20 Winter Dinners for Weight Loss in 20 Minutes

This creamy chicken and mushroom pasta recipe makes for an easy weeknight dinner. Using store-bought rotisserie chicken saves time when cooking, and leftover chicken would work just as well.

Sun-dried tomatoes are the star of this recipe— providing texture and umami. Combined with the spinach, they make this dish a great source of vitamins C and K.

Apple-flavored chicken sausage adds flavor and protein in this quick dinner hash that uses a bag of shaved Brussels sprouts as its hearty, high-fiber base. Steaming the cubed sweet potatoes in the microwave cuts way down on total cook time.

In this vegetarian riff on a popular Indian dish, we swap in cauliflower and chickpeas for the chicken in tikka masala. The cauliflower's nooks and crannies are particularly good at soaking up all the intense flavors of the sauce. Serve over rice for an easy healthy dinner that's ready in just 20 minutes.

We like the chewy bite and large size of pearl couscous (sometimes labeled Israeli couscous) for the base of these bowls.

This creamy chicken and broccoli pasta makes for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. We opt for small shells in this recipe, but any other small pasta, like orecchiette, would work, too.

To make this hearty grain bowl, grab a salad kit from the grocery store. Then, top the kit with farro and chicken for a high-protein lunch or dinner that's ready in minutes.

Choose your own adventure with these noodles! They're delicious with peanut butter and tahini alike. Plus, you can use whatever frozen vegetables you have on hand and finish the dish off with any herbs still thriving in your garden or hanging out in your crisper.

If you love warm spinach and artichoke dip, then you'll love that we turned this classic dip into a creamy pasta dish with chicken. And here's what's almost as good as the flavor of this comforting dish: the fact that this healthy dinner takes just 20 minutes to prepare.

Precooked chicken sausage is a handy shortcut ingredient because it heats up quickly and adds lots of flavor without a lot of fuss. A roasted garlic variety pairs perfectly with cheese tortellini and sautéed leafy greens.

You can often find presliced and ready-to-cook fresh vegetables in your grocer's produce section. Use these to your advantage to cut down on dinnertime prep. Here, presliced fajita vegetables are sautéed with canned black beans and Southwest seasoning for a quick and easy Tex Mex-inspired meal. Plus, this recipe requires just three ingredients, not including basics like salt, pepper and oil. You can easily take your bowl up a notch by adding some cheese, sour cream or another tasty topping.

Bulk up boxed butternut squash soup with frozen cauliflower florets, then top off your bowl with crispy chickpea snacks for major crunch (look for them near the dried fruit and nuts at your grocery store). This impressively easy dinner comes together with just those three ingredients, not including salt, pepper and oil. Because prepared soups are typically higher in sodium, look for light or reduced-sodium versions of your favorites.

Transform a box of macaroni and cheese for an easy weeknight dinner. Use frozen broccoli, steamed in the microwave, to cut down on prep time. Opt for chickpea-based macaroni and cheese for a boost of protein and fiber.

This quick soup recipe is done in only 15 minutes thanks to convenience products like frozen chopped onion and precooked kielbasa. You'll have a warming winter soup on the table in no time!

Combine precooked lentils (often located in the produce section of your grocery store) with an Indian-style simmer sauce for a super-fast and flavorful curry. Serving it over riced cauliflower bumps up the vegetable count and keeps carb servings in check. This 3-ingredient dinner (not counting salt, pepper and oil) is really as easy as it gets. To be mindful of the salt, look for simmer sauces with less than or close to 350 mg sodium per ¼-cup serving.

Take sloppy Joes to a new level with tender sweet potatoes standing in for the bun. Sweet potatoes pair perfectly with the tangy, flavorful filling of ground beef, black beans and spices. Chopped dill pickle sprinkled on top adds crunch to this quick weeknight dinner the whole family will love.

This aromatic cauliflower rice bowl comes together in minutes and is a simple meal for one. Using frozen riced cauliflower instead of rice keeps the carbs in check--and makes for quicker prep.

Bursting with nutrient-rich produce, this California-inspired salad is a delicious and satisfying way to get your vitamins. We love the unique combination of blueberries, edamame, and goat cheese.

Poke (pronounced poh-kay), the bite-size marinated fish salad famous in Hawaii, is so popular that it's sold by the pound in supermarkets. Now it has crossed the Pacific to become the meal-in-a-bowl du jour, served in eateries from Los Angeles to New York. But it's easy to make at home with this quick recipe. Sriracha and Chinese-style mustard add a touch of heat to the classic poke seasoning of soy sauce and sesame oil. Serving it over a brown rice salad makes it a meal.

You can find farro in most grocery stores, near the rice. If you can't find farro, you can use wheat berries or brown rice instead; cook according to package directions.