How to add nutritious foods to your diet

November 19, 2022 10:43 AM

I am looking for ways to add nutritious foods to my regular eating routine. I'm not at all looking for tips on removing food from your diet. What are your best recipes and techniques?

A few things I've tried and enjoyed:

-substituting lentils for half the beef in sloppy joes.
-using turkey instead of beef in chili and adding more beans.
-adding minced or shredded vegetables to meat sauce.
-serving roasted beet salad over wilted beet greens.

I don’t have any food restrictions and I like a pretty good variety of foods. I would be interested in rich recipes that have the nutrition boosted with added ingredients, as well as recipes where the main ingredients are nutritious themselves. I like vegetables a lot but don’t always know how best to integrate them in meals. Or which veggies are more nutritious than others. But I have no issues with textures so I'm open to any preparation.

Thanks for any suggestions!

posted by Neely O'Hara to Food & Drink (34 answers total)

It’s pretty easy to mix vegetables into mashed potatoes. You can either mash other veggies, like peas or cauliflower, or mix other things in, like leafy greens.

Cauliflower rice, zoodles.
posted by kevinbelt at 10:49 AM on November 19, 2022

Blended cottage cheese. High protein and good in things like mashed potatoes.
posted by Juniper Toast at 10:52 AM on November 19, 2022

Smoothies as a quick meal at any time of day. So many greens can be had in one.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 11:17 AM on November 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

I really love this lentil loaf. In addition to the lentils, it has vegetables and walnuts, which have a lot of health benefits. I like it best cold on a sandwich with barbecue sauce. I could eat that every day.

In general, soups and chilis are really great for adding more vegetables into your diet. I like this tomato soup a lot. (I used to think I hated tomato soup, but it turns out I hated Campbell's tomato soup.) That recipe includes a recipe for chickpea croutons, which I keep on hand and throw on soups, chilis, and salads - you can also just snack on them. I've heard people say those get soggy after a day or two, but mine never do, and I wonder if it's because I leave out the oil. I make them in an air fryer and cook them until they're very crispy.
posted by FencingGal at 11:18 AM on November 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

I have too many ideas for a comment, but here are a few:

Adding grated zucchini, grated carrot, or mashed squash or pumpkin to baked goods is almost never a bad idea!

Cauliflower and/or Brussels sprouts roasted with salt, pepper, garlic or garlic powder, and smoked paprika are such a good side dish and easy!

And for chili - I make it with meat, but also with two or three kinds of beans, roasted carrots, dino kale, and sometimes corn or winter squash thrown in - all things that go with spicy tomatoey food.

And if you want a vegetable-centric but not vegetarian cookbook for inspiration, check out Six Seasons!
posted by centrifugal at 11:29 AM on November 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

My go-to for this is the big clamshell of super greens. Also sometimes called power greens. Essentially the mix of baby spinach, kale and chard.

Cold, this can be the basis for a salad (IMO best with some added crunchy romaine). But the real benefit is that you can cook it up with just about anything. I’ll sauté a shallot and then turn off the heat and toss on a big pile of super greens to wilt. Add salt and pepper. Eat like that, or bonus if you can add blue cheese or Gorgonzola crumbles. I’m not a giant mushroom fan but OMG I added wild morels to the shallots once and yum. I’ll also toss chopped super greens into soups, or spaghetti sauce, or curries, or eggs. If I’m doing a sheet pan of roasted veg, I’ll spread chopped greens over the pan to wilt after I pull it out. Sometimes I’ll crave a stew or curry over greens instead of something heavier like rice or potatoes.

Another thing I tend to do is roast big trays of almonds, pecans and pepitas (these with a bit of oil, salt and pepper), and then store them in quart jars. Then I have them handy for snacking, adding to oatmeal or yogurt. Also for variations on that yummy salad that calls for spinach, Gorgonzola, cranberries and toasted pecans. The pepitas are kind of a fantastic topping to everything from Buddha bowls to tacos.
posted by AnOrigamiLife at 11:46 AM on November 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

I like making pasta dishes where the sauce is secretly a vegetable. This broccoli pesto recipe is a good starting point, though as written it's a bit bland. We usually add lemon zest, parmesan, and sunflower seeds into the sauce itself (none of this delicately sprinkling it on top nonsense!), and then top with cubes of roasted butternut squash. It does kind of look like you're tossing pasta in baby food, but I promise it's delicious!

