Healthy Fall Comfort Food Recipes

There's something so satisfying about a hearty bowl of beef and barley soup--especially when it's one you've made from scratch with reduced-sodium broth and chunks of delicious sirloin steak. This slow-cooker recipe is simple to prepare, serves six, and is a great alternative to canned soup!

This bean and pork stew recipe, spiced with peppery sweet ginger and piquant cumin, is rich in soluble fiber, which helps protect against heart disease.

Whole-wheat pastry flour gives the dumplings in this healthy recipe a prominent nuttiness that totally fits in with the savory chicken stew.

Here's a new way to enjoy that Thanksgiving dinner taste! Turkey tenderloin slices, broccoli and bread "stuffing" cook up quickly in this layered one-skillet dinner.

This hearty turkey chili recipe takes just 35 minutes to prep. While it's cooking, you'll have time to throw together a green salad and warm up some crusty bread to complete the meal.

Instead of serving mashed potatoes for dinner, try this smashed parsnip recipe. Parsnips are higher in fiber and lower in calories and carbs than potatoes. This side dish is ready in just 35 minutes--perfect for dinner after a busy day at the office.

Homemade creamy sausage gravy over flaky biscuits is the perfect breakfast to start a weekend morning. A mixture of white whole-wheat flour and cake flour makes these southern whole-wheat biscuits exceptionally tender. Cake flour has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour and is used for delicate cakes and biscuits. Look for unbleached cake flour, available at large supermarkets and natural food stores.

Holiday leftovers often end up in casseroles and soups, but they are also delicious in a light but hearty salad. In addition to leftover turkey, this recipe takes advantage of leftover stuffing--which is transformed into crisp croutons, cranberry sauce--which enhances the dressing, and whatever leftover roasted vegetables you have on hand.

Make this classic comfort food side dish in an electric pressure cooker, like the Instant Pot, to get the potatoes soft and tender in a jiff! This easy, 5-ingredient recipe is perfect for the holidays because it's all done in one pot and doesn't take up any extra oven or stove space.

Instead of loading up this comfort food side with tons of brown sugar and marshmallows, we have turned to sweet spices, vanilla and inherently sweet dried fruit to enhance the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes. A topping of pecans and pepitas replaces traditional marshmallow topping to keep it healthy and add texture and color for a beautiful casserole.

Free up space in your oven and on the stovetop this Thanksgiving with the help of an electric pressure cooker, like the Instant Pot. Not only does it cook entirely in one pot, it cooks super-quick, perfect for a last-minute side dish.

Enjoy the comfort of perfectly cooked pot roast without the hours of roasting with this recipe that makes use of a multicooker, like the Instant Pot. Just 45 minutes in the pressure cooker is all it takes to make tender pot roast with potatoes and carrots alongside.

This twist on a traditional Shepard's Pie recipe uses lentils and is garnished with fresh mint.

Carrots and parsnips make a colorful (and lower-carb) alternative to mashed potatoes.

Plan to make this slow-cooker chowder recipe when you have a busy day at work. Put in just a few minutes of prep in the morning and you'll be rewarded with a hearty clam chowder come dinnertime.

This cheesy pasta recipe is made in a slow cooker but is relatively quick taking just 2 1/2 hours from start-to-finish. It's full of vegetables, whole-grain linguine and of course, lots of cheese!

Serve this cheese, tomato, and mushroom dip warm with freshly-toasted French bread slices for a wonderful party appetizer. The slow-cooker recipe makes enough for a crowd.

The apple cider sauce in this slow-cooker pork chop recipe gets extra flavor from chipotle chile peppers. The sauce is absorbed by the butternut squash while cooking, and the end result is a meal the whole family will love.

Got the weeknight "what's-for-dinner" blues? You'll sing another tune when you come home to a slow-cooked, tender beef brisket with a wine-enhanced sauce. Served with mashed potatoes, this is comfort food at its finest.

This classic French stew "Boeuf à la Bourguignonne" is often served with noodles or chunks of potato, but this version is paired with garlicky mashed potatoes. A good choice for a weekend dinner, this slow-cooker meal also tastes great reheated the next day, because the flavors develop as it chills overnight.