20+ Fantastic Vegetarian St. Patrick's Day Recipes
Want to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but determined to stick to your vegetarian diet? Corned beef and cabbage and beef stew are certainly not the only options for a flavorful and authentic St. Patrick's Day spread. From potato soup and colcannon to Irish soda bread and stout chocolate cake, these recipes honor some of the best vegetarian foods that the Emerald Isle has to offer. Plus, we've got plenty of desserts featuring Guinness stout and Irish cream liqueur, more quick breads, and a few sides that show cabbage can taste just as delicious apart from the corned beef.
Irish Potato Soup
This creamy and satisfying potato soup comes together quickly and has all the Irish feels. Although the recipe calls for crumbled bacon topping and chicken broth, it's easy to make this soup vegetarian by omitting the bacon and swapping the chicken broth for vegetable broth.
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Irish Soda Bread with Raisins
A favorite St. Patrick's Day recipe, classic Irish soda bread is leavened with baking soda and some type of acidic ingredient, usually buttermilk. Raisins add sweetness to this hearty bread.
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Stout Chocolate Cake
"Stout" Chocolate Cake isn't referring to the size of the cake but the flavoring—a bottle of dark beer is stirred into the batter. A good chocolate stout cake should be rich, nutty, and dark, but not too overpowering, and this cake is exactly that.
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Cabbage and Celery Root Slaw
Skipping the traditional corned beef and cabbage for a more vegetarian-friendly option? Serve this tangy and flavorful cabbage slaw instead.
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Guinness Brownies with Irish Whiskey Frosting
Although few treats are more fitting for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration than rich Guinness brownies, we’d suggest that you go ahead and whip up this Guinness brownie recipe any time you need a decadent hit of chocolate. In fact, given the dangerously scrumptious whiskey buttercream used to frost them, these fudgy brownies are truly the perfect treat to enjoy at the end of an exceptionally long day.
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Maple-Stout Quick Bread
Stout beer--think of Guinness, with its black color and intense richness--gives this bread a slightly bitter background note and gorgeous nut-brown hue.
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Split Pea Soup
Split pea soup often calls for smoky ham, but you can keep this already meatless soup recipe purely vegetarian by simply swapping the chicken broth for vegetable broth. With its vibrant green hue, split pea soup is perfect for your St. Patrick's Day table.
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Irish Cream Brownies
Flavor homemade chocolate brownies with Bailey's Irish Cream for a spiked, fudgy dessert that's got out-of-this-world flavor.
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Brown Soda Bread
Quick breads like this one, leavened with baking powder and baking soda, come together easily, even for weeknights.
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Luck of the Irish Shake
Feeling lucky? With a milkshake like this, you may just find the pot of gold after all. With Bailey's Irish Cream and some Irish whiskey blended into minty ice cream, this frozen St. Patrick's Day treat is the perfect way to celebrate.
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Cheese and Guinness Spread
This easy, cheesy dip features a splash of Guinness stout for a uniquely nutty flavor. Serve with your choice of crackers and sliced veggies.
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This decadent ice-cream cake is truly a mint chocolate lover's dream! Top layers of mint chocolate chip ice cream and devil's food chocolate cake with a rich chocolate ganache and chopped crème de menthe chocolate mints. Make the whole cake ahead and freeze until ready to serve.
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Irish Colcannon and Thyme Leaf Soup
This soup reinterprets an Irish classic: colcannon, a dish of mashed potatoes and kale or cabbage. Garnish with extra thyme and black pepper. To keep it vegetarian, simply substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth.
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Lucky Charms Cookies
Hearts, stars, horse shoes, clovers, and blue moons, pots of gold, and rainbows, and the red balloons… all stirred into a buttery, cereal-inspired cookie dough. In addition to all of the signature marshmallow charms, these Lucky Charms cookies have ground cereal incorporated right into the dry mixture for the sugar cookie dough. In other words, yes, they are magical.
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Matcha Baked Doughnuts
These bright green baked goods will give you all the delight of a doughnut without any of the regret afterwards. Baking makes these vegan doughnuts delicate and soft without excess oil and the matcha has a range of health benefits.
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Roasted Carrots and Parsnips
Roasted root vegetables are a popular side on tables across the Emerald Isle. It's an easy and delicious way to prepare these types of veggies, as roasting the carrots and parsnips lightly caramelizes the vegetables for intense, rich flavor.
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Irish Cream Cake
The Irish cream liqueur in this cake makes the recipe extra-special. Butterscotch filling and a cream cheese frosting make it divine.
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Cabbage and Mixed Greens Salad with Tangy Herb Vinaigrette
Make the dressing ahead and chill it in the refrigerator, but add the herbs just before tossing the salad.
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Farmhouse Crackers
These homemade crackers feature whole-wheat flour and pair well with a bowl of Irish potato soup. Make a double batch of these crackers, which will keep several weeks in an airtight container or in the freezer for up to three months. Serve with high-quality Irish butter, such as Kerrygold.
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Irish Strawberry-and-Cream Cheesecake
The flavors of Irish cream liqueur blend perfectly with the strawberries in this homemade cheesecake. With strawberries coming into season around St. Patrick's Day, this springtime dessert is the perfect choice for your St. Paddy's Day menu.
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Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Bars
Rhubarb crumble is a favorite dessert throughout Ireland. These bars update the original dessert's form, but keep all the sweet-tart flavor. Strawberries pair well with the rhubarb and add a hint of extra sweetness.
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Stout Mac and Cheese
Although this recipe calls for turkey sausage, you can easily omit the meat for a vegetarian version of this unique and delicious side dish.