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30-Minute Dinners to Improve Your Gut Health (& Shopping List!)
- These 30-minute dinners are quick, tasty and filled with ingredients that support your gut health.
- Eating fiber-rich foods like beans, veggies and whole grains helps feed the good bacteria in your gut.
- A healthy gut can boost sleep, mood and brain health—not just your digestion.
Improving your gut health is about more than just alleviating any digestion issues and keeping things running smoothly. Your gut microbiome plays an important role in helping to support your overall health, from improving your sleep to reducing your risk of anxiety and depression. That’s why it’s important to eat foods that help the good bacteria in your gut flourish, such as those containing fiber-rich prebiotics and nourishing probiotics. This week’s dinners take any guesswork out of the equation because they all include those beneficial foods and fit our gut-healthy nutrition parameter. Plus, they all take 30 minutes or less to make so you can have a gut-healthy dinner on the table in no time!
Your Weekly Plan
Sunday: Chickpea Chopped Salad with Pita Chips
Monday: Salmon with Lemon-Herb Orzo & Broccoli
Tuesday: Vegan Black Bean Burgers
Wednesday: Creamy Zucchini Spaghetti
Thursday: Turmeric Chicken & Avocado Wraps
Friday: Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Almond Pesto & Butter Beans
Our column, ThePrep, has everything you’ll need to make dinner planning and grocery shopping as easy as can be. Nutritional needs differ from one individual to another, and we invite you to use these dinner plans as inspiration and adjust them as you see fit. Sign up to get a dinner plan delivered to your inbox every Saturday!
Sunday: Chickpea Chopped Salad with Pita Chips
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Julian Hensarling, Prop Stylist: Priscilla Montiel
Fresh and delicious, this chickpea, cucumber and tomato salad is the perfect dinner to make on a hot summer evening. There’s no cooking involved, just a bit of whisking, chopping and tossing. The chickpeas are packed with fiber, which can help feed the good bacteria in your gut. Serve with rotisserie chicken to round out the meal.
Monday: Salmon with Lemon-Herb Orzo & Broccoli
Salmon, whole-wheat orzo and broccoli come together for this simple, satisfying supper. The broccoli gets added to the pot when the orzo is almost done to streamline the cooking. A quick herby lemon dressing ties it all together. The broccoli and orzo both have fiber to support a healthy gut, while the salmon is rich in omega-3s, which support cardiovascular and brain health.
Tuesday: Vegan Black Bean Burgers
A combination of black beans and quinoa means these burgers are full of satisfying protein and fiber. Tomato paste, cumin and chipotle chile powder give the patties bold flavor, while mayo helps keep them moist. Black beans contain resistant starch, which feeds the good bacteria in your gut and helps reduce inflammation.
Wednesday: Creamy Zucchini Spaghetti
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless.
One of summer’s most-beloved vegetables, zucchini, stars in this quick pasta dish that’s topped with a crunchy toasted breadcrumb mixture. Complex carbs, like whole-wheat pasta, give your body an energy boost. There’s also garlic, which doesn’t just flavor the dish; it’s a prebiotic that feeds beneficial bacteria in your gut.
Thursday: Turmeric Chicken & Avocado Wraps
Heami Lee, Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall, Prop Stylist: Christine Keeley
On busy nights, a no-cook dinner—like these chicken and avocado–stuffed wraps—can save a lot of time in the kitchen. You can even mix up the chicken salad ahead of time. The chicken contains protein to keep you satisfied, while the avocado adds fiber to nourish your gut.
Friday: Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Almond Pesto & Butter Beans
For this dinner, you’ll slice two large heads of cauliflower into steaks, season them with paprika and garlic powder and grill them until tender and nicely browned. (If you don’t have a grill, you can roast the cauliflower in a 425°F oven for about 30 minutes.) Both the cauliflower and the beans are gut-health heroes, contributing fiber to feed your gut bacteria.
I wish you all a great week, and I hope you enjoy this dinner plan. If you try a recipe, remember to add a review.
