24 Gut-Healthy Dinners for Better Blood Sugar
Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Lydia Purcell
Reviewed by Dietitian Jessica Ball, M.S., RD
Support a healthy gut when you make these flavorful dinners. These dishes are packed with prebiotic-rich ingredients like whole grains, beans, and potatoes to offer at least 7 grams of fiber per serving. Getting enough fiber can help you feel full for longer, support beneficial gut bacteria and stabilize blood sugar levels. And did we mention these meals are also lower in saturated fats and sodium—while keeping carbs and calories in mind—to align with a diabetes-appropriate eating pattern? Nutritious recipes like our Slow-Cooker Three-Bean Chili Mac are great when you have some extra time on your hands. Or, make our delicious Salmon-Stuffed Avocados on those days when you want dinner ready in just 15 minutes.
Chipotle Chicken Quinoa Burrito Bowl
This flavorful burrito bowl features grilled chicken coated in a spicy chipotle glaze. Loading it with vegetables and using quinoa in place of rice adds nutrition for a healthier dinner.
Slow-Cooker Three-Bean Chili Mac
Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Lydia Purcell
Chili meets mac and cheese in this fix-it-and-forget-it slow-cooker dinner. Hot tomato sauce, a Mexican canned tomato sauce that also includes spices and chiles for heat, kicks up the flavor. If you can’t find hot tomato sauce, regular canned tomato sauce with a tablespoon of chili powder mixed in is a good substitute. You can cook the pasta separately and add it in at the end of cooking, or use our alternative method and cook the pasta in the slow cooker with a few adjustments listed below.
High-Protein Spaghetti with Chicken & Broccoli
Photographer: Jennifer Causey, Food Stylist: Julian Hensarling, Prop Stylist: Christina Daley
A thick, creamy pasta sauce coats spaghetti in this easy dinner winner. Cottage cheese is the secret ingredient here—it blends nicely into the sauce, adding a boost of protein along with the chicken. If you want to make this dish vegetarian-friendly, replace the chicken with white beans or chickpeas.
One-Pot White Bean, Spinach & Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo with Lemon & Feta
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Julian Hensarling, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless
This one-pot pasta dish with white beans, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes is lively and vibrant and leaves you with an easy cleanup. Toasting the orzo before adding the broth adds another layer of flavor. Another dark leafy green like chopped kale or Swiss chard can stand in for the spinach, but may take longer to wilt in the pan. If you use a sturdier green, add it to the pan during the last 5 minutes of cooking time.
Seared Tuna with Bulgur & Chickpea Salad
This healthy tuna recipe combines fresh fish, olive oil, lemon juice, fresh herbs and chickpeas. Cooking for two? Flake the two leftover tuna steaks and mix them into the remaining bulgur salad, then serve over lettuce for lunch the next day.
Salmon-Stuffed Avocados
Canned salmon is a valuable pantry staple and a practical way to include heart-healthy, omega-3-rich fish in your diet. Here, we combine it with avocados in an easy no-cook meal.
Creamy White Chili with Cream Cheese
This rich, yet healthy, white chicken chili recipe comes together in a flash thanks to quick-cooking chicken thighs and canned white beans. Mashing some of the beans acts as a fast thickener when your soups don't have a long time to simmer. Cream cheese adds the final bit of richness and a hint of sweet tang.
Veggie Fajitas
Photographer: Jacob Fox, Food stylist: Holly Dreesman, Prop stylist: Joseph Wanek
These veggie fajitas are packed with sweet bell pepper and red onion. Creamy avocado and warm tortillas complete the meal. The veggies alone make a great meal-prep recipe to have on hand. Serve them over rice, or heat them up over tortilla chips topped with melting cheese. To get a little char on your tortillas, place them over a medium gas flame and cook until darkened in spots, flipping once. Place on a plate and cover with a clean kitchen towel to keep warm.
The Best Veggie Enchiladas
Photographer: Jacob Fox, Food stylist: Holly Dreesman, Prop stylist: Joseph Wanek
These veggie enchiladas are packed with sweet corn, onion, peppers, zucchini and beans and are coated with store-bought enchilada sauce to save time on prep. Enchilada sauce ranges from mild to hot. We like the earthy flavor of red enchilada sauce, but green enchilada sauce works well too. For a slightly different spin, substitute yellow squash for the zucchini and a poblano for the bell pepper.
