Incorporating more plant-based foods into your meals can be simple and spontaneous. Often, the meals we create in a hurry are rich in nutritious ingredients and can enhance our overall health.
With a straightforward formula, you can transform any vegetables and beans available in your kitchen into a quick and satisfying weeknight meal, a registered dietitian suggests.
Dietitian’s Tip of the Day: Easy Plant-Based Meals for Busy Nights
“I love making tacos as a quick plant-based dinner on hectic evenings. They’re easily customizable with whatever I have on hand in the fridge,” says Natalie Rizzo, registered dietitian and TODAY nutrition editor.
“In our home, we have Taco Tuesday every week. Establishing a ‘theme night’ helps alleviate the strain of deciding what’s for dinner and simplifies meal planning,” she adds.
Why It Matters
Meals like this combine two vital cooking habits for your health: preparing meals at home and enjoying a varied selection of plant-based foods.
Home cooking and meal planning are both linked to numerous health benefits. While this depends on the food choices you make, cooking at home allows you full control over the ingredients, enabling you to tailor meals to your nutritional needs, lifestyle, and preferences.
Experts consistently advocate for building your plate around plants, such as the roasted vegetables and protein-rich beans that are key components of tacos. Focusing on plant-based foods ensures you receive essential vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants.
These nutrients support gut and heart health; increased consumption can also aid in the prevention of chronic illnesses like Type 2 diabetes.
How to Get Started
“I typically toss vegetables, like cauliflower and broccoli, with chili powder and roast them in the oven until golden brown,” Rizzo shares.
To build her tacos, she combines the roasted veggies with a can of black beans and places them in a tortilla. She finishes off her tacos with salsa and sliced radish or cabbage for a delightful crunch.
What’s great about this meal is its versatility.
Feel free to swap in any vegetables you have on hand, and customize the toppings to your liking. If your family prefers pinto beans over black beans, that’s perfectly fine. And if you have some pickled red onions, avocado, or cilantro, don’t hesitate to add those as toppings as well.
No matter how you choose to customize your weeknight tacos, they promise to be a delicious and healthy meal option.
TODAY’s Expert Tip of the Day series focuses on simple strategies to streamline your life. Each weekday, various qualified experts provide their best advice on diet, fitness, cardiovascular health, mental wellness, and more.
