50 Easy Lunch Ideas for Stressed-Out People
Let’s face it, we’re all busy. We barely have time to get everything done in the day, let alone meal prep healthy lunches for the week. But you know what we also don’t have time (or budget) for? Trekking outside for a $12 lunch salad that’s not even that good.
Luckily, we have a solution: Presenting 50 easy lunch ideas that require basically zero effort to whip up (and taste delicious). With everything from chicken salad stuffed peppers to radish barbecue bowls with honey-mustard dressing, this handy list of recipes should keep you going for months to come. Finally, a brown bag lunch that you can get excited about. Bon appétit.
1. Avocado Egg Salad Sandwich
It’s as easy to make as it is to slice a tomato. If you have 25 minutes, you can make four days’ worth of lunches.
2. Linguine with Bacon, Peaches and Gorgonzola
This dish takes just 30 minutes from start to finish and we give you permission to eat it cold. It tastes just as good—if not better—that way.
3. Zoodles with Avocado and Mango Sauce
You had us at 15-minute lunch, and again at no oven required. Double the recipe to make enough for the entire week.
4. Buffalo Chicken Wraps with Blue Cheese and Celery
Rotisserie chicken, we salute you. (How else could we have a mouthwatering lunch ready to go in a mere 20 minutes?)
5. Tomato Salad with Grilled Halloumi and Herbs
It’s impossible to beat a ten-minute salad. This one has halloumi cheese, so it’s even better.
6. Italian Deli Pinwheel Sandwiches
The sandwich equivalent of icebox cookies. And by that we mean easy, delicious and impossible to eat just one.
RELATED: 10 Easy Brown Bag Lunches That Aren’t a Turkey Sandwich
7. Joanna Gaines’s Peach Caprese Salad
When it comes to low-fuss, healthy lunches, it turns out our design crush knows best.
8. Sheet Pan Indian-Spiced Chicken
It sounds time-consuming, but we promise it’s a breeze. (Only ten minutes of prepping!) Just chop everything up and toss it on a tray.
9. Make-Ahead Aloo Gobi
Tender and flavorful, this pretty lunch keeps in the fridge for up to four days. (It’s also vegetarian and ready in 30 minutes, but we didn’t want to brag too much.)
10. BLT Pasta Salad
Bowties beat sad wilty salads any day of the week. Would you believe us if we told you it takes 40 minutes and makes a whopping eight servings?
RELATED: 18 Healthy and Filling Work Lunches That Aren’t Salad
11. Meal-Prep Turkey Meatballs with Zucchini Noodles
Ready in half an hour is just the beginning. These meatballs are tender, rich and juicy, plus they’re baked instead of fried for easy cleanup.
12. Make-Ahead Farro and Brussels Sprout Salad
Psst: This is the easiest way to prepare Brussels sprouts. All you have to do is trim, separate and toss them with the farro before serving.
13. Lunch Kebabs with Mortadella, Artichoke and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Aside from being a delicious lunch for you or your kids, they’re so darn fun to eat. Customize to your heart’s content.
14. Slow-Cooker Meal-Prep Burrito Bowls
The answer to your lunchtime prayers? Spicy, nourishing burrito bowls portioned out for the entire week.
15. Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad Stuffed Peppers
Bye, lunch rut. We’ll see you never, thanks to these adorable pepper boats of healthy chicken salad.
16. RAINBOW COLLARD WRAPS WITH PEANUT BUTTER DIPPING SAUCE
You can make them two days in advance, they take 30 minutes and they won’t get soggy. Plus, there’s peanut sauce. Need we say more?
17. Meal-Prep Honey Sesame Chicken with Broccolini
Kick that sad lunch salad to the curb and replace it with this satisfying meal. The sides are swappable, but the sticky-sweet glaze is mandatory.
18. Mini Chicken Shawarma
You can’t go wrong with these two-bite pockets. Thanks to a quick marinade, they’re as flavorful as if you spent all day in the kitchen (but they’re actually very simple to make).
19. Quick Guacamole Quinoa Salad
It’s basically a giant bowl of guac masquerading as a salad, and we’re not complaining at all. In fact, that’s the definition of our dream lunch.
20. Firecracker Chicken with Rice
Low-maintenance is the name of the game. Make this spicy-sweet number the night before (it takes just 35 minutes) and reap the rewards when your stomach growls at lunch the next day.
RELATED: 7 Surprising Lunches That Put Your Boring Kale Salad to Shame
21. 20-Minute Burrata Salad with Stone Fruit and Asparagus
Tip: Don’t skimp on the good stuff. And by good stuff, we mean all that creamy burrata.
22. Bruschetta Chicken
One-pan lunches are the way to go. This one tastes super decadent, but it’s surprisingly healthy and low-carb.
