Healthy Low-Fat & Fat-Free Recipes

Sautéeing butternut squash in olive oil quickly yields perfectly cooked results and slighly caramelizes the squash for extra flavor. This recipe makes a delicious vegetable side dish to pair with roasted meats.

Butternut squash steams quickly, making this a great cooking technique to enjoy this fall vegetable as a weeknight side dish. For extra flavor, toss the steamed butternut squash with salt, pepper and a little bit of olive oil, butter or Parmesan cheese after cooking.

Turn leftover brown rice and quinoa from dinner or meal-prepping into these delicious crispy crackers that are loaded with three good-for-you seeds--and create an everything-bagel flavor, without the bagel. The whole grains that make up this copycat cracker recipe add lots of fiber for a healthy snack that pairs perfectly with hummus or cheese.

Try this satisfying snack instead of nuts. The tasty legumes are lower in calories and packed with fiber.

Prep all of the ingredients for this hearty soup and freeze until you're ready to cook it for a fast meal. All you have to do is pop the frozen ingredients into your multicooker and turn it on. Using a pressure cooker to make this warming pot of chili results in extra-tender chicken that's easy to shred. The addition of chopped zucchini and corn gives each bowl a nutritional boost.

Red lentils give this smoothie a plant-based protein boost. To make this smoothie vegan, try using unsweetened coconut beverage or almond milk in place of the dairy milk.

When you're feeling backed-up, this high-fiber chia concoction can help make your bathroom routine smoother. The chia seeds form a gel-like consistency to help move digestion along easily, and the kick of cayenne pepper acts as an intestinal stimulant.

Learning how to make Greek yogurt at home is simple with this easy homemade Greek yogurt recipe. Start by making homemade yogurt by heating milk, combining with a little bit of already-cultured yogurt and letting it sit in a warm spot until the milk turns into yogurt. Making protein-rich Greek yogurt takes one more step than making regular yogurt: straining the yogurt to thicken it. You can add the leftover liquid--also known as whey--to smoothies, or you can use it in place of buttermilk in baking.

For these easy pickled beets, you only need to let them marinate in the pickling mixture for about 30 minutes to get great flavor. Marinating them longer just enhances the taste. Try them in place of cucumber pickles as a condiment or as a vegetable side dish for roasted chicken or beef.

Here's an easy main dish that's sure to set you on your own quest for the best syrup. Start the chicken breasts marinating on a Saturday afternoon for a quick meal later in the day, just about the time you come in from raking the last of the winter leaves off the garden.

This foolproof way to cook zucchini is also the easiest and fastest. Just steam it on the stovetop for a few minutes and you have a healthy vegetable side dish to add to dinner. Toss with a little pesto for extra flavor.

Learn how to roast squash in this healthy recipe adapted from Alice Waters. Look for squash varieties, including buttercup, kabocha or hubbard, at your farmers' market and try them in this tasty side dish.

Shrimp scampi is a favorite dish at many Italian restaurants but our version takes just 20 minutes to prepare, so it's perfect for a weeknight dinner at home. Large shrimp are cooked with garlic and then served over linguine pasta with a buttery-wine sauce--it's so good your family may think you ordered takeout!

Let a slow cooker complete this vegetarian soup. Serve it in cups as a sandwich side or ladle it into bowls for a light meal.

Serve this zesty bean and barley soup garnished with chopped fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime, if desired.

Try topping this simple but satisfying vegetable soup with a spoonful of Red Chutney (see Associated Recipes). Recipe adapted from New Arrivals Supper Club chef Naseema Kashefi.

This weight-loss tonic might help you slim down, even though it's not a quick fix for healthy habits. Apple cider vinegar's sour flavor (the acetic acid) may help you eat less and stay more satisfied. Green tea has caffeine and antioxidants that may help boost fat loss. Ginger might help you burn more calories. And maple syrup adds a touch of natural sweetness to this hydrating drink. Add this tonic to your diet in addition to sensible eating and exercise to help boost your weight-loss efforts.

This elegant and smooth squash soup recipe gives you more than your daily quota for vitamin A in just one bowl.

For a nonalcoholic version, omit the applejack and schnapps and add 2 tablespoons cinnamon-flavored syrup, such as Torani brand.

Here's the only recipe you need to make perfect brown rice every time! This healthy whole grain is great on its own as a side dish, or use it in your favorite recipes calling for cooked brown rice.

The momentum behind functional foods and wellness elixirs is at an all-time high. Expensive products are touted as having the power to do everything from restoring gut health to boosting immunity and fighting inflammation, but their health claims are often backed by little solid science. So instead of pricy supplements, we're mixing up a more affordable antidote that's both healthy and homemade. A tonic, by definition, is a combination of ingredients that have the potential to enhance or restore health. While this tonic (or any tonic) is not a cure-all remedy, consuming more anti-inflammatory foods--like the ones found in this tonic--over time may only not only ease current symptoms (such as fatigue, joint pain and chronic bloating), but it may also reduce the risk of future diseases and slow aging. The combination of green tea, herbs, honey, apple-cider vinegar and spices also makes for a tasty and refreshing beverage!

Want to learn how to make sauerkraut at home? For this easy homemade sauerkraut recipe, choose fresh, firm heads of cabbage and use canning, pickling or kosher salt (not iodized salt). To be sure your cabbage-to-salt ratio is right for fermentation, start with as close to 5 pounds of untrimmed cabbage as you can. To ensure success, pack the cabbage mixture into the container as tightly as possible (eliminating any air pockets) and be sure it stays submerged in the brine at all times.

Containing just two ingredients--self-rising flour and Greek yogurt--this healthy dough is a snap to make! It is exceptionally versatile; you can use it to make pizza and even bagels (see associated recipes). To make this dough whole-wheat or gluten-free, make your own self-rising flour by adding baking powder and salt to your favorite whole-wheat or gluten-free flour (see Tip).

This silky-smooth butternut soup gets a hit of spice from chipotle, cloves and cumin. Adapted from Chef Jesús González, Chef of La Cocina Que Canta at Rancho La Puerta.