Healthy Dinner Ideas and Tips to Eat Light Every Night

Supper and dinner are crucial times for people trying to eat healthy because that’s usually when they feel most hungry. You’ve probably heard many people say that they maintain a good diet through the day, but mess up during dinner time. It usually happens because this is when they’re coming back from work or trying to wrap up as fast as possible. You need to know healthy dinner ideas that not only give you proper nutrition but also satisfy your tastebuds.

We all know that dinner must be light, healthy, and early. You shouldn’t have high carbs for dinner, if at all. Many fitness enthusiasts have a dilemma around dinnertime simply because they don’t know what to eat. Here, we will give you some of the best healthy dinner ideas, tips, and recipes, to plan a proper dinner every night.

Tips to have healthy dinner

When you’re on a diet, you need to think of things you need to do in order to maintain. You need tips that keep going on in your mind, in order to keep a tab on what you’re eating. Check out healthy dinner ideas and tips to know what to eat or not to eat for the last meal of the day:

1. Have a protein-packed dinner

Your body needs protein after you are done with the workout and during dinner. Since you need to go low on carbs during dinner, you need the right muscle weight for your workouts. This is why you should have more protein especially after workouts and at dinner time. Breakfast can include carbs that you shed out during workout and also get the goodness from meals like oats and bread.

2. Weight watcher’s dinner

If you need to keep a check on your weight, you can stick to homemade soups for dinner. From mix vegetable to mushroom, from clear chicken soup to egg and sweet corn chicken, all these can work.

3. When you want a heavy yet healthy dinner

If you really feel very hungry during dinner times, you should have dinner with high fiber content. It can include salads with onions, cucumber, tomatoes, and carrots. You can chop and fry ladies fingers or cook veggies. There are numerous grills on the market today for under $300 that provide a great cooking experience.

4. Late night dinners

Many of us have odd working days some times and we need to be awake at longer hours. For such times, you can take resort to smoothies or sandwiches. Add ham, lettuce, and cheese for sandwiches, but don’t make sure it is not too high on carbs.

5. Get a griller

There is nothing as tasty and as healthy as grilled or barbequed food. You can cook veggies, grill tofu, chicken, fish, and have them for dinner.

6. Keep easy recipes in mind

People who live alone or need to cook after a long day at work will think about easy recipes. You can turn to pesto or pasta and add seasoned veggies and Arabiatta sauce with it. Veggies like zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, and bell peppers can make it healthy and tasty. You can also add some garlic bread and make your work easier by buying readymade pasta sauce.

7. One-pot meal

You can look out for crockpot recipes as they too are easy to cook and can be kept for reuse. Recipes like chickpea pilaf or biriyani can also be counted also a one-pot meal and treated similarly.

8. Family dinners

If you have an entire family to cook for, you might want to plan a proper full-course meal. It can have salads, soups, bread, curries, curd, and more. Just make sure you have the right kind of food that they like and those are healthy to eat.

9. On the go

If you need to finish off your meal within a certain time and your home is pretty far away, grab something on the go. It can be a burrito, a bowl of salad, a sandwich, or more. You might be craving for burgers and pizzas, but they’re definitely not among the healthy dinner ideas.

10. Healthy meal

When you have the time and you really want to cook a nice dinner, try making spinach curry with cottage cheese. It is one of the fantastic Indian recipes that need the right kind of spices to bring in taste. But it is healthier and tastier than most other things mentioned so far.

Types of healthy dinner ideas

Here we will give you a quick brief on some of the healthy treats that you need to start preparing for dinner. Once you understand what these are, you can quickly search for the recipes you’d want to cook and make them. Check out these healthy dinner ideas to cuddle your tastebuds:

1. Palak Paneer

To make this classic Indian dish you need to blend cottage cheese in creamy spinach gravy and serve with chapatti. Spinach is one of the most versatile and healthy food that you need to add to your diet. It has low carbs and fat, and adequate fiber. Lookup for this recipe and add spices to your kitchen to get the right taste.

2. Grilled chicken escalope and fresh salsa

How about having grilled chicken for dinner? Chicken is loved by fitness freaks who have non-vegetarian food. It is an ideal source of protein and amino acids. You must have grilled chicken for dinner as it has the right nutrients and gives your body enough quantity. You can serve the grilled chicken with homemade salsa dip made of cherry tomatoes.

3. Baked veggies casserole

If you’re vegetarian, you can try this healthy recipe at home. Add all sorts of vegetables you like to have to eat to the baked casserole. You can use leftover veggies and add them to this dish. Any kind of baked food is good to go, but make sure it doesn’t have too much cheese in it.

4. Pepper chicken

Chicken breasts don’t have fat content. You should always try and purchase breast pieces and cook recipes that way. It ensures that you have low fat and high protein.  You can chop the breast pieces into chunks and make your dinner more like a starter you’d have at a restaurant. Pepper chicken is one of the healthy dinner ideas as it is light, needs few ingredients, and tastes really good.

