The 70 Best Healthy Dinners To Make Every Week

Whether you're on a diet or simply trying to eat healthier, finding a few go-to healthy dinners can be hugely helpful. While it may be easier and more convenient to subsist on a diet consisting of only fast food, doing so can get surprisingly costly, according to Business Insider. It can also, less shockingly, be amazingly unhealthy. Even fast food salad can be bad for your health, as it turns out. 

For those feeding a family, striving to make healthy dinners is even more important. As the University of Michigan points out, children can and should learn beneficial eating habits early in life that can help them maintain a healthy lifestyle for the rest of their days.

As these recipes prove, you don't have to sacrifice taste in the name of healthfulness. These dinners are not only healthy, but they are also extremely flavorful. Best of all, unlike fast food, you don't have to feel guilty about eating these dinners every week, or even every day. These are the best healthy dinners to make every week.

Admittedly, salads have a tendency to be boring and even downright unappetizing in the hands of an inexperienced or uncommitted cook. In fact, a blah salad can make mealtime feel like little more than a chore, making healthy meals all the more difficult to implement in your home. 

However, follow this cobb salad recipe and boredom simply will not enter the equation. This healthy dinner is supercharged by blue cheese, ranch dressing, and, yes, delicious strips of bacon. You'll be so overjoyed with this salad that you won't even notice that it has healthy additions such as chicken breasts, tomatoes, and hard-boiled eggs.

Recipe: Cobb Salad

Considering fish can decrease your heart attack risk and increases your overall brain health and intake of nutrients like vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, why not include it in your next meal?

This pistachio-crusted salmon recipe sounds fancy, but you shouldn't be intimidated. It's actually relatively simple and the resulting food is oh-so scrumptious, not to mention good for you, too. With fresh ingredients like thyme, rosemary, and pistachios, your taste buds will instantaneously fall in love after your first bite. To add an extra punch of flavor, squeeze a bit of lemon juice on the fish once it's done.

Recipe: Pistachio-Crusted Salmon

For a salmon dish that is a little bit lighter but equally as tasty as our pistachio-crusted version, consider this delectable recipe for seared salmon with chickpeas and kale. 

This makes a beautiful dinner that tastes even better than it looks — and it looks pretty good. In addition to the chickpeas and kale, the recipe has other healthy additions such as balsamic vinegar, onions, and baby bella mushrooms. For this recipe to taste its best, you'll want to buy salmon that still has the skin on, which creates an extra-flavorful final meal.

Recipe: Seared Salmon with Chickpeas and Kale

If you often resort to an Asian takeout for a quick dinner fix, this broccoli and beef will be an easy and healthy homemade replacement. As the name suggests, the recipe has two main ingredients: beef and broccoli. Set aside 15 minutes of your time to prep your veggies, beef and the sauce, put your ingredients in a slow cooker, and let the protein and greens simmer away in a dark and flavourful sauce for two hours.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Beef And Broccoli

Making your "meatballs" with lentils is not only a great way to make a vegan or vegetarian dinner, it's also incredibly nutritious. A single cup of cooked lentils, per Healthline, has 17.9 grams of protein and 15.6 grams of fiber. These lentil meatballs call for not just one cup of cooked lentils, but two! If you're skeptical about the texture that these plant-based meatballs will have without the fattiness of the meat, recipe developer Miriam Hahn assures that there is little cause for worry as the "texture is very similar to traditional meatballs," they're just a tad more delicate.

Recipe: Lentil Meatballs

Eating healthy doesn't mean you have to compromise on the luxuriousness of your dinner. This scallop casserole has a lot going for it; not only is it a great way to add a bit of oomph to your meal, but scallops also happen to be packed full of minerals that have incredible health benefits (via Healthline). Even better, this casserole only requires five minutes of prep and 10 minutes to cook, making it an excellent nutritious meal to whip up in a jiffy when you're hosting people.

Recipe: Scallop Casserole

Fried rice is a solid dish to throw together for a midweek dinner. You can take yesterday's leftover rice, mix it with whatever vegetables and protein that are sitting in your pantry at the moment, pour in some soy sauce, and voila! Dinner is served. If you do want to make this staple a little healthier, you can do so by switching your white rice with whole grain brown rice, which is more nutritious than white rice (via Healthline).

Recipe: Fried Brown Rice

This sticky sesame cauliflower, recipe developer Miriam Hahn promises, is sweet, spicy and so full of flavor that it could pretty much pass off as actual Chinese takeout. The key to crisping and flavoring the sesame cauliflower is dunking the florets in a batter of arrowroot powder, milk, and water before popping them in an oven and tossing the baked florets in a sauce made from hot vegetable broth, Sriracha, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and maple syrup. You could eat the sticky cauliflower as it is, add it to a buddha bowl, or complete the meal with some rice, chicken, or tofu.