23. Keto Sheet-Pan Chicken and Rainbow Veggies
Dishes, what dishes? We’re making only sheet-pan lunches from now on.
24. 20-MINUTE PALEO EGG ROLL BOWLS
We’re ditching the greasy egg roll wrappers because everyone knows it’s what’s inside that counts.
25. Easy Stir-Fried Rice Cakes with XO Sauce
These chewy, sticky rice cakes are about to win the lunch game. Grab the flavor-packed XO sauce from your local Asian market.
26. 15-Minute Mediterranean Couscous with Tuna and Pepperoncini
What looks fancy but takes virtually no effort? This guy. What can we say, we’re suckers for a can of tuna.
27. Radish Barbecue Bowls with Tangy Honey-Mustard Dressing
This is our new favorite way to eat veggies, hands down. It must have something to do with those briny, charred radishes.
28. Cold Sesame Cucumber Noodles
The secret ingredient? Store-bought marinated tofu. It’s a time-saving and easy way to add a ton of flavor (not to mention protein).
29. 15-Minute Mezze Plate with Toasted Za’atar Pita Bread
Finger food is the best food. The second best? It’s a tie between charcuterie, olives, toasted pita and yogurt sauce.
30. Shredded Thai Salad with Avocado
The prettiest salad you’ll ever make. Just look at all those colors!
RELATED: 21 Non-Boring Work Lunches You Can Make in 15 Minutes or Less
31. The Ultimate Quinoa-Avocado Bowl
The beauty of shrimp? It’s done in five minutes and goes with just about everything—a lunchtime blessing.
32. Chicken and Snap Pea Stir-Fry
Not only is stir-fry easy to make in the first place, it’s also the most acceptable meal to microwave the next day. (We might even venture to say it tastes better as leftovers.)
33. 15-Minute Cheater’s Pad Thai
It’s even faster than ordering takeout, and so much healthier. You can even swap the ground pork for turkey or chicken, if you’re so inclined.
34. Rotisserie Chicken Ramen
Doctor up a box of noodles with store-bought (or homemade!) broth, aromatics and our old standby, rotisserie chicken.
35. Cauliflower Rice Bowl with Curried Lentils, Carrots and Yogurt
Who says eating healthy has to be boring? This fresh legume-veggie-yogurt combo will fill you up without weighing you down.
36. 15-Minute Lemony Broccolini Pasta
Nothing against jarred marinara sauce, but we need a break. And good news, you can totally swap the pine nuts for almonds in a pinch.
37. Sheet-Pan Lemon Butter Veggies and Sausage
Two things we love: hands-off meals and zero dishes. This easy lunch happens to offer both and then some.
38. Kung Pao Chicken
Juicy, sweet and totally irresistible. And we should mention it comes together in a single skillet, so cleanup is easy-peasy.
39. Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Chèvre Ranch
This is a brand new way to use goat cheese and it’s the opposite of that ’90s salad with dried cranberries you used to know and love.
40. Easy Black Bean Soup
Thanks to Coterie member Monique Volz for keeping us warm with this guy, which is simple, flavorful, healthy and ready in 35 minutes.
41. White Turkey Chili with Avocado
Light enough to eat all year long. Even better, it freezes like a dream, so you can stash some away for the busiest days.
42. Buddha Bowl with Kale, Avocado, Orange and Wild Rice
Mixing and matching is the name of the game. With all these fresh, filling ingredients, you’ll avoid an afternoon slump like nobody’s business.
43. Avocado and Black Bean Pasta Salad
So much more fun than avocado toast, but just as easy to make. File this one under “genius.”
44. Green Goddess Wraps
Real talk: This recipe’s got us excited about greens. About that homemade green-goddess dressing: It comes together with just a few spins in your blender.
45. Caprese Salad
Grilled zucchini is a major upgrade to everyone’s favorite seasonal salad. Drizzle on some extra balsamic for us, would you?
46. Spring Roll Bowls
The healthiest way to get your takeout fix is to ditch the carb-heavy wrappers for chewy rice noodles. Swoon.
47. Zoodles with Summer Vegetables
Finally, the best way to use up a boatload of produce. Feel free to swap these veggies for whatever looks good (or is available in your fridge).
48. Grilled Watermelon-Feta Skewers
Light, tangy and irresistible. Let’s eat every meal on a stick from now on.
RELATED: 21 Meal Prep Lunch Recipes That Are Better Than an Expensive Salad
49. Avocado Chicken Salad Recipe
No grapes or walnuts in sight, just how we like it. The addition of avocado, on the other hand, is *chef’s kiss*
50. 15-Minute Cucumber-Avocado Blender Soup
We like the sound of zero prep even more than we like that cheesy toasted baguette.
