Low-Sodium Lunch Recipes

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.

Tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil--the building blocks of caprese salad--lend a creative twist to a standard avocado toast recipe.

Be sure to use bone-in chicken here--it enhances the flavor of the broth, and the bones are easy to remove after cooking. This healthy chicken soup can be made in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker.

Hot curry powder (sometimes labeled as Madras curry powder) gives this healthy sandwich a kick. For a mellower flavor, you can use regular or mild curry powder in its place.

Any assortment of fresh oranges and grapefruit will work well in this easy salad recipe. If you can't find one of each variety listed, you can use all navel oranges, or 3 navel oranges and 1 grapefruit.

A bold, smoky marinade elevates roasted cauliflower in this meal-prep version of our popular Chipotle-Lime Cauliflower Tacos (see Associated Recipes). To cut down on prep time, look for precut cauliflower in the produce department. You can also save time by using microwaveable quinoa pouches (you'll need one 8-ounce pouch for this recipe) instead of cooking quinoa.

Look forward to a week of healthy, flavorful lunches with these high-protein meal-prep grain bowls. We're using bulgur wheat, which cooks up quickly and is higher in fiber than rice, but feel free to swap in any whole grain you prefer. The bowls are topped with broiled chicken (from our popular Indian-Spiced Chicken Pitas recipe) and cilantro chutney (see Associated Recipes). To balance the heat of the chutney, dress these bowls with a squeeze of fresh lime juice just before serving.

After Thanksgiving, we cannot get enough leftover turkey recipes--and this healthy turkey avocado sandwich will help you use up Thanksgiving leftovers and more. If you really want to do this sandwich up, chef Hugh Acheson suggests searing a slice of stuffing or bread pudding until it's nice and crispy and putting it between the turkey and avocado.

Prep four days' worth of high-protein vegan lunches using just four easy ingredients from Trader Joe's, including one of our all-time favorite salad mixes--Cruciferous Crunch--as a base. Because this salad mix is hearty, you can dress these bowls up to 24 hours before serving to allow the flavors in this healthy chopped salad to marry.

We're taking advantage of all the healthy items you can find at Trader Joe's to create these healthy meal-prep lunches. To add extra protein (while minimizing prep time), we're using Trader Joe's fully cooked quinoa and cooked shrimp, both of which you can find in the freezer section. With a few more simple items, including bottled salad dressing, you'll have all the ingredients you need to make these high-protein lunch bowls in under 20 minutes.

We're pairing two Trader Joe's fan-favorite products--the Middle-Eastern Balela salad with beans and spices and 10 Minute Farro--to add protein, fiber and satisfying texture to these high-protein lunch bowls. To cut down on prep time, we're also using preseasoned grilled chicken breasts from the refrigerated section, bottled balsamic vinaigrette and a few other ready-to-use ingredients you can find at Trader Joe's to make these quick and easy meal-prep lunches.

Set yourself up for a week of super-satisfying lunches with these south of the border-style meal-prep bowls. We took one of our favorite recipes, Mexican Stuffed Acorn Squash (see Associated Recipes) and repurposed the filling into a tasty topping for low-carb spaghetti squash. The Mexican-inspired seasoning blend adds a lot of flavor easily, and a sprinkle of fresh cilantro and queso fresco finishes the dish.

Arrange the toppings individually on these protein-packed Buddha bowls so each bite has a contrasting taste and texture. Make big batches of the salad dressing, quinoa and roasted chicken thighs and you'll have healthy meal-prep lunches or dinners for days. Though the chicken thighs take just 15 minutes to prep, you can also make the salads with leftover chicken or store-bought cooked chicken to make prep even faster.

In Venezuela, sandwiches are often made with corn rolls known as arepas (ah-reh-pahs) that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Here, we use the arepas to create a healthy sandwich stuffed with chicken and avocado salad.

Protein-rich quinoa and chickpeas add staying power to this zesty and healthy salad recipe.

Cubed deli turkey takes the place of chicken, while Cheddar replaces blue cheese in this easy Cobb-inspired salad. The protein-rich turkey and cheese, plus eggs and bacon, gives the salad staying power, so you won't get hungry an hour after you eat. Feel free to swap out the turkey for cooked chicken or chickpeas to mix things up. Serve the salad right away or pack it up in individual containers and you'll be set for lunch for days.

With a variety of flavors and textures (and a whopping 30 grams of protein!), these Mediterranean-inspired meal-prep bowls will keep you fueled all afternoon. The turkey meatballs are adapted from Greek Turkey Burgers with Spinach, Feta & Tzatziki by Hilary Meyer. Look for premade tzatziki near the specialty cheeses and dips at your grocery store or make your own (see Associated Recipes).

We're mixing whole-grain spaghetti with zucchini noodles to add volume and save calories in these simple, flavor-packed meal-prep bowls. The bright and herby chimichurri sauce originally appeared in Katie Workman's salmon recipe for EatingWell magazine (see Associated Recipes). Leftover chicken, tofu or canned beans can be swapped in for the shrimp.

For these meal-prep-friendly lettuce wraps, we swap the traditional warm filling for a cold plant-based bean salad filling loaded with fresh herbs and lemon. Topping each lettuce leaf with a little quinoa before adding the filling helps to keep the lettuce from getting soggy.

Pasta salad is a classic summer side dish, but adding protein (leftover grilled chicken is perfect here) and extra greens makes it a super-satisfying lunch. We use baby spinach, but arugula or baby kale works too. Top with a bright and tangy basil vinaigrette just before serving. The great news is that these easy meal-prep lunches take just 20 minutes to prepare--that's 4 days of lunches in less than 30 minutes.