingredients, turn to this simple plant-based, green protein meal filled with low-carbon footprint chickpeas.
Noodle Bowl with Thai Tofu and Vegetables
This recipe honors the food traditions of Thailand, while filling your plate with plants for a celebration of colors and flavors for Earth Day.
Vegan Pasta with Roasted Vegetables
The classic Italian-inspired dish of pasta and roasted veggies celebrates seasonal produce and low-climate footprint pasta.
Vegan Baked Mediterranean Lasagna
This vegan lasagna has a beautiful Mediterranean flavor thanks to basil, eggplant, zucchini, artichokes, peppers tomatoes, olives, and garlic. Celebrate Earth Day with this sunny recipe—use frozen vegetables if fresh are not available in your region.
Sheet Pan Roasted Vegetables and Beans with Za’atar
The global Middle Eastern spice, Za ‘atar, makes this entrée sing! Explore local produce, traditional flavors, and biodiversity with this sheet pan dish.
Mashed Potatoes and Heirloom Carrots with Basil, Garlic, and Olive Oil
Give mashed potatoes a new look and taste with heirloom carrots, which helps add more biodiversity to your diet.
Vegan Rainbow Veggie Pizza with Cornmeal Crust
Skip the takeout and try this plant-based rainbow pizza, which is a colorful addition for Earth Day. With a whole grain crust and every color of the rainbow in produce, this recipe cuts the carbon footprint compared to typical cheese and meat-laden pizzas.
Easy Black Bean Spinach Enchiladas with Green Sauce
Honor local food traditions with a global recipe, such as this vegan enchilada recipe, which is filled with black beans, spinach, and cilantro.
Puglian Fava Beans with Greens
Beans and greens, it can’t get more climate-friendly than this pairing! Not to mention, they are fava beans, which are both earth-friendly and nutritious, in this traditional Italian dish.
Soups, Stews, Chili
Take a taste of the Americas with this super climate-conscious recipe filled with corn and beans—you can’t get much better than this pairing for your Earth Day meal!
This plant-based recipe, filled to the brim with vegetables, is the start of an earth-friendly meal based off of the French tale Vegetable Stone Soup—a parable of making something of nothing and sharing local, available foods.
Fennel Carrot Soup with Ginger and Turmeric
Try this spring soup, which is elegant yet backed with nutrients by way of onion, ginger, turmeric, carrots, and fennel. Celebrating seasonal produce, it’s a light, eco-conscious recipe for your Earth Day.
Desserts
Pretty, healthy and packed with produce. Now this screams Earth Day celebration for the whole family!
Chia Seed Pudding with Berries
Honor global ingredients, such as chia seeds and berries, in this super easy recipe. With low sugar and few ingredients, this plant-based recipe makes a lower impact on the planet. Use frozen or dried berries if fresh are not available.
Photo and recipes by Sharon Palmer, MSFS, RDN
To learn more about Earth-friendly eating, check out the following blogs:
Cooking Tips for Environmental Sustainability
Mealtime Food Sustainability for Families
Many Health and Eco Impacts of Food Choices
Sustainable Food Labels: What Do They Mean?