Best Dishes in Iran for Vegetarians

With a variety of culture, and therefore, numerous cuisines in different parts of the country, Iran is one of the greatest places for food lovers! In every corner of the country, you can find some of the most delicious dishes.

There are numbers of dishes in Iran, which prepare and serve without any type of meat. In this article, we are going to introduce some of the best dishes for vegetarians and vegans. So, if you are interested to know more about those, continue reading the article, and don’t forget to take notes! 

One of the most common types of Iranian food calls Khoresh or Khoresht, which is actually meat with different types of vegetables. Having rice as the main ingredient is also very common and popular in Iran.

Iranian cook rice in two different ways, firstly, to cook it plain with salt and oil which names Chellow, and secondly, rice cooked with the mixture of vegetables, fresh herbs, meatballs, and etc.

When the rice is cooked as a mixture it is called Polow. In addition to these, Kufteh and Dolma are also cooked mainly in Azerbaijan province. With a variety of culture, and therefore, numerous cuisines in different parts of the country.

Read more: Top 20 Persian food that you should try when traveling to Iran

1.Dishes with eggplant as the main ingredient

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  Boorani Bademjan, a mixture of cooked and chopped eggplant, and dried yogurt
• Naz Khatoon, a mixture of cooked and chopped eggplants, basil, parsley, mint, angelica powder, walnuts, olive oil, and pomegranate juice
• Yatimcheh, a mixture of cooked and chopped in cube forms of eggplant, tomato, and onion
• Kashk-e Bademjan, a mixture of cooked and chopped eggplant, kashk (whey sauce), fried onion, and fried mint

2. Dishes with egg as the main ingredient

One of the common dishes in Iran calls Kookoo, which is a mixture of egg with another type of vegetable, cooked in round shapes, like fried cookies, here is the list of the most popular ones:

•  Kookoo Sibzamini, cooked with potato
•  Kookoo Sabzi, cooked with mixed herbs, some people add walnut and berries also
•  Kookoo Kadoo sabz, cooked with zucchini
•  Eshkeneh, cooked fried hers, and potato
•  Nargesi, cooked with spinach and onion

3. Dishes with rice as the main ingredient

• Dampokhtak, cooked rice with beans, turmeric is the main spice of this dish, so it is colored in yellow!
• Dami gojeh, cooked rice with tomato, some people also add potato
• Loobia polo, cooked rice with green beans, it is cooked with meat and without meat, so as a suggestion check before you order
• Adas polo, cooked rice with lentils and fried raisins, it is also common to cook it with meatball or chicken, so as a suggestion check before you order
• Havij polo, cooked rice with carrots and walnut

The dishes, we named above, are the ones which could be found all over the country. It may be not that easy to find them all in big, fancy restaurants, but in smaller ones, especially the old, traditional ones, you can find those.

However, the provinces in the northern part of Iran; Gilan and Mazandaran, are popular for some of the best vegetarian foods in Iran, they are specialized in cooking some of the most delicious foods in the country.

One thing that you should keep in mind, and will notice when you are at these places, is that to add lots of garlic to food is very popular in these provinces. 

In the following, there is a list of these dishes:

• Mirza Ghasemi, a mixture of barbequed eggplant with tomato, and egg 
• Baghala Ghatogh, a mixture of cooked Rashti fava beans, egg, and dill
• Torshi Tareh, cooked herbs with different types of beans, in some places, they also add egg
• Paneer boroshteh, it is the same as an omelet, cheese with egg