Healthy Side Dish Ideas for Potlucks

Bring a healthy, delicious side dish to your next potluck.

While it is relatively easy to choose a healthy main course, such as picking a lean protein and a vegetable, many people get confounded when it comes to healthy side dishes. When making a side dish, it should be full of flavor but low in fat, calories and sodium. Bring one of these healthy, tasty side dishes to your next potluck.

Bean Salad

Beans are high in fiber, filling and perfect in a variety of salads. Drain and rinse a can of black beans and combine it with ingredients such as corn kernels, green onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice and light Italian salad dressing. Toss all of the ingredients together before placing the salad into the refrigerator to chill. This is an easy, healthy side dish that is flavorful without being too heavy.

Couscous

Couscous is a type of tiny pasta that is both quick to prepare and good for you. Bring a couscous salad to your next potluck by combining whole wheat couscous with ingredients such as tomatoes, herbs, olive oil, chickpeas, beans, lemon, Parmesan cheese and other vegetables. The result is unique, tasty and low in calories, saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol. For extra flavor, cook the couscous in reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth instead of water.

Vegetables

Vegetables can be prepared in a wide variety of healthy, delicious ways. Try oven-friend zucchini sticks, as suggested on the Eating Well website. These zucchini sticks are just as flavorful, but less harmful in terms of fat and calories, than deep-fried zucchini. You can also simply saute vegetables such as asparagus, bell peppers, broccoli and add a light, low-calorie dressing made from minced garlic, olive oil and your preferred spices. For more laid-back potlucks, trays of sliced vegetables with light ranch sauce for dipping is a side dish you can't go wrong with.

Fruit Salad

Fruit salad is a sweet, healthy side dish that can also serve as a dessert. Combine ingredients such as chopped apples and sliced grapes, nectarines, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, cubed watermelon and cantaloupe and any other fruits you fancy. Include tasty add-ins such as raisins or dried cranberries, and chopped nuts before coating the mixture in fruit-flavored nonfat yogurt. This is quick to prepare, very low in fat and calories and will satisfy even the sweetest tooth.

References

• Eating Well: Quick and Healthy Side Dishes
• All Recipes: Black Bean Salad
• All Recipes: Fabulous Fruit Salad