Quick & Easy Special Diet Dinner Recipes

Find delicious, quick and easy healthy dinner recipes for those who follow a special diet, including quick and easy gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, diabetic friendly or low-cholesterol dinner recipes. Healthier recipes from the food and nutrition experts at EatingWell.

Staff Picks

Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan

Rating: 4 stars 63
This one-pan chicken pasta combines lean chicken breast and sautéed spinach for a one-bowl meal that's garlicky, lemony and best served with a little Parm on top. I call it "Mom's Skillet Pasta" and she called it "Devon's Favorite Pasta." Either way it's a quick and easy weeknight dinner we created together and scribbled on a little recipe card more than a decade ago, and it remains in my weekly dinner rotation to this day. It's a simple dinner the whole family will love.
By Devon O'Brien

Creamy Chicken & Mushrooms

Rating: 4 stars 25
Whether you scored wild mushrooms at the farmers' market, found cultivated maitake or shiitake at the supermarket or just have some baby bellas on hand, this healthy creamy chicken recipe is delicious with any of them. Serve over whole-wheat egg noodles or mashed potatoes.
By Carolyn Malcoun

Chicken & White Bean Soup

Rating: 4.5 stars 21
Once again, rotisserie chickens can really relieve the dinner-rush pressure-especially in this Italian-inspired soup that cries out for a piece of crusty bread and a glass of red wine.
Eating Well Bio Page
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Easy Pea & Spinach Carbonara

Rating: 4 stars 18
Fresh pasta cooks up faster than dried, making it a must-have for fast weeknight dinners like this luscious yet healthy meal. Eggs are the base of the creamy sauce. They don't get fully cooked, so use pasteurized-in-the-shell eggs if you prefer.
By Adam Hickman

20-Minute Chicken Cutlets with Creamy Pesto Sauce

Rating: 5 stars 26
Serve these creamy pesto chicken cutlets over your favorite pasta or zucchini noodles. This easy dinner recipe is sure to become a new family favorite.
By Carolyn Casner

Salmon-Stuffed Avocados

Rating: 4.5 stars 11
Canned salmon is a valuable pantry staple and a practical way to include heart-healthy, omega-3-rich fish in your diet. Here, we combine it with avocados in an easy no-cook meal.
By Abbie Gellman, MS, RD, CDN

Chickpea & Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Rating: 4.5 stars 17
Quinoa and chickpeas pack this vegetarian grain bowl with plenty of plant-based protein. Whip up a batch of these flavorful grain bowls and pack them in lidded containers to stash in the fridge for easy, healthy grab-and-go lunches all week long.
By Carolyn Casner

Vegan Superfood Grain Bowls

Rating: 4.5 stars 7
This nutrient-packed grain bowl recipe comes together in 15 minutes with the help of a few convenience-food shortcuts like prewashed baby kale, microwavable quinoa and precooked beets. Pack these ahead to keep on hand for easy meal-prep lunches or dinners on busy nights.
By Carolyn A Hodges, RD

Mozzarella, Basil & Zucchini Frittata

Rating: 5 stars 20
This vegetable-studded frittata recipe is one of the quickest meals you can make. Make it for breakfast, or serve for lunch or dinner with a tossed salad and a slice of olive oil-drizzled crusty baguette.
A portrait of Breana Killeen, M.P.H., RD
By Breana Lai Killeen, M.P.H., RD

Creamy White Chili with Cream Cheese

Rating: 4.5 stars 23
This rich, yet healthy, white chicken chili recipe comes together in a flash thanks to quick-cooking chicken thighs and canned white beans. Mashing some of the beans acts as a fast thickener when your soups don't have a long time to simmer. Cream cheese adds the final bit of richness and a hint of sweet tang.
By Robin Bashinsky

One-Pot Garlicky Shrimp & Spinach

Rating: 4.5 stars 16
Shrimp, spinach and garlic brown and cook quickly for a simple one-pot weeknight dinner. A fast pan sauce gets life from zesty lemon juice, warm crushed red pepper and herby parsley. Serve with a slice of whole-wheat baguette to swipe up every last drop of sauce.
By Carolyn Casner

Black Bean-Quinoa Bowl

Rating: 4 stars 13
This black bean and quinoa bowl has many of the usual hallmarks of a taco salad, minus the fried bowl. We've loaded it up with pico de gallo, fresh cilantro and avocado plus an easy hummus dressing to drizzle on top.
Katie Webster
By Katie Webster
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Inspiration and Ideas

22 Easy Vegetarian Dinners You'll Want to Make Forever
These quick and easy, delicious vegetarian dinners are highly rated with four- and five-star reviews and can be made in 30 minutes or less.
25 Easy Diabetes-Friendly Dinners You'll Want to Make This Summer
Dinners with bright ingredients from citrus and cilantro to avocado and chickpeas are perfect for the summer season. Featuring fiber-packed complex carbs like quinoa and sweet potatoes, these dinner recipes are low in saturated fat and sodium to seamlessly fit into a diabetes-friendly eating pattern. Recipes like or Air-Fryer Fish Tacos and Cilantro-Lime Shrimp Bowl are healthy, seasonal and easy to make for dinner tonight.
Stuffed Sweet Potato with Hummus Dressing
Rating: 4.5 stars 21

Hearty yet simple to prepare, this stuffed sweet potato with black beans, kale and hummus dressing is a fantastic 5-ingredient lunch for one!