High Protein, Low-Calorie Recipes

Creamy avocado, salty feta cheese and sweet-bitter caramelized lemon slices make this vegetarian bean salad recipe a standout. Using different colors, sizes and shapes of beans makes this salad extra special. But any bean that interests you, even canned, will work.

No-boil noodles help get this crowd-pleasing vegetarian lasagna in the oven fast. Using a mandoline isn't essential, but will make quick work of producing thin, uniform slices of roots that cook super-evenly and look stunning. Serve with a mixed green salad with red-wine vinaigrette and crusty bread.

For this showstopper of an appetizer, the custardy yolks of soft-cooked eggs are magically balanced with an amazing green goddess dressing and a crunchy brown-butter breadcrumb topping.

Adding smoky, umami-packed ground mushrooms to grilled burgers builds flavor and keeps things juicy while bumping up the patty size. This burger is super-tasty made with ground beef too, but we love bison as a sustainable alternative packed with rich flavor. Look for it in the meat section of well-stocked supermarkets.

This vibrant, lip-tingling Sichuan stir-fry is ready in just 20 minutes. Reddish-brown Sichuan peppercorns--which are technically a dried berry husk--have a tart and slightly woodsy flavor beneath their slow-burning heat. Look for them in Asian markets or the bulk section of natural-foods stores.

A super-easy caramel sauce brushed onto oven-roasted chicken drumsticks makes this an impressive fast weeknight dinner or go-to party appetizer. A cool shaved celery salad spiked with lime juice keeps things refreshing and simple. Serve with rice noodles tossed with sesame oil and a splash of soy sauce.

Store-bought tortellini and frozen peas keep things quick in this healthy 30-minute meal. Jazzed-up bottled salad dressing helps you go even faster. Look for one with 200 mg or less of sodium and 3 g or less of sugar per serving.

For this healthy 30-minute dinner, treat your veggies like pasta and cook until al dente, or just done. If you have a little extra time, double or triple the lemon-tahini dressing and use it to quickly dress a salad or as a sauce for steak or shrimp.

Toasting and grinding your own spices for a flavorful rub is the quickest, easiest way to build surefire flavor in this easy pork chop recipe. Serve with a simple tossed salad and some roasted sweet potatoes to round out the meal.

Good-quality canned salmon is high in protein and brain-loving omega-3 fatty acids. Mix it with pesto-spiked yogurt and pile it old-school style into a halved avocado for a quick healthy lunch.

We cut down the cooking time for this healthy chicken stew by fortifying store-bought broth with chicken and aromatics and then using the flavorful liquid to both simmer the rice and make the gravy. Try subbing 5 fresh curry leaves if you can't find the Indonesian bay leaves.

The key to cooking juicy chicken without a spit in this healthy recipe is high heat and dark meat. The yogurt in the marinade gives the chicken both its tender texture and its alluring char. More yogurt in the sauce, along with crunchy cucumbers and herbs, keeps the flavors bright.

Empanadas usually are served hot and blistered from the deep fryer, but home cooks will be glad that these baked healthier handpies offer similar pleasures without a trip into a vat of bubbling oil. The simple dough, similar to pie crust, comes together in a jiffy in the food processor. For a fun tweak, make the recipe into mini empanadas with 3-inch, rather than 6-inch, rounds of dough.

The key to this delicious quesadilla recipe is the zippy make-ahead chicken that's stewed with charred tomatoes and smoky chile powder, though canned tomatoes (especially the "fire-roasted" kind) and chipotles in adobo will do in a pinch. The spice level is up to you, so feel free to season to taste with chipotle.

Traditionally, Chongqing chicken is made by encasing the meat in crunchy batter, like popcorn chicken but better. To make it at home, we decided to mimic the effect with a simple cornstarch dredge and just a little oil, sparing you both time and the stress of deep-frying. Practiced eaters focus their chopsticks on the meat, avoiding the many chiles and Sichuan peppercorns that give the dish its tongue-tingling character, but we encourage you to risk the lovely agony.

Swapping out mayonnaise in favor of lime juice and shallots is a simple change, but its impact gives this healthy chicken salad recipe a light, fresh feel. For more color, try swapping in a bit of red cabbage for the green.

Flan gets a savory treatment in this decadent vegetarian appetizer recipe. Sweet-salty gorgonzola dolce, crème fraîche, asparagus and eggs melt together into a delicious custard. Serve with crusty bread and dry Italian Gavi di Gavi white wine.

Skip the jar of tomato sauce at the supermarket. This homemade ragù is so simple and so good that you'll want to make it in batches and freeze it so you always have some around. For the homemade pasta, this healthy recipe uses whole-wheat flour instead of the "00" type often used, adding a nutty flavor and fiber. Serve with your favorite Italian red wine.

At Ristorante il San Pietro in the Piedmont of Italy, they use scamorza affumicata, an aged smoked mozzarella, but smoked fresh mozzarella works too in this healthy homemade vegetarian pasta recipe. You can substitute dry pasta, such as cannelloni or manicotti, for the fresh. Cook 12 noodles according to package directions, then stuff and sauce them.

In this healthy salmon dinner, you'll get a dose of greens and green dressing! Chowing down on 6 or more servings of dark leafy greens a week can help keep your brain in top shape. This dish features the Test Kitchen's current go-to method for doctoring a can of chickpeas: spice them up and roast until crispy.