20 Healthy (and Interesting) Lunch Ideas for Work

Written by: Mike Matthews

Roasted Vegetable & Balsamic Chicken Wrap

Chicken and veggies can be the perfect healthy lunch.

To make it, simply prep the ingredients on a baking sheet. Everything roasts together for about 20 minutes, and then it can be left out to cool. A little while later, come back to the kitchen to slice the chicken. Assemble the wraps, and they’ll be ready to eat whenever you’re hungry.

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Crock Pot Chicken Caesar Sandwich

This make-ahead chicken salad is quick and unbelievably delicious, giving you a new way to love Caesar dressing. It’s good whether you choose to eat it as a stuffed pita or a chicken salad sandwich.

The chicken is slow cooked for about 5 hours, and then the from-scratch yogurt dressing goes into the pot. Aside from the fresh lettuce, there’s no need to add anything to serve. But of course it doesn’t hurt the flavor to add more Parmesan cheese.

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Goat Cheese Pesto Chicken Sandwiches

Forget about deli meat for lunch. Make this unforgettable chicken breast sandwich instead.

It’s better when the chicken is freshly cooked because it’s warm, but this sandwich is still tasty as leftovers for lunch the next day – especially if you can pop it into a toaster oven for a few minutes.

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Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

When enjoying buffalo chicken in other forms – pizza, sandwiches, fried wings – you might forego the blue cheese in order to save the fat and calories. But when you make lettuce wraps with shredded chicken breast, you can go all out on the toppings.

The recipe calls for blue cheese crumbles, ranch dressing, and celery. Or, knock it up a level with bacon bits and whipped blue cheese.

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Deconstructed California Roll Salad

Once you figure out the concept of a salad in a jar – dressing on the bottom, easy-to-bruise ingredients on the top, other stuff in the middle – you can turn your favorite salads into packable recipes. But even if you’re a seasoned salad jar maker, you’ll be surprised by this version. A sushi salad.

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Zesty Italian Meatball Wrap

Make a batch of meatballs, and you’ll be able to eat throughout the week.

Not only are these chicken meatballs amazing in a wrap for lunch, but they’ll be delicious simmering in a pot of tomato sauce for dinner too. That way if you aren’t cooking for a family, you can mix things up to avoid having meatball wraps for lunch every day of the week.

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Spicy Salmon & Grilled Pineapple Wrap

Tired of grilled chicken? Take a break from the usual light lunch fare with these unique salmon wraps.

They’re a great way to put a spin on the leftover salmon from yesterday’s dinner, so it feels like you cooked a whole new meal today. The rest of the wrap can be filled with other extras from other meals, like sliced onion, tomato, and jalapeno.

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Mushroom Cheeseburger Lettuce Wrap

Bring all the components with you to work, and you can assemble a lettuce wrap in minutes during your lunch hour. Filling it up with burger meat will make a healthy lunch even better because it’ll make you a little less jealous of the coworkers who carpooled to Five Guys.

The best part is how far in advance you can prepare these. Stash in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 6 months.

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Slow Cooker Tuscan Stew

All you have to do to prepare this dish is dump all the ingredients in a slow cooker, and then walk away for a few hours. Then it’s delicious served hot for dinner, especially if you have Italian bread to dip into it. And yet, this Tuscan stew is even better the next day after the flavors have developed.

To find out for yourself, pack up the leftovers, and grab them as you head out the door to your daily responsibilities.

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Ploughman’s Lunch Grilled Cheese

A typical ploughman’s lunch is any combination of cheese, bread, meat, jam, and pickles. That’s easy to pack up and take anywhere you’re going, and it requires zero cooking skill whatsoever.

But if you have the chance to heat up a skillet, you can turn those same ingredients into an incredible grilled cheese.

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Superfood Salad with Beets & Sweet Potatoes

There are countless ways to make a superfood salad. All the name means is that it’s sure to be a nutrient-dense powerhouse – in other words, the perfect lunch.

This salad has tons of nutrition thanks to beets, avocado, hemp seeds, walnuts, and roasted sweet potato. For even greater health benefits, however, you can upgrade from lettuce to another leafy green. It’s best to go for a blend of several kinds like kale, baby spinach, and arugula.

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Southwestern Flatbread

Lunch doesn’t get easier than this. No cooking required!

If you want to do a little prep work, mash up avocados into guacamole right before eating. But if you want to skip it, ready-made guac is almost as good as making your own. Aside from that, the only thing you have to do before chowing down is to layer all the ingredients onto naan or another flatbread.

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Orzo Pasta Salad with Artichoke & Asparagus

Celebrate the best of the farmers’ market in spring with this pasta salad, which uses a mix of fresh produce and canned veggies.

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Tuna Pasta Salad with Dill & Peas

Sometimes you can’t improve upon a classic – but you can make a few tweaks every now and then.

This tuna salad is still pretty simple, taking only ten ingredients to put together. Along with the green peas, red onions, and mayo is a surprise, though. There are diced dill pickles mixed right in. Of course, you can leave them out; if you prefer, you can add an equal amount of another mix-in like black olives or crumbled feta.

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Southwestern Braised Chicken Breast with Red Beans

On a day when you’re sick of salad and craving takeout, this packable lunch hits all the right notes. Because the chicken and beans are braised, you’ll get a little taste of barbecue. Except there’s no barbecue sauce, which can be loaded with sugar – often in the form of high fructose corn syrup if you’re eating fast food.

This meat has tons of flavor, though, thanks to lime juice and Tex-Mex spices.

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Lentil Veggie Lettuce Wraps

When you replace a 100-calorie bun with a large piece of lettuce, it’s hard to believe it can have a filling all-in-one-bite lunch.

And vegan lettuce wraps? They sound like they would have even less substance. But with lentils, mango, and avocado, this is not only a healthy lunch but one that will power you through till dinner.

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Asian Broccoli Peanut Salad

If you’re tired of leafy greens like lettuce, use a more substantial superfood for your salad.

This tasty broccoli makes an amazing low-calorie lunch, or for a bigger meal, it’s great to pack as a side for a simple chicken breast or fish filet. Make it all on Sunday, and you’ll have healthy lunches to take to work for most of the week.

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Kale Salad Stuffed Pita

Salad doesn’t require a plastic container or glass jar to be taken on the go. Stuff your favorite greens and veggies into a pita pocket, and you’ll have an edible way to transport your salad on the go.

If you assemble this a day ahead, the pita can get soft. To prevent texture changes, take 5 minutes to make it in the morning. Or, keep the hummus-spread pita in a sandwich bag, and pack the salad in a separate container.

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Mini Crustless Quiche for One

Need to use up leftover vegetables before they go bad? This single-serving quiche – which can be eaten warm or cold – is a great way to do just that.

You’ll be adding protein in the form of eggs, which can only make the vegetables that much better. This recipe will work to make any classic combo, like broccoli and cheddar, mushroom and Swiss, or spinach and bacon. Just be sure to keep eggs in the fridge!

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