Merah Hati Cintaku: Best Healthy Dinner Recipes

These are the best healthy dinner recipes that our readers come back to again and again for delicious and nutritious meals.

For years, we’ve been writing healthy dinner recipes here on A Couple Cooks. Because: if you’re going to the trouble of eating dinner, why not make both delicious and nourishing? This is the passion that fuels us week after week, creating recipes that you’ll love to make for your friends and family. Alex and I wanted to create a collection of some of the recipes that have gotten a standing ovation from our readers and followers for being not only delicious, but healthy dinner recipes too.

What’s our definition of healthy? Alex and I don’t follow any diet plan specifically. The way we eat generally follows Mediterranean diet: lots and lots of vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and healthy fats like olive oil. Our idea of healthy is less about calorie counts and more about nutrients and variety of veggies. Did I mention lots of and lots of vegetables? Many of the recipes you’ll find here are vegetarian or vegan, but they taste so delicious you don’t feel like you’re making any sacrifices. We hope you’ll enjoy these healthy dinner recipes as much as we do!

And now, our best healthy dinner recipes!

Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup Recipe

Wild Rice Soup Recipe | Best healthy dinner recipes

Starting out our healthy dinner recipes is a fan favorite: creamy wild rice soup! This soup is oh so comforting, featuring white beans, carrots, mushrooms and wild rice. And, it’s vegan! It’s naturally creamy using cashews blended with some of the soup to create a silky smooth texture. It makes for a filling and satisfying wild rice soup. And don’t worry: If you don’t have an Instant Pot, there’s a stovetop version in the recipe as well.

Crispy Cauliflower Tacos with Yum Yum Sauce

Cauliflower Tacos | Best healthy dinner recipes

Next up in our healthy dinner recipes: TACOS! These cauliflower tacos are a huge hit and one of our top fan favorite recipes. The star is our Crispy Breaded Cauliflower, roasted in the oven and covered in a savory, salty, sweet and lightly spicy breading. It’s a bit of a play on breaded fish tacos. Add to that some refried black beans, tart cabbage slaw, and cilantro, and cover it all in a delicious Yum Yum Sauce, and you’ve got dinner! Yum Yum Sauce is used in Japanese steakhouses and served with seafood, and it adds a richness to the tacos that’s incredible. To make it vegan, use our Cilantro sauce instead! And speaking of…

Mexican Sweet Potatoes

These Mexican loaded sweet potatoes are one of our healthy dinner recipes that we’ve been making for years! Loaded with veggies, the flavors are the perfect blend of savory against the lightly sweet and fluffy sweet potatoes. Spicy black bean pico de gallo and corn make a colorful confetti, and it’s dollop with our tangy creamy cilantro sauce. It’s a little bit of heaven: and tastes like a treat instead of a “healthy” compromise.

Quick Cuban Black Beans

How to make Cuban black beans | Best healthy dinner recipes

Rice and beans is one of the most humble of healthy dinner recipes, but the flavor of this one is stunning! To make our quick Cuban style black beans, it’s pretty simple. Just mince onion, green pepper, jalapeño, and garlic. Saute them all up in a little butter (to mimic the richness of meat), add canned black beans, and cook it down for a while until it becomes thick and saucy. The flavor that results is super savory, silky, and addictingly good. Serve it up with some rice (brown has a bit more nutrients!), and it’s a humble meal that tastes like a million bucks.

Best Stir Fry Vegetables with Teriyaki

Best stir fry vegetables | Best healthy dinner recipes

Stir fry is common in healthy dinner recipes, but it wasn’t until recently that Alex and I found a recipe we loved. We hope you’ll agree that this one’s the best veggie stir fry out there! What makes it great is the easy homemade teriyaki sauce: it takes just 4 ingredients and 5 minutes. The teriyaki also has no refined sugar, instead relying on maple syrup! Combine it with nutrient dense brocolli, bell peppers, and tempeh, and you’ve got a satisfying and protein-filled meal. It’s become a serious go-to in our house. Make it with any veggies or proteins of your choosing!