Recipe: Sticky Sesame Cauliflower

A shepherd's pie is a British dish that is said to have been invented as a way to put leftovers from Sunday roast to good use (via Britannica). Traditionally made with lamb and a thick layer of mashed potatoes, shepherd pie does not actually have a pie crust. This version of the shepherd's pie is not only meat-free and vegan but is also packed with a lot of plant-based protein from several cups of chickpeas and green lentils. The best part? You can even make the shepherd's pie in advance the night before or freeze it to eat later.

Recipe: Vegan Shepherd's Pie

If you have a soft spot for spicy food, recipe developer Ting Dalton packs in tons of heat in this shrimp bowl by marinating the shellfish in an Asian-inspired sauce of garlic, ginger, and Sriracha. (If Sriracha is child's play to you, Dalton recommends adding some chopped red chillis.) According to VeryWellFit, a three-ounce serving of shrimp contains 20.4 grams of protein. Considering this recipe serves two people and calls for 12 ounces of raw shrimp, it only takes a little bit of math to realize just how protein-filled this dinner is. Besides the protein and healthy fats in the shrimp, this flavorful bowl also offers the goodness of zucchini and broccoli.

Recipe: Spicy Shrimp Bowl

Though they can be incredibly nutritious, salads have a rep for being bland and boring. So if you're digging into a bowl of lifeless salad only because it makes for a healthy dinner, this peanut soba noodle salad will be a much welcome change. This salad has everything: Carbs, protein, and healthy fats from veggies like cucumbers, kale, and bell peppers, as well as the benefits of buckwheat from the soba noodles. You don't have to stop there — you can add all sorts of greens to this salad. A tangy, savory, umami-packed dressing made from a base of peanut butter only adds more richness to the meal.

Recipe: Peanut Soba Noodle Salad

It's hard to choose what the best thing about these smoked steak kabobs is. Is it the brilliant cooking method that adds an incredibly smoky flavor to the meat and veggies or the flexibility to make these kabobs exactly to your liking? After 15 minutes of prep, recipe developer Petar Marshall leaves most of the work to the smoker, even giving you the option of leaving the skewers in there longer if you prefer a smokier flavor. While the recipe uses steak, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, and pineapples, you can use the recipe as an inspiration to mix and match meats and veggies for kabobs of your own creation.

Recipe: Smoked Steak Kabobs

It's a no-brainer that a soup made with three cups of broccoli and four cups of cauliflower is going to be healthy, but the best thing about this recipe is just how quickly it comes together. All you need is 10 minutes to gather your ingredients, prep the veggies, and throw it all into your Instant Pot. Eight minutes later, the soup is cooked and only needs a couple more minutes of blitzing with a stick blender for it to be ready. The best part? You don't have to stop at broccoli and cauliflower — go ahead and add in the half carrot or handful of spinach leaves hanging out in your fridge, too.

Recipe: Instant Pot Broccoli Cauliflower Soup

Pasta is one of the easiest things to cook on hectic nights when you don't have much time to spare for dinner. All you need are nutrient-rich avocados and iron-packed spinach to make a creamy green sauce for this pasta, a sauce that only gets better with the addition of basil, lemon juice, and garlic. Once you've blended the sauce, toss in some cooked spaghetti and cherry tomatoes for a quick vegan dinner that's a healthier take on weeknight pasta.

Recipe: Creamy Avocado Pasta

A kitchari is typically made from a mixture of grains and legumes, which Healthline says makes it an easy-to-digest meal that has long been a part of cleanses in the Ayurvedic medicinal practice. It helps remove toxins from your body, allowing the digestive system to reset while also giving your body the energy it needs to function. This recipe uses yellow split peas and rice to make a kitchari that recipe developer Kristen Carli describes as a "porridge very similar to lentil dal."

Recipe: Kitchari

Looking for a complete meal that contains protein, veggies, and starch in one quick dinner? Recipe developer Jennine Bryant's beef stir fry packs in all of that along with loads of flavor too! You have the option of wolfing down the stir fry on its own, making little lettuce wraps out of it, or serving it over rice and noodles. All this recipe requires is five minutes of prep and another 12 for cooking to make a dinner that will serve a group of four. The most difficult part about this veggie-packed beef stir fry is not overcooking the greens — the veggies will go from crunchy to soft and squishy in the blink of an eye.

