How to prepare a quick and healthy dinner? Low-calorie dinner recipes

What should a proper dinner be like?

A well-known saying calls for always giving dinner to the enemy. Is this true? Nutritionists say that this statement is fundamentally false. Let's figure out what a healthy and wholesome dinner should be. In fear of eating extra calories, many people prefer to go to bed on an empty stomach.

But we should not forget that food is not only calories, but also nutrients, microelements, and vitamins that we need for life, which must be consumed evenly and in sufficient quantities so that the body can function normally.

An interesting point: being hungry, the next day the body will require more food to make up for what was lost, and this is where the danger of overeating lurks.

Physiological processes that require calories do not stop after 18:00, so you need to have dinner. Nutritionists recommend having dinner no later than 3-4 hours before bedtime, and a couple of hours before bedtime you can have a very light snack so as not to go to bed completely hungry. The food must be completely digested.

A healthy quick dinner. Low calorie recipes

A proper dinner involves eating foods rich in vitamins, protein, fiber, low in fat and simple carbohydrates.

Optimal foods for dinner:

lean fish
white chicken meat
fresh vegetables
low fat cottage cheese
soft cheese (Adyghe or mozzarella)
dairy products

An excellent snack before bed would be unsweetened fruits, natural yogurt, smoothies (freshly prepared cocktails of vegetables and fruits), and lean cottage cheese.

When it comes to vegetables for dinner, it is best to choose seasonal vegetables. All types of cabbage, any lettuce, broccoli, celery, tomatoes, sweet peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin, avocado are good
The ideal option is when half of the vegetables for dinner are steamed, baked in the oven or grilled, and the other part is eaten raw.
The amount of fat should be limited as much as possible; it is best to cook using vegetable oils or do without them at all.
You can quickly and easily prepare an omelet with vegetables or cheese, a couple of soft-boiled eggs with fresh vegetables, a piece of boiled chicken breast with stewed vegetables, a quick vegetable stew, or a cottage cheese dessert.

Omelette with vegetables

It is healthier to bake an omelette in the oven, but you can also cook it in a frying pan.

To prepare one serving, take

2 eggs
1 tomato
1 onion
bell pepper
chopped greens

Cut the washed vegetables into cubes, fry lightly in vegetable oil, simmer for 10 minutes under the lid, then pour in the eggs beaten with salt and simmer under the lid for 3-4 minutes over low heat. Sprinkle the finished dish with herbs.

Curd dessert

The dish can be prepared from

150 g low fat cottage cheese
1 spoon of natural honey
100 g of any berries (frozen can be used in winter)

Smoothies are the fastest and healthiest dinner. There are many options for preparing this dish. The main rule is to drink immediately after preparation.

Green smoothie

Compound:

banana
avocado
orange
a bunch of spinach (or parsley or mint)
juice squeezed from half a lemon
150 ml water

Cut everything into cubes and beat with a blender.

Fruit and vegetable

Compound:

cucumber
celery stalk
small beets
2 -3 apples
piece of ginger root (1 cm)

This smoothie is prepared using a juicer.

Citrus

Compound:

half of any citrus (to taste)
a dozen strawberries
banana
kiwi
juice from half a lemon
1 teaspoon flaxseed

Beat the fruits in a blender, add the crushed seeds.

You can also make a goat's milk milkshake with banana and dates for the evening.

Diet dinner recipes for weight loss

Grilled meat is a quick option for a light dinner. You can also cook delicious chicken wings. To do this, you need to prepare the marinade in advance and leave the wings in it for 24 hours. For the marinade you need 50 ml of soy sauce, a clove of garlic, spices (about 5 tsp).

When it's time to prepare a diet dinner, preheat the oven and place the wings in a dish. Grill on each side for 5-10 minutes. Before eating, remove the skin from the chicken. As a side dish you can prepare stewed vegetables and just a light vegetable salad.

What other quick recipes will you find useful?

Chicken cutlets with zucchini and cottage cheese

An evening meal must include a meat dish, the main thing is that the meat is lean. An excellent option for a light dinner would be chicken cutlets with zucchini and cottage cheese; 100 g of this dish contains only 90 calories.