5. Spaghetti with pesto sauce

Rich flavors in pesto sauce enhance the taste of spaghetti to an extent that you don’t need anything else for dinner. Of course, some basil and mint leaves on top of the pasta will work as an icing on the cake. But you can do without it and it will still taste good. Try and cook this meal in olive oil and add rich tomatoes to it. Add the right amount of parmesan, walnuts, and pesto to make it a sumptuous dinner.

6. Turkey meatballs and zucchini noodles

If eating chicken every night has got you bored, you ought to try out turkey some times. If you’re a pasta lover, this is yet another dish you got to try. Just add some spiced-up turkey meatballs and make it with zucchini noodles.

7. Chicken breasts with fennel slaw

If you want a high protein dinner that has lots of flavors, make chicken breasts with fennel slaw. It will include lots of vegetables, flavors, and spices. The meal is low in carbs and can work for you if you don’t like pepper much.

8. Spicy yet sweet chicken legs

If you’re bored with grilled chicken, how about adding some spice yet keeping it sweet? You got to add roasted potatoes and asparagus with this one. You also need to add lime zest, chili-garlic sauce, and honey to balance that out.

9. Seared salmon and potato salad

Potato is one edible item that can go well with anything and takes up the taste of whatever you add it with. It is also the reason why there isn’t anything as such as an ordinary potato salad. For making this dish, you need to deconstruct the classic dish of seared salmons and give it a healthier touch. You need olives, fresh parsley, and capers for that. Don’t miss out on the watercress when adding salmons to the platter.

10. Cooked butternut squash in cider vinegar

You need to roast butternut squash and add red onions and whole grain mustard to it. The recipe needs the right amount of cider vinegar to make it sweet yet healthy. This is a perfect go-to dinner when you’re planning to go all veg.

11. Lemon and rosemary chicken

We actually have plenty of healthy dinner ideas with chicken as it’s simply so versatile. You can try out lemon and rosemary chicken and add roasted broccoli to it. The recipe is full of nutrients and comes with an incredible taste.

12. Rice with cranberry and cider

If you’re thinking that this recipe is going to be sweet, you’re correct. If you have some leftover rice but you don’t want to cook a side dish, you can make pilaf. While there are many pilafs that can be cooked in oil and added with veggies, you can sometimes try a sweet recipe. For this one, you need cranberries, cinnamon, and apple cider. The bowl makes every sweet tooth happy and also makes a hearty meal.

13. Salmon Panzanella with cucumber

We all know how good both salmon and cucumber are when it comes to diets. You need to have a healthy and refreshing meal at times for dinner to give you instant energy. This particular recipe not only has protein but also makes you feel light. Add some bread pieces and make yourself a satisfying salad.

14. Marinated mushroom with broccoli

If you’re planning to go all veg for dinner on some days, you replace maximum recipes of chicken with mushroom. For this one, you need to marinate mushroom so that it gets the kind of flavor you want it to. Add roasted broccoli and you’re good to go!

15. Pearl couscous and peas

If you’re looking for an easy dinner recipe that you can make in five minutes try this one. You need to serve this at room temperature and you can make it way before time and have it later. Along with couscous and peas, add some leeks and you’re good to go.

16. Cheesy zucchini boats like taco stuffing

If you love tacos, you’d probably want to experiment with different kinds of options. If you want to leave out the chicken for a while, how about making zucchini boats topped with cheese like it is done inside a taco? The Mexican dish is not just tasty but also has low carbs and flavorful.

17. Chicken and rice

Cook your regular chicken breast recipe and add it to brown rice. You can make a light pilaf to add flavors to the rice or some quinoa. If you’re used to having bread at night, you can swap it with brown rice and add variety to the food.

18. Shrimps in honey and garlic

Shrimps are tasty fish treats that come with an equal level of health quotient. You can make a tasty honey and garlic recipe to stir fry the shrimps and cook it in olive oil. Add some veggies to the meal and find yourself licking the plate in the end.

19. Turkey stuffed in peppers

If you like bell peppers because they taste as good as they look, you will want to try stuffing them. Try cooking turkey as you would for taco toppings and add them to the bell peppers. Bake the peppers to have them cooked to the right temperature and munch on them for dinner.

20. Macaroni with chicken and cheese

Simply transform the regular cheddar mac and cheese recipe with a cheesier one! This calls in for smoked mozzarella, rosemary béchamel, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Although this recipe will have significant carbs, you can have it once a while to bring in variety to the dinner table.

How to follow healthy dinner ideas?

When you’re strict about your diet, you will try and go out of the way to make things perfect. You will not only count the calories you consume but also the number of nutrients they bring along. It is important to be aware of what you eat in order to make your meals tasty and healthy at the same time. Moreover, when you have tasty recipes to cook, diet doesn’t feel difficult to follow.