Recipe: Classic Beef Stir Fry

Is it one of those days when you're in the mood to eat breakfast for dinner? Do you want that breakfast-turned-dinner to be healthy? While this Japanese dish is made from eggs and may seem like an omelet of sorts, okonomiyaki is often known as Japanese pizza or a Japanese pancake! It gets its name from "okonomi" (Japanese for "as you like it"), and "yaki," which means "grilled." Simply put, the dish is made by grilling whatever you like! In this okonomiyaki, recipe developer Kristen Carli folds half a cabbage into her eggs and seasons it with basic ingredients. Depending on the flavors that you're in the mood for, you can add all sorts of toppings, sauces, and seasonings.

Recipe: Okonomiyaki

If you're looking to make a dinner that's incredibly healthy but not look or taste like it whatsoever, these Sloppy Joes are just the thing to cook. Better yet, these meat-free Sloppy Joes are suitable for the vegan diet too! Recipe developer Hayley MacLean says she's always looking to add high-protein ingredients to her diet, and what better way to do so than substituting the ground beef in Sloppy Joes with lentils? MacLean says red lentils are best in this recipe because they give a meatier texture to the burgers than green or brown lentils would. She then adds in a bunch of spices and sauces to make a burger that she says is "sweet, savory, and smoky, with just a hint of heat!"

Recipe: Vegan Sloppy Joes

Sheet pan dinners are wonderful because not only do they let you put together a meal quickly and easily, but cooking everything in one pan means there's very little washing up left to do after. This sheet pan chicken, however, has a bit more going for it because recipe developer Jaime Shelbert adds a Greek twist with herbs and garlic. Lemon and basil add a bright flavor to the chicken, while artichokes, olives, peppers, onions, and tomatoes, and feta brings in a bit of tang. If you have some time to spare, you could even whip up some homemade tzatziki to go along with it.

Recipe: Greek Sheet Pan Chicken

Want to make Taco Tuesday a touch more nutritious? These vegetarian tacos use tofu in place of meat and put a spicy Asian-inspired twist on the usual Mexican fiesta. Tofu can seem tasteless, but the soy protein has a tendency to absorb flavors particularly well which is why you'll be cooking it in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and chili powder before you assemble your Thai tacos. Coleslaw adds a bit of crunch and a peanut sauce on top ties the whole thing together.

Recipe: 15-Minute Spicy Thai Tacos

Lentils are incredibly healthy for all diets, but if you're vegetarian or vegan, it's an important way of getting some plant-based protein. This coconut red lentil dal makes enough for six servings in under 40 minutes, so it's a good dinner to make a big batch of in advance and freeze for later. Recipe developer Catherine Brookes says she loves the way lentils soak up flavor, adding that this dal has "creamy, coconutty tomato, a little spice, and lots of flavor from the onion, garlic, and ginger." If you're having a glass of wine with dinner, this spicy dal goes well with a tart and fruity Gewürztraminer or Riesling!

Recipe: Coconut Red Lentil Dal

Remember that TikTok baked feta pasta that took social media by storm sometime between when Dalgona coffees became a thing and banana breads were rediscovered? As it turns out, baked feta pasta can make for an innovative and veggie-packed healthy midweek dinner. You'll need a block of feta of course, plus butternut squash and Brussels sprouts in addition to the pasta. Serve this cheesy dish with a helping of green salad or mix in some grilled chicken for extra protein.

Recipe: 30-Minute Baked Feta Pasta With Roasted Veggies

According to Healthline, cauliflower is a very healthy vegetable packed with nutrients, fiber, and antioxidants, and may even be able to reduce the risk of cancer and heart-related issues. In fact, a cup of cauliflower makes up for a whopping 77% of your suggested daily intake of vitamin C and is an excellent low-carb veggie substitute for legumes and grains. Safe to say, it's a good idea to start incorporating more of the vegetable into your diet. This recipe mixes cauliflower with some cheese, eggs, spices, and breadcrumbs to turn the nutrient-packed vegetable into crisp plant-based nuggets!

Recipe: Cauliflower Nuggets

If you're in the mood for something fancy that won't take too much slaving away in the kitchen, this smoked salmon and avocado sushi is as sophisticated as it is nutritious. Recipe developer Catherine Brookes promises that rolling your own sushi at home is easier than it looks and once you get the hang of it, you can even customize the rolls to your liking. Besides adding omega-3 fatty acids from the salmon and fiber and healthy fats from the avocados into your dinner, this sushi can be prepared well in advance so that all you have to do is take it out of the refrigerator and serve it with soy sauce when dinnertime comes around.

Recipe: Smoked Salmon Sushi

While turkey is the prized meat of choice when Thanksgiving or Christmas comes around, it tends to be forgotten for the rest of the year. Aside from being a rich source of protein, turkey is also high in vitamin C, zinc, selenium, and phosphorus, making it a worthy meat for any dinner (via Healthline). Add it to a soup and you've got a warming dinner full of essential nutrients. The best part? The soup only takes five minutes of prep and another 20 to simmer in the Instant Pot and makes enough for six bowls.