Chicken cutlets with zucchini and cottage cheese

Recipe No. 1
Instructions for preparation:

Grate the zucchini on a fine grater and squeeze out the excess liquid. Finely chop the garlic.
Mix all ingredients in a deep plate. You can also add chopped, fresh herbs.
Wet your hands in cold water and form the minced meat into cutlets.
Heat the pan well. Fry the cutlets without oil over high heat until golden brown.
Reduce heat, cover the pan and cook for five minutes.
Can be served with lingonberry sauce
These chicken cutlets can also be steamed or oven-baked.

Ingredients: - 0.8-1 kg of minced chicken; — 200 g of cottage cheese (low-fat or low-fat); - 1 zucchini (small, length approximately 15-17 cm); - 1 egg; - 1 clove of garlic; - salt, pepper to taste.

Layered casserole recipe for a diet dinner

Vegetable dishes are the basis of the diet of those who adhere to a diet or principles of proper nutrition. However, healthy vegetables are not just salads and slices.

For dinner, you can easily and simply prepare a delicious hot dish of vegetables - a puff casserole, which not only will not harm your figure, but will also leave you feeling full with a calorie content of only 90 kcal per 100 g.

Layered casserole recipe

Recipe No. 2
Cooking instructions:

Season the fillet with salt and pepper and sprinkle with lemon juice.
Wash the peppers, leeks and dill under running cold water. Chop the pepper into thin rings, finely chop the onion and dill.
Beat the eggs and add chopped onion to them. Grease a baking sheet with oil and place half of the mixture.
Now place the fish, sprinkle with dill and cover with chopped bell pepper on top. Pour the remaining egg and onion mixture over the casserole.
Cover the baking sheet with foil. Place it in a preheated oven and bake until done at a temperature of 200-220 degrees.

Ingredients: - 1 kg fillet of any fish; - 200 g leeks; - 2-3 eggs; - 200 g sweet pepper; - dill; lemon juice; vegetable oil; - salt, coarse pepper.

Stuffed potatoes

This recipe for a light dinner dish will perfectly satisfy your hunger and at the same time diversify your daily menu. At first glance you wouldn’t be able to tell that 100 g of this dish contains only 115 calories.

Stuffed potatoes

Recipe No. 3
Cooking instructions:

Cut the peeled potatoes lengthwise into two halves and remove the core with a teaspoon. The result should be “boats” for stuffing.
Pour water into the pan and add salt. Fold in the potato halves and let simmer for 8-10 minutes. At this time, prepare the minced meat.
Finely chop the onion and saute it until it becomes soft.
Peel the tomatoes and chop them finely, let it brew and drain the water into a separate container. Grate the cheese and finely chop the parsley.
Beat the eggs, add cheese, onions, tomatoes and parsley. Mix well and pepper.
Place the potatoes in a mold and fill them with minced meat. Pour oil on top and place in the oven for 7-10 minutes.
Remove the potatoes, pour the tomato juice over them and return to the oven until the dish is fully cooked.
At this time, prepare the sauce. Mix butter, milk and flour in a saucepan and place on heat. Bring to a boil, add lemon juice, zest and herbs.
Before serving, pour the prepared sauce over the stuffed potatoes.

Ingredients: - potatoes; - 200 g cheese; - 3 eggs; - 4-5 tomatoes; - 2-3 heads of onions; - parsley to taste. Sauce : 200 ml milk; - 2 tbsp. flour; - butter; - juice of half a lemon; - lemon zest.

Beetroot and tuna salad

You can, for example, quickly make a light salad from available ingredients.

Beetroot and tuna salad

Recipe No. 4
Cooking instructions:

Cut the boiled beets and sour apple into cubes.
Add olive oil and sprinkle with lemon juice.
Mash the tuna in its own juice with a fork, add to the beets and apples.
Cut the fresh cucumber into small cubes into the salad, add herbs.

Ingredients: - beets, 200 gr; - tuna, 200 gr; - olive oil; - cucumber, 100 gr.

