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Healthy Vegetable Main Dish Recipes

Find healthy, delicious vegetable main dish recipes including vegetable pasta, stir fry, stew and soup. Healthier recipes, from the food and nutrition experts at EatingWell.

Zucchini Noodle "Pasta" Salad

Thai Tofu & Vegetable Curry with Zucchini Noodles

Butternut Squash Alfredo with Chicken & Spinach

Shrimp Scampi Zoodles

Healthy Recipes with Vegetable Noodles

Put down that box of pasta and try vegetable noodles instead. With a spiralizer or vegetable peeler, you can create ribbons or strands of nutrient-packed veggies that are lower in calories than pasta. Firm vegetables hold their shape best. Try carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, turnips, summer and winter squash in these delicious recipes. Eating more vegetables is just a twirl away.

Slow-Cooker Turkey Breast

Making turkey breast in the slow cooker guarantees moist, juicy meat every time. And it creates intensely flavorful drippings for homemade gravy. This slow-cooker turkey breast is perfect for Thanksgiving but it's easy enough that you can pull it together anytime you're in the mood for a turkey dinner (or a sandwich stuffed with leftover turkey).

Baby Kale, Goat Cheese & Red Onion Tart

During the holidays, we need workhorse recipes. This savory tart recipe--which works for breakfast, lunch or a casual dinner--is just that.

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Beef Rib Roast with Mushrooms & Fennel

The edible wild mushrooms you can find depend on where you live. They add woodsy and earthy flavors, but cultivated cremini and white buttons are delicious here too. Well-stocked supermarkets often have cultivated "wild" varieties like hen of the woods, matsutake, yellowfoot and hedgehog--all great in this recipe.

Mini Feta & Potato Frittatas

These mini frittatas make a great breakfast or brunch for a crowd, and help keep portion size in check. Grate whole nutmeg on a microplane or box grater for the most fragrant results.

Roasted Salmon with Spicy Cranberry Relish

This ruby-red cranberry relish recipe gets refreshing crunch from apple and celery. It's also delightful alongside a roast chicken or pork loin.

Quick Kale Dolmas

For a quick version of stuffed grape leaves, we've put all the flavors of a traditional dolma recipe into a cooked filling that's simply wrapped in blanched kale leaves--no need to simmer for hours.

Mussels with White Beans & Tomatoes

Cooking mussels may seem intimidating, but here we've made it quick and easy. We've added white beans to turn this classic mussels-in-white-wine-sauce dish into a heartier weeknight meal. Serve with whole-grain crusty bread to sop up the flavorful broth.

Chicken Cacciatore Hoagies

This easy chicken cacciatore, the Italian braised hunter's dish, gets a touch of Philly when you turn it into a sandwich and call it a hoagie. This is a chicken sandwich recipe to remember.

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Arepas with Spicy Black Beans

These corncakes are a common style of flatbread in Colombia and Venezuela. Arepas are made with precooked cornmeal and served warmed with butter or cheese, or split open and filled, or topped, as we've done here. Our arepas filling is loaded with fragrant spices and vegetables to elevate the dish.

Creamy Chicken & Celeriac Noodles

With a little help from a spiralizer, celeriac is transformed into fettuccine "pasta." Tossed with spinach, chicken and a luscious Parmesan cream sauce, lower-carb pasta never tasted so good. You get a bigger portion of celeriac "noodles" and still save more than 100 calories over 1 cup of regular pasta.

Dijon Chicken with Roasted Broccoli & Butternut Squash

Precubed butternut squash is a timesaver in this easy baked chicken recipe. Look for it in the produce section.

Polenta Pizza with Mushrooms & Arugula Salad

This healthy homemade pizza for two is small enough that it can be made in the toaster oven, if your toaster oven has a "broil" function.

Baked Halibut with Brussels Sprouts & Quinoa

Fish plus two sides? It seems fancy but this healthy dinner comes together in just 30 minutes.

Quick Meatball Banh Mi Sandwich

Quick-pickled vegetables and an easy Sriracha-mayo sauce lend Vietnamese flavors to this meatball sandwich recipe. If you can't find long whole-wheat sandwich rolls, you can use 5-inch slices of a soft whole-wheat baguette from the bakery.

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Baked Turkey Meatballs with Roasted Red Peppers & Polenta

These healthy turkey meatballs take a little more time, but the recipe yields enough extra meatballs and polenta for three other meals (see Associated Recipes).

Winter Kale & Quinoa Salad with Avocado

Precooked quinoa helps keep this healthy salad recipe quick and simple. Loaded with black beans, kale, and avocado, this recipe is as filling as it is nutritious. You can also make the sweet potatoes and dressing ahead.

Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon

Use your Instant Pot as a pressure cooker for this easy beef bourguignon recipe. If desired, serve this stew with whole-wheat egg noodles to soak up the delicious sauce.

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Chili

Sweet potatoes pair wonderfully with this simple chili recipe. Add one more chipotle pepper if you want to spice up this healthy sweet potato recipe.

Kale & Roasted Sweet Potato Hash

This one-pan hash makes an easy fall dinner or a simple dish for a healthy brunch. You can even poach the eggs ahead of time--slip them into steaming-hot water to rewarm them just before serving.

Chipotle Turkey Tostadas

Try this creative, delicious way to use up your Thanksgiving leftovers. This recipe shows you how to make tostada shells from corn tortillas. Think of a tostada as an open-face taco: a crispy corn tortilla smothered in toppings.