10 Beginner Dinner Recipes That Are Healthy & Delicious

If your usual dinners consist of frozen dinners or delivery then you may want to check out these beginner dinner recipes! There are lots of reasons why cooking your own meals (at least sometimes) is really great! Not only do you save money, but you can choose your ingredients depending on your diet or preferences to tailor meals just for you. You’re also able to do different combinations of tasty ingredients to make different versions of classic meals. Here are 10 beginner dinner recipes that are both healthy, delicious, and easy to make!

Now, based on the name only you may think this is a really complicated recipe. However, at the end of the day, it’s really not it only takes about 40 minutes! You’ll make a combination of sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and pork loin chops. All this together makes this recipe both tasty and healthy! Essentially, after mixing the lemon-dijon covering you’ll put it on the pork loins and the vegetables. Throw it all on a big pan and roast for about 10 minutes, then flip the chops and vegetables and put it back in the oven for about 10-15 more minutes. An easy and delicious meal that makes an easy go-to for beginner dinner recipes.

2. One-Pot Basil Chicken Baked Ziti

Beginner dinner recipes such as this are typically easier and simpler when they’re a “one-pot” meal. The one-pot recipes are also great because there are fewer dishes to clean up at the end! For this recipe, you’ll only need a handful of ingredients: Chicken breasts, whole wheat penne, pasta sauce (Ragu Thick and Hearty Traditional Sauce), spinach, mozzarella cheese, and basil leaves. After cooking your whole wheat penne, you’ll mix everything together into a casserole dish or similar bakeware then top with the mozzarella and basil leaves. Bake the dish for about 25-30 minutes and you’ve got a hearty meal that’s both delicious and fairly healthy.

3. Spinach Quesadillas

Spinach quesadillas may not seem like the fanciest of beginner dinner recipes but these are next-level quesadillas. First off, you’ll make the inner mixing of the quesadillas separately by combining the spinach, green onions, tomato, lemon juice, and ground cumin and cooking over the stove. Remove it from the heat and add in your cheeses. Then you’ll put the cheesy spinach mixture into your tortillas and cook them as normal quesadillas! A tasty and healthy meal that’ perfect for anyone looking for beginner dinner recipes.

This recipe for a healthy chicken cobb salad is a tasty meal loaded with greens, avocado, boiled eggs, grilled chicken, and more! For this cobb salad, you’ll need chicken breasts, oil, eggs, avocado, grape tomatoes, corn, blue cheese, and lettuce/greens of choice. The combination of greens and vegetables with the grilled chicken make this a well-balanced meal that’s got some great tastes as well!

5. Ginger Salmon & Green Beans

Here’s an easy go-to for beginner dinner recipes that anyone could make! This recipe makes a salmon fillet with a lemon-ginger mixture that gives it a sweet taste. It also has a side of delicious green beans making the meal even healthier when on the side of salmon. 

This recipe makes a delicious and healthy meal with enough food for the whole family. It’s an easy recipe to follow so anyone can make it! You’ll start by cutting your red tomatoes into small cubes, then cooking them combined with your pepper slices and garlic in coconut oil. Cook your rice either by microwave or standard ways. Put to your curry paste into your vegetables and continue cooking on the stovetop. Then add the coconut milk, water, spinach, and chickpeas to the vegetables as well! Finally, add your rice and continue cooking until everything is good and hot! A delicious and hearty meal that should be on your go-to list for beginner dinner recipes.

7. Skillet Beef Tamales

If you want to make some tasty tamales at home than this is a good recipe to try! It only uses nine ingredients with a good mixture of lean beef and vegetables. First, you’ll want to cook your lean ground beef and peppers for about eight minutes, at least until it’s no longer pink and your vegetables are tender. Break up your meat into crumbles and make sure to drain the excess fat before stirring in your salsa, corn, and water. Bring that to a boil then put in your tortilla strips, simmer for about 10-15 minutes, sprinkle with cheese and cook until it melts! It’s a delicious and easy beginner dinner recipes

8. Roasted Sweet Potato Black Bean Salad

You want beginner dinner recipes that you can whip up quickly but still get a healthy and balanced meal. Here’s a recipe for a delicious sweet potato black bean salad that I bet you’ll make at least a dozen times. Sweet potatoes are great additions to meals when you want to get a great health boost because of their Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Potassium, and other great vitamins and minerals- plus they’re tasty! This salad is easy to make with only sweet potatoes, quinoa, spinach, black beans, and an avocado.