Fat-Burning Recipes (Main Dishes)

Are you struggling to find healthy fat-burning recipes? This section contains a whole mess of fat-burning recipes for main dishes. But before you go ahead and turbo-charge your fat loss diet with fat-burning meals, it may be a good idea to first learn the basics of how dietary habits affect fat loss. The diet section (see Best Fat Loss Diet Plan) and the food section (see Best Foods to Eat to Lose Body Fat) of this online guide focus on delivering basic information about diet and fat loss, so you may want to check them out before diving into the fat-burning recipes below.

Cranberry Asparagus with Pine Nuts

Turbo-charge your fat loss diet by eating asparagus, a highly nutritious vegetable that is extremely low in calories and that rates low on the Glycemic Index. Also the pine nuts featured in this mouth-watering dish can help you lose weight: these little buttery nuts contain phytochemicals that can increase the feeling of fullness and suppress appetite.

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Shrimp and Mushroom Risotto

This simple recipe helps you create a risotto that's full of flavor and nutrients while being low in fat and rich in protein. In addition, it boasts vitamin D, B vitamins, iodine, and zinc—key micronutrients for successful weight loss.

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Tomato, Cucumber and Red Onion Salad

Low in calories and fat, this salad makes a great fat loss aid. What's more, this fat-burning salad contains plenty of onions, one of the best dietary sources of chromium. Chromium has been shown to help increase or maintain lean body mass and aid in fat loss when combined with exercise. These effects of chromium on body composition are believed to result from the ability of this important trace mineral to enhance insulin's activity and to improve insulin sensitivity in the body. The fat loss promoting effects of this salad are further strengthened by balsamic vinegar, which not only adds an invigorating pungency to this salad but which also contains compounds that have been shown to enhance the feeling of satiety and thus reduce the amount of food consumed.

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Ginger and Cucumber Salad

Ginger root, a key ingredient in this salad, is an excellent weight loss aid and is in fact found in many weight loss supplements. Ginger root has appetite suppressing qualities, and it has been shown to rev up the metabolism. In one animal study, ginger increased metabolism 20 percent. In addition, some evidence suggests that ginger may also be effective at enhancing insulin sensitivity. Also cucumber is an excellent weight loss food as it contains zero fat and is low in calories.

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Carrot Fennel Cucumber Salad

This summery salad works like magic to soothe your soul—and to burn excess fat. While being extremely low in calories, this salad is packed with fiber and vitamin C. It also contains some essential fatty acids.

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Beet and Carrot Salad with Ginger

This recipe pairs beets with carrots to create a healthy fat loss promoting salad that is packed with fiber and vitamins while being low in calories.

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Spinach Soup with Boiled Eggs

Listen to Popeye and eat your spinach! Spinach is cram-full of nutrients that can boost your health – and help you lose fat. Also the eggs featured in this delicious soup can help you shed off extra pounds, especially if you eat this soup early in the day: research conducted at the Rochester Centre for Obesity in America found that eating eggs in the morning could limit the calorie intake throughout the rest of the day by more than 400 calories.

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Apple and Onion Soup

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, goes the old adage. But did you know that apples can also keep excess pounds away? Apples contain pectin, a type of dietary fiber that limits the amount of fat our cells absorb. Also onions help keep excess pounds at bay: onions are one of the best dietary sources of chromium, a mineral that can help increase or maintain lean body mass and aid in fat loss when combined with exercise.

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Wholesome Winter Pea and Watercress Soup

This beautiful green soup with a wonderful creamy texture is extremely low in calories but rich in vitamin C. Research has shown a direct link between low blood levels of vitamin C and increased fat accumulation. Furthermore, thanks to the watercress, this soup is packed with calcium which has been shown to promote weight loss. Watercress is also low in oxalic acid, a compound that can inhibit the absorption of calcium from many other plants foods.

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Hot Tomato Soup

This soup is rich in chromium, a mineral that may help increase or maintain lean body mass and aid in fat loss when combined with exercise. These effects of chromium on body composition are believed to result from the ability of this important trace mineral to enhance insulin's activity and to improve insulin sensitivity in the body. What's more, the chili and garlic featured in this fat loss soup are rich in phytochemicals that increase the rate at which your body burns energy.

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Leek and Garlic Omelet

The main ingredient in this recipe is egg whites, which are at the top of fitness models and celebrities' lists of favorite fat loss foods as they are excellent source of dietary protein but very low in calories and fat. Also garlic is commonly used to prevent weight gain and promote weight loss.

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Spicy Shrimp Omelet

Egg whites and shrimp are among the best natural sources of high quality protein which is crucial for weight management. But the protein in this omelet is hardly its only fat loss promoting component: chili garlic sauce is packed with capsaicin, a natural compound that is famous for its ability to increase the body's heat production (thermogenesis), thereby increasing the rate at which the body burns carbohydrates and fats.

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Wholewheat Pasta with Nettle Pesto

This pasta dish featuring young nettle won't sting your mouth; it will only do your body good. Young, blanched stinging nettle leaves are wonderfully edible, and they are packed with vitamins and minerals, while being low in calories. The whole wheat pasta this recipe calls for is a healthy alternative to the traditional white pasta.

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Stir-Fried Asparagus with Quinoa Noodles

Asparagus is extremely low in calories (only 24 calories per 100 grams) and rates low on the Glycemic Index, which makes this extraordinary member of the lily family an excellent fat loss vegetable. Asparagus is also a good source of iodine, a trace mineral that is needed for proper thyroid function. Iodine deficiency can result in sluggish thyroid activity which in turn can lead to fat gain or hinder fat loss.

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For more recipes that can help you lose excess body fat, go to the main recipe directory of HealWithFood.org's Guide to Fat Loss.