These fast, tasty and healthy meals are prepared in 20 minutes or less and meet two basic conditions: they are easy to cook and they are also nutritionally balanced .
These fast, tasty and healthy meals are prepared in 20 minutes or less and meet two basic conditions: they are easy to cook and they are also nutritionally balanced .
Macaroni with tomato and cheese
Macaroni with tomato and cheese
Pasta does not have to be fattening if it is made in the right amount, and it fits perfectly in fast, rich and healthy meals. While you cook the macaroni (about 10-12 minutes), you grate the tomato and mix it with chopped fresh basil (you can also sauté it a little if you want). Then you add the drained pasta. Top with mozzarella, goat cheese (or cottage cheese if you prefer a lighter version). And you warm it up a bit in the mic so that it melts.
Bean salad
Bean salad
Grab a handful of cooked and drained canned beans. Mix them with a minced tomato, red and green pepper, cucumber, avocado and onion. Complete with some cubes of fresh cheese. And serve this legume salad on a wheat or corn tortilla. More recipes with legumes, here.
Tuna and boiled egg salad
Tuna and boiled egg salad
The trick of this recipe to make it super fast is to simulate several processes at the same time. While you make some slices of potato and some tender beans in a silicone case in the microwave (at most you need about 10-15 minutes), you prepare a boiled egg. Then, on a lettuce base, you put the potato and the tender beans, along with some tomato wedges, the egg cut into quarters and shredded natural tuna. An easy and appetizing salad.
Omelets stuffed with ham and pepper
Omelets stuffed with ham and pepper
First, saute strips of green, red and yellow bell peppers. Next, make some thin round French omelettes from one egg. On each tortilla put a slice of Iberian ham, a few strips of sautéed pepper and roll. And to make it more balanced, complete the dish with a mixture of tender shoots. It is one of the quick and easy recipes for when you don't want to complicate your life.
Noodles with chicken and vegetables
Noodles with chicken and vegetables
To make easy and healthy meals you have to save time by cooking and preparing balanced dishes (with a good vegetable base, some animal or vegetable protein, and a little carbohydrates or cereals). This recipe, for example, is made by sautéing some vegetables that have already been washed and chopped together with some chicken strips while the noodles are cooking. To give it the oriental noodle roll, we serve it in a bowl with a little of the cooking water. Feel like it, right?
Tuna with onion with rice
Tuna onions with rice
Another key to fast, rich and healthy meals is to make simple preparations and very basic cooking. While we boiled the rice with a handful of frozen peas, we sautéed onion and grilled some tuna fillets, which is a fish rich in beneficial omega 3. Another option to save even more time is to use rice already cooked from another day or the one that they sell already prepared.
Chickpeas with spinach
Chickpeas with spinach
There are endless recipes for chickpeas with spinach. But this one is done in a simple pleat and it is delicious. Saute a couple of handfuls of fresh spinach. Add a handful of cooked canned chickpeas. Remove and complete with finely chopped red onion, and raisins and pine nuts or other healthy nuts. They would also be very tasty with a boiled egg or a little desalted and crumbled cod.
Grilled fish with salad
Grilled fish with salad
It is as simple as preparing a salad with fresh sprouts, already washed and cut, tomatoes cut in half, strips of piquillo pepper, and completing the dish with a grilled or steamed fish. This makes it faster and is much lighter and healthier than fried or breaded. To give the dish a more powerful touch, you can dress it with a little garlic and parsley sautéed in oil.
Sauteed beef and vegetables with rice
Sauteed beef and vegetables with rice
Although it is not advisable to eat red meat more than once a week, doing it on time provides you with a good amount of iron and vitamin B12, which are essential for the body and avoid anemia. Here we have sautéed some veal strips in a wok together with some vegetables, and we have accompanied them with a little boiled rice.
Tomato, avocado and mozzarella salad
Tomato, avocado and mozzarella salad
It's as simple as slicing tomato, avocado, and fresh mozzarella. You place them in a spiral on a plate. Dress with oil, salt and red pepper. Garnish with fresh basil leaves. And you can accompany this healthy meal with some tender shoots or mixed lettuce already cut and washed. If in doubt, find out if avocado is fattening or not.
Macaroni with prawns
Macaroni with prawns
While the pasta is cooking, peel some prawns (they sell them already cooked at a great price and can be frozen in portions). When it's al dente, drain it. Put it in a refractory casserole with the prawns and some chopped basil leaves. Sprinkle grated cheese on top. Heat for a minute in the microwave and you have a healthy meal in no time.
Turkey cutlet with roasted vegetables
Turkey cutlet with roasted vegetables
The trick to speed up this recipe, which also fits as an easy dinner, is to cook the potatoes in the microwave. Wash them without removing the skin, pierce them, put them in a microwaveable container, and cook them at maximum power for 4-5 minutes. Let them cool a bit, cut them into slices and grill them together with tomato slices and onion strips. Finally join them with some grilled turkey chops that you can make at the same time as the vegetables.