Recipe: Instant Pot Turkey Soup

Eating healthy doesn't have to be a time-consuming and complicated affair. This soba noodle bowl proves that sometimes, all you need are some buckwheat noodles, mushrooms, and broccolini plus some sesame oil and soy sauce to make a dinner that is quick, easy, nutritious, and yummy all in one! The noodle bowl takes a mere 13 minutes to make enough for two servings, but there's also the option of upgrading it with some tofu, chicken, green onions, water chestnuts, or quite frankly, anything else you'd like in your noodles.

Recipe: 5-Ingredient Soba Noodle Bowl With Mushrooms And Broccolini

No, it's not fall yet but yes, you should still be eating more pumpkin. Women's Health Magazine says that pumpkin is "basically a superfood" thanks to its high levels of vitamins A and C, which can help protect the liver, support healthy blood pressure, and improve the immune system. In this recipe, Miriam Hahn combines the goodness of pumpkins and sweet potatoes with flavors of Morocco to make a stew that is hearty, healthy, and delicious enough to make you go back for second helpings.

Recipe: Moroccan Pumpkin Stew

There's no doubt that salmon has a lot of health benefits. Add to that the fact that salmon is incredibly easy to cook and comes together with the help of very little beyond butter, lemon, salt, and pepper, and it's easy to see why the fish is a go-to for dinner. While this jerk salmon recipe is just as easy to cook and takes no more than 15 minutes, it sure has a lot more flavor! With the help of store-bought seasoning and olive oil, you'll infuse a subtle spicy flavor into your salmon. The speedy cook time includes making a fresh mango slaw to add a salty, sweet, and acidic flavor to the salmon.

Recipe: Jerk Salmon

"Anything with that deep purple skin," recipe developer and wellness coach Miriam Hahn says, "is FULL of anthocyanins, a powerful antioxidant...Eggplant is also very high in fiber and [provides] a whole array of vitamins and minerals." Since a lot of eggplant's nutrition is found in its skin, Hahn keeps the vegetable unpeeled in this stir fry. If you're worried about the eggplant being squishy and bland, this recipe pumps it with spices and sauces and cooks the vegetable till it's just soft enough without being slimy. Serve it over a bowl of rice and you're all set for dinner!

Recipe: Spicy Chinese Eggplant

Beets probably don't make a regular appearance in the average American's dinner. Just Beet It explains that because beets grow in dirt and contain an "organic compound" called geosmin (which actually means "dirt smell"), people often complain that the vegetable tastes like dirt too. The key to this beet salad, recipe developer Susan Olayinka says, is your oven. Roasting beets in the oven caramelizes them and makes the root vegetable taste sweeter. This salad also includes walnuts, mixed greens, and crumbled goat cheese, but there's plenty of room to play around with the nuts, cheeses, and your choice of dressing.

Recipe: Roasted Beet Salad

Recipe developer Carrie Madormo has one philosophy when it comes to dinner: "Less time and more flavor means happy families." That's precisely what this one-pan honey mustard chicken and veggie bake is all about. In addition to chicken and turkey bacon, the recipe also uses Brussels sprouts and unpeeled sweet potato so that you get all those nutrients present in its skin, while the honey mustard glaze adds a punch to the whole dish. You bake everything until the chicken cooks through, the bacon crisps up, and the veggies soften on the inside while staying crisp on the outside. If you have any extra glaze left over, you can even serve it alongside dinner for dipping.

Recipe: One-Pan Honey Mustard Chicken And Veggie Bake

At first glance, Melissa Olivieri's recipe may seem like butternut squash-stuffed pasta tossed in a sauce, but she sees her dish as more of a "deconstructed lasagna." Olivieri roasts her butternut squash first for optimal flavor, then mixes it with cooked spinach, ricotta, and parmesan. You stuff the creamy vegetable-cheese mixture into jumbo pasta shells, top them with marinara sauce, and heap the dish with just enough cheese to forget all about the number of veggies packed inside each bite.

Recipe: Creamy Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells

If you've always been a fan of jacket potatoes, these loaded sweet potatoes with a healthier twist will be right up your alley. Not only are you replacing the potato with a more nutritious root vegetable, but you're also topping it with nourishing ingredients like black beans, corn, and Greek yogurt. If that's not enough, this recipe uses a clever shortcut by cooking the sweet potatoes in a microwave for six minutes rather than in an oven. Could a healthy dinner get any easier than this?

