Did you know the most popular search term on New Year’s day is “healthy recipes”? And, not surprisingly, one of the most popular resolutions folks make in the new year is to eat healthier and get more exercise.
Unfortunately, I can’t help with the exercise part. But I have included thirty-plus of my most popular healthy…ish recipes. These recipes feature dishes that are lower in calories and packed with nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits to help you meet your goals. They are “must try” favorites that don’t sacrifice taste and all are quick and easy to prepare.
You can ask ten people what eating healthy means to them and you will get ten different answers. These recipes don’t fall into any particular diet plan, like Keto, Adkins, Whole30 or any of the other zillion diets out there. But each of these dishes is filled with wholesome ingredients, plenty of vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean proteins.
For me, healthy is all about balance and everything in moderation.
If you are looking for good luck in 2020, be sure to include traditional dishes such as greens, pork, black-eyed peas, and cornbread on New Year’s Day. You can find these recipes in my roundup post; 10 Lucky Traditional New Year’s Day Recipes and Menu Ideas.
Pan-Seared Red Snapper with Mango Salsa
Pan-Seared Red Snapper with Mango Salsa is an easy restaurant-quality main dish, which you can have on the table in less than 20 minutes. This healthy and flavorful red snapper recipe is perfect for a quick weeknight dinner, and it’s also a show-stopping dinner party entrée. A single serving comes in at 129 calories.
Shrimp Caesar Salad with Homemade Caesar Dressing
Shrimp Caesar Salad with Homemade Caesar Dressing is a crowd-pleasing main-dish salad with crisp romaine leaves, juicy roasted shrimp, homemade croutons, and parmesan cheese. This salad is quick and easy to prepare, a true family favorite, and it comes in at 311 calories per serving. The homemade caesar salad dressing is key to this delightful shrimp salad.
Amazing Grilled Vegetable Kabobs
Amazing Grilled Vegetable Kabobs are just that, amazing! Sweet, smoky, caramelized grilled veggies packed with flavor and cooked on a skewer are the ultimate BBQ side dish. Quick and easy to prepare, vegetable kabobs, aka veggie skewers, are quick to disappear too and come in at only 193 calories per kabob. Even your pickiest eaters will love these grilled vegetables!
Creamy Homemade White Bean Soup with Broccoli
Creamy Homemade White Bean Soup with Broccoli is an irresistible blend of smooth textured and nutty flavored cannellini beans and roasted broccoli, a nutritional powerhouse. Don’t settle for bland white bean soup! With this flavorful recipe, you’ll have everyone begging for seconds. Only 128 calories per serving.
Easy Southern Sweet Potato Hash
Easy Southern Sweet Potato Hash is full of healthy sweet potatoes, crisp Granny Smith apples, tart cranberries, and bacon cooked with eggs in a cast-iron skillet! A great way to start the day and only 180 calories per serving.
Brussels Sprout Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette
Brussels Sprout Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette is loaded with micro-thin shaved raw Brussels Sprouts, dried tart cranberries, crunchy buttery pecans and well, just because I can’t help myself, bacon. At only 172 calories, it’s loaded with fresh flavors and different textures and makes a perfect side dish or lunch.
Broiled Chili-Rubbed Chicken Thighs
Broiled Chili-Rubbed Chicken Thighs with my spicy chili-powder based chicken thigh rub are a quick and easy, healthy, and tasty low-carb, 15-minute wonder! Only 207 calories per serving.
Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad with Cranberries
My easy, make-ahead, low-carb wonder, Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad with Cranberries is a nutritious holiday side-dish favorite. This colorful salad is full of crisp broccoli and cauliflower, sweet/tart cranberries, and crunchy pistachios. It’s equally at home on an elegant Christmas dinner table or at a covered dish neighborhood potluck. Only 189 calories per serving.
Easy Creamy Southern Sweet Potato Soup
Easy Creamy Southern Sweet Potato Soup is as smooth as velvet, a little spicy, and pure creamy deliciousness. Sweet and savory with carrots and sweet potatoes, this homemade soup is quick to make and even quicker to disappear. Topped with candied pecans, this easy soup recipe is 100% delicious and about as warm and cozy as you can get! Only 290 calories.
