Optavia 5&1 diet plan is ever growing in popularity. The plan advocates that users have six meals a day at an interval of 2-3 hours. Five of these come from Optavia fuelings and the one is a lean and green meal.
So, if you’re new to the plan and wondering what to eat for dinner, these quick Optavia lean and green recipes should give you some food for thought – and food for your meal!
As with any diet plan, there are a few limitations on what you can eat. As such, people can find themselves starved of variety and options when choosing their meals. While there is some variety in the diet plan, not everyone has the recipes at hand.
Well, now you can! These recipes can be helpful when you decide what to eat and enjoy.
Most of these recipes are simple and usually will take less than 30 minutes to prepare. So, here are some quick and delicious recipes for your meals.
10 Amazing Optavia Lean And Green Recipes For You
1. Parmesan Meatballs & Collard Greens
Meatballs are an amazing meal in taste and also work wonders as a comfort food. So, how do we make them healthy enough for our lean and green meal? Well, where there is a will, there is a way.
This recipe puts together meatballs and collard greens to give you a healthy dose of food without getting doused in calories. Overall, each recipe has portions of one lean, three greens, plus three condiments.
This one offers four servings, so you can adjust the amount of ingredients to serve your needs.
Here’s What You Need
- Chopped collard greens: 16 oz
- Chicken stock: 1.5 cups
- 95% lean ground pork: 1¼ lbs (1.25 pounds)
- Eggs: 2
- Low-fat parmesan cheese: 2 tablespoons
- Balsamic vinegar: 1 tablespoon
- Hemp seeds: ¼ cups
- Salt
- Pepper
Don’t like collards? No problem. You can substitute them for spinach. It’s possible to add salt and pepper to suit your taste, but remember to stay within program guidelines.
Once you’ve got the ingredients, it’s time to get cooking.
The Recipe
- Add four cups of water to a large pot and bring it to boil.
- Add collard greens to the pot and cover it. Cook until the greens have reduced to half their original size. Usually, this takes about five minutes.
- Drain the water.
- Add chicken stock to the collards.
- Cook the mix over a medium-low heat for 20-30 minutes.
While the collards cook, we can go ahead and get the meatballs ready.
- Put the ground pork, salt pepper, and eggs in a bowl and mix them thoroughly.
- Once the mix is ready, make eight meatballs out of it.
- Put meatballs into the pot containing chicken stock and collards.
- Allow it to simmer for 20 minutes.
At this point, our recipe is about ready. All we have to do is add some garnish and prepare it for serving.
- Remove meatballs from the pot and keep them separate.
- Add the hemp seeds, balsamic vinegar, and parmesan cheese, to the pot with collard greens.
- Let this mixture simmer for about five minutes.
Your healthy recipe is ready! Serve the meatballs on top of these braised collards.
2. Creamy Spaghetti Squash With Shrimp
Here’s a quick recipe that you can make quickly on short notice. Complex recipes are usually lauded for being filling, but quick recipes can be as filling and enjoyable. Besides, rather than spending a lot of time cooking, you could be ready to eat in a few minutes.
Here’s What You Need
- Chicken stock: ½ cup
- Light Swiss Laughing Cow Cheese: 3 slices
- Water: ¼ cup
- Chopped broccoli: ½ cup
- Light cream cheese: 1 tablespoon
- Spaghetti squash (chopped and cooked): 1 cup
- Shrimp (cooked): 7 oz
- Old bay seasoning: 1 teaspoon
It’s possible that you might have to cook the spaghetti sauce and shrimp if pre-cooked versions aren’t available. Accomplishing this is easy and quick. Though keep an eye out when cooking shrimp, it’s quick to cook. So, watch out for signs that say the shrimp is cooked.
The Recipe
- Mix together the cheeses, water, seasoning, and chicken stock. Allow the mix to cream.
- When ready, add the broccoli and cooked spaghetti squash into the mixture.
- Mix thoroughly and continue cooking.
- Add the cooked shrimp and serve.
3. Mini Mac In A Bowl
This quick and delicious recipe is easy to make. Better yet, it has that fast food vibe to satiate your cravings, but still stays a healthy food that’s within the program.
