20 Healthy, Easy 20-Minute Dinners to Make in May
These flavorful dinners are perfect for the warming weather. In only 20 minutes or less, you'll have a tasty, quick dinner on the table, so you can spend more time enjoying the May breeze. Recipes like our Air-Fryer Orange Chicken and Sea Bass with Citrus Salsa are healthy, delicious and easy choices for this month.
Air-Fryer Orange Chicken
Orange chicken is typically made with fried chicken coated in a sweet, sticky sauce. In this lightened-up version, we skip the oil in favor of an air fryer and make an equally delicious sauce that goes easy on the sugar. Serve with brown rice and steamed green beans.
Salmon with Potatoes & Horseradish Sauce
You can't go wrong when you start with salmon and a sour cream sauce, especially if the sauce is flavored with dill and horseradish. Fill out the plate with a side of steamed green beans.
Beef Pad Thai
We've bulked up the serving size of beef pad thai by adding in lots of healthy veggies like matchstick carrots, snap peas and scallions. Look for whole-grain brown-rice pad thai noodles to add an additional 3 grams fiber to each serving.
One-Pot Lemon-Broccoli Pasta with Parmesan
This hearty pasta dish with bright, fresh flavor is ideal for busy weeknights. The Parmesan adds welcome saltiness and notes of umami and you get added texture from the slight crunch of broccoli and whole-wheat noodles. Add some shredded rotisserie chicken, grilled shrimp or crispy chickpeas to punch up the protein.
Sea Bass with Citrus Salsa
Dinner-party elegance in a 20-minute dish? It's possible, when you start with great ingredients that require little embellishment. Here, we use sea bass, a tender, mild-flavored fish with a lovely buttery quality. There are several sustainable options to choose from (Atlantic black sea bass, for one), so ask your fishmonger to ensure you're making a responsible choice. You can also use cod, sablefish (also called black cod), striped bass, or barramundi with great results. Any of these white-fleshed fish will take well to the bright flavors of the simple grapefruit-and-orange topping.
Beefless Vegan Tacos
Take taco night in a new direction with these healthy vegan tacos. We've swapped crumbled tofu for the ground beef, without sacrificing any of the savory seasonings you expect in a taco. You can also use the filling in burritos, bowls, taco salads and to top nachos.
Salmon & Avocado Poke Bowl
Poke (pronounced poh-kay), the bite-size marinated fish salad famous in Hawaii, is so popular that it's sold by the pound in supermarkets. Now it has crossed the Pacific to become the meal-in-a-bowl du jour, served in eateries from Los Angeles to New York. But it's easy to make at home with this quick recipe. Sriracha and Chinese-style mustard add a touch of heat to the classic poke seasoning of soy sauce and sesame oil. Serving it over a brown rice salad makes it a meal.
Lemon Chicken Pasta
In this easy lemon chicken pasta recipe, we love the combination of lemon zest and toasted breadcrumbs. This healthy dinner is made with rotisserie chicken, quick-cooking spiralized zucchini and baby zucchini, so you get a complete meal in just 10 minutes.
Sesame Instant Ramen Noodles with Broccoli & Soft-Boiled Egg
Jazz up basic ramen noodles with toasted sesame oil, quick-cooked broccoli and a jammy soft-boiled egg. To cut back on sodium, look for ramen varieties with less than 600 mg sodium per serving or use less of the seasoning packet.
Sheet-Pan Shrimp, Pineapple & Peppers with Rice
This incredibly easy seafood dinner uses fresh pineapple and a teriyaki-style sauce a sweet-and-tangy flavor profile. The pineapple also concentrates as it bakes and helps keep the rice mixture from becoming too dry. Rather than spreading the rice to the far edges of the sheet pan, keep it closer to the center and layer the vegetables and shrimp on top. This way their juices seep right into the rice, and the teriyaki drizzle coats every bite.
Quick Chicken Fajitas
Looking to update your classic chicken fajita recipe? These quick and easy chicken fajitas are perfect for a casual, fun get-together. For a casual, fun get-together, set up a make-your-own-fajitas bar with the chicken filling, avocado cream, sour cream, and any other toppings you love, like pico de gallo, sliced fresh jalapeños, or crisp radish slices. The recipe serves 4, but you can easily double it to feed a larger crowd. For a quick, easy side, combine shredded red or green cabbage, toasted hulled pumpkin seeds (pepitas), and crumbled queso fresco. Toss with a simple dressing of lime juice and olive oil.
Vegetarian All-American Portobello Burgers
Portobello mushrooms stand in for meat patties in this recipe for veggie burgers with all the fixings. Mushrooms are a source of glutamate, a naturally occurring compound that gives the fungi their umami flavor. But to really give these "patties" a savory boost, we brush them with steak sauce. Add a simple side salad or some grilled veggies for a satisfying and easy dinner on the grill.
Pan-Fried Bass
These fish fillets have a crispy, crunchy exterior thanks to a combination of seasoned breadcrumbs and cornmeal. Serve with tartar sauce, white-and-wild rice and steamed broccoli.
Edamame & Veggie Rice Bowl
The ingredients in this vegan grain bowl recipe can be prepped ahead for an easy lunch to pack for work. The tangy citrus dressing is a refreshing flavor with the sweet caramel of the roasted sheet-pan veggies.
Spicy Shrimp Tacos
These spicy shrimp tacos owe their kick to a smoky chipotle shrimp seasoning blend. Cooling avocado and tangy pico de gallo round out the flavor. This vibrant, easy dinner comes together in a flash, making it perfect for busy weeknights.
Crunchy Chicken & Mango Salad
This Asian-inspired dinner salad has terrific crunch, thanks to sugar snap peas and napa cabbage. Give the dressing a kick of heat by adding a bit of sambal oelek, an Indonesian hot sauce that you can find in most large supermarkets and Asian grocery stores.
Skillet Pork Chops with Peas, Carrots & Pearl Onions
This superfast one-dish dinner is full of classic flavor and is such a crowd pleaser that you'll want to work it into your regular weeknight dinner rotation. We call for bone-in pork chops to maximize flavor, but boneless pork chops are a fine substitution. To round out this meal a little more, serve with rice or mashed potatoes.
Peanut Zoodles with Edamame
A package of fresh zucchini noodles gets tossed with shelled edamame and store-bought peanut sauce in these 5-minute, no-cook vegetable noodle bowls. Because prepared sauces and dressings are commonly high in sodium, scan the label and opt for those that contain 150 mg sodium or less per tablespoon.
Tarragon Scallops on Asparagus Spears
In this 15-minute recipe, crisp and tender asparagus spears serve as a vibrant base for lemon- and tarragon-flavored sea scallops.
Quinoa-Black Bean Salad
Enjoy this quinoa and black bean salad as a delicious and quick vegetarian main dish or as a side for grilled chicken or steak. And don't forget the leftovers! They make an easy lunch on the go.