The ideal option is a light dinner, the recipes of which are quick and the ingredients are natural and healthy. Prepare your meals ahead of time, but if you're short on time, you can use recipes.

How to choose fish? If you want to prepare a dish with canned fish, you should choose the type of canned food where the fish is cooked in its own juice or tomato sauce.

RECOMMENDED: Preparing such light dishes for dinner does not require much time; everything can be done within half an hour. For even more recipes, check out 20 Best Easy Dinner Recipes.

Quick cottage cheese casserole for dinner

The low-calorie casserole is prepared without semolina or flour.

You will need products:

half a kilo of low-fat cottage cheese
2 eggs
1 tbsp. l. sugar or sugar substitute
dried fruits (a few pieces of dried apricots, a handful of raisins or prunes)
Instead of dried fruits, you can use pieces of any hard fruit

Preparation:

Grind the yolks with cottage cheese, combine with dried fruits, mix
Beat egg whites with sugar
Add the whites to the cottage cheese, mix gently
Place in a greased pan
Cook in the oven preheated to 190-200 degrees for 25-30 minutes

You can also quickly prepare a cottage cheese casserole with apples and oatmeal, ground into flour.

Sample menu for a week for a family

Planning a weekly menu for your family can become a wonderful family tradition. At Saturday dinner you can discuss what you liked most last week and would like to eat again, and what you didn’t like so much and it’s better to exclude those dishes.

In addition, when planning your diet for the future, you can give instructions to your children and husband (knead dough, remove meat from the freezer in the evening, chop vegetables, etc.). Such responsible tasks help to unite the family, children to feel their own importance and learn, the husband to be involved in the process, and for the housewife this is a great help.

First day of the week

Breakfast . Omelet with sweet peppers, tomatoes and herbs, sandwiches with butter and cheese. Children - cocoa, adults - any drink.

The first snack is fruit. Overweight adults should avoid bananas and grapes.

Lunch – puree soup with the main ingredient pumpkin, and also with the addition of potatoes, onions and carrots, steamed chicken cutlets, buckwheat porridge, sliced vegetables.

Second snack – dried fruits, fermented milk drink.

Dinner – fish baked with lemon, vegetable stew from any vegetables without potatoes.

Second day of the week

Breakfast - oatmeal, cooked in a mixture of milk and water in equal proportions with dried fruits, nuts, seeds and honey. Tea or coffee.

The first snack is a lavash roll with cheese, heated in the microwave for 4 minutes.

Lunch – soup with meatballs, lentils, cabbage salad, cucumbers and herbs.

The second snack is fruit.

Dinner – beef stew with vegetables, fresh vegetables, cheese.

Third day of the week

Breakfast – cheesecakes with raisins, tea, coffee.

The first snack is dried fruit candies.

Lunch – stuffed peppers or cabbage rolls.

Second snack – fruit, fermented milk drink.

Dinner – stewed rabbit, baked vegetables.

Fourth day of the week

Breakfast – pancakes made from rice flour with cottage cheese and raisins or honey. For children - cocoa, for adults any hot drink.

Snack – charlotte made from whole grain flour.

Lunch – chicken pilaf, vegetable salad or cold cuts.

The second snack is a sandwich with butter and cheese.

Dinner – boiled fish, eggplant caviar.

Fifth day of the week

Breakfast – rice porridge with milk and pumpkin. Hot morning drink.

The first snack is whole grain or rye bread with butter and pieces of red fish.

Lunch - any porridge with stewed vegetables, a salad of boiled beets, prunes, nuts and garlic.

Second snack – fruit, fermented milk drink.

Dinner – homemade chicken sausages, lentils.

Sixth day of the week

Breakfast . Omelette with vegetables and herbs, sandwich with butter and cheese. Cocoa for children, coffee or tea for adults.

The first snack is dried fruits and nuts.

Lunch – vegetable soup, pasta with spinach, cream and cheese, cucumbers.

The second snack is cottage cheese casserole with rice flour and raisins.

