125 Weeknight Dinners That Make It Easy to Eat Healthy
Looking for some fresh inspiration for your dinners? Fill up on these flavorful recipes all week long.
Our Best Healthy Weeknight Dinner Ideas
We know that getting dinner on the table every night can be difficult: You need to have time, energy and a plan, not to mention a good recipe! And if you want that dinner to be nutritious, you might find this task to be even more burdensome—but we’re here to help. We rounded up over 100 of our very best healthy dinners that are perfect for weeknights. From low-carb meals to flavor-packed pastas, we have you covered. Don't worry about spending a lot of cash, either, as cheap healthy meals exist and they can be quite delicious. This salmon dinner couldn't be simpler. Season the fish with salt and pepper, then pop it in the oven to bake to perfection in 15 minutes. An easy-to-make parsley and almond salsa goes on top.
Chicken and Broccoli with White Sauce
The chicken and broccoli you find at your favorite Chinese restaurant is usually covered in an intensely flavored brown sauce often based on oyster and soy sauces. This recipe showcases a milder but equally delicious Chinese white sauce that might be familiar to you from dishes like shrimp in lobster sauce. It’s clear and savory, thickened with a cornstarch slurry. This recipe also highlights the traditional Chinese technique of “velveting,” a marinating process that coats proteins to tenderize, lock in the juices and promote browning. We tested a variety of velveting processes that use egg, egg white and even just water. Our conclusion? Chicken covered in salt and water (similar to brining) then coated with cornstarch produced the best texture. We also eliminated the common step of boiling or deep-frying the chicken before stir-frying; a quick sear in the wok produced tender results. If velveting seems daunting, don’t let it be; it’s essentially a marinating process and takes just a few minutes of work and 30 minutes of hands-off time. And it’s worth it: Your velveted chicken will be juicy and tender with tons of savory flavor.
Healthy Air Fryer Parmesan Chicken with Broccoli
This chicken gets incredibly crunchy, thanks to a light coating of panko and Parmesan and a quick cook in the air fryer! Serve it with charred broccoli and a tangy yogurt sauce for a healthy and complete meal you can throw together any day of the week.
The Best Baingan Bharta
Nidhi Jalan writes, "This smoky roasted eggplant dish from India is one of my favorites. It’s served as a main course, as part of a selection of dishes in a thali. Different versions are made in various parts of the country but this Punjabi recipe is the most popular. The best flavor and smokiness comes from roasting the eggplant on a direct flame or grill. I never add dried spices to my baingan bharta in order to really taste the smoky eggplant with sweetness from the onions, tang from the tomatoes, a little heat from the green chiles and a burst of freshness from the cilantro. It’s precisely this combination of flavors that makes this dish so amazing!"
Air Fryer Pomegranate-Glazed Salmon
Pomegranate lends its sweet-tart essence and ruby hue to this impressive weeknight dinner or special-occasion main dish in two ways: First, pomegranate molasses is the base of a fruity glaze for the salmon fillets, resulting in perfectly caramelized exteriors. While the fish cooks, we toss together a bold and colorful relish of pomegranate arils, cilantro and spicy serrano chiles to cut through the richness of the salmon. And since it's ready in just about 20 minutes, you'll have plenty of time for your guests or family.
Bulgogi-Style Eggplant
This delicious vegan recipe combines the flavors of bulgogi with pan-seared eggplant — but instead of marinating the vegetable in the gochugaru and soy mixture as you do with beef, we use it as a pan sauce. The eggplant is excellent served with rice, kimchi, lettuce greens and your favorite banchan for a meatless Korean barbecue rice bowl.
Grated Pasta Chicken Soup
Cozy up to a bowl of this easy chicken soup filled with fresh homemade egg noodles. The key is to make a quick 5-ingredient pasta dough and then simply grate it directly into store-bought chicken broth using a box grater. Rounded out with some veg and shredded rotisserie chicken, it’s a perfect freezer-friendly make-ahead weeknight dinner.
Pasta e Ceci
This simple, hearty dish is pure Italian comfort food. Made with double carbs (chickpeas -- the “ceci” -- and ditalini!), it’s somewhere between a soup and a pasta, bringing the best qualities of both to one bowl. While it’s optional, the Parmesan rind adds a depth of flavor here as well as to other soups and stews, especially vegetarian ones. Whenever you finish a wedge of Parmesan, just wrap the leftover rind well in plastic and keep it in the fridge. The lemon zest and juice add a bright note to the broth that’s thickened by mashing some of the chickpeas. If you don’t have a potato masher, you can mash the chickpeas against the sides of the pot with a wooden spoon.
Calabacitas a la Mexicana
Calabacitas literally translates to "little squash," and a la Mexicana means it incorporates the colors of the Mexican flag—white, red and green—from onions, tomatoes and chiles. This vegetarian dish can be served as a side dish, main dish or with tortillas to make tacos. If you can’t find summer squash, zucchini works just as well.
Middle Eastern-Style Chicken, Veggies and Rice
This one-dish meal is packed with flavor, and as easy as it is healthy. Rotisserie chicken, microwavable brown rice and pre-trimmed beans make this meal a cinch to prepare in less than 30 minutes. The bold spice blend and toasted nuts bring warm Moroccan flavor that'll make this dish memorable.
Bean-Kale Burgers with Sweet Potato Wedges
A step up from the typical veggie burger, this meatless main is prepared with mashed pinto beans and kale and then stacked on a whole-wheat English muffin with lettuce, tomato and onion. Fries are a must, of course — in this case, delicious sweet potato wedges. The healthy dessert: peaches in yogurt.
Creamy Lemon-Pepper Orzo with Grilled Chicken
If you love risotto but want something quicker, this simple orzo takes half the time. Rich cheese and cream are swapped with tangy Greek yogurt and goat cheese for equally satisfying creaminess. Sweet green peas and fragrant fresh tarragon and basil scream spring, though this dish is a year-round classic.