19 Simple, Healthy, and Wholesome Winter Dinner Ideas

Winter can feel like a tough season for cooking for me, with grey days and chilly air. Sometimes, coming up with healthy winter dinner ideas is daunting when all I want to do is drink hot tea and curl up under a blanket with a good book! Seriously, if I could just hibernate all winter with a stack of reading material from the library, I think I’d be pretty happy!

We are currently in the heart of winter here in New Zealand, and as I write this post, it is pouring down rain outside and the wood stove is trying to heat the corner of our living room. I’m in a wool sweater and down vest, and my fingers are still chilly! In my semi-hibernation mode, I fall back on some of our favorite meal ideas for healthy winter dinners.

In case anyone else out there also enters semi-hibernation in the winter, here are a list of our favorite winter dinners. I’ve divided them into four categories for organization purposes. You could use a different category for four different nights of the week and make enough for leftovers and basically have an entire monthly meal plan with just these dinner ideas if you wanted to!

Healthy Winter Dinner Ideas Category #1: Bowls

Basic components: grain/starch, protein, veggies, sauce

Bowls are a favorite in our house because the ratios are customizable. I have one child who loves meat, and another who is more into grains. And yet another child finds getting through some vegetables challenging. In our house, we have a “free pass” food for each person. (Each child is allowed to choose one food item they never have to eat. At the moment, I think all three food-eating kids have mushrooms as their chosen pass food. But they are allowed to change their free pass food about every 6 months).

So other than that one food item, everyone has to at least try the food I serve. But we do try to customize a bit to help the meals go down easier. Thus, bowls are a handy option!

Basic ingredients to have on hand for bowls:

• rice or quinoa
• fresh produce or some frozen mixed vegetable options
• meat such as beef or chicken, and/or dried beans such as black beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, etc.
• Raw cashews.

Burrito Bowl:

This is a basic bowl dinner with rice, beans, roasted veggies, and a salsa-ish sauce. Here are some common variations of our winter burrito bowls:

• Brown Rice
• Black beans or kidney beans. I slow cook dried beans in the crock pot for frugality and reduction in recyclable containers purposes. Usually I put 2 cups of dried beans in the crockpot first thing in the morning, add 2-3 liters of water, and let them cook until dinner. Black beans I cook on low, kidney beans I cook on high.
• Roasted veggies are usually whatever we have on hand that needs to be used up, but some common options are typical winter veggies: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, butternut squash, and pumpkin. Toss with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper – cumin or paprika if desired.
• Salsa sauce. I blend a can of diced tomatoes, a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of crushed garlic, the juice of one lemon, and 1/2 cup of cashews until smooth. It makes a creamy, salsa-flavored sauce. If you have cilantro essential oil or frozen cilantro, that’s nice to add as a little extra flavor.

Teriyaki Bowl

Another simple dinner using whatever we’ve got on hand by way of fresh produce. I typically use:

• Brown Rice (or, you could always use quinoa or white rice as well)
• Meat or beans. I’d use chickpeas or kidney beans for this one. Chicken or beef would work on the meat side. As a special treat, we use baked salmon.
• Roasted veggie options are similar to what I use for burrito bowls. I like roasted veggies best because the flavor and texture is my favorite. If I don’t have any fresh produce to use, I will dump a bag of frozen mixed veggies or stir fry mix onto a baking sheet, and then roast that. But you could also steam it or microwave it!
• Teriyaki Sauce. I typically throw together some soy sauce, honey or brown sugar, garlic, and ginger and a bit of water. If you want a more authentic experience, you can cook it (with a bit of water and corn starch) to thicken it. For a less traditional option, blend it with cashews. I don’t have a specific recipe I use, but here’s one for a quick stove cooked option.

Peanut Sauce Bowl

This is another variation on the same theme as above!

• Rice or Quinoa
• Meat or beans
• Roasted, Steamed, or Microwaved Veggies
• Peanut Sauce. I like to mix peanut butter, coconut milk, soy sauce, brown sugar, curry powder, and garlic. Salt to taste. I cook it on the stove top to make it warm. If you have some red thai curry paste, that would go nicely in it. Here’s a simple recipe.

