36 Mediterranean Diet Dinners That Are Packed with Fiber

Crispy Rice Bowls with Fried Eggs
Photo: Leigh Beisch

Shake up your dinner routine with one of these delicious, satisfying meals. Each of these recipes follows the Mediterranean diet's recommendations for incorporating whole grains, veggies, legumes, herbs, eggs or fish, so you can enjoy a tasty dish full of good-for-you ingredients. Plus, recipes like our Kale & Lentil Stew with Mashed Potatoes and Crispy Rice Bowls with Fried Eggs have at least 8 grams of fiber per serving, so you'll end the day feeling full and satisfied.

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Crispy Rice Bowls with Fried Eggs

Crispy Rice Bowls with Fried Eggs
Leigh Beisch

We topped this rice bowl recipe with avocado, carrot, radishes and spinach along with eggs, but whatever vegetables you prefer will be just as delicious.

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Creamy Spinach Pasta with White Beans

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Here, we whir up fresh spinach and kale with cream cheese and Gruyère for the luscious sauce that highlights this rich pasta dish. Paired with beans, it makes a filling vegetarian meal.

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Kale & Lentil Stew with Mashed Potatoes

Kale & Lentil Stew with Mashed Potatoes

Fire-roasted tomatoes add slightly smoky flavor to red lentils. The addition of mashed potatoes gives this an upside-down shepherd's pie feel.

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One-Pot Lentil & Vegetable Soup with Parmesan

One-Pot Lentil & Vegetable Soup with Parmesan
Antonis Achilleos

This lentil-vegetable soup is packed with kale and tomatoes for a filling, flavorful main dish. If you have it, the Parmesan cheese rind adds nuttiness and gives the broth some body.

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Vegan Walnut Tacos with Avocado Cream

Vegan Walnut Tacos with Avocado Cream
Joy Howard

A savory blend of walnuts and mushrooms stands in for meat in these tasty vegan Tex-Mex tacos. Creamy avocado sauce and crunchy cabbage provide just the right combination of flavors and textures. These tacos get a nice kick from chili powder, but feel free to reduce the amount if you prefer a less spicy taco. Add a side of beans to round out the meal. The filling and avocado cream would also be great in a rice bowl, on nachos or in a burrito.

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Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos

Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos

The avocado and ranch help soften the spiciness of the roasted Buffalo cauliflower, which is perfectly tender and flavorful in these vegetarian tacos. The roasted corn adds some sweetness and the romaine some fresh, crisp, crunch.

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Vegan Mushroom Bolognese

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This Bolognese sauce recipe is adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. We swap out the beef and pork for button mushrooms to keep this traditional comfort food vegan yet weighty with umami flavor. And while some recipes call for red wine, this recipe sticks with Hazan's white wine selection.

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Creamy Pasta with Scallops & Brussels Sprouts

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Pan-frying Brussels sprouts brings out their nuttiness, a flavor that pairs well with the rich bacon and creamy sauce here.

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Kale & Avocado Salad with Blueberries & Edamame

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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.

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Summer Vegetable Gnocchi Salad

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This riff on pasta salad is best served warm while the gnocchi are nice and tender. Plus, the grilled veggies taste extra-good fresh off the fire in this easy gnocchi recipe.

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Winter Vegetable Mulligatawny Soup

Winter Vegetable Mulligatawny Soup
Jacob Fox

Our meatless version of the Indian-inspired British colonial soup includes parsnip and squash to keep it hearty and satisfying.

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White Bean Soup with Pasta

Pasta & White Bean Soup
Jacob Fox

We use mirepoix—a combination of onion, celery and carrots—to flavor this soup. Keep a store-bought bag of the mixture in your freezer to ensure you always have some on hand without worrying about it going bad.

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Cauliflower Fajita Skillet

Cauliflower Fajita Skillet
Jacob Fox

Thinly sliced cauliflower florets mimic the signature shape of fajita meat in this dish. We cook it in a cast-iron skillet for that tableside sizzle you'd get at a restaurant.

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Kale & Quinoa Salad with Lemon Dressing

Kale & Quinoa Salad with Lemon Dressing
Photography / Antonis Achilleos, Styling / Christine Keely, Ali Ramee

This kale-quinoa salad pops with different flavors and textures. Massaging the kale helps break down its fibrous nature, while add-ins like toasted almonds, feta and cucumber add crunch and saltiness.

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Sweet Potato-Black Bean Tacos

Sweet Potato-Black Bean Tacos
Will Dickey

Tender, smoky sweet potato is the star of these vegetarian tacos. A mashed black bean spread with onion holds everything in place. Serve with your favorite taco toppings.

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Massaged Kale Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato & Black Beans

Massaged Kale Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato & Black Beans
Jacob Fox

Loaded with roasted sweet potatoes and shallots, black beans, quinoa, feta and pepitas, this salad makes for a satisfying meatless meal. Not only does massaging the kale tenderize it, it also helps the greens absorb more of the bright dressing.

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Quinoa Chili with Sweet Potatoes

Quinoa Chili with Sweet Potatoes
Jennifer Causey

This hearty vegetarian quinoa chili with sweet potatoes has mild spice from poblanos and green chiles. Chili powder, cumin and garlic provide classic chili flavor.