Mushroom and Broccoli Frittata
My quick, easy, and flavorful Mushroom and Broccoli Frittata comes together in minutes, and this healthy, veggie-filled, egg, and cheese dish makes a perfect low-carb breakfast or a main brunch dish. Only 196 calories per serving.
Sautéed Spinach with Lemon and Garlic
Sautéed Spinach with Lemon and Garlic is a ten-minute wonder! It’s the best and fastest way to serve your family a delicious and healthy side dish, which even your pickiest eaters will love. Only 95 calories per serving.
Easy Cast-Iron Roast Chicken
Cast-Iron Roast Chicken has deliciously crisp skin with flavor-packed, tender, and juicy meat. This main dish roasted whole chicken is easy enough for a weeknight dinner, yet also fancy enough for company or a special occasion! One-quarter of the chicken is only 395 calories per serving.
Southern Cucumber and Tomato Salad
Southern Cucumber and Tomato Salad is a classic southern salad full of fresh, healthy summer cucumbers and tomatoes which have been marinated in a simple, luscious salad dressing! Only 76 calories.
Pan-Fried Fish and Blistered Tomatoes
In this Pan Fried Fish and Blistered Tomatoes recipe, fresh grouper fillets are quickly seared, and then cherry tomatoes are cooked until their skins are charred, which gives them a uniquely sweet flavor. A decadent lemon, parsley, butter sauce full of scallions, and briny capers finishes off this light and healthy meal. Only 389 calories.
Healthy Wild Rice Chicken Salad
Healthy Wild Rice Chicken Salad is a nutritious and delicious cold, wild rice salad recipe. It includes tender, juicy roasted chicken, nutty wild rice, dried cranberries, tart granny smith apples, red bell pepper, celery, and roasted pecans, topped with a light, flavorful balsamic vinaigrette. Only 244 calories per serving.
Baked Grouper with Tomatoes and Artichokes
Baked Grouper with Tomatoes and Artichokes is a quick and easy, light and healthy, and wonderfully delicious one-dish meal that you and your family will love. It’s satisfying, it’s flavorful, it’s family-friendly, and a serving is only 314 calories.
Potato Broccoli Salad with Vinaigrette
Potato Broccoli Salad with Vinaigrette is a lighter, delicious, and healthy change from classic or traditional potato salad. The addition of broccoli and cherry tomatoes ramps up the nutrition value, and the use of a tasty vinaigrette instead of mayonnaise and eggs reduces the calorie count. Potato Broccoli Salad with Vinaigrette only has 117 calories per serving, with 55% of the daily Vitamin C requirement versus classic potato salad, which comes in at 306 calories per serving.
Hearty Chicken Chili with a Twist
Hearty Chicken Chili with a Twist is the very definition of comfort food! Except while most comfort foods are loaded with cream or cheese, which is what makes them comforting, this easy chicken chili is healthy and good for you too! Only 352 calories per serving.
Spicy Shrimp and Broccoli Stir-Fry
This Spicy Shrimp and Broccoli Stir-Fry entrée checks all of the boxes! Quick, easy, healthy, low- calorie, low-carbohydrate, satisfying, and delicious! Only 249 calories.
Healthy Roasted Sweet Potato Stacks
Healthy Roasted Sweet Potato Stacks are the stuff sweet potato dreams are made of, full of nutritious and flavorful sweet potatoes, scallions, roasted pecans, and maple syrup! Only 258 calories.
Ten-Minute Roasted Shrimp Recipe à la Ina Garten
This easy Ten-Minute Roasted Shrimp Recipe à la Ina Garten is one of the quickest and most versatile seafood dishes you can make. Roasted Shrimp makes an amazing shrimp cocktail, and can be served cold or hot for a party or holiday appetizer.
Easy Baked Fresh Tomato Casserole
Easy Baked Fresh Tomato Casserole is a delicious and healthy, family-friendly vegetable casserole that everyone in your family will love! Full of fresh, flavorful, juicy tomatoes, this yummy tomato casserole only takes a few minutes to prepare and pairs beautifully with most entrees. Only 221 calories.
