Tag

Low-calorie recipes

Under 350 kcal per serving, without the sad-diet energy. Real flavour, careful fat, plenty of vegetables — the kind of light cooking you actually want to make again.

Sort by

Spanish Tortilla with potatoes, eggs and olive oil — Spain recipe

🇪🇸SpainMedium

Vegetable and Mushroom Dishes

Spanish Tortilla

Potatoes and onion slow-cooked in olive oil until soft, then bound with beaten eggs and set into a thick round omelette. Five ingredients. The technique is what matters. In Spain this gets eaten at any hour — breakfast, tapas, a wedge in a bread roll at midnight. It is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day cold, which is not something you can say about many things.

50 min320 kcal6 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free

Spätzle with plain flour, eggs and butter — Germany recipe

🇩🇪GermanyMedium

Cereal and Pasta Dishes

Spätzle

Soft egg-and-flour dumplings pressed through a grater or colander into simmering salted water, then finished in brown butter until lightly crisp at the edges. Spätzle (pronounced SHPETS-luh, meaning 'little sparrows') comes from Swabia in southern Germany and is the region's equivalent of pasta — served alongside schnitzel and goulash, or layered with melted cheese to make Käsespätzle. The batter is thicker than pancake batter but thinner than a dough; it falls through the holes under its own weight when pushed with a spatula. The butter finish in the pan is what elevates them from simple boiled dumplings to something worth eating on their own.

35 min340 kcal4 serves

🌿Vegetarian

Spekulatius (German Spiced Christmas Biscuits) with almonds, cinnamon and cardamom — Germany recipe

🇩🇪GermanyAdvanced

Flour and Confectionery Products

Spekulatius (German Spiced Christmas Biscuits)

Spekulatius are thin, crisp spiced shortcrust biscuits stamped with a picture before baking, known in the Netherlands and Belgium as speculaas and baked across the Rhineland and Westphalia for Sankt Nikolaus on 6 December. The dough is a butter shortcrust built around a home-mixed spice blend of cinnamon, clove, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and white pepper, with ground almonds folded in for a short, sandy bite. Traditionally the picture comes from a carved wooden mould, a Model, but an embossed rolling pin or an ordinary cookie cutter gives the same biscuit without ever owning one. The 60 minutes here covers mixing, shaping and two trays in the oven; the dough itself needs to rest in the fridge overnight, and the biscuits only crisp up fully once they cool. Makes about 45 thin biscuits, five to a serving.

60 min345 kcal9 serves

🌿Vegetarian

Spicy Fish with fish, garlic and onion — Mexico recipe

🇲🇽MexicoMedium

Fish and Seafood Dishes

Spicy Fish

This dish combines the spiciness of jalapeños, the sourness of tomatoes and capers, and the delicate flavor of fish, characteristic of Mexican coastal cuisine.

40 min325 kcal4 serves

🥑Keto🌶️Spicy💪High protein

Spinach and Artichoke Dip with cream cheese, sour cream and spinach — USA recipe

🇺🇸USAMedium

Sauces and Dips

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Hot, cheesy, and straightforward — this is the version that disappears first at any party. Cream cheese is the base, mozzarella provides the gooeyness, parmesan does the seasoning work, and sour cream keeps the whole thing from being too dense. The two non-negotiables: squeeze the frozen spinach until your hands ache, and let the cream cheese reach room temperature before you try to mix anything. Watery spinach ruins the texture. Cold cream cheese makes a lumpy mess. Everything else is flexible.

35 min290 kcal8 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free🌶️Spicy

Spinach in Sesame Sauce (Goma-ae) with fresh spinach, white sesame seeds and mirin — Japan recipe

🇯🇵JapanEasy

Vegetable and Mushroom Dishes

Spinach in Sesame Sauce (Goma-ae)

A classic Japanese side dish — blanched spinach tossed in a nutty sesame-soy dressing with a touch of mirin and sugar. Goma-ae (胡麻和え) means 'sesame-dressed' and is one of the most fundamental techniques in Japanese home cooking. Served chilled as a cold appetizer or side dish.

