Five 15 Minute Tasty and Healthy Meals

Nobody should have to sacrifice flavour or nutrition in the quest to have dinner on the table in a quarter of an hour. Read on for handy tips and tasty recipes.

As with anything in life, when it comes to cooking healthy and delicious meals in less time than it would take to ring for a pizza, there will have to be some trade-offs. You may need to invest a little extra time and money to start, in order to have cheap, filling and nutritious ingredients at hand whenever you need them.

This may involve buying ingredients such as rice or pasta in bulk, spending an hour at the end of a week to chop all your vegetables for the week ahead, making and freezing basic tomato sauces in batch, and so on. Depending on how ambitious you are with your cooking, you may want to invest in some good quality pans and knives to make your time in the kitchen easier and more efficient.

Cooking is something that gets easier the more you do it. Don’t be disheartened if a recipe that you thought would take 10 minutes ends up taking longer. Once you get the hang of certain techniques and begin to understand how to make shortcuts without skimping on flavour, cooking quick recipes will get easier and faster.

It’s not often that this advice will be doled out quite so cheerily, but it makes sense in this instance: let go of your ambition. If you’re hungry, strapped for time, and want to make yourself something that won’t taste like cardboard, won’t break the bank, and won’t make you feel terrible, you may have to lower your expectations. That’s not to say you can’t make something quick and tasty – but don’t expect a sumptuous three-course banquet every time. Simple meals can be just as impressive.

A stir fry is one of the easiest and quickest meals to make, but may conjure up memories of mushy vegetables paired with undercooked noodles and overcooked chicken, promptly drowned in a vat of soy sauce. Your stir-fry does not need to be that way. One important element of a stir-fry meal – or any other meal, for that matter – is that taking it from just-edible to delicious in a short space of time must involve concentrating on flavour.

You can’t just throw a bunch of vegetables, protein and noodles in a pan with no seasoning, cook it for a few minutes and expect results. A good solid base flavour for most stir-fries will be a combination of garlic, ginger and chilli. If you don’t have time to fiddle around peeling and chopping these ingredients, try buying them prepared, or chopping a lot at once and storing it in a jar of oil in your fridge.

The basic components of any stir-fry are vegetables, noodles, and a protein. Noodles can be swapped for rice, couscous, quinoa, or something similar, and the protein is optional. Popular options include chicken, prawns, and tofu. A strict recipe is not needed for a stir-fry, as you can just assemble it using whatever you have to hand.

1. Chicken Stir-Fry

grilled chicken with vegetables

For an easy basic recipe, try diced chicken breast, sliced mushrooms, sugar snap peas, sliced peppers, and egg noodles. Heat some oil with a high smoke point in a wok. Cook the chicken and set to one side. Add chilli, garlic and ginger to the pan and fry for a minute until aromatic. Add vegetables and cook quickly while stirring often. Add cooked noodles and chicken to the pan, mix everything together, and add soy sauce and lime juice. A stir-fry is very adaptable, and you can swap out the chicken for any other protein, choose whichever vegetables you have around, and use a different kind of noodle or grain.

It’s also easy to make more stir-fry than you need, and store the rest to eat the next day, taking tomorrow’s dinner prep time from 15 minutes to 5, as it only needs to be reheated!

Some people tend to view a sandwich as more of a snack than a meal – something you eat on the go, only when you are desperate for food. Sandwiches can be so much more than that. Stuffing some delicious ingredients between two slices of bread can be a wonderful way to make a good meal.

To make it a meal rather than an appetite stop-gap, you will have to go for something more substantial than a single slice of ham or cheese topped with some soggy lettuce. Still, that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice the healthy element in the process.

2. Chickpea, Carrot and Peanut Pitta Sandwich

A chickpea, carrot and peanut pitta bread sandwich will be popular with vegetarians, vegans and carnivores alike. It is a breeze to put together, is made of inexpensive ingredients, and packs a real punch nutritionally. The filling is a simple combination of chickpeas, carrot, and peanuts with sesame oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Depending on what texture you want, you can either use whole chickpeas or roughly mash them with a fork, grate the carrot or thinly slice it, and use whole or roughly chopped peanuts. Heat your pitta bread under the grill for a minute, then fill it with the mixture, and enjoy.

3. Ham, Cheese and Vegetable Toasted Sandwich

sandwhich with ham and tomato

For a more decadent and substantial warm sandwich, try some sliced ham and a sprinkle of cheese warmed up under the grill, or toasted in a sandwich press. To round it out nutritionally and add some texture and flavour, you could try adding some grilled vegetables such as aubergine, courgette or mushroom before you grill or press it.

Salads aren’t just for the side of your plate. You can make a salad into an entire meal, which will be full of exciting flavours, very easy to put together, and good for you as well. A basic cold salad can be thrown together from ingredients gathered from the fridge and cupboard, but even a more adventurous warm salad only requires a little extra effort.

For a cold salad, start with mixed leaves, then add chopped vegetables. Then it’s time to have fun and choose what you want on your salad. Meat, beans, pasta, egg, cheese, grains, nuts, fish… anything you want, or anything you can whip up in a few minute’s time.

4. Greek Salad

A Greek-style salad is a classic for a reason: it’s simple, healthy, and the flavours really work together. Start with a mild flavoured salad leaf such as romaine lettuce, and add cherry tomatoes, chopped cucumber and sliced red onion. Top with cubed feta cheese and olives, and finish with a simple vinegar and oil dressing.

5. Warm Halloumi Salad

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Warm halloumi salad can be a delicious and filling meal that only requires 15 minutes in the kitchen. Start with a base of watercress, spinach and rocket. The strong, peppery flavours complement the mild, creamy halloumi perfectly. While your griddle pan is heating up, dice a combination of deseeded tomato, cucumber, red onion, and celery, and mix with a splash of balsamic vinegar.

Fry slices of halloumi in a small amount of oil, allowing the cheese to become just slightly squidgy. Leave the halloumi to rest for a minute as you sprinkle your chopped vegetables over the salad leaves. Arrange the cheese on top of the salad, and enjoy with a slice of crusty bread. For a more potent flavour, try rubbing the halloumi with a sweet chilli marinade before frying.

Curries may bring to mind the idea of meat being cooked over a low heat for hours until the aroma fills the entire house. If you crave curry flavours but lack the time and patience, then try a quick-cooked vegetable curry instead. This recipe is ideal if you have some frozen vegetables, or leftover cooked vegetables.

15-Minute Vegetable Curry

Start by frying chopped garlic, ginger and chilli in a little butter or oil. Add diced onion and sprinkle on some turmeric and cumin, and cook until the onion has softened and everything smells delicious. If you have some frozen or pre-cooked vegetables, the rest of the recipe will come together in minutes.

Vegetables that go well in curry include cauliflower, mushrooms, carrot, broccoli, peas and potatoes. Add your vegetables to the pan, and pour some passata over them before turning up the heat. If you are using pre-cooked vegetables, you will only need to cook them for around a minute longer.

If you are using frozen, you will need to cook them until they are defrosted and warmed through. Taste the sauce and add spices as desired.

As rice can take a long time to cook, serve this curry with couscous instead. All you need to do to prepare your couscous is pour some boiling water over it, cover it, and let it stand for a few minutes before fluffing it with a fork, and adding butter and seasoning to suit your taste.

About the author

Emily

Reader, writer, blogger, part-timer, volunteer, all things to all men. I can usually be found wearing yellow clothes and drinking green tea. Some of my favourite things include waterfalls, polar bears, rum, and charity shops.

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