Creamy Balsamic Bowl

And yet another variation on the healthy winter bowl dinner:

• Rice or Quinoa
• Meat or beans
• Roasted, Steamed, or Microwaved Veggies
• Creamy Balsamic Sauce. Blend 1/2 cup cashews, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegrette, 6-8 dried dates, 1 cup water, 1/2 tsp crushed garlic, 1/4 onion or 2 Tbsp green onions, and salt and pepper to taste. Let it sit for a few minutes to thicken up.

Healthy Winter Dinner Ideas Category #2: Soups

Basic components: protein, carbohydrate, veggies, liquid

Soups are a very common healthy winter dinner in our house. I love making them in the crockpot for simplicity. It’s pretty easy to chop a couple veggies and throw everything into a crock pot in the morning while I’m homeschooling, and then let it slow cook all day before serving up a hot meal for dinner. Since I make a simple sourdough loaf several times per week, we usually have fresh bread on hand to serve with soup. If I want to make the meal a little more fancy, I’ll go to the effort of making fresh focaccia bread.

I usually don’t follow recipes too specifically, particularly when it comes to the vegetables. Whatever I have on hand is fair game, and soup is a great way to use up produce that needs to be used quickly!

Usually, I try to make soup in big batches, and then we’ll eat it for dinner, and I’ll freeze some for a meal later, and I often have enough still leftover for a second meal (either lunch or dinner) later in the week.

Basic ingredients to have on hand for soups:

• Broth or stock. This could be anything from homemade bone broth (I make this after roasting a whole chicken, and then freeze in 1 or 2 liter zip bags flat-packed) to stock cubes.
• Seasonal produce. Cabbage, onions, and carrots are usually cheap. Broccoli and cauliflower are also often cheap. I grow kale and parsley in my garden beds, and they do well in my winter weather. Sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and butternut squash often have sales in the winter, and they store pretty well for awhile.
• Meat or dried beans. To avoid buying cans of beans and then having to deal with a whole bunch of cans, I usually buy dried beans (way cheaper), and then cook them in big batches in my slow cooker overnight. In the morning, I drain the beans, rinse them, let them cool, and then bag them up in 2 cup quantities and freeze them flat-packed for use in soups and casseroles.
• The starch or grain is usually more specific to the soup – options include pasta, potatoes, barley, and rice.

Some of our favorite healthy winter soups for dinner include:

Beef Minestrone Soup

I use browned ground beef and some kind of bite size pasta. I like to add beans of some kind (typical options include cannellini, baking beans, black eyed, chickpeas, lentils, etc). And lots of veggies. Some common options for me include kale and parsley (they grow well in my garden beds during the winter), carrots, broccoli, cabbage, onion, leek, celery, cauliflower, mushrooms, and sweet potatoes. I also like to throw in some canned, diced tomatoes. Flavorings include garlic, onion powder, Italian seasoning, just a shake or two of cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper. I also like a bit of extra dried basil and rosemary included as well. For broth, I’ll use whatever I have handy – chicken, beef, or veggie.

Beef Barley

Sometimes I use ground beef, and sometimes I use stew meat. My favorite for a texture is stew meat, but both give a good flavor. For veggies I used canned tomatoes, and if I have it on hand, tomato juice as well. Onions, celery, cabbage, and carrots are also on my preferred list. I’ve also been known to throw in leeks, kale, parsley, and/or broccoli and cauliflower. For flavoring I like garlic, onion powder, and basil and dill. The starch is obviously barley (barley expands a LOT, so go light on the quantity as it will usually triple or quadruple in quantity!). If I have beef broth, that’s my preference, but if I don’t, then chicken or veggie work as well.

Creamy, Spicy Vegetable Lentil Soup

For a slightly spicy, vegetable rich, vegetarian soup, this creamy vegetable lentil soup is one of my favorites! Originally I developed the recipe for postpartum, but it’s become a bit of a staple in our house since it is so nutrient packed and immune supportive it’s a great winter option.

The protein is red lentils, the starch is sweet potatoes, it’s made creamy with coconut milk, and vegetables include kale, parsley, onion, and mushrooms. But you could easily add in additional vegetables. And for flavoring, it includes paprika, garlic, ginger, curry, cinnamon and red chili pepper or cayenne pepper. To keep it vegetarian, use vegetable broth. Otherwise, chicken or beef broth is fine, and bone broth will add an extra kick to the nutrition content.