Let’s get started.
Here’s What You Need
- Diced white or yellow onion: 2 tablespoons
- Wish-bone light thousand island dressing: 2 tablespoon
- 95% lean ground beef: 5 oz
- Onion powder: ⅛ teaspoon
- White vinegar: ⅛ teaspoon
- Shredded romaine lettuce: 3 cups
- Reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese: 2 tablespoons
- Sesame seeds: 1 teaspoon
- Dill pickle slices: 1 oz
- Cooking spray
Notice that the ingredients are something on the decadent side. You could find plenty of the same ingredients in a Big Mac. Thankfully, the recipe and ingredients are well-managed, so unlike the burger, this recipe manages to stay lean and green.
The Recipe
- Add the cooking spray to a skillet and take it to medium-high heat.
- Once it’s hot enough, add the onions and cook until they’re fragrant. Usually, this will take 2-3 minutes.
- Add the beef and cook until browned.
While this cooks, we can get the other part of the recipe ready.
- In a bowl, put together the onion powder, dressing, and vinegar. Mix thoroughly.
Now, it’s time for the assembly!
- When ready to serve, top the lettuce with ground beef and sprinkle some cheese on top.
- Add the sauce (ingredients mixed in the bowl) on top of this and sprinkle with sesame seeds for garnish.
4. Bang Bang Chicken
I like the name. I like the taste. I like this recipe! It’s totally banging!
This bang bang chicken recipe is a banging food that yields four servings. It takes about 30 minutes to bang it all together. The healthy recipe includes 1 lean, 3 greens, a healthy fat, and a condiment.
Let’s get banging.
Here’s What You Need
- Sambal: 2 teaspoons
- Peanuts, divided: 1 oz
- Canola oil: 1 teaspoon
- Zucchini: 1 large. Once grated, this should fill about four cups.
- Poached chicken breasts: 1½ lbs. Shredded and cooled.
- Medium cucumber: 1. Peel it, half it along the length, remove the seeds.
- Spring onions: 2, finely sliced.
- Cilantro (coriander): ½ cups, coarsely chopped
Now that we have the ingredients together, let’s get cooking the Bang Bang Chicken.
The Recipe
- Divide the peanuts into two ½ oz portions.
- Take one of these portions and crush it with a rolling pin or a food processor.
- Put the crushed peanuts together with sambal and oil. Blend thoroughly to create peanut sauce.
- In a separate bowl, use a vegetable peeler to shave the zucchini into thin ribbons.
- Thinly slice the cucumber into matchsticks.
- Add the peanut sauce and shredded chicken to the zucchini ribbons. Toss the mix gently.
- You can top the mix with cucumber matchsticks, peanuts, and add the spring onion and cilantro to complete the garnish.
Now that’s a quick and filling meal!
5. Grilled Fajita Bowls
This looks fun and appetizing. The grilled fajita beef bowl is quick to prepare and utilizes one of our favorite ways to cook meat – grilling! So, let’s get cooking this lean and green meal.
Here’s What You Need
- Flank steak: 1¼ lbs
- Scallions: 2
- Bell pepper: 1, sliced
- Lettuce: 8 cups
- Diced tomatoes: 1 cup
- Jalapeno: 1, sliced
- Cilantro: 1 cup, chopped
- Light sour cream: ¼ cup
- Cumin, ground: 1 teaspoon
- Chili powder: 1 teaspoon
- Lime: 1, small, cut and halved
- Salt: ¼ teaspoon or less
- Pepper: ¼ teaspoon or less
The Recipe
- Preheat the grill.
- Create a spice mixture with cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper.
- Season the beef with the spice mixture.
- Grill the beef on both sides until its internal temperature reaches at least 145°F.
- Remove the beef from the grill and allow it to rest.
- Grill the scallions and lime halves. This should take 1-2 minutes.
- Cut the beef into thin slices.
- Chop the scallions and add to the beef.
- Squeeze the limes over this mix. Trash the coats.
- To serve, divide the lettuce, bell pepper, jalapeno, cilantro, and tomatoes between the bowls.
- Add some beef, scallions, and sour cream to each bowl.
