50+ Healthy Dinner Ideas for Busy Weeknights

Name: 50+ Healthy Dinner Ideas for Busy Weeknights
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil; 2 tbsp lemon juice; 4 cloves garlic minced; 1 tsp dried (or fresh) parsley; 1/2 tsp dried rosemary; 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper; 1 cup baby potatoes, sliced in half; 4 chicken cutlets (or 2 chicken breasts sliced in half lengthwise); 1 bunch asparagus

These easy Healthy Dinner Ideas will show you how to cook quickly and efficiently so you can get dinner on the table FAST on busy weeknights!

A collage of four healthy dinner ideas with the text "Healthy Dinner Ideas for Busy Weeknights" layered over top.

Why You'll Love These Weeknight Dinner Recipes

They're healthy and delicious.
They're made from simple ingredients you can easily find in the grocery store.
Most come together in 30 minutes or less (or can cook in the slow cooker all day while you're at work).
A lot of them can be made in one pan or pot so you won't have a sink full of dishes at the end of the night.
You can make and freeze some of them ahead of busy days or seasons.

How to choose quick dinner ideas

Knowing what to make for dinner is probably the toughest part of dinner itself. Either you don't know what you're craving or you're worried it's going to take too long. Well, never fret with these strategies!

Pick recipes that have ingredients you already have on hand at home – this way you reduce food waste. Have a ton of carrots? Look up carrot recipes! Want to do something with that chicken laying on the counter? Maybe look up some chicken pasta or casserole recipes.
Use Pinterest to discover last-minute recipes and hone in on your cravings. You can use it as both a visual search engine or just browse your home feed for inspiration!
Keep a list of all your usual go-to dinner recipes for easy access when you're running out of inspiration. This way you know you'll get to eat something you like, but don't have to think too much about what that is.
Use Instagram and search specific hashtags like #lowcarb #broccoli or #groundbeef or even just #recipes to find new Instagram accounts and browse their recipes for ideas.
Choose recipes with ingredients that you can prep ahead of time! With my meal planning app Dinner Prep Pro, I provide prep ahead instructions to do on the weekend so that the dinners can be made in a flash during the week!

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Recipes with 10 ingredients or less

One of the best ways to cut back on the time you spend on making dinner is to limit the number of ingredients needed to make the meal. Below are some delicious dinner recipes with 10-ingredients or less. Most of the dishes below are low carb options too since grains take the longest to prepare and cook besides proteins.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers {Low-Carb}

These Stuffed Poblano Peppers are a healthy low-carb dinner idea made with ground beef, red peppers, cheese and plenty of flavour!

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Low Carb Cauliflower Mac and Cheese {Super Creamy}

This Low Carb Cauliflower Mac and Cheese offers a lighter spin on classic mac and cheese– it’s low on calories and keto-friendly!

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Sausage, Peppers and Onions Skillet {One Pan!}

This Sausage, Peppers and Onions Skillet is an easy one-pan weeknight dinner made with turkey sausage, bell peppers, onions and pasta sauce.

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A skillet with sausage, peppers and onions.

French Onion Chicken Skillet

This French Onion Chicken Skillet is a delicious weeknight dinner that is a play on French onion soup. It's packed with protein for a filling meal!

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Hasselback Baked Caprese Chicken

This Hasselback Baked Caprese Chicken is like summer on a plate, made with mozzarella cheese, sliced plum tomatoes and fresh basil.

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A plate with hasselback caprese chicken with a side salad.

Jalapeno Popper Hasselback Chicken

This Jalapeno Popper Hasselback Chicken is so good. All you need is light cream cheese, cheddar and jalapeno peppers!

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Sheet pan dinner ideas

Here are some of my fave sheet pan recipes below to get you started – they make such great dinner ideas! I've also got a super handy round up of more sheet pan dinners right here on the blog if you'd like to check out more of them.

Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls

These Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls are a delicious low carb lunch idea that comes together in 30 minutes!

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One Pan Sausage & Root Vegetable Scramble

This Sheet Pan Sausage & Root Vegetable Scramble is a delicious quick and easy dinner cooked all on one pan in the oven with a hint of rosemary and garlic.

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Sheet Pan Sausage & Root Vegetable Scramble

Sheet Pan Chicken and Asparagus {Whole30 Recipe}

This Sheet Pan Chicken and Asparagus recipe is great for meal prep. It’s Whole30 approved and is ready in less than 30 minutes!

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A sheet pan with roasted potatoes, seasoned chicken breasts, and asparagus on top.