Chicken Fajita

This is an easy healthy winter dinner crockpot soup meal. I throw 2 chicken breasts, some beans (kidney beans or black beans work well), red bell peppers (frozen work well if they aren’t in season), some frozen corn, chopped onion, and something orange for color (carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, or butternut squash). I also like to put in 2 cans or chopped tomatoes. For flavoring I add garlic, paprika, cumin, and if you want, some chipotle or cayenne pepper. For broth, chicken is ideal, but beef or vegetable would work too. If you want a bit more nutrition kick, you can add chopped kale or chopped spinach. Let it cook all day, then dig through the soup to shred the chicken. If you have it on hand, add a cup or two of cooked rice, or chop up some corn tortillas and throw them in to soften 20 minutes before you serve it. Or just serve it with corn chips. We like to have grated cheese and sour cream (or plain greek yogurt or cashew cream) on hand for serving.

Veggie Taco Black Bean Soup

A versatile vegetarian soup, this has been a healthy winter dinner go-to in our house for years. I usually make it in a crock pot. I throw in dried black beans, 2-3 liters of broth, a couple cans of chopped tomatoes, 2 chopped onions, some salt, garlic, cumin, and paprika. We like sliced black olives because we’re olive fans in this house. Frozen corn and chopped red bell pepper are great additions. And I will toss in finely chopped cabbage to bulk it up. Pumpkin or butternut squash are nice in it, and this is a great dish to use up leeks. I have also been known to add chopped kale to add some greens to it. Once all the veggies are in it, I like to add enough water to bring the liquid level up to about 1.5 inches below the lid. The beans will absorb a lot of liquid as they cook.

Let it cook all day on low, and taste test to see if it needs more salt or pepper. Serve with corn tortilla chips, sour cream (or greek yogurt or cashew cream – which is raw cashews blended with water, lemon juice, salt, and a bit of garlic), and grated cheese.

Chunky Pumpkin Sausage Soup

This chunky pumpkin sausage soup was a recipe some friends of ours shared with us a few years ago, and it is delicious! It uses some different ingredients than many of my other common, go-to soup options. The starch is potatoes (or sweet potatoes), and the protein is sausage (we’ve used ground sausage, chorizo, and various other sausages, such as chicken and leek or other “gourmet” type sausages). It calls for pureed pumpkin or a can of pumpkin, and coconut soup. It also calls for apples, onions, mushrooms, and kale. Seasoned with cinnamon, garlic, and ginger – and I like a shake or two of cayenne pepper in it – it is creamy and chunky and warming and delicious. Really delicious. I usually serve it with fresh sourdough bread.

Healthy Winter Dinner Ideas Category #3: Toasts/Sandwiches

Basic components: bread, protein, sauce, veggies

Since we are sourdough makers around here, we usually have a good supply of bread on hand. As a result, one of our easy and healthy winter dinner categories revolves around sourdough bread! If I don’t find a way to put vegetables in the sandwich or toasty recipe, I’ll just serve it with a side salad or steamed or roasted veggies. Roasted cabbage is a favorite, as is roasted broccoli and cauliflower. Chopped kale makes the base for tasty salads (with grated carrot and a lemon dressing, or with pumpkin seeds and craisins with a balsamic dressing, etc). And kale is easy to chop up early and it will hold well until dinner.

Of course, if it’s a really busy day and I need a really simple side, carrots sticks and apple slices work well!

Basic ingredients to have on hand for toasts/sandwiches:

• Bread. We prefer my homemade sourdough. I don’t remember the last time I bought a loaf of bread, we just make it! I use a 50/50 ratio of whole wheat flour to all purpose flour for added fiber and nutritional benefit
• There’s a different protein for each of these meal options. So watch the sales at your grocery store and snag something when it is on sale: bacon, chicken, beef roast, or cans of tuna. I always have dried chickpeas in my cupboard, but you could use canned chickpeas as well.
• Frozen mixed veggies. We like an oriental stir fry mix with broccoli, green beans, bell peppers, and cauliflower. Or the classic carrots, peas, and beans mix. Or just frozen broccoli or a frozen broccoli/cauliflower combo.
• Mayo. Needed for several of these meal ideas!

Saucy Chickpea Pizza Toasties

I first made this saucy, cheesy chickpea melt recipe when my sister and two of her friends were visiting us here in New Zealand. It was so good. I mean, seriously, we were all astounded by how delicious it was! It was sort of like pizza on garlic toast… or lasagna on garlic toast… the flavors were all there. It was so satisfying! Sourdough bread gets toasted, and chickpeas, tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, and greens get cooked together with garlic and Italian seasoning. Spoon the bean mixture onto the toast, add grated cheese, and broil until golden brown. Since there are greens in the chickpea sauce mixture, you don’t have to add extra vegetables. But if you want to, frozen mixed veggies or steamed broccoli and cauliflower would be nice.

