How To Design A Vegetarian Dinner Party Menu

Throwing a dinner party is the kind of thing you definitely want to get right, and it’s really something of an art because there’s so much planning and hard work to put into making sure everything goes off smoothly. However, when you get it right, and everyone has a good time, you’ll feel great and proud of what you’ve done, and your guests will have a positive and memorable experience. 

If you have a vegetarian guest, it isn’t always easy to make one dish just for them, and what could be an easier option is to design an entirely vegetarian menu. Not only does this make things easier for you, but it’s probably not something your veggie guest has ever experienced before, so they’ll love it. Plus, if you choose the right food and cook it well, your other guests will enjoy it too, and it might even show them what can be done when meat’s off the menu. With that in mind, here are some tips to help you design a vegetarian menu for your dinner party. 

        Photo by Rene Asmussen  

Appetizers And Starters

Any good dinner party is going to have a few different courses, so it makes sense to start at the beginning with the appetizer. These don’t need to be big dishes, and sometimes little bite-sized canapes can be enough to whet people’s appetites ready for the main event. 

 

There are many different options - almost too many when you start to come up with ideas - but something simple and light is usually wise because you don’t want to ruin anyone’s appetite (especially if you’ve got a dessert to come as well as the main course). A good example of a great dish is bruschetta with fresh tomato and basil, for example - you can add some mozzarella as long as your guest isn’t vegan. This is easy to prepare and doesn’t need to be cooked, so you can make it in advance and not even have to think about it on the night, giving you time to deal with the other courses. 

The Main Course

For the main courses, the  options are just as endless as they were for the starter, and the key to getting this right is really to make sure you’ve got lots of different flavors (that complement one another) and textures. In that way, the dish is interesting and it won’t matter that there isn’t any meat. 

 

Potatoes are a great choice when it comes to your main course. You can have them as the ‘hero ingredient’ like you would if you made baked potatoes, or they can be a fantastic side if you followed a Hasselback potatoes recipe or made mashed potatoes. No matter how much potato is on the plate, the great thing is they’ll match with pretty much anything else, so you’re free to make any dish you want and use potatoes to make it filling and tasty.

Your Dessert

You’ll need to finish your dinner party in a wonderful and memorable way, and for most people that’s going to mean a fantastic dessert. Or, if you really want to be impressive, more than one dessert. 

 

It’s not always easy to know what people’s preferences are, so you could make a fruit-based dessert, a chocolate one, and perhaps even offer a cheese board as well, as not everyone likes sweet options. As long as everything is ethically sourced and any food intolerances are taken into account, you can create a stunning meat-free dinner party menu that people will love.