Recipe: 15-Minute Loaded Sweet Potato

Not only is this chicken casserole a one-pan meal — aka all the cooking happens in one pan in the oven — but recipe developer Kristen Carli says it makes for a meal that "is nutritionally balanced: carb, protein, [and] fat." To ensure that the nutritional value doesn't come at the cost of flavor, Carli uses chicken broth to cook the rice instead of water. The salt in the broth makes the rice shine and when you add to it spices, cheese, hot salsa, and tons of garlic, you have a flavor bomb and a healthy dinner.

Recipe: Spicy Chicken Casserole

What does a lasagna have? Pasta sheets, a rich tomato sauce, heaps of cheese, and perhaps some form of meat? In this vegetarian spin on the Italian classic, recipe developer Kristen Carli scraps the meat and replaces the pasta sheets with thin slices of zucchini. Not only does this twist turn lasagna into a veggie-packed healthy meal, but also one that happens to be gluten-free. Don't worry about the flavor, though — there are still two jars worth of marinara sauce as well as three kinds of cheese in here!

Recipe: Vegetarian Zucchini Lasagna

Looking for plant-based nuggets or a healthier, less greasy alternative to chicken nuggets? Tofu replaces the chicken in this recipe and the hot oil frying is swapped with 15 minutes in an air fryer. Thanks to the crisp texture and seasonings, recipe developer Miriam Hahn says these tofu nuggets happen to taste very similar to chicken nuggets. So similar, in fact, that Hanh thinks young kids wouldn't even be able to tell it's not chicken. Why not put that theory to the test?

Recipe: Air Fryer Tofu Nuggets

This Mexican Chicken Stew is a great recipe to have on hand because it can be eaten as-is, served over some rice, transformed into a burrito or taco filling, or mixed into a salad. While the stew gets its Mexican flavors and heat from crushed garlic cloves, oregano, paprika, cumin, chili powder mix, and coriander, you can always tweak the spices to turn up or dial down the spice level. You can even add a dollop of guacamole, salsa, or sour cream if you're in the mood for it!

Recipe: Mexican Chicken Stew

If you're looking for dinner ideas that are quick, require no more than a handful of items, and are nutritious without compromising on taste, recipe developer Jaime Bachtell-Shelbert's kale and white bean gnocchi is a winner. As the name suggests, this gnocchi bake uses three cups of one of the most nutrient-dense foods out there: kale. To that, you also add a can of protein-packed, fiber-dense cannellini beans as well as marinara sauce and mozzarella. To make the dinner a touch healthier, Bachtell-Shelbert suggests using cauliflower gnocchi as a low-carb alternative to the potato kind.

Recipe: 5-Ingredient Kale And White Bean Gnocchi Bake

When you're following a vegan or a vegetarian diet, packing protein into your diet can be a tad tricky. Chickpeas are here to save the day! Besides being a good source of vitamins and minerals, a cup of cooked chickpeas contains as much as 14.5 grams of protein as well as 12.5 grams of fiber (via Healthline). Double that and that's how much nutrition you get in this chickpea curry. For a mere 15 minutes of your time, two cans of chickpeas, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, coconut milk, and a couple of spices and seasonings, you'll have a smashing curry that goes just as well with rice as it does with naan bread.

Recipe: 15-Minute Chickpea Vegetable Curry

In times when you lack time or inspiration, salads, soups, and sandwiches make for a quick, easy, and healthy dinner to put together in a jiffy. If you have a lot of summer veggies lying around, toss them in a tangy, garlicky marinade overnight or for 20 minutes at the very least. Give the veggies and ciabatta bread a quick sear on the grill, layer in a thick smear of pesto sauce, add a fresh slice of mozzarella, and your dinner is ready!

Recipe: Grilled Vegetable Sandwich

Not only is shrimp an excellent source of protein, but it's also low in calories and full of omega 3 fatty acids that may promote heart health (via Healthline). Adding the shellfish to a Thai curry makes the dish tasty and more nutritious, too. Recipe developer Catherine Brookes says that this Thai red curry with shrimp looks like it takes a lot of effort, but really, it comes together in a mere 15 minutes!

Recipe: 15-Minute Thai Red Curry With Shrimp

Here's a chili with a healthy twist! Recipe developer Miriam Hahn upgrades the good ol' chili by adding freekeh to it. If you're not familiar with this ancient grain, Healthline explains that freekeh comes from green durum wheat and is high in protein, fiber, and carotenoids which when consumed, can lower the risk of certain eye disorders. The grain's firm and chewy texture, Hahn says, gives the plant-based chili a meat-like texture whilst adding a nutty and mildly smoky flavor to the dish. The chili even stays fresh for about a week in the refrigerator, so it's a great recipe if you're meal prepping in advance.