Dinner - warm salad of beef, tomatoes, onions, eggplant and herbs.

Seventh day of the week

Breakfast – oatmeal pancakes with cottage cheese and banana filling. Tea or coffee.

The first snack is a sandwich with butter and red fish.

Lunch – Ukrainian borscht with turkey, buckwheat porridge, stew, salad.

The second snack is apples baked with cottage cheese and raisins.

Dinner - pate made from the following ingredients: chicken liver, onions, carrots, a little butter, zucchini pancakes.

The proposed menu for a week for a family of two adults and two children is balanced, satisfying and easy to prepare. But it is not strict.

Dishes and ingredients can be replaced without leaving the framework of proper nutrition.

Many nutritionists claim that 1 meal of “junk” food every 7-10 days will not cause significant harm to health. These could be sweets, baked goods or quality sausages. But if there is no particular need to consume such products, then it is better not to consume them.

A frequent difficulty in proper nutrition in families with schoolchildren is the unhealthy food they eat outside the home. Therefore, you need to have conversations with them, giving arguments in favor of a homemade diet.

It's a good idea to explore and implement healthy options for preparing desserts and snacks, as well as get creative with how you pack your food to-go.

Many options for unusual dishes and a wide range of lunch boxes in supermarkets will come to the aid of a caring mother.

Low Calorie Baked Chicken Breast

A great option for a delicious low-calorie dinner is baked chicken breast.

Preparation:

salt the chicken breast
dip in whipped egg white
bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 180 degrees.

Baked or boiled vegetables are perfect as a side dish: broccoli, pumpkin, carrots, baked apple or fresh vegetable salad.

Recipes for light salads for dinner

The best option for this dish is a salad of fresh raw vegetables, if it is used as a complement to the main dish. If you plan to have salad as the main dish for dinner, you can use the following recipes.

Protein salad

You will need:

1 boiled egg
25 g soft cheese
2 tbsp. l. low-fat cottage cheese or 80 g natural yogurt
50 g iceberg lettuce

Grate the egg, mix all ingredients, season with soy sauce (0.5 tbsp.)

Quail Salad

For one serving you will need the following ingredients:

100 g boiled chicken breast
1 fresh cucumber
1-2 quail eggs
0.5 green apple
any lettuce leaves

Cut the meat and cucumber into strips, eggs and apple into cubes, and tear the lettuce leaves coarsely. Mix all ingredients, add salt and add a spoonful of olive oil.

Warm salad with seafood

Products for cooking:

300 g of any seafood
1 onion
clove of garlic
celery stalk
1 sweet pepper

Quickly fry the defrosted seafood in vegetable fat (3 minutes), add chopped garlic. Also lightly fry the onion. Finely chop the celery and pepper. Mix everything, salt, add any spices to taste.

Salads

Chicken breast salad with celery and apple.

Boiled or baked fillet - 300 g, celery - 2 stalks, hard-boiled eggs - 2 pcs., large unsweetened apple - 1 pc., green onions - a small bunch, lemon juice - 50 ml., salt, pepper - to taste. Cut the meat into small oblong pieces. Peel and seed the apple, cut into small cubes, place in a deep plate, pour over the juice and mix well. Cut the celery into small pieces. Cut the eggs into small pieces, finely chop the onion. Place all the chopped ingredients in a salad bowl, add salt and pepper and serve. If desired, you can season the salad with a couple of tablespoons of white yogurt or low-fat sour cream, and also add chopped walnuts.

Salad with tuna and vegetables.

Chinese cabbage - 3 large leaves, tuna canned in its own juice - 1 can, tomato - 1 pc., sweet pepper - 1 pc., hard-boiled chicken egg - 2 pcs., green onions - a small bunch, olive oil - 2 tbsp. l., French mustard - 1 tsp, garlic - 1 clove, lemon juice - 2 tbsp, salt, pepper - to taste. Cut the eggs into halves, tear the cabbage into medium pieces, cut the tomato into medium-sized pieces, cut the pepper into short strips, and chop the onion. In a separate container, mix lemon juice, olive oil, pressed garlic, mustard and salt. Place cabbage, vegetables, then tuna and egg halves in a large bowl, pour dressing over everything and lightly pepper.

