Easy Whole30 Recipes – Main Dishes
Posted: 01/10/2020
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These easy Whole30 recipes will help you have a successful and delicious Whole30 experience! They’re easy to prepare, easily adaptable, and so tasty!
What is Whole30?
I already have a complete guide to Whole30 available (complete with helpful tools, tips, and grocery store recommendations) – it’s perfect for beginners, so I won’t recap all of that, but we’ll do a quick overview.
You can also learn everything you’d like on the official website (I always frequent the website each time I do a Whole30) but basically, it’s 30 days without added sugar, sweeteners (natural and artificial), grains (gluten and non-gluten), legumes (peanuts, peas, and soy included), dairy, gluten, and alcohol. It’s a lot of vegetables, eggs, meat, and avocados. You can also eat fruit and nuts (except peanuts), and sweet potatoes and regular potatoes.
About these Easy Whole30 Recipes
You can browse my entire collection of Whole30 recipes (as well as many other special diets in my recipe index), but in this post we’re highlighting some favorite entrees and main dishes. We cover breakfast, lunch, and dinner in this list.
Important to note: Some of the recipes here may NOT appear to be Whole30 compliant at first glance. However, if we included them in the list, it means we talk in the post about EASY adaptations you can make to make them Whole30 compliant. This is helpful when preparing meals for a family dinner where not everyone might be following the Whole30 meal plan.
FAQs about Whole30
Can you have rice on Whole30?
Nope! Try cauliflower rice instead!
Can you have potatoes on Whole30?
Yes, you can! Sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, but not potato chips, and not fries unless you’re making them yourself. Try these amazing sweet potato fries!
Can you have popcorn on Whole30?
Okay truthfully, I only included this question because I love popcorn. The answer is no, though, folks.
What snacks can I eat on Whole30?
Snacking is technically discouraged on Whole30. However, if you can make it through an entire 30 days without a snack, I applaud you. Especially if you work out daily like I do. If you’re going to snack, it’s best to have a snack that includes protein and fats. I loved RX Bars as a snack!
Easy Whole30 Recipes
These easy Whole30 recipes will help you have a successful and delicious Whole30 experience! They're easy to prepare, easily adaptable, and so tasty!
This Whole30 Chicken Thighs sheet pan dinner is an entire flavorful, healthy, and easy to make meal on one single sheet pan! Whole30 or not, make it tonight!
Healthy chicken piccata isn't breaded, but it still has all the flavor of the original. Plus, it's ready in less than 30 minutes using your pressure cooker!
Instant Pot Chili is healthy, adaptable and easy to make. Read all my tips to make it your perfect chili recipe - spicy, mild, vegetarian, Whole30, Paleo, not Paleo, whatever you like, I tell you how to make it happen in this recipe! You can even make it in the slow cooker or on the stove!
Sheet pan fajitas are great for busy weeknights and also great for bigger crowds! You'll love this easy, hands-off approach to fajitas! This recipe is for chicken fajitas but you'll also find tips for steak, vegetarian, and shrimp fajitas!
To make Whole30 Compliant: Leave the sugar out of the fajita seasoning, and serve with lettuce wraps or cauliflower rice.
Lemon Salmon with Dill is going to be a weeknight lifesaver. It's ready in less than 30 minutes, it's healthy, flavorful and so ridiculously easy to make. You're going to end up making it once a week!
So creamy and satisfying, this carrot ginger soup made with coconut milk will warm you up inside and out.
Pizza, spaghetti, and squash? Sounds unlikely, but wait for the explosion of flavor when you try this surprisingly easy pizza stuffed spaghetti squash!
To make Whole30 Compliant: Omit cheese.
This bruschetta chicken is the perfect summer chicken recipe and it's made in one pan! Browse all the adaptations to make it your own.
To make Whole30 Compliant: Omit cheese.
Cozy, comforting, and made so quickly and easily under pressure, this Instant Pot Beef Stew is going to become an instant favorite.
To make Whole30 Compliant: Remove flour from seasoning mix (make sure to use less if you do this), omit peas, omit cornstarch. Try thickening with arrowroot powder.
This cozy and comforting Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup is made easily and quickly in your pressure cooker. It's comfort food at its best!
To make Whole30 Compliant: Omit noodles (try subbing in zucchini noodles!), omit peas.
This one pan sausage dinner is the perfect 30 minute meal on a night when you want a nutritious meal but you really don't feel like cooking!