Coronation Chicken Sandwiches

The idea of coronation chicken was introduced to me by a British friend (hey, Nai!). This is my version, since I don’t usually have mango chutney on hand. It may completely shock any Brits reading this, but I’m going to run with it! I like to cook a whole chicken (which I buy in the freezer section at our local grocery store) in the crock pot, let it cool a bit, and then pull all the meat off of it and toss the carcass into a big stock pot to make chicken stock. The meat then works for whatever meals I need it to – and one of my go-to’s is a saucy-chicken sandwich spread type option.

Coronation chicken has diced chicken, mayo or greek yogurt, curry powder, cinnamon, and raisins. The classic version has mango chutney. I’ve left that out. Salt and Pepper to taste. Serve it on fresh sourdough bread with lettuce, or serve as an open face toastie with a side salad or steamed frozen veggies.

Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado Sandwiches

A twist on the classic BLT sandwiches. We have local avocado trees that produce avos in December and June, and tomatoes are ridiculously expensive in New Zealand in the winter. So I swap out the tomatoes for avocados! On the rare occasion that I cook bacon for breakfast, I try to make a bunch extra and plan to have these sandwiches for dinner. There’s something so satisfying about the crunch of bacon, the creaminess of the avos, and the fresh burst of lettuce. On fresh sourdough spread with mayo, this is a very satisfying sandwich! Serve with a side salad, such as a kale option, or frozen mixed veggies.

Roast Beef Sandwiches

My absolute favorite way to eat beef roast! I’ll toss a roast into the slow cooker, add a bit of steak seasoning and a little water, and let it slow cook all day. If I’m feeling fancy, I’ll use the drippings to make a homemade au jus. Slices of fresh sourdough bread, mayonnaise, and shredded beef make an awesome sandwich on their own. Dipped in au jus, it’s pretty divine! This is another meal where I’ll serve a side salad or microwave some frozen mixed veggies to go with the meal and get our vegetables into the menu.

Tuna Toasties

A classic cheap dinner option. My mom used to make a cream sauce, add cans of drained tuna, bake some buttermilk biscuits, and serve the tuna/gravy spooned over the biscuits sprinkled with grated cheese. Since I usually have sourdough bread on hand and making biscuits feels like more work than slicing sourdough, I do the same thing but serve it on sourdough.

For the gravy/cream sauce, I put a couple tablespoons of butter in a frying pan and melt it. I add a few tablespoons of flour and a teaspoon or two of garlic and cook on medium until the flour starts to slightly brown. I’ll whisk in some milk (dairy or non dairy – or blended cashews and water if needed), add a couple drained cans of tuna, and season with salt and pepper. Finely chopped kale added until it wilts, and a good handful of grated cheese sprinkled over the top. Toast or broil the bread to keep the assembled open face sandwiches from getting soggy.

Healthy Winter Dinner Ideas Category #4: Casseroles

Basic Components: Starch, protein, veggies, sauce/binder

I grew up going to a church that had regular potlucks, and casseroles were a staple of the potluck menu! They were delicious, but also, they were usually heavy, creamy dishes loaded with starch that was minimal on the nutritional content. As an idea, they’re fantastic for feeding a family: you can make them in advance, freeze them easily, and with the right ingredients, they can be sort of a one-pot-wonder meal! I prefer to keep my casseroles on the healthier/lighter side. Sour cream usually does NOT appear on my casserole’s ingredients list!

Basic ingredients to have on hand for casseroles:

It’s hard to give a specific list for this one because these casseroles are all so different! Cheese is probably the common ingredient, but even then, you don’t have to have it! I feel like casseroles can be made from whatever you have on hand, as long as you have a way to bind ingredients together. But one of the great things about casseroles is they often can be made with leftovers: leftover kumara, leftover chicken and rice, leftover roasted veggies, leftover cooked beans, etc. So this is another place where batch cooking comes in handy. I’ll often cook extra rice or extra veggies or roast extra sweet potatoes or regular potatoes so I’ve got ingredients on hand to work with. The options are pretty endless!

