Chronic inflammation has been linked to a higher risk of several chronic diseases, from heart disease and cancer to diabetes and arthritis. Certain foods, including the ones in these dinners, can help relieve inflammation and its pesky symptoms like joint stiffness, digestive issues and high blood pressure.
These dishes feature ingredients like legumes, fatty fish, dark leafy greens and herbs, which are not only anti-inflammatory but also staples of the Mediterranean diet, one of the healthiest eating patterns you can follow.
Recipes like our BBQ Shrimp with Roasted Broccoli & Kimchi Rice Bowl and Salmon with Melting Leeks are delicious meals that will help you meet your nutritional and health goals.
Lemon-Garlic Sheet-Pan Salmon with Potatoes & Green Beans
Photographer: Victor Protasio, Food Stylist: Sally McKay, Prop Stylist: Hannah Greenwood
This sheet-pan salmon with green beans recipe is a game-changer for weeknight dinners, offering a balanced meal made entirely on one sheet pan. With tender salmon, crispy potatoes, and fresh green beans drizzled with lemon, this dinner is not only delicious but also easy to prepare and clean up. It’s the perfect solution for busy nights when you want a nutritious meal without the hassle.
Roasted Broccoli & Kimchi Rice Bowl
Photographer: Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Styling: Christina Brockman
This well-rounded kimchi rice bowl is packed with fiber and probiotic foods like kimchi and yogurt to support a healthy gut. Prebiotic foods like edamame and garlic add flavor and additional gut-healthy benefits. Gochugaru is a Korean chile powder with a smoky-sweet flavor and mild heat. You can use a combination of crushed red pepper and paprika in its place.
Salmon with Melting Leeks
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Christina Brockman
This panko-crusted salmon roasts alongside tender leeks, which offer a boost of prebiotics to support a healthy gut. Yogurt offers probiotics and enhances the flavor, while black lentils offer fiber that helps maintain a balanced and healthy digestive system.
Roasted Vegetable Soup
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Christina Brockman
This roasted vegetable soup uses a diverse and delicious array of vegetables, supporting gut health with prebiotic ingredients like sweet potato, leeks and chickpeas, plus you get a probiotic boost from white miso. While we love the veggies in this recipe, feel free to get creative by adding winter squash or another root vegetable.
Chickpea & Sweet Potato Grain Bowls
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Christina Brockman
This sweet potato and chickpea bowl will make your gut happy! This nutrient-dense bowl is rich in dietary fiber and antioxidants, which support a healthy digestive system. Sorghum, a gluten-free ancient grain, is packed with fiber and essential nutrients that aid digestion and support gut health; the deliciously tangy yogurt-based drizzle offers a probiotic boost.
Cheesy French Onion Cabbage
Photographer: Hannah Hufham, Food Stylist: Melissa Gray, Prop Stylist: Abby Armstrong
These cheesy French onion cabbage wedges are a delicious twist on the classic flavors of French onion soup. Roasted cabbage is topped with caramelized onions, savory Gruyère cheese and a sprinkle of fresh thyme and pepper for extra depth. If you don’t have fresh thyme, you can use ¾ teaspoon dried thyme in its place. These wedges can serve as a warm, comforting side dish or even a vegetarian main course.
Creamy Lemon-Garlic Spaghetti & Spinach
Photographer: Morgan Hunt Glaze, Prop Stylist: Priscilla Montiel, Food Stylist: Julian Hensarling
This spaghetti with lemon-garlic Parmesan sauce is a bright and richly creamy dish, thanks to sour cream that adds a tanginess that blends seamlessly with lemon zest and juice. Meanwhile, the spinach wilts in the pasta water in record time for a fast weeknight dinner. Parmesan cheese adds the bulk of the savory flavor. It’s worth seeking out a block of Parmesan and grating it yourself to maximize the flavor.
No-Cook White Bean & Spinach Caprese Salad
This easy white bean and spinach caprese salad features the classic combination of juicy tomatoes, creamy mozzarella, fragrant basil and tangy balsamic vinegar, but adds tender white beans and fresh baby spinach to the mix. If you can’t find mozzarella pearls, cut or tear a fresh ball of mozzarella into bite-size pieces instead. If you like your salad with a little kick, try swapping out the spinach for arugula.
Coconut Stew with Spinach & Beans
Photographer: Grant Webster, Food Stylist: Holly Dreesman, Prop Stylist: Lexi Juhl
Sweet potatoes add sweetness and body to this stew flavored with ginger, cumin, coriander and turmeric (which gives it its vibrant yellow color). Unseeded chiles add extra heat, but you can seed them to mellow the spiciness. You want the potatoes cooked until they’re tender, but not falling apart in the stew—the carryover heat will continue to cook them as the stew sits off the heat.
Chef Michelle Bernstein’s Lemongrass-&-Coconut Poached Salmon
Photographer: Rachel Marek, Prop stylist: Holly Dreesman, Food stylist: Gabriel Greco
Chef Michelle Bernstein suffers from psoriatic arthritis, an autoimmune condition that often presents as joint pain. She created this recipe for Lemongrass-&-Coconut Poached Salmon exclusively for EatingWell. It features a trifecta of inflammation-fighting ingredients: turmeric, ginger and salmon. For a more filling meal, serve with a whole grain like brown rice, or over rice noodles.
