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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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