Here is some inspiration to create healthy, no-cook meals in less than 5 minutes!
If you have busy days or you just don’t have the energy to cook, I will prove that you can have delicious, healthy and satisfying meals without much fuss.
These three recipes are keto friendly and are easy to modify with ingredients you might already have on hand or that you like.
All the recipes are for one serving.
My last trip to Trader Joe’s supplied me with most of what I used here, so if you’re a TJ fan like I am, you’ll be familiar with all the ingredients.
5 Minute Deli Salad
This blog post turned out to be a bit of a challenge for me because I wanted to ensure that I could indeed assemble these meals in 5 minutes.
I actually downloaded a giant timer on my laptop, placed it on the counter and then READY SET GO.
Admittedly, I gathered all the ingredients and equipment and washed the veggies before I set the timer.
However, the timer does include peeling and chopping and assembling.
This was what the timer looked like and the salad looked like when it was ready to eat.
And here is the recipe.
5 Minute Deli Salad
Ingredients
- 4 slices deli meat I used nitrate-free turkey
- 2 slices cheese I used provolone
- 5-10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- ¼-½ cucumber, diced
- 4-6 romaine leaves, chopped
- red wine vinegar to taste
- sliced red onion
- drizzle of olive oil
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Line your bowl with chopped lettuce and build your salad, adding cheese and meat on top.
- Drizzle with vinegar & oil.
- Salt & pepper to taste.
5 Minute Mediterranean Power Bowl
Arguably, this could also be classified a salad, but power bowl sounds better. And it is loaded with protein, so power bowl it is.
The power bowl is extremely keto friendly and extremely satisfying. All on its own.
However, I took it out of keto by adding a piece of naan. It turns out that putting the naan in the oven while assembling the ingredients is the perfect amount of time and didn’t take me out of the 5-minute range.
Using the timer on my phone, I screenshot how long it took, and voila! It came in under 4 minutes.
I know not everyone is a huge fan of cottage cheese, but somehow the ingredients meld to put it into the background.
I used Kalamata olives and found that they added enough tang and I really didn’t need the lemon squeeze. If you use black olives, you might still want the lemon.
5-Minute Mediterranean Power Bowl
Ingredients
- ½ cup cottage cheese
- 5-10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- ¼-½ cucumber, diced
- ¼ cup olives, sliced I used Kalamata
- sprinkling of Feta
- drizzle of olive oil
- squeeze of lemon
- pinch of oregano
- salt & pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Line the bowl with cottage cheese.
- Add the chopped veggies.
- Sprinkle with feta.
- Drizzle oil and lemon juice and add salt & pepper if desired.
Chicken Salad Romaine Boats
This recipe works well with leftover chicken, rotisserie chicken or canned chicken.
It can be foxed up a bit with a topping of nuts or grapes or dried fruit.
I kept this one basic with only diced carrot and celery.
Here is my timer results for this one.
The secret to a sturdy boat is to double the romaine leaves. So two leaves for one boat.
Two boats for one serving is a really nice portion and should leave you full for 10 minutes or so before you go open the bag of chips.
WAIT! Don’t do that.
A large can of chicken will give you enough for leftovers for two or three boats to eat later (or to share).
5-Minute Chicken Salad Romaine Boats
Ingredients
- 1 12.5 oz can chicken, drained
- ¼ cup carrot, finely diced
- 1 small stalk celery, finely diced
- 4 leaves romaine lettuce
Dressing
- 2 tbsp mayo
- 1 tsp yellow mustard
- 5-6 splashes Tabasco
Instructions
- Mix together dressing first and add to the other ingredients.
- Assemble on two leaves of romaine per boat.
Wrap Up
We keep praying for cooler weather, but the heat is hanging on. Which makes these no-cook recipes the perfect go-to.
Five minutes with few ingredients is always appealing to me.
Have a wonderful weekend and may God bless and keep you and yours.