A quick and delicious vegetable dinner

Vegetable stew is quick, tasty, and healthy.

You will need:

quarter head of cabbage
1 small eggplant
1 onion
100 g suluguni
seasonings

Cut the peeled eggplant and soak in cold salted water for 10-15 minutes to remove the bitterness. Fry the onion in a frying pan, add finely chopped cabbage, then eggplant. Simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes. 5 minutes before readiness, add chopped suluguni. The stew can be served as a side dish or as a main course.

You can prepare another option.

Vegetable stew with mushrooms and tofu cheese

You will need:

120 g tofu
small carrot
bulb
2-3 champignons
parsley

Chop the ingredients, simmer in olive oil mixed with soy sauce (1 tsp each)

As an option for a vegetable dinner, you can steam carrot or cabbage cutlets.

Cabbage cutlets (4 servings)

Products:

0.5 kg cauliflower or white cabbage
1 egg
2 tbsp. decoys
breadcrumbs

Finely chop the cabbage, add salt, simmer in a frying pan, adding the required amount of water. Add semolina to the finished cabbage, mix thoroughly, and cool. Add the egg to the cooled mixture and stir. Form small cutlets from the prepared minced cabbage and roll in breadcrumbs. Cook in a steamer for 15 minutes.

Recipes for those who care about their health

A light dinner is the key to maintaining health. Therefore, most dishes are served boiled or baked. Potato and meat casserole is gentle on the stomach. To prepare it you will need:

0.5 kg potatoes;
large carrots;
0.5 kg of minced lean meat;
100 g of hard cheese;
salt and spices.

First, peel the potatoes, add water and boil until tender. When the vegetable is cooked, drain the water, add a piece of butter, and mash until pureed. Some housewives add an egg to this recipe so that the casserole does not fall apart when portioned.

Place half of the mass into the mold. Distribute minced meat on top, fried in a small amount of vegetable oil with carrots and onions. Place the remaining puree on top. Spread sour cream on top, sprinkle with hard cheese, place in a hot oven for 35-40 minutes.

Vegetables contain many vitamins, so you can diversify your evening diet with a dietary vegetable casserole. It requires zucchini, cauliflower, onions and tomatoes, carrots, bell peppers, green beans, eggs, cheese and cream.

Boil cabbage and beans, drain in a colander. Send to a frying pan where there are already lightly sautéed onions and carrots. Add peppers, tomatoes. Mix everything and simmer over low heat.

Place fried zucchini circles on the bottom of the oiled pan. Place stewed vegetables on top. Repeat layers until you run out of ingredients. Pour cream on top of the dish, sprinkle with cheese, and put in the oven.

Avocado gazpacho is often prepared in Mexico and Italy. In these countries, chili pepper is added to it.

Quick and healthy soup for dinner

The best soup option for dinner is pureed vegetable soup .

You will need:

small head of cauliflower
small young zucchini
2 tomatoes
1 onion
herbs (basil, parsley or cilantro)

Boil the cabbage, disassembled into florets, and the zucchini, cut into cubes (until softened)
Fry the chopped onion in olive oil, add chopped tomatoes (without skin), and simmer
Puree boiled and stewed vegetables using a blender, sprinkle with chopped herbs in a plate, add a little lemon juice for spiciness

Low-calorie tomato soup with seafood is no less useful .

To prepare it, take:

150 g mixed seafood (or shrimp)
350 ml tomato juice
1 tomato
1 onion
1 sweet pepper
2 cloves garlic
lemon juice (1 tsp)
basil, coriander, paprika

Preparation:

Place the defrosted seafood to cook over medium heat.
Add chopped onion and garlic, fried in olive oil, to the pan
Then brown the chopped tomato and pepper in a frying pan and add to the soup. Salt and pepper
When vegetables and seafood are ready, pour tomato juice into the soup, add spices, bring to a boil
Simmer over low heat for another 5-7 minutes, add lemon juice
When serving, sprinkle with herbs

Desserts for a light dinner

A delicious and quick to prepare beetroot dessert. You will need:

mineral water – 1 l;

beets – 200 g;

pineapple – 100 g;

lemon juice – 70 ml;

honey - 2 tbsp. spoons;

beaten egg white – 1 pc.

