4 Quick and Easy Whole30 Dinner Recipes

The Vietnamese noodle soup called pho (pronounced FUH) has enthusiastically been adopted into  the  American  diet. The traditional soup takes hours to cook and contains rice noodles. This light, fresh, and fast Whole30 version featuring zucchini noodles has the same soul-soothing effect but takes just 30 minutes to put on the table.

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 8 ounces)

2 cups Whole30-compliant chicken broth

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

2 teaspoons Red Boat fish sauce

¹⁄8 to ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 ½ cups packaged zucchini noodles; or 1 small zucchini, spiralized

½ cup packaged shredded carrots or 1 medium carrot, shredded

¼ cup sliced green onions

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish if desired

½ cup fresh bean sprouts

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

HEAT the coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until well-browned on both sides, 6 to 8 minutes. (The chicken will not be cooked through at this point.) Remove the pan from the heat. Carefully add the broth, ginger, fish sauce, and pepper flakes. Return to the heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the internal temperature of  the chicken is 165°F, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board to cool slightly.

ADD the zucchini noodles and carrots to the hot broth. Cook over medium-high heat until the vegetables are crisp-tender, 1 to 2 minutes.

USING two forks, coarsely shred the chicken. Add the chicken back to the pan and gently stir in the green onions and cilantro. Top servings with bean sprouts, mint, and additional cilantro if using.

Serves 2

The vegetables in this salad are cooked just enough so the first bite is slightly tender, but the rest is satisfyingly crunchy.

1 pound boneless beef sirloin steak  or stir-fry meat

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

6 tablespoons Whole30-compliant lemon-garlic dressing (no sugar!)

3 cups broccoli florets

1 large orange or red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

1 package (9 ounces) spring mix/baby spinach

¼ cup snipped fresh chives

THINLY slice the meat across the grain into bite-size pieces and season both sides with the salt, pepper, and lemon zest. In a medium bowl, toss the meat with 2 tablespoons of the dressing.

IN a large bowl, combine the broccoli, bell pepper, and 3 tablespoons of the dressing. Toss to coat.

IN a large skillet, cook the broccoli and bell pepper over medium-high heat, stirring, for 3 minutes.  Return the vegetables to the large bowl.  Add the meat to the hot skillet and  cook,  stirring,  until  slightly  pink  in center, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the vegetables to the skillet and stir to combine with the meat.

IN a large bowl, toss the greens with the remaining 1 tablespoon dressing. Serve the meat and vegetables over the greens. Sprinkle the salad with the snipped chives.

Serves 4

Keeping a couple of 1-pound bags of peeled and deveined shrimp in your freezer means that with just a couple of fresh ingredients, dinner is a cinch to get on the table. And frozen shrimp thaw very quickly—just place them in cool water for 15 minutes or so, and change the water once.

¼ cup rice vinegar

3 tablespoons coconut aminos

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger (see Tip)

¼ teaspoon salt

1½ tablespoons sesame oil

1 large yellow onion, slivered

1½ pounds peeled and deveined medium shrimp (see Tip)

3 medium red and/or green bell peppers, cut into matchsticks

2 packages (10.7 ounces each) zucchini noodles; or 3 medium zucchini, spiralized, long noodles snipped if desired

3 green onions, sliced 

IN a small bowl, mix together the vinegar, coconut aminos, garlic, ginger, and salt.

HEAT the sesame oil in an extra-large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until it just starts to become tender, about 2 minutes. Stir in the vinegar mixture and cook until slightly reduced, about 1 minute. Add the shrimp, bell pepper, and zucchini noodles. Cook, stirring, until the shrimp are opaque and the vegetables are crisp-tender, 5 to 8 minutes. Top with the green onions and serve.

Serves 4

When you're craving veggies, this light and summery soup packed with tomatoes, green beans, carrots, and zucchini noodles in immensely satisfying. The nutritional yeast in the pesto provides a cheesy flavor without cheese--genius!

For the pesto:

1 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup roasted almonds or toasted pine nuts

1 Tbs. nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/3 cup olive oil

For the soup:

2 large carrots

2 small zucchini

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

4 cups chicken broth

14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes (undrained)

1/2 lb. fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 lb. very small cooked peeled deveined shrimp

Make the pesto: In a food processor, combine the basil leaves, almonds, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and garlic. Cover and pulse until finely chopped. Wit the food processor running, add the oil and process until well-combined and nearly smooth.

Make the soup: Spiralize the carrots and zucchini. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are softenend, about 3 minutes. Stir the broth, tomatoes, green beans, salt, and pepper into the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the beans are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Add the carrot noodles and cook for 3 minutes. Add the shrimp and zoodles and cook until the noodles are just tender, about 2 minutes more. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with some of the pesto.                        

Recipes and photos excerpted from WHOLE30 FAST & EASY © 2017 by Melissa Hartwig. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.