To make Whole30 Compliant: Choose a compliant sausage and mustard, omit maple syrup.
This Mini Turkey Meatloaf sheet pan dinner are for those meat and potato lovers out there! This is a complete meal, all on one sheet pan! You're going to love this for an easy weeknight meal!
To make Whole30 Compliant: Omit breadcrumbs, use a Whole30 compliant ketchup.
Being busy doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice great food. Try these Slow Cooker Moroccan Chicken Thighs that will cook all day while you’re busy doing other things. Best part is, it will probably be enough for two meals!
To make Whole30 Compliant: Look for Whole30 compliant raisins. Serve over cauliflower rice instead of couscous.
This easy five ingredient, one-pan pizza chicken is a weeknight lifesaver. It's an easy crowd-pleaser of a dinner!
To make Whole30 Compliant: Choose compliant ingredients, omit cheese.
This Stuffed Acorn Squash is fall embodied in one recipe. It will become a quick favorite with its healthy mix of sweet and savory in one filling and satisfying recipe.
To make Whole30 Compliant: Omit farro and cheese. Choose Whole30 compliant ingredients.
Fall inspired Instant Pot Shakshuka is easy, healthy and so delicious. Get some crusty bread to dip in the tomato sauce and eggs and you're ready to dig in!
To make Whole30 Compliant: Do not garnish with cheese, do not serve with bread.
Even if you're not doing a Whole30, this Whole30 Sausage is a breakfast WIN! It's full of flavor and protein and it's super easy to make thanks to a couple shortcuts. You'll be so happy to know exactly what's going into your breakfast sausage!
This egg white frittata is loaded with the great flavors of green chiles, scallions, cheese, and spinach. It's a healthy vegetarian start to your day and it's packed with protein!
To make Whole30 Compliant: Omit cheese. Use ghee, not butter.
This easy roasted butternut squash soup is full of flavor and is ultra-creamy, without any cream or butter! It's the perfect fall soup.
Hands-down our family’s favorite way to prepare a juicy, flavorful spice rubbed pork tenderloin.
Slow cooker shredded chicken that only takes 3 ingredients. Easy, versatile and delicious.
This turkey soup with zucchini noodles comes together in 20 minutes — it will end up in your weekly rotation.
An Italian classic – Bolognese – made MUCH lighter with ground turkey and zucchini noodles. You can eat this hearty meal with no guilt at all!
To make Whole30 Compliant: Leave out brown sugar.
Gia says
Thank you for these! Personally, I’m looking for a way, an EASY way to make lower carb foods. That’s not to say, I won’t indulge in carbs, but after having a hysterectomy, the weight doesn’t come off even with exercise UNLESS I stringently reduce my carbs. Even then, the weight loss is slow but it’s what happens when you are without your ovaries and 50 something. Still, it’s a good trade off — to feel better, as oppose to looking better. Sigh….
Rachel Gurk says
I hope you enjoy some of these easy recipes!
Suzanne Szarai says
I accidentally clicked on the following button and now I get notification all the time. I started to REALLY HATE your site.
Please give me info how to stop this nonsense.
Rachel Gurk says
Hi Suzanne, I’m guessing you might be referring to the notifications that pop up in the corner of your screen? I’ve accidentally subscribed to those on other sites, too, and I know they can be a little bit bothersome if you’re not interested. You can opt out of them anytime you’d like by clicking on settings when it pops up and removing my site from your list of push notifications. I hope that helps!
denise says
I’ve been incorporating more of these meals into my repertoire.
Rachel Gurk says
I’m so glad to hear that!
Financial Planning says
Rachel, thank you for this post, which contains such delicious recipes that are perfect as main dishes. I love cooking so much. Sometimes it seems to me that this is my second calling. I often read culinary blogs, but I am delighted with yours! It seems to me that our culinary preferences are very similar. In this post you have collected most of the recipes that I have already cooked in my kitchen for my family. I have a large family and every weekend we gather at my house at a large festive table. Most of all my children like Pizza Stuffed Spaghetti Squash. Very unusual and mouth-watering dish. And also everybody is just crazy from your Stuffed Acorn Squash with Sausage and Apples. Incredibly easy to prepare and delicious dish! Thank you for your wonderful post, I will save it in my bookmarks to always have access to my favorite recipes)
Rachel Gurk says
Wow, thank you so much for your kind words and support of Rachel Cooks! It really means a lot to me that my recipes have a place in your home.