8 Quick and Easy Non Greasy Dinner Ideas
Some nights you want dinner, and you also want to feel fine an hour after eating it.
In my house that used to mean something sad and beige.
It really doesn’t have to.
Nothing here is fried, and none of it leans on a pan full of butter to taste like something.
1. Grilled Grouper with Oranges and Olives
Grouper fillets grilled with orange, olives, garlic, red onion and olive oil.
Fifteen minutes, serves six.
Grilling lets whatever fat is in the fish drip away, so none of it pools in a pan.
Grouper is firm enough not to fall through the grates, which is not true of every white fish.
The orange goes on raw at the end, in slices, and it does more than a squeeze of juice would.
2. Baked Cod with Tomatoes
Cod loin baked in a sauce of fresh tomato, shallot and garlic with olive oil and a little butter.
Thirty minutes, serves four.
The tomatoes break down into a light sauce as the fish cooks, so nothing needs thickening.
Bread on the side is worth having for what is left in the dish.
3. Cajun Butter Baked Cod
Cod baked with Cajun seasoning, garlic, lemon and a small amount of butter.
Fifteen minutes, serves four.
Cod is lean enough that a spoonful of butter is carrying the whole dish, which is the right balance here.
Pat the fillets dry before they go in the dish.
4. Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken, broth, egg noodles, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, thyme and chives.
Thirty minutes, serves four.
Broth soups are about as easy on the stomach as dinner gets.
Skim the fat off the top before you serve it, which takes thirty seconds and makes a noticeable difference.
Cook the noodles separately if you want leftovers, since they keep swelling in the broth overnight.
5. Easy Baked Salmon with Lemon-Garlic Butter
Salmon fillets with garlic, parsley, lemon juice and unsalted butter, in the oven.
Twenty minutes, serves four, with about five minutes of actual work.
Oven-baking is the gentlest way to cook salmon and the hardest to get wrong.
6. Crispy Parmesan Baked Cod
Cod under a crumb of breadcrumbs, Parmesan, pine nuts, garlic, lemon zest and butter, baked in the oven.
Twenty-two minutes, serves four.
The oven does what a fryer would, and the pine nuts toast in the crumb as it bakes.
Press the topping on firmly so it stays put when you lift the fillets out.
7. Panko-Crusted Baked Salmon
Salmon with a light panko, lemon and parsley crust held on with a thin layer of mayonnaise.
Twenty-eight minutes, serves four.
The mayonnaise is glue, not richness, and there is very little of it.
Panko stays crisp in a way ordinary breadcrumbs do not, so it is worth buying the right one.
8. Healthy Grain Bowls
Quinoa with poached chicken, avocado, carrot, cherry tomato, Persian cucumber and a dressing.
Twenty minutes of assembly for one bowl, with no cooking beyond the quinoa and the chicken.
Poached chicken has a reputation for being bland and that comes down to under-seasoning the water.
Salt it properly and it tastes like something.
Everything here is good cold, which makes it the easiest one to carry to work the next day.
Tips for Keeping Dinner Light
Baking, poaching, grilling and steaming all cook without adding fat, and between them they cover most proteins.
Acid does the job richness usually does, so lemon, vinegar and lime are worth reaching for.
Fresh herbs at the end add flavor with no weight at all.
Lean proteins like cod, grouper and chicken breast have a narrow window between done and dry, so a thermometer helps more here than anywhere else.
Thicken sauces with the cooking liquid or a little cornstarch, and leave the cream out.
Notes on Fat and Flavor
None of this means cooking without fat, and olive oil in a pan is not the problem.
Deep frying, heavy cream sauces and a lot of melted cheese are what make a meal sit heavily.
Where one of these recipes uses butter or mayonnaise, the amount is small and it is there for a reason.
Most of these are good for three days in a covered container, and the soup freezes for a month.
Reheat fish gently and briefly, because a second hard cook ruins it.