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3-Ingredient Green Goddess White Bean Salad

3-Ingredient Green Goddess White Bean Salad
Carolyn A. Hodges, R.D.

Bagged salad and slaw blends are great shortcut ingredients for adding variety without needing to wash and chop lots of different vegetables. Toss a kale-and-broccoli slaw mix with canned white beans and yogurt-based green goddess dressing for a crunchy main-dish salad in minutes.

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Easy Cauliflower Tacos

Easy Cauliflower Tacos
Caitlin Bensel

These easy vegan cauliflower tacos with chili powder, red onion and creamy avocado garnish are perfect for taco night.

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Black Bean Fajita Skillet

Black Bean Fajita Skillet

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.

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Lentil Curry with Cauliflower Rice

Lentil Curry with Cauliflower Rice

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.

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Triggerfish Schnitzel with Summer Succotash

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This healthy fish recipe is made with triggerfish, a tasty, versatile and plentiful species. We call for easy-to-find frozen baby lima beans for the succotash (called butter beans in the South), but if you can find fresh summer field peas, try them in this dish. Look for lady peas, zipper cream, white acre, crowder or pink-eyed varieties at your farmers' market. Cook 2 cups of shelled peas in boiling water with a pinch of salt until tender, 20 to 45 minutes.

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One-Pot Lentils & Rice with Spinach

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This hearty vegan dish gets its earthy flavor from cumin and brown rice. If you can handle extra heat, try doubling the crushed red pepper for a bigger punch of flavor.

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Southwestern Cauliflower Rice Bowls with Shrimp & Avocado Crema

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These healthy Southwestern cauliflower rice bowls, topped with black beans, corn and smoky chipotle shrimp, get a cool-down from homemade avocado crema and take just 30 minutes to make.

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Greek Lemon Chicken & Orzo Soup

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This lemon orzo soup is bright and lively. Poaching chicken in store-bought broth is an easy way to enrich the soup and provide an extra depth of flavor.

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Sheet-Pan Balsamic-Parmesan Roasted Chickpeas & Vegetables

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A tangy, balsamic dressing and nutty Parmesan cheese combine to coat tender roasted vegetables and chickpeas in this springy vegetarian dinner. To keep it vegetarian, serve it over quinoa or, for meat-eaters, serve with roasted chicken or pan-seared fish.

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Goddess Veggie Bowls with Chicken

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Dark green dinosaur kale contrasts with the warm tones of bell peppers and tomatoes in these hearty chicken and veggie bowls.

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Sweet Potato-Black Bean Burgers

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These vegan sweet potato-black bean burgers spiced with curry powder are easy to make. Blending the mixture with your hands gives you a soft, uniform texture then the outside gets crispy by cooking in a cast-iron pan. To make this recipe gluten-free too, use gluten-free oats and serve the patty in a lettuce wrap, omitting the bun.

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Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole

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Think of this vegetarian enchilada casserole as a veggie-packed Mexican lasagna with corn tortillas standing in for the noodles! If your peppers are mild and you like heat, opt for spicy pico de gallo. This easy vegetarian dinner recipe is sure to become a new family favorite.

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Tofu Tacos

Tofu Tacos

These quick vegan tacos, filled with a spicy tofu filling, make a perfect weeknight dinner. To keep them vegan, top them with shredded cabbage, fresh pico de gallo and guacamole. For vegetarians, add crumbled queso fresco.

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Fish Tostadas with Blood Orange Salsa

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The salsa that goes with these tostadas is powerfully sweet and tangy but won't drown out the delicate-flavored white fish. Try pairing the sauce with chicken or pork as well.

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Winter Kale & Quinoa Salad with Avocado

Winter Kale & Quinoa Salad with Avocado

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.

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Catfish with Sherry Vinegar Lentils

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In this healthy catfish recipe, a brush of Dijon mustard and a generous sprinkle of crushed peppercorns temper the subtle earthy flavor this fish is sometimes known for. Feel free to use farmed catfish in this recipe: catfish are omnivorous, so they have a lighter environmental impact than farmed species that need to be fed pellets made from other fish.

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Butternut Squash Soup with Apple Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

butternut squash soup with apple grilled cheese sandwiches

Layering apple slices into grilled cheese sandwiches adds a little crunch to a favorite soup dipper. And creamy butternut squash soup with ginger, cumin and turmeric is a nice change of pace from grilled cheese's usual tomato soup partner. Serve the duo for a comforting and easy weeknight dinner for the family. The soup keeps well in the fridge, so save leftovers for lunch or dinner later in the week.

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Turkish Seared Tuna with Bulgur & Chickpea Salad

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This healthy tuna recipe combines many of Turkey's most beloved foods and flavors--fresh fish, olive oil, lemon juice, fresh herbs and chickpeas. Cooking for two? Flake the two leftover tuna steaks and mix them into the remaining bulgur salad, then serve over lettuce for lunch the next day.

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Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers

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Chipotle chiles, black beans and pepper Jack cheese give a flavorful boost to these quinoa-stuffed peppers. We've sped things up by steaming the peppers and using quick-cooking quinoa. We like the look of tri-colored quinoa, but any quinoa you have on hand will work. If possible, choose peppers that will stand upright.

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