18 Spicy Veggie-Packed Dishes That Taste Even Better When It's Cold Outside

Bringing the heat with zero meat.

With winter and snowstorms in full swing, it makes sense if you're craving some heat when it comes to food. 🔥

Below you'll find some of our favorite spicy and flavor-packed recipe ideas — from hearty soups to warming noodle dishes — and all of them are completely vegetarian. So whether you need an easy option for Meatless Monday or just want to add some spicy plant-powered options to your rotation, any of these dishes will work perfectly.

1. Spicy Arrabbiata Sauce

gimmesomeoven.com

Spicy Italian pasta? Sign me up! This sauce also freezes beautifully; so feel free to make a double or triple batch.

Get the recipe: Spicy Arrabbiata Sauce

2. Instant Pot Moroccan Rice With Harissa, Dates, and Orange

alexandracooks.com

Harissa brings a super-flavorful heat kick to this rice, which is nicely balanced out by the sweetness of the dates and the brightness of the fresh oranges.

Get the recipe: Instant Pot Moroccan Rice With Harissa, Dates, and Orange

3. Red Pasta With Lentils

minimalistbaker.com

A protein-packed vegan meal thanks to the lentils, this red pasta is the definition of heartwarming food. It's also vegan and gluten-free. The heat here is mild and comes from a bit of red pepper flakes — so feel free to double the amount if you're craving more.

Get the recipe: Red Pasta With Lentils

4. Spicy Vegetarian Cabbage Soup

gimmesomeoven.com

The heat here is from green chiles, cumin, and red pepper flakes. To make this soup even spicier, you can add finely diced jalapeño to the recipe.

Get the recipe: Spicy Vegetarian Cabbage Soup

5. Spicy Peanut Tofu Bowls

pinchofyum.com

All you need do is bake tofu on a sheet tray and whatever veggies you want to use on another one. Then whip up a spicy peanut sauce in a blender and assemble everything with some rice for a super-balanced meal.

Get the recipe: Spicy Peanut Tofu Bowls

6. Hot Pot Sauce Noodles

thewoksoflife.com

One of the best things about Chinese hot pot is the spicy sauce you can customize yourself. These noodles are a great vehicle for these amazing flavors, minus the hot pot. The recipe provides some tips and guidelines to make your own sauce but what's truly great about it is that you can get super creative and make it exactly right for your taste.

Get the recipe: Hot Pot Sauce Noodles

7. Vegan Instant Pot Congee

fullofplants.com

Congee is basically a rice porridge and a very popular breakfast around the world. You can use any toppings you want like chili paste or spicy pickled cucumbers.

Get the recipe: Vegan Instant Pot Congee

8. Spicy Black Bean, Green Chili, and Manchego Enchiladas

minimalistbaker.com

Only a handful of ingredients required to make these enchiladas: flour tortillas, black beans, diced green chiles, red enchilada sauce, Manchego cheese, and sour cream.

Get the recipe: Spicy Black Bean, Green Chili, and Manchego Enchiladas

9. Leblebi (North African Chickpea Soup)

alexandracooks.com

You can make this soup with pantry staples like chickpeas, crushed tomatoes, onion, and spices. The addition of a swirl of harissa at the end will give it a nice kick, and you can serve with flatbread or a poached egg.

Get the recipe: Leblebi (North African Chickpea Soup)

10. Homemade Spicy Ramen With Tofu

pinchofyum.com

For heat, this recipe calls for sambal oelek — but you can also swap in sriracha if that's all you have. To make this recipe vegetarian, substitute chicken stock for vegetable stock.

Get the recipe: Homemade Spicy Ramen With Tofu

11. Quick and Easy Kimchi Ramen

thewoksoflife.com

Adding kimchi to your instant ramen might just be the most genius upgrade in the history of food.

Get the recipe: Quick and Easy Kimchi Ramen

12. Jamaican Jerk Grilled Eggplant

minimalistbaker.com

This recipe is ready in 30 minutes from start to finish and will give you all the flavors of a Jamaican jerk chicken — but with a vegan twist.

Get the recipe: Jamaican Jerk Grilled Eggplant

13. Mapo Tempeh

fullofplants.com

You probably already know and love Mapo tofu. Well, it's time to get familiar with its tempeh cousin. The classic gets its heat from doubanjiang, a Chinese condiment you can find in specialty stores.

Get the recipe: Mapo Tempeh

14. Spicy Korean-Style Cauliflower Wings

minimalistbaker.com

You can learn how to make the delicious Korean Gochujang sauce used in this recipe here.

Get the recipe: Spicy Korean-Style Cauliflower Wings

15. Broccoli With Spicy, Sesame-Scallion Sizzle

alexandracooks.com

This magical side is basically broiled broccoli topped with a sauce made with sesame oil, coconut oil, soy sauce, hot sauce, and sesame seeds.

Get the recipe: Broiled Broccoli With Spicy Sesame-Scallion Sizzle

16. Spicy Vegan Hot Pot

fullofplants.com

This vegan hot pot will bring some brightness to your winter thanks to its lemongrass ginger–based broth.

Get the recipe: Spicy Vegan Hot Pot

17. Sopa Azteca (Tortilla Soup)

gimmesomeoven.com

This recipe uses dried pasilla chiles in a tomato broth and you can adjust the amount of chiles you use to how spicy you want the final dish to be.

Get the recipe: Sopa Azteca (Tortilla Soup)

18. Spicy King Oyster Mushroom Stir-Fry

thewoksoflife.com

This vegan stir-fry only calls for eight ingredients and gets its heat from spicy bean sauce. Fair warning: Once you try it, you'll want to make it every week.

Get the recipe: Spicy King Oyster Mushroom Stir-Fry