High-Protein Tex-Mex Chicken Soup
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall , Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless
Make this grab-and-go Tex-Mex–inspired soup when you have leftover chicken, or use rotisserie chicken for this easy meal-prep soup. The frozen pepper-onion mix adds flavor and saves time in the kitchen, while the black beans add fiber and protein. Combine everything but the broth ahead of time, then add it and heat it in the microwave when you’re ready to eat. If you don’t wish to travel with liquid broth or don’t have access to a microwave, you can use reduced-sodium bouillon instead and just add hot water.
Spaghetti with Creamy Lemon-Spinach Sauce
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Julian Hensarling, Prop Stylist: Josh Hoggle
Give your veggie servings a boost with this easy spaghetti with spinach sauce recipe. Loosely inspired by the flavors of classic pesto, this vibrant pasta packs in plenty of spinach and basil with a garnish of nutty walnuts and savory Parmesan cheese. Serve with a drizzle of good olive oil and a green salad on the side.
Sheet-Pan Gnocchi with Broccoli & White Beans
Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Lydia Pursell
This effortless dish comes together on two baking sheets for easy preparation and a fast cleanup. A blend of lemon and broccoli mixes with tender gnocchi and rich cannellini beans, all brought together with a generous drizzle of olive oil. For an added protein boost, toss in some shrimp or flaked cooked salmon.
Eat-the-Rainbow Vegetable Soup
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall , Prop Stylist: Shell Royster
This vibrant and wholesome soup recipe helps support your well-being. It’s packed with a variety of colorful vegetables, like tomatoes, which contain lycopene, a phytochemical that may help reduce inflammation. The base of the soup is prepped ahead of time and stored in separate containers. Simply add the broth and heat it in the microwave when you’re ready to eat. If you don’t wish to travel with vegetable broth or don’t have access to a microwave, you can use reduced-sodium bouillon instead and just add hot water.
Vegetarian Stuffed Cabbage
Though traditional stuffed cabbage recipes are made with meat, here Savoy cabbage leaves are stuffed with a combination of rice, mushrooms, onions, garlic and herbs for a healthy vegetarian stuffed cabbage recipe. The stuffed cabbage leaves gently bake in a simple tomato sauce. This easy stuffed cabbage recipe can be made ahead of time and baked just before serving.
Chickpea & Potato Curry
This fast Indian-style curry comes together with ingredients you most likely have on hand, like frozen peas and canned tomatoes and chickpeas. Plus, using these spices shows how simple it is to make a curry sauce for an easy vegetarian recipe. Serve with whole-wheat naan to sop it all up.
Beef & Bean Sloppy Joes
This healthy copycat recipe of the comfort food classic trades beans for some of the meat to bump up fiber by 7 grams. We also cut back on the sugar and ketchup in this Sloppy Joe recipe makeover to save you 12 grams of added sugar.
Vegetable and Tofu Soup
Tofu has a reputation for being bland, but when marinated in Italian seasoning for up to four hours, it's anything but in this veggie-packed soup.
Farfalle with Tuna, Lemon and Fennel
This warm, flaked tuna and lemon pasta recipe is ready in 30 minutes.
Peach & Spinach Salad with Feta
This simple and refreshing salad recipe takes just 15 minutes to prepare. Each bite delivers the taste of sweet juicy peach, tangy feta, and toasted pine nuts and will leave you completely satisfied--but not over-stuffed!
Cheesy Chipotle-Cauliflower Mac
You'll barely notice the cauliflower in this comforting skillet pasta--it's pureed and mixed into the creamy cheese sauce.
Black Bean & Chipotle Tostadas with Creme Fraiche
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Veggie-Filled Meat Sauce with Zucchini Noodles
Zucchini noodles (or "zoodles") are all the rage as they're a healthy, gluten-free alternative to pasta. In this recipe, crisp-tender zoodles and sautéed mushrooms are served with a meaty tomato sauce. You'll be serving up more vegetables and we promise--nobody will miss the pasta!
Turkey Enchilada Poblano Peppers
In this healthy take on a turkey enchilada recipe, we stuff everything into a roasted poblano pepper shell rather than tortillas to pack an extra serving of veggies into this meal. If you can't find poblano peppers, you can substitute green bell peppers instead.
Pork Paprikash with Cauliflower "Rice"
Cut carbs and calories by using cauliflower "rice" instead of regular rice in this 30-minute pork paprikash recipe.
Read the original article on Eating Well.
