8 ways to cook and eat vegetables

Stuffed vegetables

If you're after an impressive way to present vegetables, then this is it. A range of vegetables are ideal for stuffing, but whichever you choose make sure you select ones that are roughly the same size so that they all cook evenly.

Roasted vegetables

A favourite companion to roast meat, these veggie dishes are always highly popular. To turn your roast vegetables into a main course meal try roasting a tray of different vegetables, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, eggplants, capsicums, carrots, mushrooms and zucchinis. Once cooked, drizzle over a homemade aioli and serve with a big side salad.

Vegetable salads

Salads are often given a bad rap, but the reality is, when they're treated as a proper main course they can be amazing. Think of warm roast veggie salads, couscous salads or crunchy Thai pawpaw salad to start with. Here are some other great salad recipes that make vegetables the stars of the dish.

Stir-fried vegetables

The stir-fry is one of the quickest, easiest and most flavourful ways of cooking vegetables. By working quickly and keeping the heat high, you also retain most of the nutrients in the vegetables, making it a very healthy way to cook as well. Try looking to Thailand, China and Malaysia for some great stir-fry recipes, where everything from nuts to spicy chilli pastes are used to add buckets of flavour to the vegetables.

Vegetable soup

When the weather turns colder, it's hard to beat a classic vegetable soup to cheer you up. Here are some of our favourite veggie soup recipes that range from classic Italian vegetable soup to the more unusual like this Mexican version. But these are just the tip of the iceberg – there are literally hundreds of recipes that you can explore, which are sure to get you through the coldest days.

Vegetables with pasta and rice

Both pasta and rice make perfect companions to vegetables. Here you can choose one vegetable, such as zucchinis, to pair up with ribbons of fettuccini, or opt for a medley of colourful chopped vegetables to throw into a risotto. For the ultimate comfort dish, try adding a selection of cooked vegetables to you favourite baked pasta.

Raw vegetables and dips

If you're looking for a snack or something to nibble over a few drinks, try one of these dips to serve alongside some cut up vegetables. Celery, carrot and cucumber are all ideal to slice into batons and serve alongside the dip for extra flavour and crunch.

Classic vegetable recipes

Everyone needs a few classics in their repertoire, and these recipes are some of the best. From roast vegetable lasagne to a classic eggplant parmigiana, these are the recipes that you are sure to turn to time and again.