Quinoa salad
Quinoa salad
You can make this quinoa recipe as if it were a couscous. Cut into sooooo small cubes red onion, cucumber, and green and red pepper. Mix it with a glass of pre-cooked quinoa. And let it marinate for a few minutes with a thread of olive oil, lemon juice and fresh mint. If you want it to be a bit more complete, you can add some cooked chickpeas or some chicken breast cubes.
Fruit salad
Fruit salad
To make it, base a mixture of tender and sprouted shoots, and complete it with seasonal fruits (in this case, strawberries, mango and avocado). And if you want it to work as a single, healthy and balanced dish, you can add a little protein by adding some shavings of Iberian ham or some anchovies. Discover other light and tasty salads.
Vegetables with sardines en papillote
Vegetables with sardines en papillote
One of the star techniques of easy and healthy meals is papillote, which consists of cooking food in its own juices. You can do it by assembling an envelope with parchment paper and baking it, or to save time, with a silicone case in the microwave. Underneath, put potato slices and zucchini and carrot strips. On top, sardines. Dress with oil and spices. And cook at maximum for about 8 minutes (depending on whether you like it more or less done).
To prepare fast and healthy meals, you have to fulfill two basic conditions: that they are easy to prepare recipes and that they are balanced from a nutritional point of view.
Quick and tasty meals that never fail
- Pasta with chicken and vegetables. Base some noodles, and sautéed vegetables and chicken as a garnish.
- Tuna and boiled egg salad. Mix lettuce with cooked potato, tomato, onion, tuna and hard-boiled egg.
- Rice with tuna onions. Make some grilled tuna fillets and serve with poached onion and rice with peas.
- Grilled fish with salad or vegetables. Combine a green salad or some sauteed vegetables with grilled fish.
- Chickpeas with spinach. Sauté some chard, add some cooked chickpeas and complete with quail eggs, crumbled cod …
- Quinoa salad with vegetables. Cut very small, pepper, cucumber, onion, tomato and mix them with quinoa.
- Turkey cutlet with roasted vegetables. Roast potato, tomato, onion … And accompany with grilled turkey cutlet.
- Vegetable salad. Take beans, lentils or chickpeas cooked and drained. And mix them with raw vegetables and cheese.
- Macaroni with tomato and cheese. Grate tomato and combine it with macaroni, basil leaves and fresh mozzarella.
- Tortillas stuffed with peppers. Make some French omelettes and fill them with ham and strips of peppers.
How to save time (and effort) when cooking
- Skip steps. How? Using healthy processed. In other words, foods that have undergone some small transformation, but without ceasing to be healthy, such as ready-to-cook vegetables, legumes and cooked cereals, canned fish, fresh and unsweetened dairy … This way you save time, but without stuffing yourself of added sugars, salt, fats or additives. Take a look at the definitive list of healthy processed foods and bad ultra-processed foods to find out which ones are right for you and which ones are not.
- Bet on simple preparations and cooking. Leaving food raw or cooking it on the iron, grill, steam or in the microwave not only helps you save time, but also saves nutrients better and has much more flavor.
- Practice "multitasking." We live in the age of "multitasking" (multitasking) and cooking is no exception. Simultaneous processes to save time: make a sauté while the pasta or vegetables are cooking, clean the rest of the ingredients while preparing a boiled egg …
- Cook thinking big (and long term). When you cook, do more and make your own healthy processes (canned, freeze …). It is not only about not throwing anything away at all and recycling the leftovers to make other dishes, but also about saving time when you want to improvise a healthy meal in the blink of the refrigerator.
How to prepare fast and healthy food
The main key to healthy recipes is that they are balanced. That is, it has the proper ratio of all essential nutrients. And to calculate it, it is not necessary to count calories or exact amounts. With the Harvard University (USA) plate method - which is the one we use in the easiest to follow healthy weekly menu you will find - preparing a healthy meal has no difficulty.
- Vegetables and vegetables. Fill half the plate with greens and vegetables, and making sure that some are raw. A bowl of cream or vegetable soup is also worth it.
- Light proteins. Fill a quarter of the plate with chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, legumes, tofu … Limit red meat, and avoid processed meat such as cold cuts. The ration is what would be equivalent to the palm of the hand, or to the closed fist.
- Hydrates and cereals. And fill the remaining quarter of a plate with wheat, quinoa, oatmeal, rice … (better if they are whole grains that are more filling and have more nutrients). This would be the equivalent of a couple of slices of whole wheat bread, a potato the size of an egg, and a half cup of rice, pasta or cereal.
- If you like our recipes, surely the course How to organize your weekly menu will interest you.