Kumara Mexican Pile Up Casserole

We love Mexican inspired food, and we love sweet potatoes (we call them kumara here in New Zealand). I usually make this healthy winter dinner with leftover baked sweet potatoes, so next time you’re making sweet potatoes, just roast extra! Or cook them the night before while you’re doing dishes and let them cool overnight. I chop up the kumara and layer them in the bottom of a greased casserole dish. Sprinkle a little grated cheese over the top of that.

In a saucepan, combine cooked black beans (or canned black beans), chopped red bell pepper (frozen is fine), chopped spinach (frozen is fine), a can of diced tomatoes, a chopped onion, a spoonful of crushed garlic, some cumin and paprika and salt and pepper. Or taco seasoning. Sautee together until the veggies have softened.

Spoon over the chopped kumara and grated choose. Top with some additional grated cheese. Pop the dish into the oven and bake for 30 minutes at 350 or until the cheese is golden and melty. Serve with veggies of choice (roasted or steamed frozen broccoli and cauliflower is nice)

Creamy Chicken, Rice, and Veggie Casserole

My mom has made a variation of this recipe for ages, and it’s one of my favorites! Made with mayo, it is a bit heavier than I would do every day for a healthy winter dinner option, but it makes a nice comfort meal. It is also dairy-free, which is handy because many casseroles do call or dairy of some kind.

Chop some broccoli, celery and onion and sautee just until starting to soften. Mix the veggies with leftover, pre-cooked cubed chicken. Toss in a few cups of leftover brown rice. Spoon some big scoops of mayo and a couple tablespoons of mustard. Mix it all together and season with salt and pepper. Spread into a greased casserole dish and bake at 350 for 30-ish minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown.

Quiche

Quiche can be a great healthy winter dinner option, particularly to use up leftovers. I usually make a crustless quiche for ease, although quiche with homemade crust is delicious! I love the Minimalist Baker Coconut Oil Pie Crust. But I don’t worry about a crust when I don’t have time.

Grease a pie dish and preheat the oven to 400. Drop in leftover roasted veggies (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, pumpkin, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, etc). Chop up some kale and sprinkle it in. Grate some cheese and sprinkle it on top of the veggies (usually about 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups). Mix up 8-10 eggs, and add a cup and a half of milk. Whisk in 3-4 Tbsp flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. You can also mix in a little mustard if desired for extra flavor. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the veggies and cheese, and bake for 40 minutes. Check for doneness (a knife inserted in the middle should come out clean). Keep baking by 5-10 minute intervals until the quiche is done. Depending on the veggies I used, I may serve this as a solo dish for dinner, or serve with slices of sourdough bread and steamed veggies.

Vegan Cottage Pie

I have used the Minimalist Baker’s 1 Hour Vegan Shepherd’s Pie recipe for years, and we love it! But it takes me more than an hour to make if I do it all in one go, and it tends to make a LOT of dirty dishes to deal with!

So my big tip to streamline it would be to use leftover mashed potatoes or make them the day before in advance. I use nondairy milk and coconut oil and salt pretty successfully for dairy-free mashed potatoes. Hot tip, I don’t peel my potatoes. I just chop them up and boil them with the peels on. We don’t mind having some potato skins mixed into our mashed potatoes, and then we’re getting the nutrients of the potato skins.

Then it’s just a matter of making the lentil-based sauce (with tomato paste, vegetable stock, onions, and a bag of frozen mixed veggies), layering it into the casserole dish, spooning the mashed potatoes on top, and heating it through.

You can top with cheese if you want (making it non-vegan, obviously), or just leave as is. It’s delicious!

19 Healthy Winter Dinner Ideas Wrap Up: Be Creative!

As a final thought, my encouragement if you are feeling stuck on winter dinner ideas is to take one of these ideas and run with it… But, please, feel free to adapt! Work with the produce you have on hand that is cheap or needs to be eaten up. Make sauces from ingredients that are in your cupboard that you think might work together. Season with what you have. Of course, it’s nice to be able to recreate meals, which is what recipes are for, but sometimes leftovers and using up what needs to be cooked or eaten actually results in even BETTER meals. The worst that can happen is something might taste a little weird. But then you’ve learned something that doesn’t work too well, and you’ll have a better chance at making a new family favorite next time.

Let me know in the comments below if any of these four categories are a staple in your home, and what variations you love!