Cheap Vegetarian Aldi Dinners

By Tyler, a home cook in Spring Hill, Florida · Updated October 2026

Meatless dinners are one of the easiest ways to cut a grocery bill, and Aldi makes them especially cheap. Beans, eggs, pasta, rice, frozen vegetables and cheese are some of the best values in the store, and they turn into dinners that feel filling, not like a side dish pretending to be a meal. These are eight vegetarian dinners from this site, each written for four people with Aldi brand ingredients and the cost per serving worked out for you.

A quick note before you start: these are vegetarian, not vegan. Several use eggs, cheese or butter. If you are cooking for a strict vegetarian, also check the label on the Parmesan, because traditional Parmesan is made with animal rennet.

Ready in 20 minutes or less

These four are my go-to dinners for the nights when nobody planned anything. They lean on ingredients that keep well in the pantry, fridge or freezer, so you can often make one without a special trip to the store.

Veggie fried rice is the best use of leftover rice there is, because cold rice from the day before fries up better than fresh. Lemon pasta with peas comes together in the time it takes the pasta to cook. Black bean and corn quesadillas get crispy in a dry skillet, and spinach and feta pasta wilts a whole bag of greens into something the whole family will actually eat.

Hearty bean dinners

Beans are the reason meatless dinners can be filling. A can of black beans costs very little at Aldi and brings real protein and fiber to the table. Black bean chili is the one I make on a Sunday so there is lunch for half the week, and it tastes even better the next day. Sweet potato and black bean tacos are sweet, warm with cumin and bright with lime, and the roasted sweet potato makes them hearty enough that nobody goes looking for a snack an hour later.

If you have never cooked dried beans, canned is fine. Just drain and rinse them to get rid of the extra salt and the starchy liquid.

Cheesy oven bakes

Sometimes dinner needs to be a casserole. Baked ziti layers pasta, marinara, ricotta and mozzarella into the kind of dish that disappears at potlucks, and it is just as good assembled the night before and baked when you get home. Cheesy broccoli rice casserole is pure comfort food, with a crispy fried onion topping that kids pick off first.

Both of these make great freezer meals. Assemble them in a foil pan, cover tightly and freeze. Bake from thawed, adding a little extra time if the center is still cold. Our freezer meals guide covers the method in more detail.

Make any night meatless

A few other recipes on this site go vegetarian with one simple swap. The loaded baked potato bar becomes meatless if you top the potatoes with the black bean chili above instead of canned chili. Breakfast for dinner works without the turkey bacon, too. Just add an extra egg per person or a side of fruit.

If you are trying to eat less meat without going fully vegetarian, start with two meatless nights a week. Pick one quick dinner from the first group and one bean dinner, and you will notice the difference at the register within a couple of weeks.

Stocking a vegetarian Aldi pantry

Keep a few canned beans, a big bag of rice, a couple of boxes of pasta, frozen peas and mixed vegetables, a jar of marinara and a block or bag of cheese on hand, and you can make most of the dinners on this page without a special trip. Eggs, lemons and tortillas round it out. Most of these keep for weeks, so stocking up when they are on sale pays off.

When you are ready to plan a whole week, the planner on our home page builds seven dinners around this week's Aldi deals in about thirty seconds, and you can swap in any of these meatless meals.

Prices vary by store and change week to week, so treat the costs on these cards as close estimates and check the shelf price before you check out.

Keep reading

• Loaded Baked Potato Bar
• Aldi Breakfast for Dinner
• Freezer Meals 101: 10 Dinners from One Aldi Trip
• 15-Minute Aldi Dinners for Wiped-Out Weeknights
• A Week of Aldi Dinners for Under $50
• All Cheap Aldi Recipes