Easy lowish calorie dinner recipes

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tracey19uk3470
tracey19uk3470 Posts: 7 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi

Please could you give me some of your favourite dinner recipes that are low-medium in calories thanks xx

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  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
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    Check out www.skinnytaste.com!

    Any recipe can be low-calorie, it just depends on your portion size. ;)

    I like just choosing a protein and a veggie side for dinner.

    Protein: roasted chicken, shredded chicken, pulled pork, porkchops, fish
    Veggies: roasted root veggies, baked potato/sweet potato, stir-fried veggies, steamed broccoli, roasted cauliflower

    Lots of options! Get creative! :)
  • weightforme8134
    weightforme8134 Posts: 53 Member
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    Not really a recipe but beans have really been low in cals and filling for me! We do a serving of meat, veggies, and then a half cup of beans for some meals. Low cal and filling! We use dried beans and cook them in a little broth/sat season to taste.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Decide how many calories you want to spend on dinner. Weigh your meal, log it, and eat a portion that fits that number. It's really not that complicated.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Take your favorite recipes and tweak them a bit. Skinny Taste (as mentioned) and Cooking Light have lots of recipes. Cooking Light's Stuffed Pepper Soup is a favorite of mine.

    Let's say you like Mac'n Cheese. Adding steamed cauliflower (or broccoli) will help you get to a decent serving size. Use 2% cheese and shave off some calories. Whole grain pasta can help with fiber, if that's a goal.

    Make your own crispy baked chicken nuggets or fish using panko crumbs. Roasted sweet potato wedges & a salad. Yum!

    Crock pot recipes are super easy.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Well, it's true that everything can be low calorie if you watch your portion size, however 400 calories of chicken nuggets and fries will probably fill you up an hour or two if you're lucky...

    I second Skinnytaste. And yeah, you can do the protein and veggies route, I'm just never satisfied unless I get 'bad carbs' (potato, pasta, rice) too, so I typically add a bit of that too.
  • ms_havisham
    ms_havisham Posts: 42 Member
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    One of my favorites is Skillet sausage skillet with white beans and spinach. 4 servings, 321 calories a serving (which makes it easy to justify a bit of bread to sop up the broth with). This one is a quickie, because the prep can easily be done while another step is going hands free, like sausage browning or pot simmering. I tend to use my own blend of herbs instead of italian seasoning...this one is versatile. Easy to change up with a different protein, add or change some veggies, while keeping the process the same.

    Ingredients:
    4 clove, Garlic Clove
    4 link, Spinach & Asiago Cheese Chicken Sausage
    0.25 cup(s), Parmesan
    1 tablespoon, Oil - Olive
    2 container (423.5 g (1/2 cup) ea.), Petite Diced Tomato
    30 ounce, Cannellini Beans (2 cans)
    1 tsp, Black Pepper - Ground
    1 teaspoon, Italian Seasoning
    6.00 ounce, Baby Spinach (I tend to go heavier on the spinach)
    0.25 tsp(s), Red Pepper Flake
    1 cup, Low Sodium Chicken Broth

    Brown sausage in a bit of olive oil in a medium hot pan, remove to slice (the asiago cheese sausage does not do well cut before browning because of melty cheese). Add minced garlic to oil, cook until aromatic, add tomatoes and broth. Return sliced sausages to the pan with italian seasoning, pepper, and salt to taste. Add the RINSED and DRAINED cannellini or white beans to the skillet. Simmer for about 20 minutes, add the spinach leaves and stir until wilted. Remove the pan from the heat and either stir in the parmesan or serve it on the side.
  • ms_havisham
    ms_havisham Posts: 42 Member
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    A good chili recipe is usually easy to keep low calorie too, mine usually come in about 320-380 calories a serving. I tend to make a huge batch and freeze individual servings for nights I get home late or just don't want to cook. I add a lot of veggies to mine and most people are really attached to their favorites so I didn't share, but I even make mine with real ground beef (even stew meat if I am making it for my dad...he won't touch ground beef). I do tend to use less meat but with the beans it stays a filling meal.
  • trinati2001
    trinati2001 Posts: 262 Member
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    ms_havisham wrote: »
    One of my favorites is Skillet sausage skillet with white beans and spinach. 4 servings, 321 calories a serving (which makes it easy to justify a bit of bread to sop up the broth with). This one is a quickie, because the prep can easily be done while another step is going hands free, like sausage browning or pot simmering. I tend to use my own blend of herbs instead of italian seasoning...this one is versatile. Easy to change up with a different protein, add or change some veggies, while keeping the process the same.

    Ingredients:
    4 clove, Garlic Clove
    4 link, Spinach & Asiago Cheese Chicken Sausage
    0.25 cup(s), Parmesan
    1 tablespoon, Oil - Olive
    2 container (423.5 g (1/2 cup) ea.), Petite Diced Tomato
    30 ounce, Cannellini Beans (2 cans)
    1 tsp, Black Pepper - Ground
    1 teaspoon, Italian Seasoning
    6.00 ounce, Baby Spinach (I tend to go heavier on the spinach)
    0.25 tsp(s), Red Pepper Flake
    1 cup, Low Sodium Chicken Broth

    Brown sausage in a bit of olive oil in a medium hot pan, remove to slice (the asiago cheese sausage does not do well cut before browning because of melty cheese). Add minced garlic to oil, cook until aromatic, add tomatoes and broth. Return sliced sausages to the pan with italian seasoning, pepper, and salt to taste. Add the RINSED and DRAINED cannellini or white beans to the skillet. Simmer for about 20 minutes, add the spinach leaves and stir until wilted. Remove the pan from the heat and either stir in the parmesan or serve it on the side.


    This sounds delightful! I'm going to try it this week.

    Just to everyone that said eat less to make a portion have less calories my comment to you is "no *kitten* shirlock" that was not what this thread was about.

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