If you’re looking for some light and healthy mid-day meals, we have you covered!
This collection of amazing Healthy Lunch Ideas will have you chowing down happily, without any guilt!
Here you’ll find everything from soups to salads, make ahead meal prep ideas, lightened up versions of your favorites, and so much more!
Go through all of these wonderful healthy lunch ideas. We’re sure you’ll find some new favorites!
The Best Healthy Lunch Ideas:
1. Shrimp Foil Packets with Summer Veggies
We’re starting our list of healthy lunch ideas with these Shrimp Foil Packets. They are a delicious healthy lunch with all your favorite summer veggies.
Ready in just 12 minutes on your grill, campfire or even in the oven, this is great meal prep.
2. Greek Chicken Souvlaki
This Greek Chicken Souvlaki is beautifully marinated chicken bites, skewered and cooked to perfection.
All you need is some pita pockets and you are set for one delicious healthy lunch with all Mediterranean goodies like Greek salad with olives and tzatziki.
3. Tortellini Pasta Salad with Prosciutto
This gorgeous Tortellini Pasta Salad is one dish that looks as great as it tastes. It’s so quick and easy, yet such a crowd pleaser.
Whether you’re hosting a pot luck, or make it as a regular healthy lunch, it will be always hit.
4. Smoked Salmon Flatbread
This smoked salmon flatbread makes a great healthy lunch or light dinner that comes together in no time.
It has a great combination of flavors: cold smoked salmon, dill infused cream cheese, capers, fresh tomatoes, arugula and a nice squeeze of lemon juice. It’s like your bagels and lox taken to the next level!
5. Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Inspired by P.F. Chang, these quick and tasty chicken lettuce wraps are a sure crowd pleaser!
A great healthy lunch, no one will stop at just one…
6. Sesame Chicken Bowls
These Sesame Chicken Bowls are the easy answer to your Chinese food cravings. In less than half an hour, you can have your own, customizable dish that’s so much better than takeout.
They’re a breeze to make, and are a great healthy meal prep option to prepare in bulk. You’ll just love these leftovers for lunch.
7. Vietnamese Chicken Salad
This Vietnamese Chicken Salad is your bowl of vibrant freshness from crunchy veggies and loads of herbs.
In every bite there is a perfect combination of sweet, savory and tangy with the slightest hint of spice, thanks to their beloved Nuoc Cham dressing. Try this chicken salad in healthy avatar.
8. Balela Salad (Middle Eastern Bean Salad)
Let us present you Balela deliciousness!! So colorful, so easy, so refreshing… This hearty, colorful salad comes from many Middle Eastern countries and is bursting with flavors and textures.
This is one of our favorite meatless healthy lunch ideas.
9. TikTok Salmon Rice Bowl
This Salmon Rice Bowl is a great way to use leftovers, and it only takes moments to prepare.
If you have some leftover salmon and rice in the fridge, this is the best and easiest way to repurpose it for a quick and healthy lunch.
10. Shakshuka
Shakshuka – So much more than your regular eggs! With so much flavor from the herbs and spices, this Middle Eastern classic will become your favorite in no time.
Keep that crusty bread ready to scoop out this deliciousness.
11. Mediterranean Pasta
This Mediterranean Pasta is your new meatless lunch option. It’s super quick, like 20 minutes quick, and has great flavors the whole family will love.
With just a few simple ingredients, this easy and healthy lunch will be on the table in no time. And it’s also versatile. Missing an ingredient? No problem!
12. Sauteed Spinach and Potatoes (Aloo Palak)
If you are craving for Indian, try this easy and yet delicious vegetarian dish with spinach and potatoes.
You would need few Indian staple spices to make this quick Indian popular dish for lunch.
13. Farro Salad with Roasted Vegetables
This Farro Salad with Roasted Vegetables is one of my new favorite light lunches. It’s so refreshing, a perfect alternative to those summer burgers.
It’s a great make ahead dish, perfect for meal prep. And it goes great with a variety of proteins (we used shrimp this time), or you can skip them and go meatless.
14. Hawaiian Chicken Salad
Hawaiian Chicken Salad – Take a look at this colorful platter. It’s full of tropical flavors, a variety of textures, and it happens to be healthy.
This is a great summertime dish, when you want something light, yet satisfying.
15. Ground Turkey Tacos
These Ground Turkey Tacos are absolutely delicious, loaded with flavors. It’s all in the seasonings and plenty of toppings!!
Try this luscious, juicy ground turkey meat in between your favorite tacos, and make a very healthy, light meal out of your tacos. All this under in 20 minutes. Really? Read on…
16. Egg Roll Soup
This Egg Roll Soup is everything you dream about in your beloved egg roll, but in a cozy, delicious low carb soupified way. This is one of our favorite keto soup recipes!
17. Fall Pasta Salad
Who says pasta salad is just a summertime potluck thing? Our Fall Pasta Salad is brimming with all the best flavors of autumn.
Roasted veggies, crisp apples, sweet dried cranberries, and so much more. This is one of those salads where every bite brings a new combination of flavors.
18. Gado Gado (Indonesian Salad with Peanut Sauce)
Gado Gado is a famous salad out of Indonesia. It’s loaded with veggies, carbs and protein for a complete meal, and topped with the most amazing peanut dressing.
19. Rainbow Pasta Salad
We’re starting this pasta salad list with something which is basic, simple, easy, quick and yet so satisfying and delicious.
Make this colorful pasta for your everyday easy and healthy lunches.
