5-Ingredient Healthy Meals That Are Simple, Fast & Cheap
Today I'm going to show you some 5-ingredient healthy meals. Sometimes I get really overwhelmed when I use a recipe with a long list of ingredients. The fewer ingredients a dinner has, the better.
I'm really busy so I need simple and fast recipes. I do use a few prepackaged products like seasoning packets, jars of salsa, and readymade chicken. I'm trying to make things as easy on myself as possible. While homemade can taste a lot better and might be a bit cheaper, sometimes convenience wins out. Feel free to make your own ingredients if that’s what you prefer.
Secondly, feel free to use your own spices. As I said, I used chili seasoning packets and a ranch packet. You can easily make your own spice mixtures out of all the seasonings that you have at home. I do get overwhelmed by looking at a huge ingredient list of spices, so if I can condense all of it into a single packet or a bottle, it works for me.
Lastly, you don't have to contain each recipe to just five ingredients. I kept it to five because it was easier but if you wanted to add extra things, like different vegetables or cheese, feel free to add those.
1. Breakfast fried rice
The first recipe we're going to make is Breakfast Fried Rice. The ingredients are eggs, olive oil, rice, sausage, and a frozen veggie blend. Cook the rice according to the instructions.
Then, add olive oil and the frozen vegetables in a large pan. I cut my sausage into small pieces, added it to the pan, and cooked it with the vegetables.
I also added some salt and pepper and garlic powder. Technically, now this is more than five ingredients if you count seasonings. I cracked the eggs into a bowl. I also added salt and pepper to them, and then I whisked them together. I made some space in the pan.
Then I added the eggs and scrambled them right along with everything. This took about five minutes.
After the rice was done, I added it to the pan and mixed everything together. You can serve them for breakfast, you can serve them for dinner. It's full of fiber, protein, and vegetables.
2. Chickpea curry
The next recipe is chickpea curry. The ingredients are rice, chickpeas, coconut milk, curry powder, and frozen stir-fried veggies. I rinsed my rice with water, put it inside my rice cooker, and filled it with water or broth. I added curry powder.
In a large pot, I added the chickpeas, coconut milk, and an extra can of water because I like mine to be a little bit more soup-like. Then I added the frozen veggies, curry powder, salt, and pepper. I heated it up to boiling and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.
Once that was done, the rice was finished up as well. This recipe is amazing in regard to meal prep. It only took 30 minutes to make everything. You can make enough for lunch for the next week, or even to eat as dinner.
Curry is one of my favorites. I can add anything I want to it, and it won't go wrong.
3. Black bean soup
The next recipe is black bean soup. I use black beans, salsa, garlic, taco seasoning, and cilantro. It's a very simple soup.
I added the drained and rinsed cans of beans to a pot and then the garlic, salsa, and taco seasoning. Then I added four cups of water. Feel free to add anything else that you want to add.
I heated this to boiling. I let it simmer for about 15 minutes, and then it was done. I put some cilantro on top. If you wanted to add extra stuff, you could add some shredded cheese and sour cream on top. Tortilla chips would be tasty as well.
4. Greek chicken pitas
This next recipe is Greek Chicken Pitas. I used shredded chicken, cucumber, tzatziki, Greek seasoning, and pitas. This will only take five minutes to put together if your chicken is already cooked.
The first thing I did was peel and dice the cucumber and put it in a large bowl. Since this is only a five-ingredient dinner, cucumber was the only vegetable I added, but so many other things can go well in it.
I added the chicken, the tzatziki sauce, and the Greek seasoning. I mixed all of that together, and that makes the filling for the pitas.
Next, I cut the pita in half and filled both pieces with the chicken filling.
On the side, I had some frozen broccoli that I heated in the microwave.
This makes a really large dinner. It was amazing. It could do with some more vegetables, like tomatoes, maybe even some spinach. But even just the way it was, it turned out really good.
5. Salsa verde chicken
The last recipe is salsa verde chicken. We’ll need chicken, salsa Verde, taco seasoning, jalapenos, and Greek yogurt. I put the chicken in a pot and added the salsa, jalapenos, and taco seasoning. I heated the pot and let it simmer for about 15 minutes, and that was it.
I'm using already-cooked chicken here, so if you want to buy a rotisserie chicken, you could easily shred it off the bone and use it for a straightforward, easy way to make it.
After the mixture is heated, I took the pot off the heat and added the yogurt. The yogurt adds more protein and makes this dish super creamy. I added it to a bowl with rice, cilantro, and lime. You could also put it on a salad or in burritos.
5-ingredient healthy meals
Those are my five recipes with five ingredients in each. They are so easy to make, and they taste delicious and have plenty of nutrients. Leave me a comment and let me know which one of these is your favorite.
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Yes, ty
Interested in trying these for sure! I would really like to know how much of the ingredients that you added. How much yogurt did you use? I love rice but my husband prefers noodles so I'm going to try to sub those for even a variation. Thanks so much for sharing!