Recipe: Freekeh Chili

Whether they're baked or fried, corn fritters are an appetizer or party food that can also work as a light dinner. In this recipe, recipe developer Susan Olayinka sticks to air frying the fritters so that they're a touch lighter than the deep-fried ones but just as moist. "I love how family-friendly corn fritters are! And it's also one of your 5 a day in terms of vegetables," says Olayinka. As for serving suggestions, you could top the fritters with fresh chives and serve it with an onion or a chive dip. These fritters also taste wonderful when dipped in creamy hummus, salsa, or even a blue cheese salad dressing!

Recipe: Air Fryer Corn Fritters

Tofu has a bad rep for being a bland protein to work with but when used right, this can be an advantage. Its lack of inherent flavor means that tofu can absorb other flavors marvelously and this is precisely what recipe developer Catherine Brookes does in this crispy chilli tofu. The secret here is a thick sweet chili sauce flavored with the heat of chili flakes, the umami-ness of soy sauce and ketchup, as well as garlic and brown sugar. Serve this crisp chilli tofu with rice or noodles for dinner and watch as your meat-loving entourage sings tofu's praises.

Recipe: Crispy Chilli Tofu

Got loads of veggies wilting away in the refrigerator? No problem, dump them all into this creamy pasta primavera. While recipe developer Miriam Hahn uses vegetables that add a combination of soft and crunchy textures to the pasta, she also leaves the option to use veggies of your choice. The key here is not in how the veggies are cooked, it's in the creaminess of the sauce made without any cream at all! Instead, Hahn uses a flour and water slurry to make a smooth and thick sauce that only gets better with the addition of broth, milk, and Parmesan cheese.

Recipe: Creamy Pasta Primavera

Don't let the hour-long cooking time keep you from making this sheet pan garlic salmon for dinner this week. 10 minutes of prep aside, most of the cooking is left to the oven, and at the end of it, you'll have made enough for four servings! Besides, if you're a fan of garlic — and who isn't? — the garlic and parsley compound butter smeared onto this baked salmon will hit the right spot for ya. Because the fish is baked with a tray full of veggies, it makes for a complete meal in itself but you also have the option of serving it with a fresh salad.

Recipe: Sheet Pan Garlic Salmon

Meat-filled quesadillas are the norm — steak, pulled pork, chicken, you name it. If you're lucky, you might find a black bean or a jackfruit quesadilla on occasion. But when was the last time you came across one that was filled with sweet potatoes, garbanzo beans, and avocados? The orange-colored sweet potato is "loaded with fiber and Vitamin A for glowing skin," recipe developer Miriam Hahn says. The fact that these quesadillas are vegetarian, dairy-free, and come together in a little over 20 minutes are only added bonuses.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Quesadilla

If tuna salads and tuna sandwiches are a common find on your dinner table, this tuna steak will be right up your alley. While tuna has more mercury than any other fish, recipe developer and holistic dietician Jaime Bachtell-Shelbert says that you should add it to your diet as long as you're switching it up with other seafood options — after all, the fish is full of protein, vitamins B and D, and selenium. Besides, all you have to do here is marinate the tuna steak, pan-sear it, and... Well that's all. This perhaps explains why this dish comes together in under 10 minutes!

Recipe: Tuna Steak

Sometimes, the only thing that will fix the craving for something nourishing yet comforting is a bowl of classic chicken noodle soup. Recipe developer Kristen Carli calls this chicken noodle soup "a pour-and-turn-on meal" because all you're doing here is throwing all your ingredients into a slow cooker and allowing the appliance to, well, slowly cook you dinner over the span of six hours. It's a solid recipe when you want to prep for dinner ahead of time and want to come home to a hot meal waiting for you!

Recipe: Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

Rather than eating falafel as a meal in itself with a condiment on the side, recipe developer Miriam Hanh says that she likes to think of them as an easy way to meal prep, so you're able to use the falafels in several meals over the week. These crisp air-fried falafels are "a great balance of protein, fat, and fiber," Hahn says, and can be added to salads, served over rice, or stuffed inside pita pockets with all sorts of dressings (though tzatziki is an especially good choice).

Recipe: Air Fryer Falafel

Combine the protein, iron, and fiber from the chickpeas with the healthy fats of pesto and you'll be surprised to find that a combination so tasty could ever be this nutritious too. Think of this recipe as a Greek salad if you would — feta, kalamata olives, and all — except that instead of the usual cucumbers, red onions, and bell peppers, chickpeas and pesto go into this one. Pair the salad with a fruit like watermelon, cantaloupe, or a bunch of grapes and you'll have a well-rounded meal ready in no more than five minutes.

Recipe: Mediterranean Pesto Chickpea Salad

If the seeming lack of a bold flavor is what's keeping you from getting the most out of all the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber present in cauliflower, worry not. Recipe developer Miriam Hahn is here to transform the boring veggie into an irresistible meal you'll want second helpings of. Armed with a truckload of spices — coriander, cumin, garam masala, chili powder, turmeric, ginger, and the like — and an Instant Pot that makes this complex gobi masala a beginner-level recipe, you'll be able to see cauliflower in a whole new light.