Sheet Pan Bruschetta Chicken {Low Carb}

This Sheet Pan Bruschetta Chicken is a healthy low-carb dinner idea made with fresh veggies – plus, the entire recipe only uses one pan!

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Sheet Pan Balsamic Chicken

This Sheet Pan Balsamic Chicken is a healthy, low carb dinner idea – it comes together on one pan in 30 minutes and is great for meal prep!

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30-Minute Sheet Pan Rosemary Chicken

This Sheet Pan Rosemary Chicken is a healthy low-carb meal that's ready in just 30 minutes – plus, it's great for meal prep!

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One pot pasta recipes

Making dinner in one pot is a great way to minimize your cooking time, and most of the pasta recipes below do just that! Pasta is just an overall great dinner idea because you get in your protein, carbs and veggies all in one meal as opposed to having to make separate side dishes.

Lighter Shrimp Pasta Primavera {30-Minute Meal}

This Lighter Shrimp Pasta Primavera recipe is ready in just 30 minutes, made with fresh veggies, yummy shrimp and the creamiest sauce!

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One Pot Spicy Penne Arrabiata

This Spicy Penne Arrabiata is filled with sausage, peppers and the yummiest sauce – it takes less than 30 minutes and only uses one pot!

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Instant Pot Chili Mac and Cheese

This Instant Pot Chili Mac and Cheese is the ultimate comfort food! It’s a cheesy one-pot pasta recipe that’s filled with hearty flavours.

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Instant Pot Bruschetta Chicken Pasta

This Instant Pot Bruschetta Chicken Pasta is a delicious one pot pasta recipe that's perfect for summer and it’s ready in just 30 minutes!

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Whole Wheat Summer Pesto Pasta {One-Pot Meal}

This Whole Wheat Summer Pesto Pasta is the perfect one-pot meal that’s great for meal prep and batch cooking during a busy workweek!

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Whole Wheat Summer Pesto Meal Prep Pasta

The Creamiest Cajun Chicken Pasta {One Pot!}

This is the Creamiest Cajun Chicken Pasta, made in one pot with bell peppers, chicken and Cajun seasoning – it’s ready in just 30 minutes!

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A big pot of cajun chicken pasta with a wooden spoon inside.

Easy stir fries and skillet dinners

I've listed some low carb dishes below where you have the option to cook the rice separately, and I've also got some chicken teriyaki bowls where the rice cooks alongside the chicken and veggies. These easy dinners come together in a flash! And if you're looking for more skillet meals be sure to check out this other skillet recipes post with more ideas!

Easiest 30-Minute Kung Pao Shrimp {Meal Prep Friendly}

Kung Pao Shrimp is a quick and easy stir fry with a slightly spicy sauce, crisp veggies and peanuts served overtop of jasmine rice.

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30-Minute Sesame Chicken Rice Bowls

These 30-Minute Sesame Chicken Rice Bowls are a healthy substitute for takeout – they're perfect for meal prep or a quick and easy dinner!

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One Pot Chicken Teriyaki Bowls

These One Pot Chicken Teriyaki Bowls with veggies and rice are the perfect weeknight dinner – they're made in one pan for minimal clean up!

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Skinny Easy Chicken Marsala Skillet

This Skinny, Easy Chicken Marsala Skillet is a delicious, creamy mushroom chicken recipe and it's made healthier with less cream and marsala wine!

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30-Minute Italian Chicken Skillet {One Pan}

This 30-Minute Italian Chicken Skillet is a delicious and low-calorie meal that’s great for meal prep – all you need is one pan!

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Easy Cashew Chicken Stir Fry {Meal Prep}

This Easy Cashew Chicken Stir Fry is better than takeout and great for meal prep. Plus, the sauce is made using mostly pantry staples!

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Mix and match dinner ideas

Mix and match dinner ideas are mainly the kinds of dinner where you use up whatever you have lying around in the fridge to make recipes that are more throw-together than pre-planned. Things like buddha bowls, burritos, tacos, salads, lettuce wraps, burgers, loaded fries, healthy nachos, etc. are great starting points for last-minute dinner ideas.

Tequila Lime Chicken {Applebee's Copycat}

This Tequila Lime Chicken is inspired by Applebee's Fiesta Lime Chicken. It's a tasty Tex Mex dinner idea that’s great for meal prep!

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Two plates of tequila lime chicken served alongside rice.

PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps {Perfect Copycat}

These copycat PF Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps are made with ground chicken, mushrooms and water chestnuts – they're healthy and low carb!