20. Ground Turkey Chili
Ground Turkey Chili – When the temperatures start to dip, sometimes there’s nothing like a warm bowl of chili, loaded with your favorite toppings.
This lightened up version subs out the usual red meat in favor of ground turkey, and trust me, it’s just as delicious and satisfying.
21. Jennifer Aniston Salad
Tabbouleh getting a starry make over… That’s Jennifer Aniston Salad for you! A taste of Hollywood’s healthy living. Who wouldn’t want to dine like a Hollywood star?
Inspired by the famous Jennifer Aniston salad myth, this bulgur-based salad is a delightful combination of taste and wellness. Quick, easy and healthy..
22. Japchae
It’s a beautiful, stunning and colorful stir fry with chewy, slippery and fun sweet potato glass noodles (which are glutern-free) and tons of veggies.
Often served cold or at room temperature, it’s a great healthy lunch idea.
23. Moo Goo Gai Pan
Stir fries could be very healthy lunch option when cooked with chicken and loaded with veggies. Moo Goo Gai Pan is a restaurant favorite, where thinly sliced chicken stir frys with mushrooms and other veggies in a simple, yet flavorful sauce.
24. Summer Detox Chicken Buddha Bowl
Look at this healthy and delicious Summer Detox Chicken Buddha Bowl. This bowl is full of nutritious and filling ingredients, as well as bright colors and interesting textures.
Meal prep it ahead of time and save it for your midweek lunches!
25. Chicken Gyros
If you’re looking for a fun new meal, our Chicken Gyros recipe is just what you need! Perfectly marinated chicken is stuffed inside pitas with all the Greek fixings. Very healthy lunch ideas with Mediterranean theme.
26. Pasta Primavera
This pasta primavera recipe makes a dish that’s packed with vegetables, healthy and easy!
While it might sound like a summer dish, you can make it all year round, and you’ll want to thanks to its satisfying flavor and versatile ingredients.
27. Meal Prep Orange Chicken
How about juicy and tender chicken bites, cooked in a delicious sticky orange garlic teriyaki sauce? From this simple meal prep chicken, you can have your lunches so many ways.
Unlike take out, it’s not deep fried.
28. Arroz Chaufa (Peruvian Fried Rice)
Give your fried rice a South American makeover with this Arroz Chaufa recipe! A fusion of cuisines, this Peruvian fried rice is your easy healthy lunch idea to make from leftover rice already in your fridge.
With rice, protein and veggies, it can be a complete meal, or act as a flavorful side dish. The perfect way to use leftover rice, you can have this on the table in about 25 minutes!
29. Pasta e Piselli
This Pasta e Piselli recipe is perfect for those last minute lunches, when you want something tasty and comforting, without a lot of hassle.
A simple Neapolitan dish of Pasta and Peas, it’s a light one pot meal that you can have for your lunch in about 25 minutes.
30. Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
Well seasoned chicken and veggies all cook on a single baking sheet, and the end result is so succulent and delicious that you’ll want to make this recipe again and again.
Save this one for your hectic week days, it’s a game changer!
31. Egg Roll in a Bowl
It’s exactly what it sounds like – it’s egg roll in a bowl! This egg roll in a bowl recipe is the perfect way to get your takeout fix while staying on the healthy side.
You can make it with your choice of ground pork, ground turkey or chicken, and it makes an unbelievably tasty lunch.
32. Chicken Burrito Bowl Meal Prep
If you find yourself craving a Chipotle bowl, but you want to stay healthier and save some money, try this chicken burrito bowl recipe!
You’ll save calories and time, and you won’t even miss the bowls from the restaurants.
33. Menemen (Turkish Scrambled Eggs)
Menemen is your new scrambled eggs!! Hearty, vibrant, delicious eggs smothered beautifully in a simple yet lip smacking tomato + onion mixture with a few subtle seasonings.
Menemen coming to the table in a special pan called a ‘sahan’, accompanied by fresh, crusty bread is a pretty common sight anywhere in Turkey for a hearty breakfast, quick lunch or comforting dinner.
34. Hibachi Chicken
This restaurant style Hibachi Chicken dinner includes sautéed veggies and fried rice, along with tangy Yum Yum sauce, for a complete one pan meal.
35. Beef and Broccoli
Make lunch a breeze with our 25-minute Beef and Broccoli stir fry, packed with fresh broccoli and tender beef in a succulent umami sauce. Serve over steaming white rice for a satisfying and easy lunch.
So many awesome healthy lunch ideas! We hope you love them as much as we do!
Check out these other great recipe collections!
Cold Lunch Ideas
School Lunch Ideas
Soup Recipes
Sandwich Recipes
Lettuce Wrap Recipes
Light Dinner Ideas
35 BEST Healthy Lunch Ideas
This collection of easy Healthy Lunch Ideas will give you plenty of guilt free ways to enjoy your mid-day meal. We love this easy black bean soup:
Ingredients
- 3 15.5 oz cans black beans
- 1 14.5 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 small onion
- 2 bell peppers
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 1 Tbsp cumin powder
- Salt to taste
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil
Instructions
- Heat oil in pan over medium high heat.
- Chop onion, peppers and garlic. Add to heated pan and sauté 5 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients. Bring to low boil, reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes.
Welcome to GypsyPlate! I'm Alpana, former wordwide tour manager and professional caterer, now full time blogger. I love exploring cuisines from around the world, and my recipes have been featured on sites such as MSN, Parade, Brit + Co, CNET and AOL. You can explore my entire collection of sortable recipes in my Recipe Index or learn more about me here.
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