Consumption by rural and urban residents constitutes the terminal link in the food consumption system. Taking the Yangtze River Economic Belt as a typical study area, this study employed a modified ecological footprint model based on the component approach to quantitatively analyze the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of the food consumption ecological footprint of rural and urban residents. Additionally, a system dynamics (SD) model grounded in the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) was used to predict the future development trend. The results of this study showed that: (1) From 2005 to 2022, the food consumption ecological footprint of rural and urban residents in the Yangtze River Economic Belt generally showed an increasing trend. The ecological footprint of urban residents was higher than that of rural residents, and the increase in the total ecological footprint of food consumption was also greater. Meanwhile, the dietary structure between urban and rural residents tended to be consistent, and the structural changes in the per capita ecological footprint of food consumption exhibited significant regional characteristics. (2) In terms of spatial distribution, the total ecological footprint of food consumption by urban and rural residents in 11 provinces and municipalities within the Yangtze River Economic Belt showed a pattern of “high in the east and low in the west”. The standard deviation ellipses were distributed in the direction of “southwest-northeast” and their areas were slightly decreased, which implied that the spatial heterogeneity of the total ecological footprint of food consumption by urban and rural residents was weakened. In addition, the center of gravity trajectories of the total ecological footprint of food consumption by urban and rural residents showed a tendency to move in the opposite direction. This indicated that the integrated urban-rural development in the field of food consumption within the region was further strengthened. (3) In the multi-scenario simulation analysis, there were significant differences in the predicted curves of the total ecological footprint of food consumption by urban and rural residents in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2023 to 2035. Among them, the total ecological footprint of food consumption by urban and rural residents was the lowest under the subsistence-oriented development pathway, and that under the affluent-oriented development pathway was the highest. Notably, the sustainable development pathway was the optimal solution to realize the nutritional balance of the residents and environmental friendliness. This study could provide scientific references for achieving sustainable food consumption, promoting urban-rural dietary equity, and ensuring food security in terms of optimizing residents’ dietary structures, reducing urban-rural dietary inequality, and implementing zoning management.