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Meal Prep Thai Basil Chicken

This Meal Prep Thai Basil Chicken is a healthy stir fry idea that doubles as an easy 30-minute dinner or make-ahead lunch!

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Meal Prep Individual Taco Pizza

This Meal Prep Individual Taco Pizza is a great way to save time and money by doing some weekly batch cooking. And it's a healthy, fun twist on pizza that you're going to love – you can freeze these mini pizzas for work too!

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The Best Carne Asada Fries {Loaded Fries}

The Best Carne Asada Fries are topped with cheddar cheese, Mexican-spiced steak, pico de gallo, homemade guacamole, jalapenos and sour cream – they are the ultimate weekend food and are relatively healthy to boot!

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Greek Hasselback Chicken {Low-Carb}

This Hasselback Greek Chicken is a low-carb recipe marinated in lemon and oregano, stuffed with colourful veggies then topped with feta.

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Instant Pot Chicken Tinga Tacos

These Instant Pot Chicken Tinga Tacos are made with fire-roasted tomatoes and chipotle – they're gluten-free and ready in 30 minutes!

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Cheesy Grilled Foil Potatoes {Potato Nachos}

These Cheesy Grilled Foil Potatoes are potato nachos made easy on the BBQ. Just slice the potatoes, add on your toppings and grill!

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Freezer meals

Another great dinner idea is to rely on freezer meals. Whether it's a dinner recipe you've made already and frozen, or just some large Ziploc bags full of frozen ingredients and sauces, freezer-friendly recipes can take a lot of stress off of dinnertime! I usually make something like pasta or a protein-rich soup or stew ahead of time and freeze in small glass containers. From there you can reheat in the microwave for 7-8 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Homemade Hamburger Helper {One Pot}

This Healthier Homemade Hamburger Helper is a delicious one-pot spin off on your favourite childhood meal – it's got extra veggies, too!

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Slow Cooker Peanut Stew {Gluten-Free + Vegan}

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This Slow Cooker Peanut Stew is a hearty dish made with chickpeas, sweet potatoes and peanut butter. It's also gluten-free and vegan!

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Slow Cooker African-Inspired Peanut Stew

Super Easy Mini Vegetable Lasagna Cups

These Super Easy Mini Vegetable Lasagna Cups are such a cute individual serving-sized version of everyone’s favourite comfort food.

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Easy Baked Turkey Meatballs {Freezer-Friendly}

These Easy Baked Turkey Meatballs are freezer-friendly and perfect for meal prep! Serve them with zucchini noodles for a low carb meal.

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Super Easy Mini Chicken Pot Pies

These Super Easy Mini Chicken Pot Pies are a lighter version of your favourite comfort food in the cutest individual serving sizes!

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Easy Chicken Pasta Bake {Freezer Meal}

This Easy Chicken Pasta Bake is a freezer meal made with lots of veggies and a creamy rose sauce, topped with mozzarella cheese!

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Crockpot recipes

Have dinner cooking in your crockpot all day for the EASIEST dinner ever! You can usually prep this the night before and have it cook overnight or while you're at work.

Usually all you have to do with crockpot meals is assemble the ingredients and dump into your slow cooker. The meal will cook on low for 8 hours and then most of the legwork is already done for you. Add in fresh veggies at the last minute if you'd like and dinner is on the table in a flash!

Lighter Crockpot Swedish Meatballs

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These Crockpot Swedish Meatballs are made lighter using half the heavy cream and extra-lean ground beef meatballs made from scratch.

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Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

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This Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala is super flavourful! It’s a great hands-off dinner idea that cooks all day in the crockpot on low.

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Creamiest Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff

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This Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff is the ultimate comfort food made lighter thanks to sour cream – and it's freezer-friendly!

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Slow Cooker Lentil Curry

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This Slow Cooker Lentil Curry with butternut squash, spinach and coconut milk is a delicious vegan recipe – serve with rice for a full meal!

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Slow Cooker Tuscan Sausage and Kale Soup

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This Slow Cooker Tuscan Sausage & Kale Soup is a hearty veggie-filled dish for cold days. Dump it in the crockpot then set it and forget it!

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Slow Cooker Tuscan Sausage and Kale Soup

Healthy Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

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This Healthy Slow Cooker Turkey Chili is the most flavourful chili that’s filled with beans, veggies and turkey, then loaded with toppings.

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Healthy, Flavourful Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

Instant Pot recipes

Whip up dinner using your Instant Pot – like the slow cooker, it's mostly a hands-off cooking process. Dump everything in and cook on high pressure. The main difference? The Instant Pot cooks everything FAST! You're looking at a 20-30 minute cook time from preheating to releasing the pressure, and everything comes together in one pot to minimize clean up.

