3 Healthy Meals You Can Prep in 30 Minutes

Look, sometimes you just want to prep and eat your food in 30 minutes. You don’t always want to go very fancy, you just want to prepare your meals and eat them quickly. So if you will like get your hands on 5 new meals that can be prepped in 30 minutes, keep reading!

Korean Beef and Quinoa Bowl from smilesandwich

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup quinoa, dry but rinsed
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground ginger
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar or coconut palm sugar
  • 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more if you like it spicy
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 2 green onions, thinly sliced

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Place the quinoa in a small stock pot and cover with 2 cups water or chicken stock. Bring to a full boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and let cook for 15 minutes.
  2. While the quinoa cooks, heat the oil in a large pan. Add the ground beef and brown completely. Drain most of the fat. Clear room in the pan to cook the garlic and ginger for about 1 minute or until fragrant.
  3. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.
  4. Add the soy sauce mixture to the ground beef and let cook for 3-5 minutes to allow the flavors to set.
  5. Once the quinoa is done, take off the heat and fluff with a fork. Serve beef over quinoa, top with green onion.

Garlic chicken, courgette and corn from Ifoodreal

For Chicken

  1. 1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1” pieces
  2. 1 tsp avocado oil
  3. 1 large garlic clove, crushed
  4. 1/4 tsp salt
  5. Ground black pepper, to taste

Zucchini and Corn:

  1. 1.5 lbs (3 medium) zucchini, cut into half moon shapes
  2. 2 cups corn, frozen or fresh
  3. 1 tsp avocado oil
  4. 1 large garlic clove, crushed
  5. 1/2 tsp salt
  6. Ground black pepper, to taste

Garnish

  1. 1 garlic clove, crushed (optional)
  2. 1/4 cup dill, parsley or green onions, chopped

Instructions

  1. Chicken: Preheat cast iron skillet on medium heat and swirl oil to coat. Add garlic and cook for 10 seconds. Then add chicken, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 8-10 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
  2. Zucchini and Corn: Cook the same way as chicken but for 5 minutes.
  3. Add chicken back to skillet and stir. Remove from heat, sprinkle with herbs and more garlic if you wish, stir. Serve hot or cold (I know!) with any salad or brown rice, quinoa, potatoes etc

Spicy Honey Lemon Chicken from Gimmesomeoven

INGREDIENTS

SKINNY HONEY LEMON CHICKEN INGREDIENTS:

  1. 1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless (raw) chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
  2. 3 tablespoons soy sauce (if making this gluten-free, be sure to use GF soy sauce)
  3. 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
  4. salt and pepper
  5. 1 tablespoon olive oil
  6. Honey Lemon Sauce (see below)
  7. optional toppings: toasted sesame seeds, thinly-sliced green onions, extra lemon zest, lemon slices

HONEY LEMON SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

  1. 3/4 cup chicken stock
  2. 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  3. 3 tablespoons honey (or more/less to taste)
  4. 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  5. zest of 1 lemon
  6. pinch of ground ginger
  7. (optional: sriracha, for heat) *edited*

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Combine the chicken, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar to a large ziplock bag, and toss until the chicken is evenly coated.  Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes, or up to 8 hours.
  2. When you are ready to cook the chicken, drain and transfer it to a separate plate.  Season the chicken on both sides with a few generous pinches of salt and pepper.  And in a separate bowl, whisk the honey lemon sauce ingredients together until combined.
  3. Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and saute for 5-7 minutes or until it is cooked through and no longer pink inside, stirring and turning the chicken occasionally for even cooking.  Transfer the chicken to a separate (clean) plate with a slotted spoon.
  4. Pour the (whisked) honey lemon sauce into the empty saute pan.  Cook over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes, or until the sauce reaches a low boil and thickens.  Add in some sriracha if you would like for extra heat, to taste.  (Feel free to also season with extra salt and pepper, or extra honey or lemon.)
  5. Add the chicken back into the pan and toss until it is evenly coated with the sauce.  Remove from heat and serve the chicken immediately, topped with optional toppings if desired.

So there you have it, 3 healthy and yummy meals to start prepping today! So which one are you starting with?