20+ 20-Minute Low-Calorie, Heart-Healthy Dinner Recipes

These dinner recipes are quick and delicious options to add to your rotation. Containing 575 calories or less per serving, these dinner recipes will help you reach your nutritional goals and they come together in just 20 minutes. They’re also made with nourishing ingredients like vegetables, whole grains and legumes while being lower in sodium and saturated fat, making them a great choice if you are looking to support heart health. You’ll want to try options like our Lemon-Garlic Pasta with Salmon and Superfood Grain Bowls for healthy and flavorful meals that come together fast.

Chickpea & Quinoa Grain Bowl

Robby Lozano


It seems grain bowls have as many variations as there are stars in the sky, and there is no wrong way to build one! But we prefer to keep things classic and simple with hummus, quinoa, avocado and loads of veggies!

Lemon-Garlic Pasta with Salmon

Wondering what to do with leftover salmon? This is a delicious and easy way to turn it into another weeknight-friendly, quick dinner. Don’t forget to reserve some pasta water—its starch thickens the lemon-garlic pasta sauce and makes it silky-smooth.

Stuffed Sweet Potato with Hummus Dressing

Ali Redmond


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

Vegan Superfood Grain Bowls

Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Margaret Monroe Dickey


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.

Veggie Wrap with Cilantro Hummus

These healthy multi-grain wraps are filled with mixed greens, chopped cucumber, tomato and red onion, as well as feta cheese and a homemade cilantro hummus. As a time saver, the hummus can be prepared up to 3 days ahead, and chilled until you’re ready to make the wraps.

Beef & Bean Sloppy Joes

This healthy copycat recipe of the comfort food classic trades beans for some of the meat to bump up fiber by 7 grams. We also cut back on the sugar and ketchup in this Sloppy Joe recipe makeover to save you 12 grams of added sugar.

Rainbow Grain Bowl with Cashew Sauce

This vibrant bowl is packed with nutrients to keep you full for hours. Look for precooked lentils in the refrigerated section of the produce department.

Green Goddess Salad with Chickpeas

In this cucumber, tomato, Swiss cheese and chickpea salad recipe, a healthy green goddess dressing is made from avocado, buttermilk and herbs. The extra dressing is delicious served with grilled vegetables.

Grilled Blackened Shrimp Tacos

Give juicy shrimp tacos a Cajun flavor spin with spices and a quick sear on a hot grill. An easy avocado mash adds creaminess to cool off the spicy kick.

Penne with Tuna & Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Need a quick pasta dish that’s flavorful and colorful? This penne pasta dinner-for-two combines leeks, baby spinach, tuna and sun-dried tomatoes—and it’s ready in just 20 minutes!

Pesto Shrimp Pasta

Using a packaged pesto sauce mix saves time in this 20-minute recipe with savory shrimp and orzo.

Black Bean-Queso Wraps

These easy wraps are filled with black beans, corn, red pepper and creamy queso. They cook up quickly in a panini press.

Chicken, Quinoa & Veggie Bowl

With a whopping 19 grams of protein, this one-dish meal will keep you feeling full and satisfied for hours.

Roasted Vegetable & Black Bean Tacos

These hearty vegan tacos are quick and easy to make, perfect for busy weeknights. They are so tasty no one will miss the meat or dairy.

Meal-Prep Curried Chicken Bowls

Curry doesn’t have to take hours to prepare. With the help of our sheet-pan meal-prep chicken (see associated recipe) and some cooked whole grains, you can make these meal-prep bowls in just a few minutes!

Pan-Seared Steak with Crispy Herbs & Escarole

This easy dinner takes just 20 minutes to prepare, meaning that seared steak can be a weeknight meal. Cooking herbs in the pan with the steak releases their aroma, infusing it into the meat while creating a crispy garnish.

Chicken with Ginger-Soy Vegetables & Brown Rice

This quick-and-easy meal combines crisp-tender vegetables, brown rice and chicken in a tasty ginger-soy sauce. Not in the mood for soy and ginger? No problem. We’ve included two simple variations with lemon and Italian flavorings.

Linguine with Creamy White Clam Sauce

Ripe tomato and fresh basil give this quick recipe tons of flavor. Serve this healthy pasta dinner with crusty garlic bread and steamed green beans.

Crunchy Chicken & Mango Salad

This Asian-inspired dinner salad has terrific crunch, thanks to sugar snap peas and napa cabbage. Give the dressing a kick of heat by adding a bit of sambal oelek, an Indonesian hot sauce that you can find in most large supermarkets and Asian grocery stores.

Poached Cod & Green Beans with Pesto

Using just one skillet, this easy fish recipe cooks cod right on top of fresh green beans and uses the same pan to make a flavorful sauce. The result is perfectly flaky fish, tender-crisp vegetables, a savory pan sauce and very little cleanup.

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