20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls

These 20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls are a delicious, healthy quick dinner or meal prep idea using mostly pantry staples – read on for a slow cooker option!

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20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls

Instant Pot Cream of Mushroom Chicken

Instant Pot Cream of Mushroom Chicken is made healthier than the classic version of this dish – say hello to your childhood fave re-envisioned!

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Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken Bowls

These Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken Bowls with rice and broccoli are a great meal prep idea with the easiest five-ingredient stir fry sauce.

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Instant Pot Honey Sesame Chicken Noodle Bowls

These Instant Pot Honey Sesame Chicken Noodle Bowls are ready in 20 minutes and will satisfy your takeout cravings with way less calories.

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Instant Pot Honey Sesame Chicken Noodle Bowls

Instant Pot Barbacoa Bowls {Chipotle Copycat}

These Instant Pot Barbacoa Bowls are a perfect Chipotle copycat! The beef stays tender and flavourful with a natural pressure release.

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Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Pineapple Chicken

This Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Pineapple Chicken is a one-pot rice dish with an easy five-ingredient sauce made using pantry staples.

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Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Pineapple Chicken

Instant Pot Chicken Pad Thai

This Instant Pot Chicken Pad Thai is a quick and easy one-pot dinner – the noodles cook alongside the other ingredients for minimal clean-up!

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Easy Instant Pot Pepper Steak

This Easy Instant Pot Pepper Steak is a delicious 30-minute dinner idea packed with bell peppers, sirloin steak and a tasty soy-pepper sauce!

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Meal Prep Tools

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Grab some glass meal prep bowls to pack up your meals.
Butcher Box, conveniently delivers a variety of meats to your door frozen.
A rice cooker is invaluable for saving time, and it cooks other grains, too!
If you don't have a slow cooker, this crock pot is super helpful for cooking hands-off!
Here’s the Instant Pot I use.
Use these Ziploc bag holders if you're preparing freezer meals.
Freeze and refrigerate leftovers in round glass microwave-safe bowls with lids.
**Get my full list of tools here**

More FAQs

How can I make fast dinners on weeknights?

The best thing you can do to ensure you can put dinner on the table fast each night is to prep ingredients beforehand. It's what I have you do with my meal planning app, Dinner Prep Pro! Learn how to food prep in one hour on the weekends – it's a great shortcut that'll help you save time and motivate you to stick to your meal plan, even if you're feeling lazy.

What are some cheap dinner ideas?

Cooking on a budget doesn't mean sacrificing on flavour. These cheap dinner ideas are all around $10 for four servings and make the most out of pantry goods and cheaper cuts of meat.

What are some good weeknight dinners for picky eaters?

The last thing you need at the end of a busy day is a fight at the dinner table. If you've got some picky eaters in the your household, try these kid-friendly dinners. They're real crowd-pleasers!

What time should I eat dinner?

It's recommended that you should eat dinner four to five hours after lunch. So, if you eat lunch at noon, you should eat dinner around 5:00 P.M. This might not always feasible depending on your schedule, though, but you should make sure to eat your dinner at least 2-3 hours before you go to sleep so you can digest your meal properly.

Is it a good idea to skip dinner?

Skipping any meal, including dinner, can be bad for your health. It can lead to nutrient deficiencies or cause your metabolism to slow down. If you're concerned about weight loss, it's much better to eat a lighter dinner than none at all.

Make a meal plan for weekly dinner ideas

I think meal planning is really the only way to go when you're trying to keep on track with dinner ideas. I will usually fill in 5-6 days' worth of meals in a meal planner and account for my schedule that week when planning everything out. You can use some of the dinner prep strategies above when making out your meal plan for the week ahead. Having everything on paper helps you stay on track!

And if you need some help coming up with ideas in general, be sure to check out my Start Here page to learn how to best use my blog to help with meal prep! Or check out my easiest ever 30 minute dinner ideas to get started.

Why You'll Love These Weeknight Dinner Recipes

How to choose quick dinner ideas

Wanna Learn How To Meal Prep?

Recipes with 10 ingredients or less

Sheet pan dinner ideas

Skip the Ads and Get Right to the Recipes!

One pot pasta recipes

Easy stir fries and skillet dinners

Mix and match dinner ideas

Freezer meals

Crockpot recipes

Instant Pot recipes

Meal Prep Tools

More FAQs

Make a meal plan for weekly dinner ideas

Meal Prep in Just 1 Hour With My Free Challenge!