I've also been meaning to try emulating a red sauce with something like butternut squash, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Bet it would be good, though.
posted by catoclock at 11:54 AM on November 19, 2022

Sweet potatoes or yams instead of white potatoes.
posted by aniola at 12:15 PM on November 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Make sure you're eating all the different colors of vegetable.
posted by aniola at 12:16 PM on November 19, 2022 [6 favorites]

Eat something acidic when you eat vegetables that are rich in iron. The vitamin C helps the iron be available for your body to use. Examples: eat tomatoes with beans, or citrus with beet.
posted by aniola at 12:17 PM on November 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Eat calcium-rich foods with magnesium rich foods.

Eat outside whenever possible to maximize vitamin D.
posted by aniola at 12:19 PM on November 19, 2022

Zinc and iron steal from each other. So if you're eating a lot of one, make sure you're getting enough of the other as well.
posted by aniola at 12:24 PM on November 19, 2022

Easy tip: egg noodles instead of regular noodles.

Vegetable tip: I often prepare Eggplant, Onion, Zucchini, Peppers (+ tomatos / potatoes) together in various ways:

"Ratatouille" > veggies sauteed separately, add basil and some fresh tomato and let cook covered for a while at low heat.

"Greek" > with potatoes, sliced tomato on top, olive oil, fresh parsley, baked in the oven.

"Turkish"? > in the pot with tomato sauce, a bit of water or broth + sweet paprika + bay leaves + fresh spearmint.

All of these are good combined with eggs.
posted by melamakarona at 12:34 PM on November 19, 2022

A friend recently introduced me to one of my favorite dinners ever, and it is both deeply satisfying and vegetables all the way down.

Preheat oven to 425. Chop cauliflower, carrots, onions, all in big chunks**: toss in olive oil, all-purpose seasoning, and salt. Roast for about 30-35 min, until cauliflower is browning and tender to your liking, with onions beginning to caramelize. Heap up in a bowl, add huge dollop of hummus on the side, welcome to paradise.

(**I have also enjoyed adding big rounds of leek and zucchini - shiitake mushrooms are also AMAZING but take less time to roast, maybe 20-25 min, and so need a little more attention.)

My brain sometimes gets scared that an all-veggie meal isn’t going to fill me up or meet my protein needs, but this ticks all my boxes and tastes freaking delicious.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 12:35 PM on November 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

Soups are also mainstays for me in cold seasons, and I find it’s easy to up the proportions of vegetables. Hot salads!

When I do chicken soup, I use a pound of sliced shiitakes to a pound of chicken, and probably .75 pound each of sliced celery and carrots. For chili, 1 can each of kidney and pinto beans, 2 cans of black beans, .75 pound of sliced carrots, all to 1 pound of ground beef (I haven’t tried a meat substitute yet, but it would probably work pretty well). For a Tuscan white bean soup with kale, tomatoes, carrots, celery, I use 3 cans of beans to about .75 pound of sausage - about double? - and 2 bunches of lacinato kale, which takes forever to chiffonade but is so worth it in the end. (I pull out my standing-desk mat, put on some silly teevee, and the prep work is a pleasure.)
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 12:45 PM on November 19, 2022

I started pulling back from proteins served as a big recognizable slab of whatever, so that it stopped being the star of the show. I am also a fan of the "big pile of roasted vegetables" strategy with a few frozen meatballs or 1-2 chicken thighs (depending on size) per person cooked alongside sheet-pan style, or with a sauce that has some protein in it. Even when I make fish, I tend to serve it over the top of the actual plate-full of food so that it's more a fancy-looking component than a module of its own.

Stuffed vegetables are nice for when you want a bit of a showpiece - even just a pizza-y sauce on halved or planked zucchini with a dusting of cheese is pretty impressive. But there's also some amazing recipes out there for larger squashes/pumpkins, plus there's always peppers.

