We look at healthy dinner recipe ideas that drive home a very important point – healthy food can be absolutely delicious. The world has a wealth of ideas and recipes to offer that suit your taste buds, style, and more importantly, your health.
Our list is also balanced with quick and easy to prepare recipes, so you don’t have to look at frozen foods or take-out when you just want a quick and convenient meal. And of course, “healthy” can mean different things for different people. So, our roundup gives a good thought and careful consideration to diet preferences, cuisines, and even what’s hot and trendy right now!
After all, balanced meals and balanced ideas have quite a lot in common. So, let’s get started and dive into this wealth of healthy dinner recipe ideas.
Top Healthy Dinner Recipe Ideas
1. A Salad
Would you look at that beauty! Greens, proteins, and a presentation to drool over! That’s nice, simple, and nutritious food that’s ready within minutes and is nourishing for the body.
What’s even better here is that you can use this idea and modify it to suit your tastes and the ingredients in your kitchen! Don’t have peas? Maybe some steamed green beans could go there. Perhaps even add some rice in there.
The bowl’s your canvas. Do your thing!
2. Chicken Pineapple Stir Fry
The savory sweet combo of stir fried chicken and pineapple is a surprising medley of flavors and texture. It gets a flavor boost with garlic and the butter used to fry it adds a whole new dimension to the texture and flavors.
And then there’s pineapple, that brings a nice texture and sweetness to the recipe. Better yet, this whole gourmet-style recipe can be done in just about 15 minutes. How’s that for quick and delicious?
3. Salmon and Broccolini with Rice
Here’s a nice combination of healthy foods made even better with the right cooking and serving. It has salmon poached in coconut milk for that juicy tenderness and a burst of flavors. That’s accompanied by Korean mixed grain rice for a touch of nourishment and nutrition. And it’s all topped with the overcooked broccolini.
I’ll agree that the broccolini is not the most picture-perfect thing on here, but it’s a practical addition. It brings a touch of texture and freshness to this recipe, making it more balanced and nourishing.
4. Salmon And Salad
This is one sumptuous-looking and filling meal. The star of the show is salmon. Cooked right, it adds a wonderful texture, taste, and even adds to the looks of the overall recipe. But it’s not alone.
The salmon is accompanied by the “harvest salad.” And that’s a simple way to say that it has a number of greens and fresh veggies. It has romaine lettuce, organic kale, and tomatoes. Then there’s the serving of goat cheese, radish, apples, almonds, butternut squash, dried cranberries, and farro.
That’s quite the list of ingredients and quite the fun meal!
5. Easy Shrimp Scampi
The shrimp scampi is a timeless classic. This recipe puts a twist on the classic to suit different flavors and taste buds. The key here is those wonderful zoodles forming a nice and rich background for the shrimp.
Of course, they do more than just look picturesque. These Zucchini noodles are nutritious, nourishing, and bring a texture that works wonderfully well with the shrimp.
The easy shrimp scampi recipe is light, yet filling and full of flavor.
6. Vegetable Lo Mein
The delicious Chinese food Lo Mein can be prepared in just about 15 minutes, making it a quick and healthy recipe to enjoy. The healthy side of this recipe lives in the details of its ingredients. You could use conventional ramen noodles, or better yet, go with brown rice noodles.
Then there’s green cabbage, tofu, fresh carrots, celery, and snow peas. You could get creative with these ingredients and perhaps add a few that speak to your heart’s desire. Capsicum goes well with the recipe, so does broccoli.
Fresh vegetables, tons of flavor, and a little bit of stir frying make this recipe as healthy and flavorful as it gets.
7. Easy Pork San Choy Bau Noodles
Looking all kinds of delicious, this recipe is packed with nutrition and flavor. This recipe uses Hakubaku Organic Ramen Noodles as the main ingredient and pairs them with minced pork. But the recipe is, of course, more than that.
It includes garlic cloves, oyster sauce, and soy sauce for flavor, and a bit of stir frying. Add more ingredients like green shallots, shredded iceberg lettuce, and fried shallots. The combination is delicious and nourishing.
8. Caesar Salad With Grilled Chicken Breast
A caesar salad topped with grilled chicken breast is exactly the kind of nourishing and healthy food that’s at the heart of our recipe ideas. It’s quick and easy to make, tastes absolutely divine, looks great, and is full of healthy foods.
Even someone who’s not a salad person could get behind this delicacy!
9. This Healthy Pasta Recipe
This parmesan spinach mushroom pasta looks absolutely relishing. As the name suggests, this is the classic parmesan pasta with a twist. The twist being the addition of new ingredients that make it more nourishing and healthy.
Of course, they also bring their own taste and texture into the mix, helping to elevate the recipe. The extra helping of spinach with those delicious mushrooms makes this taste as yummy as it looks.
10. A Zesty Salad
Salads have been the classic definition of healthy food for a very long time. They taste delicious and leave a lot of room for experimentation and adjusting to different taste buds.
Here we have a zesty salad with a combination of various food elements that take it to the next level. This recipe starts with a crunchy spinach salad accompanied by Aioli potatoes. That would be good by itself, but it wouldn’t be the zesty delicacy we want here.
So, we get some lemon-thyme chicken on top of this salad, adding a whole new texture and flavor that goes surprisingly well with the basic dish. And yes, this one would make converts out of those who generally avoid the salad greens.