Pan-Seared Scallops with Salsa Verde
Pan-Seared Scallops with Salsa Verde is a delectable, quick, and easy seafood entree that you can have on the table in under 15 minutes. In this flavorful recipe, mild, sweet, briny sea scallops are quickly seared and then topped with a lemony salsa verde made with fresh parsley, lemon zest and juice, scallions, garlic, and olive oil. Only 210 calories.
Quick and Healthy Italian Salad Pizza
The name Quick and Healthy Italian Salad Pizza says it all; it’s quick, you can make it in under 20 minutes, it’s healthy coming in at only 258 calories, and it’s full of nutritious veggies. As for the Italian Salad twist, think Maggianno’s chopped Italian salad.
Easy Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Easy Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup comes in at only 349 calories per serving. Whether you eat it for lunch or dinner, it would be a great way to start your January weight loss journey. Also, for those of you that are vegetarian, you could substitute vegetable stock for chicken stock, leave out the chicken, and this soup will still be delicious and filling.
Oven-Roasted Tomatoes with Feta, Olives, and Pine Nuts
Oven Roasted Tomatoes, which are stuffed with Feta Cheese, Olives and Pine Nuts is a simple side dish recipe that is both delicious and healthy. Only 147 calories per serving.
Healthy Black-Eyed Pea Salad
Eating Black-Eyed Peas on New Year’s Day is thought to bring prosperity and good luck in the year ahead. Because it’s made with black-eyed peas and other veggies, this Healthy Black-Eyed Pea Salad is as nutritious as it is delicious and could just as easily be called Lucky Black-Eyed Pea Salad. Only 125 calories.
Grilled Fish Taco Bowl with Green Apple Guacamole
If you like grilled fish tacos, you will love my healthy, low-calorie, quick, and easy Grilled Fish Taco Bowl with Green Apple and Guacamole for lunch or dinner! Coming in at only 258 calories, the Green Apple Guacamole is one of the most delicious things you will ever taste!
Pan-Seared Grouper with Gremolata
Quick and easy Pan-Seared Grouper with Gremolata is a light, healthy, easy, and most importantly; a healthy and delicious answer to the age-old question, what’s for dinner? A terrific grouper recipe that you can have on the table in less than ten minutes with only 214 calories.
Pan-Seared Salmon with Asparagus
Easy Pan-Seared Salmon with Asparagus is light, healthy, and delicious! Topped with a yummy herb dressing, it’s nutritious and tasty, and you can have this simple skillet dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes! Only 344 calories.
Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup
Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup is a great answer to the ever-persistent, “what’s for dinner tonight,” question! It’s a chicken noodle soup with a twist because it’s full of moist and flavorful roasted chicken! Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup has it all; it’s a quick and hearty meal, it’s full of healthy vegetables and, best of all, it’s delicious! Only 268 calories.
Healthy Chicken Cauliflower Skillet
Healthy Chicken Cauliflower Skillet is a delicious, quick, and easy, low-calorie and low-carbohydrate, healthy one-dish meal that I know you will love! It’s truly a win, win in the battle to achieve your weight loss goals! Only 397 calories.
Peppers Stuffed with Quinoa and Vegetables
Peppers Stuffed with Quinoa and Vegetables are healthy, low in calories and chock full of vitamins. Plus, they are absolutely delicious and very easy to make. Only 339 calories.
Stir Fry Broccoli and Chicken
Go stir-fry crazy with this healthy, filling, and flavorful Stir-Fry Broccoli and Chicken recipe! The secret is in my special tasty stir-fry sauce and delicious stir-fry chicken marinade. It’s super easy to make, and it’s perfect for those nights when you are pressed for time. Only 215 calories.
Butternut Squash and Pear Soup
Butternut Squash and Pear Soup with Fennel is a hearty, gluten-free, and nutritious soup. Incredibly delicious without heavy cream, this soup is loaded with vegetables, and even has pears thrown in the mix. Only 147 calories per serving.
★ If you make any of these recipes, please leave a comment and give the recipe a star rating. I would love to know how you liked it!
Thank you so much for visiting Grits and Pinecones and Happy New Year!
I’m so excited to continue our journey and make lots of new recipes for you in 2020!. Let’s make this year as good as last year! Thank you so much for all of your support in 2019, I truly appreciate you!
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