Bowls, salads, tacos, wraps, and lettuce cups are a good way to do this as well, because the meat is generally not the star of that show and you need very little once you've put all the other accoutrements in. And once you do the prep for the components, you can rotate various styles all week for breakfasts and lunches.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:09 PM on November 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

Oh, and a large-capacity air fryer was a game changer in the vegetable department. Sheet pan in the oven is fine, especially if you have a convection oven, but for vegetables that get really nicely browned and their natural sugars caramelized, the air fryer is astonishing.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:10 PM on November 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

sometimes links don't work when I post on mobile but google americas test kitchen cauliflower soup and find a knockoff with no paywall. You can lessen the butter and skip the leek if you want. Delicious!
posted by bookworm4125 at 1:24 PM on November 19, 2022

On the lazy/backstop/pantry end of planning, a couple bricks of spinach in the freezer and a couple cans of pumpkin on the shelf are handy. Either can be blended into many many other things to veggie them up.
posted by clew at 1:36 PM on November 19, 2022

Anytime I serve pasta with red sauce I also roast cauliflower - I usually like penne, so a mix of penne and cauliflower with red sauce is good.

Shredded kale massages with olive oil, salt and lemon is a good side dish for a lot of meals.

I eat a decent amount of good hummus and pickles. My local Middle Eastern place is excellent for these.

Roasted yams are good (I like Beauregard). I’m really into Japanese sweet potatoes lately too. (The satsumaimo ones.)
posted by vunder at 1:53 PM on November 19, 2022

This cauliflower alfredo sauce is magical. It's shocking how creamy pureed cauliflower can be.
posted by FencingGal at 2:20 PM on November 19, 2022

What kind of nutrition are you looking for?

Last year, I read this article and decided to change my food habits. I haven't reached the goals described in the article yet, but I am a lot closer than I was a year ago.
And the benefits are obvious. I no longer have IBS, which is obviously a huge win. I am less prone to depression, even though I have PTSD and struggle with related mental health issues. I have less problems with inflammation. I sleep better.

As I have understood the advice in the article, the three main points are: fiber content, vegetable amounts and vegetable variety. To my great surprise, the last element was the easiest to achieve, because spices and herbs count. Chocolate counts if it is dark. It has been more difficult for me to reach those five vegs a day, or the recommended 25 grams of fiber. I keep a spreadsheet, and I'm at 4 vegs and 20 grams of fiber as I write now. But as stated above, the health improvements are already there.

I already think a lot about food, so this may be easier for me than for others. But there are some things everyone can do that are pretty simple:
- have all the legumes ready. All sorts of canned beans and canned chickpeas, frozen fine peas, frozen haricots verts and frozen edamame beans. With those on hand, you can always make your meal healthier. A serving of meat, potatoes and gravy becomes healthier right away of you add peas or green beans as the side. A minestrone made from finely diced seasonal (or frozen) vegetables with a tiny bit of pasta and some legumes is a wonderful filling meal for a cold season night.
- have frozen spinach ready. Spinach is a super food, and mostly, frozen is better than those sad bags of fresh "baby spinach" you can find at the supermarket. You can just eat it as a side, or you can make a quick spanakopita using store-bought puff pastry instead of filo dough. Or saag paneer.
- eat fermented food, like kimchi or sauerkraut or blue cheese. I love fermented beet juice. Chocolate is fermented food.
- have dried cranberries ready. They are great for your porridge, in salads, and sprinkled over a serving of meat and gravy.
- dried fruit in general and different types of nuts and seed are good to have, and to use in your meals. Caponata is something to eat in many different contexts.
- my son-in-law makes his own granola from rolled oats, seeds, dried fruits and chocolate, and it is a delicious nutrition bomb that he puts on yogurt
- juices and smoothies are not ideal every day, but it seems to me they work well as treats once or twice a week.

On that note, look for recipes from areas where vegetables are an important part of the diet. Rome, Sicily and Sardinia, rather than all of Italy. South of France rather than Northern regions. Food from the Levant and North Africa. Indian food. Food from the modern West Coast tradition. Macrobiotic recipes. Chinese meals where you look at the balance of the whole meal, rather than the one dish (you might have a small portion of beef-something, but also rice and vegetable elements for a balanced meal). Traditional Mexican food.

Here, the standard bread is rye, and often whole rye with lots of different seeds and grains in it. So I mostly start my day with rye bread, cheese and an egg, and perhaps a banana or apple. Sometimes I go for porridge instead, oat-based, but with seeds, cranberries and apple in the mix. And a sprinkling of cinnamon. My kids very often have shakshuka for breakfast. If I'm really hungry, I have ful medames. If I'm busy, I have miso soup from a box.
And I try to skip breakfast at least once a week, to have a 16 hour fast. Again, the point is variation.

