24 One-Pot Fall Dinners to Help You Lose Weight

October 03, 2020

If you’re trying to slim down, you can still eat delicious and cozy foods for dinner. These one-pot soup, stew, salad and pasta recipes are low in calories and also full of fiber, which helps you stay satisfied. Recipes like Curried Chickpea Stew and Smoky Shrimp, Corn & Pea One-Pot Pasta are healthy, filling and won’t leave you with a sink full of dishes.

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Curried Chickpea Stew

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Who says a meatless meal isn't filling? Packed with fiber-rich vegetables and chickpeas, this fragrant stew satisfies.

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Beans & Greens Enchiladas

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Any type of canned bean will work in these easy layered enchiladas, but our favorite combination is a mix of black and pinto beans. Serve as a vegetarian main dish or as a tasty side for roasted pork or chicken.

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Pressure-Cooker Mac & Cheese

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Make a healthier version of classic macaroni and cheese with this recipe that adds broccoli for a nutritional boost and an easy way to eat more vegetables. Using an electric pressure cooker, such as the InstantPot, gets dinner on the table in just 30 minutes.

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Chickpea & Potato Curry

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This fast Indian-style curry comes together with ingredients you most likely have on hand, like frozen peas and canned tomatoes and chickpeas. Plus, using these spices shows how simple it is to make a curry sauce for an easy vegetarian recipe. Serve with whole-wheat naan to sop it all up.

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Chicken & Spinach Soup with Fresh Pesto

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This fragrant, Italian-flavored soup takes advantage of quick-cooking ingredients--boneless, skinless chicken breast, bagged baby spinach and canned beans. It features a simple homemade basil pesto swirled in at the end to add a fresh herb flavor. If you are very pressed for time, you can substitute 3 to 4 tablespoons of a store-bought basil pesto. Recipe by Nancy Baggett for EatingWell.

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Roasted Vegetable & Black Bean Tacos

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These hearty vegan tacos are quick and easy to make, perfect for busy weeknights. They are so tasty no one will miss the meat or dairy.

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Smoky Shrimp, Corn & Pea One-Pot Pasta

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Make your sauce and pasta all at once with this fast weeknight pasta dinner recipe. By using the exact amount of water you need to cook the pasta--no colanders here--the starch that cooks off into your pasta water, which you usually drain away, stays in the pot, giving you delectably creamy results.

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Japanese Shiitake & Vegetable Rice (Takikomi Gohan)

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Dashi gives this vegetable rice recipe its savory depth. Rinsing the rice may seem like an extraneous step but it removes some of the surface starch for fluffier rice. And soaking the rice in seasoned dashi before cooking infuses the dish with more flavor.

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Easy Vegetarian Chili

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Canned beans and tomatoes make this quick vegetarian chili recipe ready to go in just 30 minutes. Serve over rice or couscous, or with tortilla chips for added crunch, and add extra toppings as you see fit--sliced scallions, chopped fresh cilantro, diced avocado and sliced jalapeños are all tasty choices.

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Creamy Chicken, Brussels Sprouts & Mushrooms One-Pot Pasta

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You'll only have to dirty one pot in this easy pasta recipe that cooks chicken and vegetables right along with the noodles. Plus, by using the exact amount of water you need to cook the pasta, the starch that usually gets drained off with your pasta water stays in the pot, giving you delectably creamy results.

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Potato Enchiladas

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Frozen potatoes, often labeled diced hash brown potatoes, make these healthy enchiladas come together quickly. Feel free to sub in sweet potatoes for an added boost of vitamin A, if desired.

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Chicken Hummus Bowls

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The spiced chicken atop these bowls is ready fast with the help of the broiler. Serve with warm whole-wheat pita for scooping up extra hummus at the bottom of the bowl.

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Lasagna Soup

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This quick and healthy lasagna soup recipe has all the comforting flavors of classic lasagna with plenty of tomatoes, Italian turkey sausage and lasagna noodles broken into bite-size bits. A dollop of ricotta cheese mixed with mozzarella and Parmesan adds a creamy finishing touch. Serve the soup with a green salad and crusty bread to sop up what's left in the bowl for an easy healthy dinner that's ready in under 30 minutes.

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Fall Chopped Salad with Spinach, Butternut Squash, Apples & Cheddar

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Who says spinach salads are only for spring? Use autumn's tender crop of fresh spinach and other seasonal vegetables to make this fall salad with roasted butternut squash, apples, cheddar and pecans. This colorful and healthy salad would be a wonderful addition to your Thanksgiving menu, but there's no reason to save it for holidays--serve it along with chicken or pork for a healthy weeknight dinner, or turn it into a main course by adding some chickpeas or chopped chicken or turkey.

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Chicken with Bell Pepper & Hominy Stir-Fry

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Hominy is made by soaking dried corn kernels in lime to remove the tough hull and germ. The result looks like puffed-up corn, perhaps most notably enjoyed in the Mexican soup posole. In this healthy chicken stir-fry recipe, the hominy is added along with the vegetables to make a hearty dinner. Look for hominy in cans in the Latin section of large supermarkets. You'll need one 29-ounce can or two 15-ounce cans to get 2 cups. Toss leftovers into soup or salad.

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Hearty Chickpea & Spinach Stew

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This satisfying stew comes together in a snap. Mashed chickpeas add body to the broth, and tomato paste adds a savory note without piling on the sodium. To simplify the prep, look for chopped fresh onion and shredded carrot or a soup starter mix in the produce section.

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Cheesy Vegetable Pasta Alfredo

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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!

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Edamame Lettuce Wrap Burgers with Peanut Sauce

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Edamame make these homemade veggie burgers mean, green protein machines. Peanut sauce, curry paste and quick-pickled carrots give them Thai-inspired flair.

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Chicken & Vegetable Penne with Parsley-Walnut Pesto

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Homemade pesto may seem daunting, but in this quick pasta recipe you can make a simple sauce in minutes while the pasta water comes to a boil. You can substitute frozen green beans and cauliflower for fresh; in Step 4, cook the frozen vegetables according to package directions before tossing with the pasta and pesto.

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Slow-Cooker Mediterranean Chicken & Chickpea Soup

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This set-it-and-forget-it slow-cooker recipe simmers away all day so you come home to a warm and healthy dinner the whole family will love. Using bone-in chicken is the key to making rich soup without adding broth.

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Celeriac & Walnut Tacos

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Fake out your meat-loving family and friends with this fast plant-based taco dinner recipe. Ground toasted nuts and chopped sautéed celeriac yield a texture similar to ground beef, then classic taco seasoning does the rest. If you want a little heat, sprinkle these healthy vegetarian tacos with some minced jalapeño.

 

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Skillet Chili Mac

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Poblanos add a kick of heat to this chili mac recipe. If that's not your thing, swap in green bell peppers to tone down the heat in this easy pasta dish, which mashes up mac and cheese and chili into a seriously satisfying skillet dinner.

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Lentil & Root Veggie Soup

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French green lentils and black lentils hold up well to long, slow cooking without becoming mushy. Save the rinds from used-up blocks of Parmesan in a resealable plastic bag or tightly sealed container in the refrigerator. They give soup broths a rich, savory flavor.

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Slow-Cooker Black Bean-Mushroom Chili

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Black beans, earthy mushrooms and tangy tomatillos combine with a variety of spices and smoky chipotles to create a fantastic full-flavored chili. It can simmer in the slow cooker all day, which makes it perfect for a healthy supper when the end of your day is rushed.

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