11. A Vegan And Gluten-Free Glazed Tofu
Would you look at that! This recipe is as much a work of art as it is a nourishing and delicious food. The star of the show is a blackberry glazed tofu, which almost looks like a piece of candy. But don’t expect it to be just sweet. It has a covering of chili flakes that add flavor, color, and an overall nice feel to the dish.
On its side, you’ll find fragrant jasmine rice, which brings just the right amount of texture and balance that our glazed tofu needs.
This is accompanied by a combination of sautéed vegetables, which are carrot and rutabaga with ginger and garlic. It’s amazing how exotic this recipe looks, even though it uses ingredients that are basically simple and easy to work with.
12. Chicken Ham And Broccoli Salad
This is a healthy and flavorful meal made with simple ingredients. Even leftovers from a previous feast can find their way into this delicious mix of various foods. It’s got chicken ham, broccoli salad, and a nice helping of roasted potatoes. That sounds right like one filling meal that should take minutes to put together.
It’s quick, easy, has a great texture, and is delicious.
13. Tofu And Avocado Meal
The modern world that is a global village often brings us wonders that would have been impossible for most of human history. Case in point: this recipe that brings together tofu that’s native to East Asia, with Avocado that’s native to Mexico. Then there’s tahini, which originates in the Middle East.
Of course, a lot of modern recipes use ingredients that have been used in specific cuisines for a very long time. Yet, occasionally, we can step back and wonder at the modern magic that brings all these together.
Here’s a recipe with tofu, avocado, and ginger tahini. It’s sumptuous, has great texture, and is very nourishing.
It’s also pretty much a representation of our modern global village all by itself!
14. Chicken Sausage With Apple Slaw
Chicken sausage with apple slaw recipe is flavorful, healthy, and quite a delightful mix of textures. Mix in a bit of celery and you’ve got yourself a delicious meal. I like the idea of garnishing it with a touch of cilantro or parsley, but that’s more of a cosmetic choice than for the flavors. So, if you don’t quite agree with cilantro, feel free to skip it.
The chicken sausage is the most time-consuming aspect of this recipe. One might be tempted to skip this step and take a different route. Yet, to be fair, the sausage is well-worth the effort. It brings the flavors and textures together so nicely that it’s a treat all by itself.
15. A Colorful Platter
Let the plate be your canvas as you paint with delicious foods and vibrant colors. This is a simple and healthy meal with a whole lot of nutrition, the skill of dressing a plate, and the flavors to make your mouth water!
16. Chinese Steamed Chicken
Here’s a wholesome meal full of taste, texture, and nutrition. The best part is that you can have it ready in under 30 minutes. It looks quite exotic and tastes every bit as divine as you’d expect, but it can be surprisingly easy to make. Well, that “easy” part needs a qualifier, which is being a seasoned cook. This isn’t a recipe for beginners.
Getting the lemon ginger chicken right takes some skill, but it’s a rewarding food to enjoy. Couple that with rice and broccoli, and you’ve got a full, delicious meal in front of you. Time to dig in!
17. Spicy Shrimp With Feta Dip
This recipe is so quick to prepare, it might almost qualify as fast food. However, unlike fast food, this one is full of nutrition and nourishment, not empty calories. This is a straightforward spicy shrimp recipe coupled with a feta dip to get the flavors flowing.
Adding some lemon for a zesty touch and more flavors could be a good choice. This recipe is quite versatile. It can work as your dinner with a side dish, or use it as an appetizer to make things more interesting.
18. Garlic Noodles With Shrimp
Here’s a quick and lovely dinner menu you can enjoy. The wonderful treat of garlic noodles topped with fresh greens and shrimp is a sight to behold. It looks remarkably appetizing and tastes great.
Plus, it’s nourishing and full of nutrients, which makes the combination even better. In a way, this little recipe has it all. It’s quick to make, has a ton of flavor, matches textures quite well, and is a wonderfully healthy way to enjoy your food.
19. Rosemary Chicken
Rosemary Chicken is a nice name for a recipe. And the dish is as delicious as the name implies. The key here is the pan seared chicken breasts dipped in flavorful gravy. The major flavor elements here are rosemary, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Coupled with other ingredients in the recipe, they make a wonderful sauce to go along the chicken breasts.
20. Chicken Bowl
The vibrant colors and setting make the chicken bowl look like an edible work of art. There’s chicken, corn, rice, and a healthy serving of berries to balance flavors and give this dish its signature look.
Granted, a home cook might find it more challenging to get the same appearance as the gourmet chefs that make this recipe possible. But, a little bit of creativity will still have you with a wonderfully styled meal with the flavors and textures to relish.
21. One Pot Tuscan Pasta
Oh, you had me at “one pot” and then again at “Tuscan Pasta”. There’s everything to love about this healthy dinner recipe.
The pasta gets a wonderful taste with ground chicken, baby spinach, sun dried tomatoes, and a generous helping of Italian herbs. Its flavorful, delicious, and most of all, this one pot nourishing recipe wont’ leave you with a mess in the kitchen to clean afterwards.
So, after enjoying the delicious meal, you can relax and do a quick cleanup, rather than worrying about having to clean the pile of dishes in the kitchen!
22. This Steak Recipe
Now that’s a photogenic recipe that looks great without careful organization. Everything here looks the way of a perfectly balanced meal and balanced ingredients. The star of the show is a succulent steak that would make mouths water.
And then it’s time to indulge yourselves further with potato chips, broccoli, and brown rice. This healthy dinner recipe almost appears decadent! And that really is a big feather in its hat. Being delicious, good-looking, and healthy is the trifecta we want from a sumptuous dinner.