These five healthy Sunday dinner ideas include salads that are so filling they’re meals, a super-healthy green minestrone soup, and a salmon and vegetable tray bake that couldn’t be healthier. These healthy Sunday night dinner recipes are for those of you who might have over-indulged this weekend or, like me, have been working too hard and are getting summer-ready.
I certainly have not been over-indulging this weekend, but I have been working too hard, eating too late, and not exercising nearly enough as I used to. Anyone relate? Getting ‘summer-ready’ isn’t about ‘getting into shape’ for me, it simply means eating a little less, eating better, doing more exercise, and getting healthier, so tonight I’ve been browsing our recipe archive for healthy Sunday dinner ideas.
If you’ve been enjoying our random series on best Sunday night dinner ideas, then here are five healthy Sunday dinner ideas for you for tonight. But before you scroll down, I have a favour to ask.
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Healthy Sunday Dinner Ideas from Salads so Filling They’re Meals to Green Veggie Soups
Green Minestrone Soup
One of my best healthy Sunday dinner ideas for you is this green minestrone soup. You don’t need to make anything else, other than to toast some sourdough, as it’s so filling, it’s a meal within itself.
It’s also very versatile as you can substitute vegetables according to the season and availability, and you can also use frozen peas and beans.
You’ll really enjoy this green minestrone soup if you like slurping soups as much as I do – chicken soups, noodle soups, chicken noodle soups, fish soups, warm soups, cold summer soups, I love them all.
What I love most about this green minestrone soup recipe is that the soup evolves just like the seasons, transforming from a fresh light spring soup on the first day of making it to a warming hearty autumn broth if you refrigerate the leftovers overnight and reheat it the next day.
If it’s already summer where you are, you might not want to tuck into a hearty wintery soup the day after. Instead, stick it all in the blender, chill it in the fridge and serve it with ice cubes. Amazing!
Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wraps – with Steamed Rice if You Like
These spicy chicken lettuce wraps, which are like little hand-held salads, are another of my best healthy Sunday dinner ideas for you. They are super-filling as far as I’m concerned, but if you’re concerned, you could steam some rice in the cooker, and if you’re really keen for a healthy Sunday night dinner, make that brown rice.
This recipe makes our Southeast Asian take on the Chinese lettuce cups from Southern China and Hong Kong, popularised in Chinese-Australian restaurants in the 1970s. They take inspiration from northern Southeast Asia, from both savoury larbs (minced meat salads; see above) and the local custom of wrapping street food snacks in lettuce.
Lettuce wraps or lettuce cups are thought to have originated in Southern China, the world’s largest lettuce producer, and Hong Kong, where they’re called ‘san choi bao’, which means ‘lettuce wraps’ or ‘lettuce packets’, and are a Cantonese dish.
In Hong Kong, lettuce wraps typically came with minced pigeon, according to restaurateur Mathew Chan of Peacock Gardens Restaurant in Sydney, who claims to have brought ‘sang choy bow’ to Australia in the 1970s, but opted for pork, beef or chicken mince instead, as pigeon meat wasn’t used much in Australia at the time.
Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wraps Recipe for a Southeast Asian Take on San Choi Bao
Classic Banana Flower Salad with Poached Chicken
You shouldn’t need steamed rice with this classic Cambodian banana flower salad or banana blossom salad, another one of my healthy Sunday dinner ideas for you, as it’s very filling.
Our banana flower salad includes shredded poached chicken, which is what makes it so filling, and so delicious when just-done so it’s still succulent and juicy. But you could certainly make a vegetarian version of this salad if you prefer.
This Cambodian favourite is super-easy to make, you just need to work fast so your banana flower doesn’t brown. It’s a fragrant and crunchy salad that is all about the texture and aromas.
This salad falls into the category of ‘gnoam’ salads here in Cambodia, a fresh salad prepared with cooked ingredients, such as poached chicken – in contrast to a p’lear, made with raw ingredients, such as raw fish ‘cooked’ in a citrus-based dressing, like a ceviche.
In Cambodia, this would be served as one of an array of dishes as part of a shared family-style meal, but you could definitely eat it on its own with steamed rice – and brown rice would work very nicely with this dish, too.
Classic Banana Flower Salad Recipe for Cambodia’s Gnoam Trayong Chek
Shan Tomato Salad and Burmese Fried Chicken
This Shan tomato salad recipe with shallots, sesame and coriander will make you a sweet tomato salad textured with crunchy purple onions, sesame seeds and crispy fried shallots and garlic, and fragrant fresh coriander, and it’s another one of my healthy Sunday dinner ideas.
Okay, so maybe the Burmese street food-style fried chicken isn’t so healthy as it’s fried, but it’s incredibly delicious. If you’re anti-frying, you could try baking it, or just stick to the tomato salad, which is also super-delicious.
Hailing from beautiful Shan State in northeastern Myanmar – a fertile region of forested mountains, rolling hills and serene lakes – this delicious Shan tomato salad is mostly made with crunchy green tomatoes.
We’ve also had this salad with red tomatoes in Myanmar, but a mix of both red and green is terrific. The salad is typically eaten as a refreshing accompaniment to rich curries and rice, but I am very happy tucking into a bowl of this on its own, or eating it alongside this moreish Shan vermicelli noodle salad recipe.
Shan Tomato Salad Recipe with Shallots, Sesame and Coriander from Shan State, Myanmar
Salmon Tray Bake Recipe for Crispy Skinned Salmon with Spring Vegetables
This easy salmon tray bake recipe makes crispy skinned salmon fillets baked so that the skin crackles but the flesh remains moist, served with roasted spring vegetables that are just-done so that they’re still fresh and crunchy. It’s another one of my best healthy Sunday dinner ideas.
Sprinkled with spring onions and fresh fragrant dill and served with lemon slices, it makes the lightest of roasts, perfect for a healthy Sunday night dinner.
If you’re a salmon lover, we have more of our best salmon recipes here, including Terence’s crispy skin salmon fillet with colcannon with prawns.
Other salmon recipes in that collection include devilled eggs with smoked salmon, a Cambodian salmon ceviche-style appetiser, fish soup with salmon, salmon potato salad, salmon pasta, and clay-pot salmon, all of which are very healthy, so more ideas there.
Easy Salmon Tray Bake Recipe for Crispy Skinned Salmon with Spring Vegetables
Please do let us know if you make any of our healthy Sunday dinner ideas in the comments below, as we’d love to know how the dishes turn out for you.
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