Recipe: Instant Pot Gobi Masala

What's not to love about lo mein? However, recipe developer Miriam Hahn says it's not always the healthiest. Even when you're making the noodles at home, a lot of the popular recipes aren't particularly nutritious. This is why Hahn uses tons of veggies in this lo mein including broccoli, carrots, edamame, and purple cabbage, but still keeps the recipe simple enough to quickly whip up at home. In exchange for a mere 15 minutes of your time, you'll have a lo mein that is a "complete mix of protein, fat, and fiber" and uses far less oil than most takeouts do.

Recipe: 15-Minute Veggie Lo Mein

Dwindling groceries and a hectic weekday are two things sure to make cooking healthy meals at home seem like a nightmare. Before you call for takeout once again, give this halibut recipe a shot. All you need are two pieces of halibut, rosemary, tarragon (dried or fresh), and a couple more ingredients that are bound to be in your pantry. About 20 minutes later, there you have it — a quick and easy halibut dinner that makes up for at least a third of your daily vitamin and mineral requirement!

Recipe: 15-Minute Halibut Parcels

A healthier twist on Spanish rice, this recipe swaps rice with a cup of nutrient-dense quinoa. Recipe developer Miriam Hahn says she loves quinoa because "it is high in vitamins and minerals and doesn't weigh you down." That and the fact that the recipe is relatively simple makes this 25-minute quinoa Spanish rice a great meal for anybody to put together in time for dinner. Following Hahn's ingredient list will make enough for a table of four and if that's too much, leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated in the oven later.

Recipe: Quinoa Spanish Rice

There are a lot of reasons why eggs are a popular breakfast item. They're versatile, quick to prepare, and also happen to be undeniably delicious. So why not use eggs for dinner, too? Load your eggs with veggies and any leftover meat, and douse it in a flavorful gravy to make egg foo young — a Chinese-American omelet of sorts — easily at home. Serve this egg foo young plain or make it more filling with a side of rice and more veggies.

Recipe: Egg Foo Young

This red lentil soup is as simple to make as a soup can be. To make enough for three steaming bowls, all you need is a sweet potato, red lentils, broth, a can of crushed tomatoes, cumin, and paprika. According to Healthline, one cup of lentils — exactly how much you're going to use in this soup — contains 17.9 grams of protein. Considering one of the many perks of protein is that it helps you feel full for longer, it's safe to say that a bowl of this soup can make for a light dinner all by itself.

Recipe: Red Lentil Soup

If tossing a random combination of greens in a store-bought salad dressing and calling it a day is not your thing, you may want to try this warm spinach salad instead. The salad has a lot of protein and nutrients thanks to hard-boiled eggs, crisp bacon, and spinach. The salad is big on flavor, too, thanks to blue cheese, of course, but also a warm, savory salad dressing made from mustard, apple cider vinegar, and leftover bacon fat.

Recipe: Warm Spinach Salad

Making pasta is already simple enough, but there's a way to make it even better: Cook the whole meal in one pot. One advantage of this is that the starch from cooking the pasta will automatically thicken the sauce, which in turn helps the sauce coat evenly around the pasta. Voila, perfectly saucy pasta in each bite! While the ingredient list is pretty basic, there are plenty of ways to tweak the recipe to your liking. There's also the option of adding leftover chicken or other meats to make the pasta a touch heartier.

Recipe: One Pot Pasta With Spinach And Tomatoes

Making tacos at home is an excellent idea, because it's incredibly easy to make them healthy without compromising on flavor. In this vegetarian taco, recipe developer Susan Olayinka uses roasted sweet potatoes and beans seasoned with plenty of spices. "I love how it is complete with carbohydrates and protein and even veg with salsa and guac. It's so easy to eat healthier and more veg nowadays," she says. If hard shell tacos aren't your thing, you can even roll the filling into a wrap.

Recipe: Roasted Sweet Potato And Black Bean Tacos

Because paratha is a type of flaky and layered Indian bread made from whole wheat flour and ghee (clarified butter), it may not seem like particularly healthy food to eat at first thought (via Taste Atlas). Recipe developer Kristen Carli's veggie paratha is far from unhealthy. On the contrary, Carli mixes the carbs with a ton of veggies and spices so you get all sorts of nutrients from this flatbread. These vegetable parathas can be eaten with a simple serving of hummus or even as a carrier for hot dal or one of the many curries listed here.

