When the temperature dips and the days are short, it's time to warm up from the inside out. Winter time dinners from steaming soups, hearty one-pot meals, to family favorites like mac and cheese are the way to do just that.
Check out these seven recipes that use seasonal vegetables, healthy herbs, and include proteins from meat, dairy, and plant-based sources. There’s something for everyone.
Hearty Lentil Stew
This vegan stew is perfect for cold winter evenings and consists of green lentils, sweet potatoes, chickpeas , shallots, olive oil, vegetable stock, and fresh rosemary. You can follow this Delicious Magazine recipe by Silvia Colloca that takes around one hour from start to finish.
Healthy Turmeric Chicken Soup
This health boosting chicken soup is a winter must. It contains the winter veggies parsnips, carrots, and kale along with a healthy dose of turmeric. This recipe from The Roasted Root is delicious on any cold evening but it’s so full of immunity boosting benefits that you should whip some up any time you feel a cold coming on.
Instant Pot Chickpea Curry
If you have an instant pot, then you know how convenient it is to cook healthy meals in almost no time. This plant-based chickpea curry fromSharon Palmer is no exception. This simple recipe has just a few ingredients, chickpeas, canned tomatoes, spices, and whole grains. it’s easy enough to make on even your busiest day.
Broccoli Mac and Cheese
Trying to get kids to eat their veggies just got easier. That’s because this recipe from The Spruce Eats adds broccoli to the ultimate comfort food; mac and cheese. This one-pot meal is cooked on the stove. You just add the broccoli to the boiling pasta water.
Pumpkin Chili
Pumpkins are good for so much more than just pie. In fact, you can make just about anything out of pumpkin including chili. This recipe from The Pioneer Women gives chili a unique sweet flavor that balances with the spicy sausage (use turkey sausage to make this recipe even healthier), chili powder and cumin. This recipe takes less than an hour to prepare.
Easy French Onion Soup
This easy to make classic French onion soup recipe from The Spruce Eats is made with crisp bread and Gruyere cheese. This version uses condensed beef broth but you can make your own beef stock or substitute vegetable stock to make it a vegetarian meal. The soup only has five ingredients and is hardy enough to serve for dinner.