Harvard Chan Cooks: Healthy Recipes from the Nutrition Source

Finding the time to cook a healthy and delicious meal during the week can be difficult. So, we developed recipes for quick, tasty, and nutritious meals. Watch videos of the dishes and find the full recipes below.

Lemon Chickpea Muffins

Lemon Chickpea Muffins

Chickpea lemon cardamom muffin with coffee cup
Serves 12 muffins, or 28 mini muffins
Ingredients:
  • For batter
    • 1¾ cup (271 g) chickpeas from a 15 oz. can, drained and rinsed
    • 1 Tbsp. (12 g) lemon zest
    • 1 Tbsp. (12 g) orange zest
    • 2 Tbsp. (28 g) fresh lemon juice
    • 2 Tbsp. (28 g) fresh orange juice
    • ¼ cup (52 g) extra virgin olive oil
    • ¼ cup (45 g) granulated sugar
    • 2 egg yolks
    • ⅔ cup (80 g) whole wheat flour, sifted
    • 2 tsp. (8 g) baking powder
    • ½ tsp. (2 g) salt
    • ½ tsp. (2 g) ground cardamom
    • ⅓ cup (30 g) ground almonds
    • 2 egg whites
  • For topping
    • 1 Tbsp. (8 g) ground or slivered almonds
    • ¼ tsp. (1 g) ground cardamom
    • ½ tsp. (2 g) granulated sugar (optional)
Preparation:
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line muffin tin with paper liners.
  2. Puree the chickpeas in a food processor until smooth.
  3. Add the lemon and orange zest, juice, olive oil, sugar, and egg yolks. Puree until smooth.
  4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cardamom. Stir in the chickpea mixture, and then add the ground almonds.
  5. Whisk the egg whites until they hold semi-soft peaks. Fold the egg whites into the batter carefully, so not to deflate the egg whites.
  6. In a small bowl combine the ground or slivered almonds, sugar (optional), and cardamom. Set aside.
  7. Scoop batter into muffin tin. You can use a ⅓ cup to do this, but you’ll only need to add a generous ¼ cup of batter to each muffin cup. Sprinkle the muffin batter with some of the almond-cardamom mixture.
  8. Bake in the oven 12 to 13 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Nutrition information per serving (1 muffin, or 1/12 of recipe):

145 calories, 4 g protein, 16 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 5 g sugar (4 g added sugar*), 195 mg sodium, 90 mg potassium, 7 g fat (1 g sat, 5 g mono, 1 g poly, 0 g trans), 25 mg cholesterol

*Includes optional ½ tsp. (2g) granulated sugar in topping

Recipe courtesy of The Culinary Institute of America


Banana Nut Muffins

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins

Whole Wheat Banana Walnut Muffin and a cup of coffee
Serves 18 muffins or 38 mini muffins
Ingredients:
  • 1½ cups (160 g) walnuts, toasted and chopped
  • 5 Tbsp. (70 g) canola oil
  • 1 Tbsp. (14 g) walnut oil
  • ¼ cup (40 g) brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • ½ tsp. (4 g) vanilla extract
  • ½ cup (121 g) non-fat plain Greek yogurt
  • 5 (380 g) ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1½ cups (153 g) whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1½ tsp. (7 g) baking powder
  • ½ tsp. (2 g) salt
Preparation:
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the muffin tins with paper liners.
  2. When the oven reaches temperature, place walnuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and chop.
  3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the canola oil, walnut oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and yogurt. Whisk to combine, and then stir in the mashed banana and the toasted, chopped walnuts.
  4. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt.
  5. Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to portion out the batter into the 18 lined muffin cups.
  6. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins are nicely browned.
  7. Cool on a wire rack

Nutrition information per serving (1 muffin, or 1/18 of recipe):

180 calories, 3 g protein, 18 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 7 g sugar (2 g added sugar), 85 mg sodium, 165 mg potassium, 10.5 g fat (1 g sat, 3.5 g mono, 6 g poly, 0 g trans), 10 mg cholesterol

Recipe courtesy of The Culinary Institute of America


Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

blueberry muffin with coffee cup
Serves 18 muffins or 30 mini muffins
Ingredients:
  • 1 cup (120 g) whole wheat pastry flour
  • ¾ cup (90 g) white whole wheat flour
  • ¼ cup (26 g) almond flour
  • 1 tsp. (4 g) baking powder
  • ½ tsp. (4 g) baking soda
  • ½ tsp. (2 g) salt
  • 1 tsp. (2 g) orange zest
  • 1 ½ cups (200 g) fresh blueberries
  • 2 eggs
  • 1¼ cups (286 g) low fat (1%) buttermilk
  • 4 Tbsp. (42 g) brown sugar
  • 6 Tbsp. (78 g) canola oil
  • 1 Tbsp. (14 g) orange juice, freshly squeezed
  • ½ tsp. (4 g) vanilla
Preparation:
  1. Place the rack in the top third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit Line muffin tins with paper liners.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and orange zest. Add the fresh blue berries and toss gently to coat the blueberries in flour. This will help keep the blueberries suspended in the batter versus falling to the bottom.
  3. In a medium mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then whisk in the buttermilk, brown sugar, canola oil, orange juice, and vanilla. Don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled or lumpy.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until most of the flour is incorporated. The mixture can be slightly lumpy; don’t over mix. Divide the batter among the 18 prepared muffin cups.
  5. Bake 12 to 14 minutes, until the muffins are golden brown around the edges.