Veggie Burrito Bowl with Cauliflower Rice

Veggie burrito bowl | Best healthy dinner recipes

“This may be the best bowl of vegetables I’ve ever eaten.” That was Alex after eating this veggie burrito bowl, an ultra-delicious recipe that will have you immediately coming back for seconds! This healthy dinner recipe is almost all vegetables Whole 30 vegetarian friendly, and customizable for just about any diet. What makes it great? There’s cauliflower rice, a fun veggie substitute for rice, fajita-style bell peppers and onions, and crispy roasted shredded sweet potato. But what people have gone crazy over is the chorizo eggs! They mimic meat in flavor, texture, and appearance, and come together in just 5 minutes with a few simple spices. The overall effect is a bowl of colors, flavors and textures that’s incredibly satisfying.

Chickpea Couscous Bowls with Tahini Sauce

This chickpea bowls recipe is a common repeat in our healthy dinner recipes repertoire. Why? In just 25 minutes, you have a fresh bowl of delicious vegetables that’s smothered in a tangy lemon tahini sauce. If you’re just starting to eat plant based recipes or have been eating them for years, this one is a truly tasty way to eat your veggies. Pro tip: we used couscous in this bowl because it’s so quick to cook: bring it to a boil and then turn off the heat for 5 minutes! For an even healthier spin, substitute a whole grain like quinoa or brown rice.

Sweet Potatoes with Thai Peanut Butter Sauce

These Thai sweet potatoes get high marks from our readers as one of their favorite healthy dinner recipes because of the big flavor in this simple concept. If you have an Instant Pot, you can use it here to get perfectly cooked, moist sweet potatoes. Otherwise, simply roast the sweet potatoes in the oven while you prepare the toppings: a fresh, crunchy Thai-style pepper and cabbage slaw and a creamy peanut sauce. We’ve heard from many readers and followers that this one is a family favorite!

Baked Salmon with Chimichurri Sauce

Salmon with Chimichurri Sauce | Best healthy dinner recipes

Salmon is the ultimate in healthy dinner recipes, right? This nutrient packed fish is delicious and quick to make. Here, we’ve created a 10-minute baked salmon recipe and paired it with the perfect sauce for salmon: a bright green chimichurri sauce. What’s chimichurri? Chimichurri is a parsley and garlic sauce that originates from Argentina and Uruguay. It comes out a beautiful neon green and it tastes garlicky and fresh. Best of all, it’s simple to make: just throw all the ingredients in a blender! Serve with our roasted potatoes (also included in the recipe) or a side of
quinoa or brown rice

Loaded Quinoa Tacos

Quinoa…as a taco filling? Yes, these tacos are a bit outside the box, but they’re a fan favorite of our satisfying healthy dinner recipes. The quinoa filling is toasted and mixed with taco spices and lime. Combine it with a bell pepper slaw, spicy sour cream (or cashew cream), and feta cheese, and you’ve got a new level of delicious. Oh and pickled red onions for color and crunch!

Go Green Bowls with Lemon Yogurt Sauce

Go Green Bowl & Lemon Yogurt Sauce | Best healthy dinner recipes

Can you get healthier than a bowl of green? These Go Green Bowls are one of our surprisingly filling and satisfying healthy dinner recipes, full of quinoa and green vegetables like brocolli, kale, and fresh leafy greens. If you can find it, broccolini is a fun addition with its elegant, long stems. But it’s not required for the bowl—you can use any green vegetables you’d like. Then smother it in our delicious lemon yogurt sauce. It’s savory and creamy, perfect for roasted vegetables, salads, and grain bowls. (For a vegan option, use our Best Tahini Sauce.)

Italian Soup with Vegetables & Gnocchi

And to round out this list of healthy dinner recipes: our Italian gnocchi soup! It’s homey, comforting, and heart-meltingly good. And it only takes about 30 minutes to make! It’s chock full of nutritious veggies: spinach, chickpeas, green beans, tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Then add gnocchi, those tasty homemade pasta pillows! It’s full of tangy, herby flavor without too much effort.