Buddhist cuisine is an East Asian cuisine which is followed by some believers of Buddhism. It is primarily vegetarian, in order to keep with the general Buddhist precept of ahimsa (non-violence). Parts of Ancient India and Nepal where Buddhism originated were also for long periods Buddhist, and whether as a result of the Buddhist, Jain or Hindu promotion of the principle of ahimsa (harmlessness) many Indians remain vegetarian.

Vegetarian cuisine is known as zhāicài ("(Buddhist) vegetarian food") in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan; đồ chay in Vietnam; shōjin ryōri (精進料理^?, devotion cuisine) in Japan; sachal eumsik ("temple food") in Korea and by other names in many countries.

Both Mahayana and Theravada thinking is that eating meat in and of itself does not constitute a violation of the Five Precepts which prohibit one from directly harming life.

When monks and nuns who follow the Theravadan way feed themselves by alms, they must eat leftover foods which are given to them, including meat. (The Pali/Sanskrit term for monks and nuns means "one who seeks alms".) The exception to this alms rule is when monks and nuns have seen, heard or known that animal(s) have been specifically killed to feed the alms-seeker, in which case consumption of such meat would be karmically negative. The same restriction is also followed by lay Buddhists and is known as the consumption of the "triply clean meat" (三净肉).