20 Quick Healthy Meals That Make “Clean Eating” Actually Enjoyable

Sweet Potato Breakfast Burritos

A breakfast burrito hardly needs a recipe – unless you want better macros than just eggs and chorizo.

This version isn’t just a quick way to start your day; it’s a vegetarian burrito with nutritious sweet potatoes, zucchini, and spinach. But the best part about burritos?

While you’re on a roll, make extras to freeze for a no-work breakfast later.

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Apple Pie Protein Oatmeal

Forget about stirring water into a packet of flavored oatmeal. As long as you have a slower cooker, these overnight oats are easier to eat than the kind of microwave kind.

The instructions involved are the same – dump all the ingredients into a bowl, and stir – yet you’ll end up with way more servings, which can be refrigerated for up to a week.

The toughest part of this breakfast recipe is doing the dishes!

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Make-Ahead Egg Sandwiches

Before heading out the door to work, the best kind of breakfast is the one you don’t have to think about.

That’s why so many people are tempted by sugary processed cereal or microwaveable breakfast sausage, but instead you can prepare a week’s worth of morning meals ahead of time.

And when you make the eggs in a muffin pan, it’s easy to make different kinds of breakfast sandwiches at a time. If you want some variety, add cheese, crumbled bacon, sausage, or veggies.

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Protein-Packed Berry Breakfast Smoothie

If you’re not in the mood for a lot of food in the morning, a smoothie is the way to go.

Although drinking your calories will make any meal lighter on your stomach, you can load up that glass with a ton of nutrition, and having a well-balanced breakfast is effortless.

This spinach berry smoothie uses a combo of coconut and almond, but to simplify this, you could just choose one or the other to cut this down to just five ingredients.

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Slow Cooker Quinoa Energy Bars

Oatmeal isn’t the only breakfast you can make in a slow cooker.

These breakfast bars are as good as breakfast cookies, but there’s no need to form dough into balls to drop on a cookie sheet. Instead, stir all the ingredients together in a Crockpot, and leave them for half the day.

Then you’ll have a quick, healthy breakfast for the next few mornings.

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Cuban Pork Sandwich

When you plan to make roast pork sandwiches, you’re actually getting two meals in one. First, feast on the juicy citrusy pork when it comes out of the oven. That’s dinner.

Next, you can turn the leftover pork into incredible sandwiches – the kind you’d usually go to a restaurant to get. But aside from using a baguette instead of square bread, this Cuban is no different to assemble than a sandwich with cold cuts. You can get them ready the night before, or save the premade sandwiches for a lazy day.

Wrapped in parchment paper then foil, these freeze well and can be reheated in the oven as is.

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Healthy Chicken Caesar Wraps

Slow cookers are known as the go-to appliance for easy meals with little to no prep work required. Where they also excel is versatility.

Take this quick recipe, for example, which starts with slow-cooking plain chicken breast. From there, you can use the prepared meat for an endless number of dinners, including these healthy chicken wraps.

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Balsamic Steak & Pasta Salad

Turn your favorite manly dinner into a healthy salad for lunch. It has a lot of protein, especially if you can find specialty high-protein pasta, but keep in mind that those carbs are your friend too. They’ll keep you from crashing in the afternoon and from snacking your way through the end of the workday.

Plus when you make these lunches ahead of time on a Sunday, you’ll have an excuse to fire up the grill (and to sear another steak or two for dinner).

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Greek Chicken Mason Jar Salad

A large mason jar is a good investment for those who love to take salads for lunch. Because they have the salad dressing on the bottom, more delicate ingredients can stay fresh instead of getting soggy.

The best part is that jar salads can be prepped a few days in advance, helping you avoid pricey restaurant salads throughout the week.

And if you want your recipes to work double duty, instead of chopped chicken, use some of that shredded chicken you prepped for your Caesar wraps.

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Healthy Chicken Fried Rice

What could be an easier lunch than eating yesterday’s leftovers? That trick works whether you’re in the mood for pasta, roast chicken with potatoes, or a simple Asian stir fry like this fried rice.

With chicken and eggs, you’re getting protein from more than just the rice, which accounts for just a few grams per serving. But that brown rice is part of a balanced diet too, adding complex carbs that keep you full as well as fueled up for your next workout.