Nutrition information per serving (1 muffin, or 1/18 of recipe):

120 calories, 3 g protein, 14 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 5 g sugar (2 g added sugar), 125 mg sodium, 20 mg potassium, 5 g fat (0.5 g sat, 3 g mono, 1.5 g poly, 0 g trans), 20 mg cholesterol

Recipe courtesy of The Culinary Institute of America


Caesar Salad

Caesar Salad

Caesar Salad with dressing
Serves 6
Ingredients:
  • For salad
    • 6 large hearts of romaine, chopped
  • For dressing
    • 1 cup white, cannellini, or Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
    • ½ cup water
    • 2 anchovies
    • 4 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
    • 1 garlic clove
    • 4 Tbsp. grated Parmesan
    • ½ tsp. black pepper
    • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • For croutons
    • 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
    • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
    • ½ of an 18-inch whole wheat baguette, cubed
Preparation:
  1. Croutons: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the olive oil and minced garlic. Add the cubed baguette and toss to coat. Spread the croutons on a baking sheet and bake for 5–8 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown.
  2. Dressing: In the container of a food processor combine the beans, water, anchovy, lemon juice, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and black pepper. Process until smooth. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil to create a creamy, emulsified dressing.
  3. Chop heart of romaine. In a large mixing bowl combine the chopped lettuce and dressing, tossing well to ensure all of the lettuce is coated with the dressing.
  4. To serve, divide the salad among six salad plates, and garnish each plate with croutons.

Nutrition information per serving (1/6 of recipe):

375 calories, 11 g protein, 41 g carbohydrate, 11 g fiber, 3 g sugar (0 g added sugar), 447 mg sodium, 21 mg potassium, 18 g fat (3 g sat, 13 g mono, 2 g poly, 0 g trans), 1 mg cholesterol

Recipe courtesy of Joyce Goldstein


Spicy Chicken Kebabs

Spicy Chicken Kebabs

Spicy Chicken Kebabs
Serves 12
Ingredients:
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp. coriander seeds
  • ¾ tsp. paprika
  • ¾ tsp. cumin seed
  • ½ tsp. dried thyme
  • ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper
  • 1 tsp. curry powder
  • black pepper, to taste
  • 3 Tbsp. canola oil
  • 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
  • 1 Tbsp. parsley, chopped
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • About 1 pound of red grapes
Preparation:
  1. In a mortar, pound the garlic with a pinch of salt to make a paste.
  2. In a dry skillet, heat the coriander seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, thyme, crushed red pepper, and curry powder until hot and aromatic, about 30 seconds. Remove from pan and put the mixture into a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Grind to make a fine powder.
  3. In a bowl, combine the garlic paste, spices, canola oil, lemon juice, parsley, pepper, and chicken cubes. Toss well to coat completely and let marinate several hours, mixing occasionally.
  4. Skewer the chicken and grapes and grill until chicken is cooked through.

Nutrition information per 1 skewer serving (1/12 of recipe):

108 calories,  9 g protein, 6 g carbohydrate,  0 g fiber, 5 g sugar (0 g added sugar), 30 mg sodium, 43 mg potassium, 5 g fat (0 g sat, 2 g mono, 3 g poly, 0 g trans), 0 mg cholesterol 

Recipe courtesy of The Culinary Institute of America


Farro with Confetti Vegetables

Farro with Confetti Vegetables

Farro with roasted confetti vegetables
Serves 8, as a side
Ingredients:
  • 1 cup farro, uncooked
  • Seasonal vegetables, diced (4 vegetables make about 8-10 cups)
    • (Summer: zucchini, summer squash, bell pepper, eggplant)
    • (Winter: root vegetables: carrots, parsnips, beets; and winter squashes: butternut, acorn)
  • ¼ cup canola, olive, or other healthy oil
  • ¾ Tbsp. pepper
  • 2 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
  • A pinch of salt
  • 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
  • Fresh herbs as available, chopped
Preparation:
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Dice all vegetables into even pieces and set aside.
  3. Bring vegetable stock to a boil in a medium saucepan, then stir in the farro. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until the farro is tender (Approximately 40 minutes. Check package for cooking instructions).
  4. Meanwhile, toss the diced vegetables in canola oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place on a baking pan, and roast until browned in the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Check every 10 minutes, and toss the vegetables so that they brown evenly.
  5. Once the vegetables are fully roasted, fold them into the farro. Add the lemon juice and taste to adjust for seasoning. Add additional salt, pepper, and fresh herbs, to taste.

Nutrition information per serving (1/8 of recipe):

Using summer vegetables and canola oil:

181 calories, 8 g protein, 25 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, 4 g sugar**, 0 g added sugar, 52 mg sodium, 365 mg potassium, 8 g fat (1 g sat, 4 g mono, 3 g poly, 0 g trans), 0 g cholesterol

Using winter vegetables and canola oil:

225 calories, 6 g protein, 36 g carbohydrate, 6 g fiber, 7 g sugar (0 g added sugar), 128 mg sodium, 298 mg potassium, 7 g fat (0 g sat, 4 g mono, 3 g poly, 0 g trans), 0 mg cholesterol

Adapted from recipe by Harvard University Dining Services.

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