To give the dessert a richer taste, you can take 40 ml of cognac. Cut the beets into cubes and cook in mineral water. Mix with the rest of the ingredients and blend in a blender. Transfer to molds and place in the freezer. During the freezing process, it is necessary to stir the mixture periodically.

Cottage cheese mousse is also useful. For it, you should prepare cottage cheese, honey, 15 g of gelatin, egg white and lemon juice in advance. Quickly mix the cottage cheese and beat with the cottage cheese. Dissolve gelatin in warm water with the addition of lemon juice. When the gelatin swells, put it on low heat until completely dissolved, let it cool slightly.

Combine the curd mass with gelatinous water. Slowly add the beaten whites to the remaining ingredients. All that remains is to pour the mousse into silicone molds and cool. For decoration you can use mint leaves, berries or dried fruits.

Low-calorie fish stew for dinner

For dinner, it is best to cook low-fat sea fish, rich in protein, vitamins, microelements and polyunsaturated fatty acids that are beneficial to humans.

The simplest fish recipe for dinner is stewed hake with vegetables .

You will need:

500 g hake fillet (you can take pollock)
1 carrot
1 onion
1/2 small head of cabbage
spoon of vegetable oil

Quickly sauté the vegetables (onions, carrots, then cabbage) in oil in a cauldron. Add strips of fish fillet, add water or vegetable broth, simmer for 30 minutes over low heat.

You can also cook ice fish with the addition of champignon mushrooms .

Simmer the onions and carrots in a saucepan for 20 minutes, place pieces of fish sprinkled with salt on the vegetable bed, place fried mushrooms on top and simmer covered for 30 minutes until tender.

Macrorus fish is very useful : it contains very little fat, but is rich in proteins and is digested very quickly. This fish can be cooked in a double boiler on a bed of vegetables (carrots, onions, zucchini). Cooking time: 20 minutes.

What foods should you not eat for dinner?

All nutritionists unanimously say that a proper dinner excludes the consumption of simple carbohydrates, starch, high-fat foods, pickles, and smoked meats.

In the evening, the performance of the digestive system decreases significantly, the digestive organs function more slowly, so the load on them should be minimal.

Carbohydrate-containing foods - bread, sweet fruits, pasta, sugar, baked goods - these should be completely avoided
Complex carbohydrates in the form of cereals and potato dishes are also not recommended.
Fried foods, especially fried meats, are difficult to digest and digest in the evening, so you should avoid them
The combination of meat and flour is extremely undesirable - dumplings, dumplings, belyashi, pies
You should limit your evening diet to foods that cause fermentation processes: legumes, brown bread, cabbage, milk.
All delicacies, smoked meats, lard, nuts, fatty sauces, butter, sweet drinks, and any semi-finished products are excluded.

Tips: a quick and healthy dinner

The main rules for a rational dinner:

Never go to bed hungry, it will do no good, only harm
Have dinner no later than 3 hours before bedtime
A combined dinner is preferable: proteins with complex carbohydrates in the form of vegetables
Always have seasonal fresh or frozen vegetables in your kitchen, as well as cottage cheese, fish and lean meat. Even if you are limited in time, these products can be used to quickly prepare an easy and healthy dish for dinner.

Nutritionist Natalya Samoilenko advises: “If your blood glucose level has dropped and you really want something sweet, put chocolate and bananas aside. It’s better to drink a cup of herbal tea with honey or eat a light curd dessert with berries.”

Nutritionist Ekaterina Belova shares useful advice: “It happens that I have to have dinner at a restaurant, I always opt for vegetable dishes, I eat them, of course, without bread. If alcohol is offered and there is no way to refuse, then I choose dry wine. And for strong alcohol, I ask you to add ice cubes and then I constantly add them to the glass.”