As the days get longer and the weather warms up, it's time to embrace the fresh flavors of spring with a variety of healthy and delicious meals. This curated collection of recipes features seasonal ingredients like asparagus, peas, spinach, radishes, and rhubarb, offering a vibrant and nutritious way to celebrate the season.
Embracing the Flavors of Spring
Spring is a time of renewal, and what better way to celebrate than with fresh, colorful, and healthy meals? This article provides a range of recipes, from vibrant salads and simple side dishes to colorful dinners and delightful spring baking ideas. Whether you're looking for a quick weeknight meal or something special to share with friends and family, you'll find plenty of inspiration here.
Salads Bursting with Freshness
Salads are a quintessential spring dish, and these recipes showcase the best of the season's produce:
Spring Pea Salad: Welcome springtime with a bright, green pea salad tossed with thinly sliced radishes, fresh herbs, and feta cheese. This lightened-up version of the traditional English pea salad lets the sweetness of the peas and fresh seasonal flavors shine.
Asparagus, Pea, and Radish Salad: Take advantage of seasonal spring produce with this healthy asparagus, pea, and radish salad. It’s a big salad meant to be shared, and it keeps particularly well, making it perfect for preparing in advance.
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Strawberry and Spinach Salad: Juicy, sweet strawberries and fresh spinach are tossed with feta cheese, fresh mint, and a lemony balsamic dressing in this refreshing salad.
Fruit Salad with Rose Water: This gorgeous fruit salad is made with a medley of fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, all married with a sweet-meets-tart dressing with lime and honey. A splash of rose water (or orange blossom water) gives it a distinctly Mediterranean flair.
Radish and Cucumber Salad: This go-to side dish is ready in just 20 minutes and loaded with fresh veggies, including thinly sliced radishes and chopped cucumber. Crumbly goat cheese gives it a slightly creamy touch and tangy flavor.
Roasted Asparagus and Tomato Salad: Tender, roasted asparagus spears are topped with cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, and a light sherry vinaigrette. Fried halloumi provides a savory, indulgent twist, but you can skip the cheese entirely for a vegan option.
Arugula Salad with Strawberries and Feta: Featuring feta cheese, fresh strawberries, and peppery arugula, this orzo pasta salad is the perfect balance of sweet and savory flavors. It’s made in just 25 minutes thanks to the quick-cooking orzo and a super simple lemon vinaigrette.
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Nicoise Salad: Hearty, healthy, and slightly untraditional, this Nicoise salad is a take on a French classic. It includes sliced radishes, artichoke hearts, cucumbers, tomatoes, and loads of fresh greens.
Spring Tabouli Salad with Quinoa and Asparagus: This salad is made with your choice of spring veggies with fresh dill, lemon, sliced almonds, and crumbly goat or feta (optional).
Strawberry Quinoa Tabouli: This healthy, vegetarian salad with cucumbers, parsley and almonds is filling, nutritious and full of flavor! Add feta, goat cheese or avocado for extra richness.
Lentil Salad with Spring Veggies, Mint and Yogurt Sauce: This delicious, healthy, Greek-inspired lentil salad recipe celebrates spring vegetables!
Soups to Warm the Soul
Even as the weather warms up, a comforting bowl of soup can be a welcome addition to your spring meal plan:
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Vegan Asparagus Soup: This vegan asparagus soup with spring peas and leeks can be made in just 30 minutes.
Spring Minestrone Soup: A lighter take on the classic minestrone, this soup features leeks, fennel, baby spinach, and fresh peas.
Celery Soup: This healing bowl of celery soup is comforting, affordable, and flavorful, and can be made in 35 minutes.
Lemony Chicken Orzo Soup with Dill: This simple easy recipe can be made with leftover chicken. It’s healthy, zesty and flavorful!
Potato Leek Soup: This simple healthy recipe for Potato Leek Soup is deceiving flavorful. It’s a nourishing, soul-satisfying meal in under 30 minutes, made with simple ingredients and is vegan adaptable.
Creamy Vegan Spinach Soup: Velvety smooth with a refreshing hint of mint, this soup features simple clean ingredients that create a deeply nourishing and delicious soup that is dairy-free, vegan and gluten-free.
Creamy Asparagus with Tarragon: The fennel and tarragon give the asparagus an unusual, unexpected twist. The soup is lightened up and made "creamy" with potatoes and a little sour cream, so it's not overly rich, rather, just rich enough.
Spring Minestrone Soup with Chickpeas: This hearty soup features chickpeas and beautiful spring vegetables. It is vegan and gluten-free adaptable and full of great flavor!
Delicious Dinner Ideas
These dinner recipes showcase the versatility of spring ingredients:
Chicken Primavera: This chicken recipe lists pearl onions, asparagus, and peas as ingredients, but feel free to bring any and all of the season’s green vegetables into the mix.