That all said, sometimes my anxiety takes over and I can't cook. In the worst cases I can't even eat. If cooking is the problem, I mostly go for Middle Eastern foods, because they are easy to find here: falafel, hummus, and samosas are my go to fast foods. I also love summer rolls from the local Vietnamese place, my favorite is egg and shrimp.
If I find it hard to eat, I have just now found the perfect solution: instant soup from Happy Flakes. Vegan, easy and with no additives. I wouldn't season it like they do, but it is nourishing healthy food I can swallow when I am choking on everything else because of anxiety issues. (I have no idea who these people are, and I have no economic relations with them, obviously).
posted by mumimor at 2:57 PM on November 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

I like to have eggs and a healthy thing whenever I'm stuck on what a meal could be. Over easy eggs and sweet potatoes. Scrambled eggs with cheese, zucchini, and tomatoes. Fried eggs, beans, peppers, and salsa. Hardboiled eggs and salad greens. Eggs and avocado. Eggs in a tortilla with sweet potatoes and black beans. You get it. I already like eggs as a meal or snack, but normally my brain just thinks about having them with toast, so when I do any of the above, I feel very virtuous, and it's so easy.

My other go-tos are having cans of chickpeas on hand to toss into anything that's kind of saucy, sneaking a lot of kale/spinach/arugula into chili, buying those boxes of squash/corn/potato soup and adding steamed broccoli when I make a bowl, roasting a bunch of sweet potato cubes and eating them with everything or as a standalone snack, and throwing chia seeds, pecans, flax, or oatmeal into smoothies.
posted by luzdeluna at 3:38 PM on November 19, 2022

Plan the vegetables 1st. Dry-fried green beans with an Asian sauce of soy, vinegar, ginger, garlic, dash of sherry. Then add a small portion of meat or maybe tofu, some rice. When I cook this way, focusing on vegetables, I eat way more veg less starch and often omit meat. I love Mark Bittman's cookbooks for a really flexible approach.

I still use some ketchup, but prefer salsa on home fries, scrambled egg burritos or tacos (with avocado and arugula or spinach). Jarred salsa has a lot of salt, but it's all veg.

If I'm tired and hungry, I'll microwave a sweet potato and have it with butter, salt and pepper.

A rotisserie chicken makes a bunch of meals, and I usually freeze some meat. Then I make a bunch of broth from the bones, skin and bits, add some of the meat and load it up w/ veg. Kale is an excellent addition to broth-y chicken soup, lentil or bean soups.

I love roasted vegetables - Cauliflower with hot sauce and oil, Carrots roasted in a little miso broth and olive oil, Brussells sprouts with pancetta (cured meats are bad for you, but just a little gives a big flavor boost).
posted by theora55 at 4:27 PM on November 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

Adding nutrition to your diet will depend on what nutrition your diet already has.

I was shocked when I started logging my food on cronometer. I thought I was eating so healthy but there were gaps that surprised me. For example I stopped eating spinach and really bulked up my collards and kale based on need for some nutrients over others. Stopped lentils and increased navy beans. I wouldn't have known without looking at what the gaps were.

My advice is to log your current diet into cronometer to see what are the gaps in macros, vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc. Then determine what foods best fill those gaps.
posted by halehale at 4:38 PM on November 19, 2022

Multigrain toast, canned baked beans, extra virgin olive oil and some cracked black pepper is pretty damn nutritious. The same toast with avocado and a couple of soft-boiled eggs smooshed over the top (maybe some mushrooms if you're keen) is great too.

Do you like canned, sustainably sourced oily fish? Sardines? Mackerel?
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 5:31 PM on November 19, 2022

Cauliflower "rice" instead of rice.
posted by oceano at 5:32 PM on November 19, 2022

Big fan of adding beans to things like you're already doing (check out Lentils.org or CannedBeans.com for example), and finding recipes from other cultures that already use a lot of delicious nutritious ingredients (ex: Mexico, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Lebanon...) The list is literally endless, so I'd start with picking an ingredient you like (ex: lentils/dal) and searching for [ingredient + culture] recipes online (ex: shiro wat (Ethiopia), dal (India), Italian lentil salad...)

Seconding playing with herbs/spices/seasonings so if there are vegetables you already like, play around with how you cook and season them to keep things interesting. For example, I love broccoli - roasted, steamed with sesame, sauteed with garlic, tossed in vinaigrette.