6. Mini Pepper Nachos
This is a summer treat that we can enjoy with fun and relish. The beloved nachos with a twist that makes them a healthy and hearty meal for your 5&1 plan.
Here’s What You Need
- Jalapeno pepper: ¼ cup, diced
- Low-sodium chicken breast: 1 can 12 oz, drained
- Avocado, mashed: 6 oz
- Low-fat Greek yogurt: ½ cup
- Cheddar cheese, low-fat, shredded: 2 cups (divided as 1 cup each)
- Scallions, chopped: ¼ cup
- Chili powder: 1 teaspoon
- Mini bell peppers: 24, halved, with seeds and membranes removed
- Cooking spray
The Recipe
- Grease a skillet with cooking spray.
- Saute diced jalapenos on the skillet until they’re tender.
- In a separate bowl, mix the yogurt, jalapeno, chicken, 1 cup of cheese, and chili powder.
- Mix thoroughly.
- Take a large casserole dish and arrange bell peppers on it.
- Fill each bell pepper with the chicken mix we prepared earlier.
- Garnish with scallions and serve.
7. Bibimbap Bowls
There’s a huge wave of K-dramas sweeping the world. And riding one part of that wave is delicious Korean food. This bibimbap bowls recipe lets you enjoy some Korean food, perhaps while watching your favorite Korean drama.
It looks absolutely sumptuous and appearance is a big part of this delicacy. This meal is as beautiful as it’s delicious.
Okay now, let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work cooking a lean and green bibimbap bowl.
The recipe listed here offers four servings and takes about 20 minutes to prepare.
Here’s What You Need
- Baby spinach: 5 cups
- 95% lean ground beef: 1 lb
- Cauliflower (riced): 2 cups
- Cucumber, thinly sliced: 1 cup
- Eggs (fried or hard boiled): 4
- Green onions, chopped: ½ cup
- Olive oil: 1 teaspoon
- Toasted sesame oil: 1 teaspoon
- Salt: ¼ teaspoon or less
- Chili garlic sauce: 2 tablespoons
- Reduced sodium soy sauce: 1 tablespoon
- Sesame seeds: 1 tablespoon
One thing to watch out for with this recipe is its salt content. Soy sauce can contain a high amount of salt, which is why a low-sodium option is preferable. There’s also likely to be some salt in the chili garlic sauce. So, do a taste test before adding salt to the recipe.
The Recipe
- Put the olive oil in a skillet placed over medium-high heat.
- Add the spinach and cook for a few minutes, until the spinach starts to wilt.
- Add the sesame oil over the top and drizzle some salt on the mix.
- Remove the spinach from the skillet and set aside in a bowl.
- Put the ground beef in the same (now empty) skillet and cook until it’s brown.
- Add the chili garlic sauce and soy sauce.
- Cook for one minute.
- Remove the skillet from the heat.
- Put the riced cauliflower in a microwave-safe bowl. You may also add a tablespoon of water.
- Steam the riced cauliflower in the microwave for 3-4 minutes.
Now, it’s time to put it all together. Since this recipe yields four servings, you’ll need four bowls for serving.
- Add half a cup of riced cauliflower to each bowl.
- Top this with the spinach, ground beef, and cucumber. Rather than piling them one on top of the other, you may choose to place these in their own zones in the bowl.
- Placing by zones gives it the neat and divided look we often see in photographs of these bowls.
- Add an egg to each bowl.
- Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.
8. Zughetti in Meat Gravy
Hankering for some spaghetti? Well, that isn’t going to fly with the Optavia diet plan. So, let’s get a healthy workaround. This recipe replaces spaghetti with zucchini. Not ideal for the taste buds, but works as a healthy and enjoyable diet.
The zucchini can be thinly cut or spiraled, depending on how you prefer it. As you can guess, the word “zughetti” in the name of the dish is a play on converting zucchini to spaghetti.
Plus, there’s some goodies in the form of chicken stock, ground turkey, and Greek yogurt.
Let’s get cooking.