Summer Chicken Parmesan
Skip canned tomatoes and serve these crispy, cheesy chicken cutlets with a fresh tomato-and-zucchini sauté instead, a super-easy side that takes advantage of peak-season summer produce. Round out the meal with a simple green salad and garlic-rubbed toasted bread slices.
Creamy Spinach-Artichoke Salmon
For this quick and easy dinner for four, the vegetables and sauce come together in one skillet in a matter of minutes while the salmon broils. Plus, salmon is swimming in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids and loaded with vitamins and nutrients like B vitamins and potassium.
Butternut Squash & Black Bean Enchiladas
A crisp, citrusy slaw contrasts nicely with the enchiladas’ creamy squash filling.
Vegan Lentil Stew
This comforting vegan lentil stew is incredibly satisfying thanks to hearty lentils and sweet potato. The leeks provide a savory allium note while the tomato paste, miso and cumin add bold flavor.
Salmon with Lemon-Herb Orzo & Broccoli
This healthy salmon dish is as balanced as it is delicious. You add broccoli right into the pot along with the pasta during its last minute of cooking to save time here. One less thing to wash, too!
Creamy Spinach Pasta with White Beans
Here, we whir up fresh spinach and kale with cream cheese and Gruyère for the luscious sauce that highlights this rich pasta dish. Paired with beans, it makes a filling vegetarian meal.
Sheet-Pan Salmon with Sweet Potatoes & Broccoli
The vibrant combo of cheese, cilantro, chili, and lime—inspired by Mexican street corn—makes this salmon sheet-pan dinner burst with flavor.
Chicken Hummus Bowls
The spiced chicken atop these bowls is ready fast with the help of the broiler. Serve with warm whole-wheat pita for scooping up extra hummus at the bottom of the bowl.
Feta & Olive Stuffed Eggplant
This stuffed eggplant is filled with veggies and flavors of the Mediterranean. The dish is easy to pull together and the addition of cumin gives it a sweet, earthy note.
Garlic Butter-Roasted Salmon with Potatoes & Asparagus
Photographer Victor Protasio, Food Stylist Margaret Dickey, Prop Stylist Lydia Pursell
This one-pan salmon and potatoes recipe makes a healthy and satisfying weeknight dinner. Melted garlic butter coats the salmon and vegetables, adding depth of flavor and richness to the dish.
Salmon Caesar Salad
This easy Caesar salad subs creamy Greek yogurt and buttermilk for the traditional egg yolks and olive oil and mixes in mildly bitter radicchio in addition to classic romaine. Using just a small amount of flavorful Parmigiano-Reggiano shaves calories and sodium too.
Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Burrata
This beautiful butternut squash salad with creamy burrata cheese and peppery arugula is perfect for fall entertaining. If you can find pomegranates, the arils add a bright pop of color and flavor to this healthy salad, but it’s just as good—and almost as impressive-looking—without them.
Instant Pot Vegetarian White Chili
Parsnips lend a wonderful sweet and nutty flavor to this healthy white bean chili. Using an Instant Pot (or any other pressure cooker) means this hearty chili can be ready in under an hour, but it still tastes like it’s simmered away for hours. Pureeing some of the chili gives the stew a nice creaminess, but feel free to skip that step to save time. Garnish the chili with cheese and sour cream for a richer meal, or serve it as-is to keep it vegan.
Chopped Chicken & Sweet Potato Salad
This easy salad recipe allows for a wonderful use of leftover cooked chicken. Look for escarole in the produce section near the leafy greens; if you can’t find it, you can use romaine instead.
BBQ Shrimp with Garlicky Kale & Parmesan-Herb Couscous
In the U.S., dry whole-wheat couscous has been partially cooked, making it a quick-cooking (5 minutes!) whole-grain weeknight dinner champ. And when you buy peeled shrimp, plus a bag of prechopped kale and bottled barbecue sauce, the savings in prep time helps to get this healthy dinner done in a jiff.
Quinoa, Avocado & Chickpea Salad over Mixed Greens
Protein-rich quinoa and chickpeas add staying power to this zesty and healthy salad recipe.
Herby Fish with Wilted Greens & Mushrooms
This healthy fish recipe makes a tasty and easy weeknight meal. Serve with wild rice or roasted potatoes.
Charred Shrimp, Pesto & Quinoa Bowls
These shrimp, pesto and quinoa bowls are delicious, healthy and pretty and take less than 30 minutes to prep. In other words, they’re basically the ultimate easy weeknight dinner. Feel free to add additional vegetables and swap the shrimp for chicken, steak, tofu or edamame.
Slow-Cooker Kale & White Bean Stew
Warm up to a hearty bowl of soup made with winter vegetables and protein-rich white beans. Comforting spices like oregano and thyme build flavor, while Parmesan provides an irresistibly savory finish.
Chickpea & Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Photographer: Carson Downing, Food Stylist: Holly Dreesman, Prop Stylist: Gabriel Greco
Quinoa and chickpeas pack this vegetarian grain bowl with plenty of plant-based protein. Whip up a batch of these flavorful grain bowls and pack them in lidded containers to stash in the fridge for easy, healthy grab-and-go lunches all week long.
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