Recipe: Mixed Vegetable Paratha

Most of us know of ratatouille as the dinner that won over the famously grouchy food critic in Disney's "Ratatouille." While this may make the dish seem complex, but it turns out that ratatouille can actually be quite easy (and healthy) to make at home. For one, you're using bucketloads of veggies in here and when we say bucketloads, it's no exaggeration. You're using six different types of thinly sliced veggies and that's not even counting the two cups of tomato sauce! Even better, half of the recipe's cook time happens in the oven, so you're only really spending 45 minutes of your time recreating this classic.

Recipe: Easy Ratatouille

Recipe developer Kristen Carli's stuffed sweet potatoes are all the good things about a burrito and a jacket potato combined into one easy dinner. While Carli uses black beans and corn to stuff her sweet potatoes and tops them off with some onions, cheese, guac, sour cream, and pico de gallo, you can use all sorts of additions — think grilled meats, peppers, and even tortilla chips. The sweet potatoes can even be a hit amongst little ones who tend to be picky eaters. Carli's suggestion? Setting up a potato bar and letting them fill up their sweet potatoes with toppings of their choice!

Recipe: Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

What's not to love about a warming bowl of broth filled with all sorts of flavorful ingredients, veggies, and chewy noodles meant to be slurped away? No, we're not talking about the kind of instant ramen from your penniless college days. Recipe developer Tricia Wheeler says that good ramen can be "a complete meal in a bowl" and her homemade version is as good for the stomach as it is for the soul. While the many components of this ramen may seem intimidating at first, Wheeler says once you get a hang of the basics, you can play around with ingredients to make the ramen your own.

Recipe: Ramen

P.F. Chang's low-carb lettuce wraps may seem healthy but exposés on Reddit claiming the wraps are "made out of fat and gristle" and leftover chicken may have you thinking otherwise. Luckily, these copycat lettuce wraps are much healthier, filled with fresh chicken, mushrooms, and water chestnuts. As long as you nail the cooking sauce and dipping sauce that are essential components of P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps, you'll have a more nutritious alternative to the chain's version that very well may taste much better than the original version.

Recipe: Copycat P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps

The fact that zoodles are a thing is proof that zucchini contains enough nutrients for the world to be eating them as a plant-based alternative to carb-y foods made from flour or corn. In this Southwestern-inspired invention, recipe developer Carrie Madormo turns the green veggie into an entire enchilada! Zucchinis with their flesh scooped out serve as boats that hold a veg and meat-packed filling slathered with enchilada sauce. The zucchini enchilada boats are finished off in the oven so you get a golden bubbling cheese crust on top!

Recipe: Zucchini Enchilada Boats

Though incredibly healthy, stuffed peppers tend to have a bad rep for being tedious and time-consuming to make, taking up to an hour of cooking to come together. This version only requires about 30 minutes of your time and gives in return an entire meal packed into one simple bell pepper. While this recipe uses an entirely vegetarian stuffing made from rice, beans, and cheese, you can always switch up the filling to make it exactly to your liking.

Recipe: 30-Minute Stuffed Peppers

Butternut squash, Healthline says, is a low-cal vegetable that's full of fiber, important vitamins and minerals, and disease-fighting antioxidants. If this isn't reason enough to be adding more of the winter squash into your weekly meals, recipe developer Hayley MacLean turns the vegetable into a stunning risotto in 35 minutes using an Instant Pot. MacLean pairs the butternut squash with sage and nutmeg to make a risotto that will transport you back to fall. The recipe also calls for half a cup of dry white wine which doubles up as an excellent drink to pair with the risotto during dinnertime!

Recipe: Instant Pot Butternut Squash Risotto

Some of the best comfort foods have cheese in them — take grilled cheese, mac n cheese, and pizza for example. So if it's one of those nights when you're in need of a comforting dinner with a generous serving of cheese that's still packed with nutrients, recipe developer Petar Marshall's rigatoni fiorentina will tick all your boxes. "It's truly comfort food at its finest," he says, but assures that "you'll also get a good dose of protein and greens from the addition of plenty of spinach."

Recipe: Rigatoni Fiorentina

Sushi-making is often considered to be an intricate process that takes even dedicated chefs years to perfect. Although there are easier ways to make sushi at home, even that can seem like too much effort after a long day of work. Recipe developer Kristen Carli skips the most complex parts of sushi — the raw fish and the rolling — and proposes an alternative that can be ready in a mere 15 minutes. Carli uses brown rice, Sriracha mayo, and a colorful selection of veggies to make a nutrient-dense deconstructed sushi bowl. While there's no fish in her version, she says that you can easily add ahi tuna, smoked salmon, or any other fish to this bowl but does recommend that you cook it first — raw fish may be best left to experienced sushi chefs!

Recipe: 15-Minute Deconstructed Sushi Bowl