Here’s What You Need
- Zucchini (cut or spiraled into noodles): 1¼ lbs
- 99% lean ground turkey: 1¾ lbs
- Scallions, trimmed and minced: 2
- Diced tomatoes: 1¼ cups
- Chicken stock: ¼ cup
- Low-fat Greek yogurt: ½ cup
- Extra virgin olive oil: 2 tablespoons, divided
- Garlic cloves, crushed: 2
- Red pepper flakes, crushed: ¼ teaspoons
- Hungarian paprika: 1 teaspoon
- Salt: 1 teaspoon, divided
- Basil, chopped: ½ cup
- Reduced fat parmesan cheese: 2 tablespoons
The Recipe
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet.
- Add the ground turkey and cook until it’s opaque. Stir occasionally.
- To the turkey, add scallions, paprika, crushed peppers, garlic, and ¾ teaspoons of salt.
- Slowly add the diced tomatoes, followed by the chicken stock to this mix.
- Cook for about 10 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken.
- After this time, add the yogurt and basil to the mix.
- Remove from heat. This prepares the meat sauce for our recipe.
As the meat sauce is ready, we can go ahead and prepare the zucchini for the meal. This will require another skillet.
- Add the zucchini to a skillet and saute for a couple of minutes.
- As the zucchini turns tender, add the remaining salt.
- Remove from heat and prepare to serve.
To serve, place the zucchini noodles on a plate and top it with the meat sauce. Enjoy your meal!
9. Vegetarian Meatballs With Zucchini Noodles
This recipe is suitable for vegans and vegetarians. It’s also a good choice if you want a break from the conventional food and try something new.
It employs vegan meatballs and zucchini covers its role as a replacement for noodles. The recipe is simple, quick, and fun.
Let’s get started.
Here’s What You Need
- Vegan meatballs: 1 lbs
- Medium zucchini, spiraled or cut into noodles: 4
- Rao’s homemade sauce: 1 cup
- Basil, chopped: ¼ cup
- Olive oil: 2 tablespoons
The Recipe
- Heat the vegan meatballs. The best way to do this is usually provided on the packaging of the meatballs. Most likely, this will require an oven or a microwave.
- Add some olive oil to a skillet and heat on medium-high.
- Add the zucchini noodles to the skillet and cook until the zucchini turns tender. This should take about 2-3 minutes.
- At this point, reduce heat to low.
- Add the homemade sauce to the zucchini. Let the mix simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Now’s the time to add the (heated) meatballs to this mix. Let it cook for another 2 minutes.
- Serve with a garnish of basil.
10. Lean And Green Grilled Sandwiches
Want some healthy and tasty sandwiches? Here’s the recipe to accomplish just that. This lean and green recipe takes about 30 minutes to prepare and yields two servings.
Here’s What You Need
- Cauliflower, finely riced: 3 cups
- Eggs: 2
- Low-fat parmesan cheese, grated: 1 tablespoon
- Salt
- Reduced fat cheddar cheese slices: 6
The Recipe
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Line a baking pan with parchment paper and spread the riced cauliflower evenly on it.
- Put the cauliflower into the oven and allow it to bake.
- Once ready, bring the cauliflower out of the oven and let it cool.
- At this point, squeeze the cauliflower gently to remove any moisture that may still be present.
- Change the oven temperature to 400°F.
- In a mixing bowl, add the cauliflowers, eggs, parmesan cheese, and salt. Mix thoroughly.
- Take a small portion of this cauliflower mix (about one-sixth) and place it on a baking paper.
- Shape this into a bread slice that’s at least quarter-inch thick.
- Once you have four cauliflower bread slices, bake them for 8 minutes in the oven. The temperature should stay at 400 °F.
- Once these bread slices are out of the oven, it’s time to make the sandwiches.
- Put a slice of cheddar cheese between two slices of bread. You’ll have four sandwiches after this is done.
- Put the sandwiches back into the oven and let the cheese slices melt. This should take about a minute.
- Take the sandwiches out of the oven and let them cool slightly.
- Enjoy your meal!
Conclusion
There are a lot of options available when you want to have some fun with Optavia lean and green recipes. While the diet plan is useful, experimenting a bit with food and recipes makes sure you don’t feel stuck in meals without variety.
While the recipes here should take care of your lean and green meals, you can also employ some Optavia fueling hacks to liven up other meals while still staying true to your diet plan.