15 Lemony Vegan Recipes to Brighten Up Your Summer!

Lemons are a great addition to any summer meal. You can squeeze a bit on top of your food or add it to the sauce to brighten and freshen up the flavors a bit. There are also so many fantastic vegan lemon desserts that you can make. Sometimes chocolate feels a bit too heavy in the summer, so lemon-flavored desserts are the perfect alternative. From salad with a lemon dressing to lemon poppyseed cake, lemon-flavored vegan foods are where it’s at this summer. Serve your lemon entree and lemon desserts with a glass of lemonade for a lemon-themed meal. It’s fun, it’s fresh, and it’s oh-so-tasty.

We also highly recommend downloading the Food Monster App  — with over 15,000 delicious recipes it is the largest plant-based recipe resource to help you get healthy! 

1. Lemon Poppy Seed Donuts

Source: Lemon Poppy Seed Donuts

These 20-minute Baked Lemon Poppy Seed Donuts by Angelina Papanikolaou are soft, fluffy, and bursting with fresh lemon flavor and poppy seeds! These donuts are the perfect summer treat and an incredibly delicious breakfast.

2. Grilled Eggplant With Lemon Basil Drizzle

Source: Grilled Eggplant With Lemon Basil Drizzle

This Grilled Eggplant With Lemon Basil Drizzle by Taryn Fitz-Gerald makes a delicious light option for lunch, dinner, or a side dish. Eggplant slices are seasoned with only salt and then grilled until tender — the real flavor comes from the easy lemon basil dressing. The flavors complement each other superbly. Open to other possibilities such as being wrapped up and stuffed with your favorite fillings, like cashew ricotta.

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3. Lemon Funfetti Cookies

Source: Lemon Funfetti Cookies

Soft, pillowy, chewy Lemon Funfetti Cookies by Taavi Moore topped with creamy lemon icing. These cookies are vegan, gluten-free, and healthier than your average cookie.

4. Lemony White Bean Dip

Source: Lemony White Bean Dip

Use white beans in place of chickpeas in this Lemony White Bean Dip by Crissy Cavanaugh to create a smoother and creamier dip!

5. Fizzy Pink Grapefruit Lemonade

Source: Fizzy Pink Grapefruit Lemonade

Just 3 ingredients in this Fizzy Pink Grapefruit Lemonade by Melissa Tedesco: grapefruit, maple syrup, and soda water. Yummy. So pleasant on a hot summer day.

6. Moroccan Style Pizza with Spiced Chickpeas, Preserved Lemon, Olives & Saffron Crema

Source: Moroccan Style Pizza with Spiced Chickpeas, Preserved Lemon, Olives & Saffron Crema

This Moroccan Style Pizza with Spiced Chickpeas, Preserved Lemon, Olives & Saffron Crema by Anna Sue will brighten up any day! It has some classic Moroccan flavors, like preserved lemons, saffron, olives, spiced chickpeas, and flat-leaf parsley. It’s creamy, salty, zingy, and bright. This pizza is dang good!

7. Cashew and Lemon Balls

Source: Cashew and Lemon Balls

These Cashew and Lemon Balls by Sara Oliveira are wonderful to make when you don’t want to turn on your oven! They come together quickly and easily, and are packed with flavor!

8. Blistered Green Beans with Preserved Lemon and Parsley

Source: Blistered Green Beans with Preserved Lemon and Parsley

These Blistered Green Beans with Preserved Lemon and Parsley by Claire Ragozzino make an amazing side for your holiday meal or for any meal for that matter! Not your basic boring green beans, with the crispy blistered texture and the pop of flavor from the preserved lemon – this dish is sure to impress any guest!

9. Vegan Lemon Blueberry Superfood Granola

Source: Vegan Lemon Blueberry Superfood Granola

This Vegan Lemon Blueberry Superfood Granola recipe by Gabrielle St. Claire is easy to throw together, affordable, features tons of superfoods that add nutrients and texture, has a gorgeous lemon flavor, homemade dried blueberries, it’s filling, pairs well with yogurt or just simple almond milk, perfect for any season, can easily be made in bulk, and could be made into bars!!

10. Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus Salad with Yogurt Lemon-Dill Dressing

Source: Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus Salad with Yogurt Lemon-Dill Dressing

This Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus Salad with Yogurt Lemon-Dill Dressing by Teri Macovei is a combination of flavors and textures that go so well together. Potatoes and asparagus are a perfect match. Roasted veggie goodness in one salad. Plentiful, comforting, and full of tempting flavors and crispy textures, this salad aims to please you. It’s a tasty bliss ready to satisfy your family or guests

11. Lemon Poppy Seed Baked Oats

Source: Lemon Poppy Seed Baked Oats

Lemon Poppy Seed Baked Oats by Hayley Canning for a comforting and cozy start to the day. This baked oatmeal is like having a Lemon and Poppy Seed muffin for breakfast! Except it’s healthy, refined sugar-free, gluten-free, and vegan!

12. Lemon and Asparagus Pasta in a Cashew Cream Sauce

Source: Lemon and Asparagus Pasta in a Cashew Cream Sauce

This pasta dish is quick, easy, requires a handful of staple ingredients, is colorful with lemon and asparagus, rich with flavor, rich with healthy fats and protein with the cashews, perf for spring/summer, can easily be made in bulk, perf for entertaining, and you can easily add whatever protein you like to this dish!! You have to try this Lemon and Asparagus Pasta in a Cashew Cream Sauce by Gabrielle St. Claire.

13. White Chocolate Lemon Popcorn Truffles

Source: White Chocolate Lemon Popcorn Truffles

The perfect sweet and salty treat, these White Chocolate Lemon Popcorn Truffles by Kat Condon are an ode to spring and summer! It will satisfy your sweet tooth and your craving for crunchy snacks without being too heavy. The popcorn itself is sturdy but not overly crisp, which yields a delicious “truffle” center.

14. Immune Boosting Lemon and Greens Juice

Source: Immune Boosting Lemon and Greens Juice

This health tonic is a combination of several alkalizing and refreshing plants that will give your immune system a natural boost. The greens are packed with chlorophyll to promote healthy red blood cells while the lemon and ginger are immunity powerhouses that keep you healthy year-round. The green apple is a low glycemic sweetener to keep your blood sugar levels at bay while enjoying this beautifying, cleansing, and energizing juice. The health and beauty benefits are bountiful and the taste is a perfect combination of sweet, smooth, and tangy. The ginger in this Immune Boosting Lemon and Greens Juice by Nikki and Zuzana gives it quite a kick, too!

15. Lemon Cookies 

Source: Lemon Cookies 

These Lemon Cookies by Lenia Patsi are wonderful, fragrant, fluffy, and light with very little sugar!

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