Healthy Meals for One You Can Make Any Night of the Week

You would think that the fewer people you have to cook for, the easier dinner would be.

Unfortunately, many of the healthy recipes you browse through online are made for a family of four or more. Individual weeknight dinner ideas are typically limited to grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, or cans of soup, none of which fulfill the health criteria or flavor excitement you had in mind.

Lucky for you, we assembled some healthy recipes you can prepare virtually any night of the week. From pesto risotto to stuffed sweet potatoes and single-serving chicken noodle soup, these recipes fill your body with nutrients without filling your refrigerator with leftovers.

Tips for Cooking for One

Chances are this meal prep routine sounds all-too-familiar: Make one recipe that serves six people. Eat the exact same thing for four days straight. Throw the remaining servings in the trash. Order takeout instead.

Rinse and repeat.

You don’t need to settle for eating the same boring meal every night of the week, nor do you have to resort to picking up a burrito bowl just to find something individually portioned. Try these tips to form healthy eating habits and keep the dining-out line items on your monthly budget kept to a minimum:

• Meal prep ingredients, not entire dishes: Rather than make enough Chicken Parmesan to feed a football team, simply prep your protein, then use it in a wide variety of chicken recipes. Create a chicken salad, an individual chicken stir-fry, and chicken smothered in tomato sauce to keep your meals exciting.
• Cut large recipes in half: We don’t advise you scale down a recipe with eight servings into a single serving, because that’s difficult to do and often leads to less-than-delicious results. However, cutting a recipe in half is a fairly easy feat. Take a recipe fit for four and make two servings, giving you one meal you can eat over two days (rather than the whole week).
• Buy single servings for protein: Most pre-packaged meat products weigh in at 1 pound or more, which is quite a bit for a single person. Instead, head to the deli counter and ask the butcher to cut you 4- to 8-ounce servings of salmon, beef, or chicken.
• Use the resources available to you: Today, there are plenty of services available that offer healthy meals in individual portions. Tovala delivers individually packed, homemade meals that are ready in just a few minutes. Simply scan the barcode, pop it in your Tovala Steam Oven, and a nutrient-dense meal is ready in minutes.

10 Healthy Recipes to Make for One Person

Making healthy dishes for one is much easier than you think. Try working these individually portioned recipes into your meal plan this week.

Chicken Italian Sausage with Peppers and Onions

When you’re in a rush to make dinner, tossing a few ingredients onto a sheet pan is one of the quickest ways to get food on the table. In this sausage and peppers recipe, available on the free Tovala App, simply slice bell peppers and red onions into strips, cut sausage into coins, then toss with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Place the tray in your Tovala Steam Oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Easy Chicken Noodle Soup for One

Typically, preparing a batch of soup involves an overflowing pot that could easily feed eight people. Lucky for you, this hearty chicken soup recipe is suitable for one person. All you need is one pot, plenty of veggies, chopped chicken breasts, and 20 minutes to prepare.

Single-Serving Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potato

When you’re craving Mexican food, but don’t want to derail any healthy habits with corn chips and tortillas, give these stuffed sweet potatoes a try. Made with black beans, sweet corn, fresh spinach, and cashew cheese, this plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free recipe can easily satisfy your appetite.

Chicken Sausage Frittata

If you thought breakfast for one was limited to a fried egg on toast, think again. This delicious chicken sausage frittata combines sausage links, cheddar cheese, and eggs in a individually sized tin. Simply place the tin inside your Tovala Oven, and you have perfectly portioned frittata in 12 minutes. Find the recipe on the free Tovala App here.

Tart Cherry Tuna Salad Avocado Bowls

While burrito bowls get all the attention around the noon hour, these avocado “bowls” might just steal the spotlight. Loaded with plenty of healthy fats and protein, this upgraded tuna salad combines cherries, pecans, tuna, and avocado into a drool-worthy, healthy lunch.

Pesto Risotto for One With Shrimp

There’s nothing more satisfying that a creamy, cheesy plate of risotto to stick your fork into. This pesto risotto recipe is the ultimate Italian comfort food, and the perfect single-serving dish.

Roasted Cornish Hen for One

Chances are, you never even considered preparing an entire roast chicken for a single person. This single-serving dish contains plenty of roasted root vegetables and savory flavors. Simply prepare a baking dish with carrots and potatoes in the bottom, then top with a stuffed game hen before roasting in the oven.

BBQ Chicken Cobb Salad

This healthy chicken salad recipe combines black beans, corn, shredded chicken, hard boiled eggs, and avocado for a low-carb meal perfect for lunch or dinner. And the best part? This particular recipe is easy to meal prep in advance — simply store the chopped vegetables and shredded chicken in separate containers in the fridge, then assemble when it’s dinnertime.

Char Kway Teo / Fried Flat Rice Noodle

When you picture stir-fry, you probably envision a giant wok overflowing with meat and vegetables. In this particular recipe, simply combine bean sprouts, prawns, shallots, soy sauce, and one egg into a skillet, and give it a quick stir-fry. In less than 3 minutes (yes, it really does heat up that quickly) your healthy dinner is ready.

Dinner for One Is Served

When you're meal planning this weekend, try to work these healthy dinner recipes into the weekly lineup. Individually portioned and prepared, they won't leave you with extra dishes or excess leftovers.

For those extra-busy nights when you just can’t handle making dinner from scratch, Tovala can easily step in. Tovala does all the shopping, chopping, and prepping for you. All you need to do is scan the barcode, wait a few minutes, and enjoy.