Also agree that "healthy" means different things depending on you and your nutritional needs, but generally all veg and fruit are a great source of micronutrients and fiber, so adding them at any meal or snack will do you good.

There are some excellent RDs and nutrition professionals working in this space (ex: Michelle Jaelin, Diana Mesa, Ashley V. Carter, Madhu Gadia, Akil Simpson, Dalina Soto, Maggie Moon), and they have some great recipes on Instagram/TikTok/their websites. My favorite lightbulb moment from another RD was when she talked about keeping white rice as the base of her meals (Korean) because it's traditional *and* there were already so many veg and stuff in the traditional preparation that it was still a very healthy meal. It's a beautiful, connected web of content once you start looking. /Stepsoffsoapbox

;) Sorry not sorry for the long-winded response, this is what I do for a living and I nerd out about it, haha.
_-----------
I also make a killer chocolate chickpea dip:
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed; reserve a little liquid
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1-2 Tbsp honey or molasses
1 tsp balsamic vinegar (trust me on this one)
1/2 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt

Blend until smooth, adding chickpea liquid as needed. Fold in chopped walnuts if you want some more healthy fats and vitamin E.
posted by OhHaieThere at 8:15 PM on November 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

I eat a serving of vegetables with my breakfast every day, usually roasted broccoli, squash, or beets.
posted by metasarah at 4:49 AM on November 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

I substitute vegetables (usually brocolli, but spinach, bell peppers, cauliflower and greenbeans also work) for the starch in any meal. Instead of pasta, rice, potatos, etc, I have veggies.

Also, building on the answer right above, eating a dinner type meal for breakfast, rather than traditional breakfast foods, vastly improves the nutritional opportunities.
posted by bluesky78987 at 6:38 AM on November 20, 2022

i make my salads with a half of an avocado... i mash it up to moisten it up... and avoid using (fatty) salad dressings.
posted by mrmarley at 7:14 AM on November 20, 2022

I have been looking for similar ways to bulk up nutrition for my 4 year old. Some ideas that have been hits:

1. Waffles - you can waffle anything and it gets veggies crispy and delicious. We put in broccoli, chopped chicken, egg and whole wheat pancake mix with milk and waffle it up. We also do sweet potato with egg and pancake mix with milk. The list goes on.

2. Oatmeal - same with oatmeal. You can stick anything into oatmeal and it tastes lovely. We use Bob's Red Mill Rolled Oats and milk and add in things like mashed banana, raisins, sunflower seeds and a dash of honey or maple syrup. In another version, we add canned pumpkin puree (just a few spoonfuls), cinnamon, whatever christmas spices you have on hand, dried cranberries, etc. You can also do a simple oatmeal with frozen blueberries and honey. I always add in a spoonful of ground flax seed for added fiber. Getting a bag of ground flax seed and adding it to random meals is a nutrition winner! Totally ups the fiber without destroying taste.

3. Whole wheat quesadillas - you can add anything into whole wheat quesadillas and it becomes a great meal. We make sure to add a good melt cheese, a chopped veggie and meat (usually chopped chicken).
posted by ichimunki at 7:38 AM on November 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

In the winter, I like to make this chicken and rice soup a lot, partially because it's very flexible and you can add a lot of different veggies. I also tend to mix up the spices, and will sometimes use quinoa or brown rice. Veggies that have worked well in this soup are diced zucchini (which essentially melts) and hardy greens chopped fine. I also tend to use more of the mirepoix than the recipe calls for. Another thing that I love about this soup is that, since you cook the chicken thighs bone-in, you get some nice collagen in the broth.

Another favorite of mine is burrito bowls. My base recipe is rice, canned black beans, salsa chicken, and pico de gallo, but I will also throw in any sauteed veggies I want. Peppers and onions are the most obvious, but again diced zucchini and cooked, shredded greens work well, as would a lot of other veggies.
posted by lunasol at 2:11 PM on November 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

Veggie dips and bean dips. Roast veggies, throw in the food processor with a can of garbanzos (or a block of cream cheese). This is a very adaptable recipe (that I use as a dip, rather than a sandwich). Roasted eggplant, with or without beans. Black beans blended with taco seasoning and cheese, as a dip for raw veggies or tortilla chips.
posted by BekahVee at 8:15 AM on November 22, 2022