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Strawberries & Cream Yogurt Quinoa Parfaits

Make a big pot of quinoa at the beginning of the week, and you’ll quickly realize how versatile it is. Quinoa can be turned into an oatmeal alternative for breakfast, a healthy grain salad for lunch, and a ready-made rice alternative for dinner.

Then when you want a sweet snack or light dessert, layer quinoa together with yogurt and berries for a delicious parfait that’s ready in minutes

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Avocado Hummus with Homemade Pita Chips

How can you upgrade your plain pita and hummus? By getting inspiration from another awesome snack dip: guacamole.

Although you can make hummus with just beans, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt, this recipe has classic elements from guacamole too, including avocado of course. There’s also a touch of cayenne pepper and a garnish of fresh cilantro.

Serve this hummus-guacamole mash up with any chips, like the homemade baked pita chips below, or use it as a spread for everything from sandwiches to pizza.

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DIY Cream Cheese

If you can’t give up your occasional bagel and cream cheese, there are other steps to take to make it healthier.

The obvious one is to cut calories by snacking on only half a bagel at a time. And of course you can (and probably should) opt for low-fat cream cheese.

But what you might not think of is making cream cheese at home, which is actually easy to do. You can even replace the heavy cream with milk to make a low-fat version of your favorite schmear.

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Weight Watchers Cheese Danish

Cottage cheese is one of the healthiest snacks around, which is what makes it a great substitute for guilty pleasure foods like cheesecake.

If you’re looking for new ways to turn plain cottage cheese into an indulgence, you can actually look to the past, like this healthy snack from a vintage Weight Watchers cookbook.

It’s not the same as a sweet pastry, but it is delicious enough to kill the craving. And since you only have to wait for the bread to toast, it’ll be that much easier to walk by the bakery (or convenience store) without going in for a cheese Danish.

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Asparagus Salad with Hard-Boiled Eggs

Boil a batch of eggs, and you can eat them as a snack or quick breakfast throughout the week.

No doubt hard-boiled eggs are healthy, but they can be pretty boring when left plain. And they can go beyond egg salad and adding protein to sandwiches. In this recipe, hard-boiled eggs turn sliced asparagus from a plain veggie into a beautiful spring salad.

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Chicken, Garlic & Broccoli Kebabs

Put some pieces of meat and vegetables, about 2” cubed, onto a thin stick, and your kebabs are ready to cook. Then, place them over a flame or another source of heat, and you’ll have a no-fuss dinner that’s healthy and delicious.

This recipe assembles a classic combo – chicken and broccoli – into kebab form, no fancy knife work required. And garlic lovers take note: You can put whole cloves onto a kebab for easy roasting.

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Guacamole Chicken Burgers

When you want a quick dinner with ground meat, burgers are the way to go.

The only part you have to worry about is what kind of toppings to choose – and maybe the dilemma of whether or not to use sandwich bread or run out to buy hamburger buns.

You might just want simple condiments like ketchup and mustard for ground beef, but those can make a leaner meat stand out as a healthy alternative. That’s why this chicken burger is topped with not only a thick slice of tomato but a couple spoonfuls of fresh guacamole.

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Basil Pesto Pasta with Roasted Vegetables

As long as you have pesto (or fresh herbs and olive oil), plus a bundle of fresh veggies, you can make this healthy dinner in a half hour. And most of that time you can kick back on the couch and wait for the water to boil and veggies to roast.

This bowl of pasta is so easy to toss together that, after a few times eating it, you’ll be able to cook it up without referencing the recipe.

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Carne Asada Crock Pot Tacos

Although tacos are easy to assemble, it can seem like they’re hard to cook because of how many ingredients are required. However, this slow cooker steak will take the work out of homemade tacos.

This recipe includes instructions to make a chipotle aioli from scratch, but you can skip it and use salsa instead. Then top as usual with shredded lettuce, diced tomato and onion, shredded cheese, and maybe a dollop of sour cream.

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Baked Fish with Yogurt Sauce

Upgrade from frozen fishsticks with this crispy tilapia. It’s baked and not fried, cutting down the fat so it’s unbelievably less than 10 grams per serving.

That’s in part because of the homemade yogurt sauce to serve with, but if horseradish isn’t your thing, this fish is just as good – and equally healthy – with malt vinegar.

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