Low-Calorie Vegetable Side Dish Recipes

This mashed cauliflower recipe with butter and sour cream mimics the taste and texture of mashed potatoes. The swap saves you 40 grams of Carbohydrates and 100 calories per cup, plus it quadruples the vitamin C, giving you 82% of your Daily Value of the immune-boosting nutrient.

Slowly cooking summer-ripe tomatoes in a low oven makes them candy-sweet. Turn to this recipe to preserve the summer bounty from your garden or farmers' market; it freezes well for up to 6 months. Tuck these tasty bites into sandwiches; stir them into risotto; or chop them and mix with Kalamata olives, olive oil and fresh herbs to scoop up with pita chips.

Chef Fabio Viviani, of Siena Tavern in Chicago, shines a bright light on Brussels sprouts with this side dish. In this Brussels sprouts salad recipe, the sharpness of the sprouts gets tamed with honey, toasted almonds and shaved Parmesan cheese. It comes together in about 20 minutes--you can thinly slice the Brussels sprouts with a knife or mandoline, but it's overkill for weeknights. A food processor with a slicing blade will give you pro results. Or grab a bag of shredded Brussels sprouts from your supermarket.

Mable Clarke, a South Carolina cook and activist, serves this collard greens recipe at monthly fish fries to support the Soapstone Baptist Church in the community where she grew up. There, farmers' markets overflow with big, leafy collards that are typically simmered with ham stock to make up this traditional Southern side dish. Clarke uses premade ham stock but it can be hard to find. We adapted the recipe with chicken broth and a ham bone or hock. As the bone simmers it adds flavor to the broth and yields enough meat to serve with the collards.

This pickling liquid gives bright flavor to carrots--try it with green beans or peppers as well.

Switch up the chives for whatever's growing in your garden--basil or dill would also be delicious in the compound butter that tops this simple sautéed zucchini recipe.

In China it's common to serve stir-fried greens with a dollop of oyster sauce often mixed with a little bit of mild vinegar. This riff doubles down on the sour by adding Zhenjiang black vinegar, which is full-bodied and pretty puckery.

This street corn dish, known as esquites, is served in cups instead of on the cob for all the flavor of elote without the mess.

Lightly charring the broccoli then finishing over indirect heat allows the stems to get tender without becoming too burnt.

These parsnip chips have only 4 ingredients and couldn't be easier to make. They're best when the parsnips are sliced thinly and evenly, so if you have a mandoline this would be the perfect time to get it out. Recipe adapted from VT Feed.

Put a vegetarian spin on this classic Italian dish. Thin slices of beet, glossy with olive oil, make this salad look like beef carpaccio, especially if you use red beets.

We love how the Egyptian nut, seed and spice blend dukkah adds aroma, flavor and texture to this otherwise simple purple carrot recipe.

Sweet port softens the bitter edge of this endive appetizer that is sure to please.

A pickling brine gives these fresh peas a bracing pucker. Serve in place of pickles on a sandwich or as an addition to a cheese board.

Blanching broccoli florets before charring ensures the broccoli's tender all the way through, helping it crisp up quickly in a very hot pan. Firing up the grill? Cook the blanched broccoli in a grill basket over medium-high heat instead.

Cheese and pepper star in this simple Italian dish. While the combo is traditionally tossed with pasta, we toss Parmesan cheese and freshly ground pepper with zucchini noodles instead for a lower-carb dish that helps you get in an extra serving of veggies. To simplify the recipe, look for prepackaged zucchini noodles in the produce section of your supermarket.

These super-crispy and browned air-fryer Brussels sprouts with sweet onions and salty bacon--all amped up with bright lemon juice--are sure to be a hit, whether you serve them for a weeknight side dish or as part of your holiday spread for Thanksgiving. This recipe makes enough to serve eight but is easily halved, though once you taste it you may well want a double serving. And if you prefer a vegetarian side, simply omit the bacon.

You can go without using oil if you are cooking broccoli rabe in the dry heat of a skillet. It adds a nice sear to the oranges as well. Seasoned with toasty sesame, this healthy vegetable side dish is an easy flavor upgrade.

A tangy Indian-spiced cranberry chutney is a flavorful way to perk up simple roasted winter squash.

This colorful gratin dish livens up any holiday plate. Creamy melted Gruyère is comforting, while a blend of cumin, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper lends a warm, spicy note.