Salmon and Asparagus: A sheet-pan dinner gets the salad treatment with help from lemon-dressed herbs, briny olives, sweet pickled peppers, and jarred artichokes.
Chicken With Garlicky Greens & New Potatoes: For a quick midweek dinner, serve chicken piccata with spring greens and new potatoes. Chicken breast is fried until golden then simmered with stock, capers, lemon and garlic to make a flavoursome sauce.
Curried Chicken & New Potato Traybake: New potatoes and chicken drumsticks are baked with garam masala, turmeric, ginger, garlic and yogurt to make this lightly spiced family supper.
Spring Orzo with Asparagus, Lemon and Dill: Serve this warm as an entrée, or chilled as a side salad. Keep it vegan or add feta. And if you happen to have any preserved lemons hiding out in your pantry or fridge, this is the time to whip them out and put them to good use.
Steamed Clams in White Wine Tarragon Broth: Enjoy steamed clams in a flavorful white wine tarragon broth with fresh spring peas, served with crusty bread to mop up all the flavorful juices!
Wild Salmon and Savory Roasted Rhubarb: Wild Salmon and Savory Roasted rhubarb are baked together, then paired with wilted, garlicky chard for a fast and flavorful dinner!
Pork and Asparagus Stir-Fry: Sear the spears in a hot pan for 4 minutes until each has a chance to blister.
Rigatoni With Fennel and Anchovies: Something truly magical happens when you caramelize fennel, garlic, and anchovies all together.
Vegetable Focused Dishes
Spring vegetables take center stage in these recipes:
Healthy Pasta Primavera: Make the most of spring greens with this vibrant, filling pasta. Tagliatelle is combined with broad beans, peas, leeks and asparagus then tossed with a light, herby creamy sauce.
Asparagus & Broad Bean Lasagne: Make the most of spring vegetables and try this light, low-fat lasagne that delivers three of your five-a-day. It's flavoured with lemon, basil and garlic.
Allotment Salad: Tom Kerridge celebrates the best of spring veg in this delightful salad with French-style dressing. Great for a barbecue, it could sit alongside chicken, lamb or halloumi.
Asparagus & Lemon Spaghetti with Peas: This pleasing vegan pasta is ready in under 20 minutes and provides three of your five-a-day. Asparagus is boiled with wholewheat spaghetti until al dente, so it still has good bite.
Curried Spring Veggie Pilaf: Make a spiced plant-based pilaf with spinach and peas. A one-pot wonder, it’s a good way to clear out your freezer as any frozen mixed veg would work well.
Creamy Polenta with Spring Veggies and Gremolata: This flavorful healthy meal featuring vibrant spring produce can be made in under 30 minutes!
Spring Pasta with Peas, Mushrooms, Asparagus: Spring Pasta with fresh peas, mushrooms, asparagus, tossed in a very light and lemony carbonara sauce and dotted with pillows of burrata cheese.
Lemon Pea Risotto: This pea risotto recipe is lemony and minty and sings of spring.
Spring Nettle Pasta: This dish features a flavorful nettle pesto sauce, toasted pine nuts and lemon zest.
Vegan Pot Pie with Spring Vegetables: This pot pie is loaded with vibrant fresh veggies and flavorful herbs cooked in a delicious creamy lemon mustard sauce and topped with a flakey puff pastry crust.
Creamy Carrot Pasta with Carrot Top Gremolata: This simple delicious VEGAN recipe features Creamy Carrot Pasta with Carrot Top Gremolata (optional) and Toasted Bread Crumbs.
Spring Pea Pesto: Quick and easy to make, this Spring Pea Pesto is deliciously vibrant with fresh herby flavor. Perfect for a dip, spread or use as a sauce with pasta and buddha bowls.
Savory Leek Galette: This beautiful and delicious Savory Leek Galette is made with a free-formed tender flakey crust enclosing a luscious melt-in-your-mouth succulent filling.
Cassoulet Vert: A modernized, French-inspired dish, this green cassoulet is made with a lemony kale pesto that is meat-free and that can be made in an Instant Pot or on the stovetop.
Baked Eggs with Spinach, Tomatoes, Ricotta & Basil: Try this Italian-style baked eggs for an easy brunch - make sure you serve with crusty bread for mopping up the sauce. If you’re not vegetarian, you could also add chorizo.
Lighter Takes on Comfort Food
Enjoy these lighter versions of classic comfort dishes:
Puffed Salmon & Spinach Fish Pie: On one of the chillier days, try this lighter take on comforting fish pie. Mashed potato and spinach go wonderfully with the creamy yet low-calorie filling.
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