Meat is one of the most pop­u­lar things to ab­stain from dur­ing the Lenten sea­son. Whether it be on a Fri­day or through­out the en­tire sea­son, those who ob­serve are tasked with find­ing suit­able swaps for meat in dai­ly dish­es. While seafood is the ob­vi­ous an­swer, it can get a bit ex­pen­sive to up­keep as prices usu­al­ly in­crease dur­ing this high-de­mand time. Your next best op­tion is to swap meat with veg­eta­bles. Many veg­eta­bles are meaty, fill­ing and just as sat­is­fy­ing as meat (you won’t even miss it, we promise). So even if you’re just do­ing meat­less Mon­days, fast­ing or you are a cur­rent veg­e­tar­i­an, you’ll find some­thing to help you out on this list. Here are our favourite veg­eta­bles to swap with meat.

#1 Egg­plant

Egg­plant comes as no sur­prise as it’s one of the first veg­eta­bles you think of when you hear “meaty veg­etable.” We’re used to roast­ed bhaigan cho­ka, how­ev­er, this fleshy veg­etable can sub­sti­tute meat in many more ways. Egg­plant parme­san, cur­ried bhaigan or me­l­on­gene steaks are three ways you can eas­i­ly in­cor­po­rate egg­plant in­to your fast­ing and gen­uine­ly not miss the meat. We be­lieve that egg­plant’s se­cret is in its flesh; it is thick, spongy meat cre­ates the vol­ume need­ed to bulk up veg­e­tar­i­an recipes.

#2 Mush­rooms

An­oth­er un­sur­pris­ing veg­etable, mush­rooms have the earth­i­ness and dense tex­ture of beef. This makes it an easy swap for meat in spaghet­ti meat sauce, burg­ers and cur­ries or stews. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, larg­er vari­a­tions of mush­rooms like por­to­bel­lo, are great sub­sti­tu­tions for steak. We sug­gest mar­i­nat­ing the mush­room in gar­lic, olive oil, salt and pep­per and then grilling or pan sautée­ing on each side. En­joy with a side of veg­gies or be­tween toast­ed buns.

#3 Lentils

Every­one knows about stewed lentils but, did you know that it can be added to al­most any veg­e­tar­i­an dish for a sat­is­fy­ing meal? This hearty legume is an old favourite of many veg­e­tar­i­ans. Apart from be­ing rel­a­tive­ly in­ex­pen­sive, it is al­so su­per ver­sa­tile and quick cook­ing—per­fect for week­day meals. We love adding lentils to sal­ads, stews and as fillers for veg­e­tar­i­an burg­ers and wraps.

#4 Cau­li­flower

We know what you’re think­ing, how can a bland, cru­cif­er­ous veg­etable be a re­place­ment for juicy, flavour­ful meat? Cau­li­flower’s bland­ness al­lows it to take on flavours beau­ti­ful­ly. It’s crunchy, hard ex­te­ri­or al­so means that it crisps and browns well—and we all know that brown is equal to flavour in the culi­nary world. Cur­ried cau­li­flower is pop­u­lar in In­di­an cui­sine but it can al­so be added to pas­ta bakes or roast­ed. We love to slice large steaks of cau­li­flower and grill or pan sear it. The re­sult is a thick, de­li­cious hunk of cau­li­flower with de­li­cious gold­en-brown crispi­ness.

#5 Pota­toes

Ei­ther sweet or white pota­toes can bulk up any meal but, be­sides that, pota­toes can stand on their own. Baked white or sweet pota­toes smoth­ered in but­ter, chives, sour cream and cheese are de­li­cious­ly sat­is­fy­ing and a meal by it­self. You can al­so add ei­ther pota­to to shrimp or fish cur­ries and stews in or­der to make your meal more fill­ing and hearty.

#6 Beets

Apart from look­ing like a rare piece of beef, beets have an in­cred­i­bly meaty tex­ture when cooked. This makes them per­fect for sal­ads, burg­ers, piz­za (paired with Goat cheese—yum!) and grilling.

#7 Cab­bage

An­oth­er cau­li­flower-like veg­etable, it’s hard to be­lieve that cab­bage is a great sub­sti­tute for meat. Okay, maybe it isn’t juicy or meaty but, it is def­i­nite­ly hearty and packs a punch if cooked cor­rect­ly. A grilled wedge of cab­bage is a sur­pris­ing­ly for­mi­da­ble sub­sti­tu­tion for meat. Driz­zle your wedge of cab­bage with a but­tery sauce to up the fat con­tent and flavour.

#8 Pump­kin

Fi­brous, meaty pump­kin is a ful­fill­ing way to sub­sti­tute meat. Though it may not work in every dish, it is fan­tas­tic to cook down as a sub­sti­tute for meaty pas­ta sauce, as taco fill­ings, in sal­ads and roast­ed in wraps. We think it tru­ly shines when cubed, tossed with cur­ry and sautéed or roast­ed. Serve with dhal and rice and you’ll for­get about cur­ry chick­en (well, al­most).

#9 Zuc­chi­ni

We in­clud­ed zuc­chi­ni on this list be­cause of its ver­sa­til­i­ty and spongy tex­ture. Zuc­chi­ni can be made in­to pat­ties, added to stir-frys and cut in­to noo­dles or zoo­dles. How­ev­er, one of its ma­jor ben­e­fits and the rea­son it is on this list is be­cause of its abil­i­ty to turn in­to a bolog­nese-style veg­e­tar­i­an meat sauce. Ad­mit­ted­ly, this takes a while, how­ev­er, if you cook zuc­chi­ni with onions and gar­lic for a long time, it turns in­to a meat-like, thick sauce.

#10 Chick­peas

The nut­ty legume is fa­mous for be­ing a sub­sti­tute in a num­ber of dish­es—chick­pea blondies any­one? It’s meaty, ver­sa­tile and su­per fill­ing. Af­ter all, aren’t you con­tent with chan­na, aloo and some roti? Yes? It’s be­cause of the high pro­tein and fi­bre con­tent in the tiny chick­pea. Try it sautéed with herbs and gar­lic, cur­ried, stewed and even in sal­ads.