Healthy Greens Side Dish Recipes

In this hearty mushroom and spinach salad recipe, sturdier “mature” spinach leaves hold up better than baby spinach when tossed with the warm mushroom-and-bacon vinaigrette.

The longer you marinate these Korean sweet-and-savory ribs, the better. Look for flanken-cut short ribs in the meat department or ask your butcher to cut them for you. If you can't find perilla or shiso leaves, try using mint instead.

Layers of tortillas, chicken and vegetables with a creamy goat-cheese sauce create a lasagna-like Mexican casserole dish for an easy, healthy dinner the whole family will love.

Here's a super-quick all-in-one-skillet breakfast to start your day, loaded with hash browns, spinach, egg and cheese.

Cooking black beans in a slow cooker with a ham hock gives them a wonderful smoky flavor. Don't forget to soak your beans overnight for the creamiest, most luscious results. Serve over brown rice with lemon-curry collard greens for an easy healthy dinner that's super-satisfying.

These collards can be served as a vegan main dish or as a hearty side. If possible, serve with injera, the traditional crepe-like bread common in Ethiopia (see Associated Recipe).

Little Gem lettuce is like a cross between romaine and butterhead. It's perfect for making an updated take on the wedge salad in this healthy recipe. If you can't find Little Gem, use half a romaine heart for each serving. You can order Point Reyes Original blue cheese online from pointreyescheese.com or substitute another raw-milk blue cheese.

Serve this pretty, pesto-flavored risotto alongside roasted chicken or pork roast or serve with a big salad for a light dinner. We add a splash of wine along with each addition of broth to give the dish a more pronounced wine flavor. If you'd prefer the wine to be more subtle, add the entire cup at the end of Step 3 and cook, stirring, until the liquid is gone, then begin adding the broth. You can substitute more broth in place of the wine.

Chickpeas make this exotic dish a terrific player in any vegetarian menu.

You can vary the filling by substituting robust mustard greens or collards, or milder greens, such as spinach, escarole or Swiss chard. (Cook the greens until just tender in Step 2.)

Simply sautéed kale seasoned with a blast of sherry vinegar is a deluxe combination.

This eclectic stir-fry is a colorful combination of carrot, red bell pepper, corn and romaine lettuce. This recipe exemplifies how to stir-fry vegetables with different textures. The carrots, which are a “hard vegetable,” should be stir-fried for a minute before adding “medium-hard” vegetables like peppers or corn, which require slightly less cooking. Finally, add “soft or leafy vegetables” in the last 30 seconds to ensure all the vegetables achieve the same level of doneness. Make sure the lettuce is dry--if it's wet when added to the pan, it will turn the stir-fry into a braise.

Savoy cabbage, shiitake mushrooms and leeks are braised together in this earthy Italian side dish.

Kalettes, a cross between kale and Brussels sprouts, cook quickly in a hot oven in this easy vegetable side dish recipe.

Vary this quick-to-assemble vegetarian appetizer recipe with the season. Try sliced nectarines in place of the strawberries in the summer and halved grapes in the fall. Chopped pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts are all delicious in place of the walnuts as well.

In this simple egg-and-mustard-greens stir-fry recipe, Chinese greens are cooked with garlic, ginger and chile. Serve these sautéed greens alongside other Asian dishes. Fried baby anchovies or bonito flakes are a traditional garnish. Look for them in Asian specialty markets.

Using kale leaves instead of bread to wrap your filling makes this healthy turkey lunch recipe low-calorie. If you can't find lacinato, also known as Tuscan kale, try cabbage for your wrap.

In this healthy Asian vegetable stir-fry recipe, watercress is cooked then tossed with traditional Chinese oyster sauce. Use a salad spinner so the watercress is dry to the touch, or the stir-fry will become too wet. If the watercress is young and tender, stir-fry the whole stems. If the stem ends are woody and tough, discard them.

A delicious and quick spinach saute is a nice addition to any meal.

Cabbage is a tasty low-calorie stand-in for buns or bread in this healthy chicken lettuce wrap recipe. Don't limit yourself to cabbage for this Thai-inspired recipe--any fresh green that's sturdy enough to wrap around 1/2 cup of filling works.

Vinegar is the key to making this sautéed kale recipe special. Look for vinegar that's cloudy--it likely still has some of the mother in the bottle and will give you a sweet acidity rather than a harsh bite. Organic apple cider vinegar is usually your best bet. For the most eye-catching version of this side, use different colored varieties of kale.

This Waldorf Salad recipe uses fat-free Greek yogurt for the sauce. Wrap up all the ingredients in a Bibb lettuce leaf for a very healthy meal.

In this healthy side salad recipe, hearts of palm bring balance to the flavors of this pleasantly sweet tropical fruit salad with pineapple, grapefruit and bananas. Serve alongside grilled chicken or coconut-crusted fish.

EatingWell's updated version of creamed spinach has a low-in-fat cream sauce that's rich with Parmesan cheese and nutmeg.