15 min90 kcal2 serves

🌿Vegetarian⚡Quick🌱Vegan

Stewed Fish with fish, tomato and garlic — Italy recipe

🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Fish and Seafood Dishes

Stewed Fish

This recipe combines the tenderness of fish with the flavor of Mediterranean herbs and spices, as well as the sourness of tomatoes and olives. Light yet rich and flavorful.

23 min200 kcal2 serves

🥑Keto⚡Quick🌶️Spicy

Stracciatella alla Romana (Roman Egg Drop Soup) with chicken broth, eggs and parmesan — Italy recipe

🇮🇹ItalyEasy

Soups

Stracciatella alla Romana (Roman Egg Drop Soup)

Stracciatella alla romana is a Roman egg drop soup: hot chicken or meat broth into which a mixture of beaten eggs and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano is streamed, forming delicate little 'rags' of egg. It is the Italian version of egg drop soup, but unlike the Chinese one, which is often thickened with cornstarch, the Italian stays clear and brothy — the richness comes from the egg and cheese themselves. The name comes from straccetti or stracce, meaning 'little rags,' an apt description of how the beaten egg looks when it hits the simmering broth and breaks into tiny clouds. It is a first course (primo) of the Roman tradition and of central Italy more broadly, especially Marche and Abruzzo. Despite humble peasant origins, today stracciatella often opens holiday banquets at Easter and Christmas, and it is the classic comfort food many Italians remember their grandmother making at the first sign of a cold. The single technical key is heat: the broth must be at a gentle simmer, never a rolling boil, or the egg scrambles into clumps instead of forming silky rags. Stream the egg-and-cheese mixture slowly into the swirling broth, stirring in one direction. Authentic alla romana contains zero semolina — that is a northern variation that turns the delicate rags into porridge. Salt goes in at the very end because Parmigiano already brings its own. Four ingredients, ready in about 15 minutes, served immediately with olive oil, pepper, and parsley.

15 min150 kcal4 serves

⚡Quick🌾Gluten-free

Strawberry Matchamisu with fresh strawberries, mascarpone and matcha powder — Japan recipe

🇯🇵JapanMedium

Sweet Dishes

Strawberry Matchamisu

A no-bake layered dessert that swaps the espresso in tiramisu for a bowl of whisked matcha and replaces the cocoa dusting with more matcha on top. Fresh strawberries go in the cream and between the layers. It sets overnight into something silky and cool with a faint bitterness from the green tea that keeps the sweetness in check. The name is a portmanteau, and the dessert earns it.

30 min315 kcal8 serves

🌿Vegetarian⚡Quick🌾Gluten-free

Stuffed Bell Peppers with bell pepper, rice and ground turkey — Mexico recipe

🇲🇽MexicoMedium

Vegetable and Mushroom Dishes

Stuffed Bell Peppers

This recipe combines traditional Mexican ingredients and flavors to create a hearty and flavorful dish. The cheese and salsa give the dish an authentic Mexican flavor.

50 min250 kcal6 serves

🌾Gluten-free💪High protein

Stuffed Fish (Gefilte Fish) with fish, onion and carrot — Israel recipe

🇮🇱IsraelAdvanced

Fish and Seafood Dishes

Stuffed Fish (Gefilte Fish)

An Ashkenazi Jewish classic — whole fish is cut into steaks, the flesh is ground with onion and bread to make a tender stuffing, then the pieces are gently simmered in aromatic broth until the cooking liquid sets into a golden jelly. Best served cold with horseradish. Plan ahead: after cooking it needs a night in the fridge for the broth to set.

180 min350 kcal6 serves

💪High protein

Syrniki (Cottage Cheese Pancakes) with tvorog, eggs and flour — Russia recipe

🇷🇺RussiaEasy

Breakfast and Brunch

Syrniki (Cottage Cheese Pancakes)

Crispy outside, soft and cheesy inside. Syrniki are small fried curd pancakes made from cottage cheese, eggs, and a little flour — nothing more. They've been a weekend breakfast staple across Russia and Ukraine for generations. Serve with sour cream and jam, or just a spoonful of honey.

25 min310 kcal2 serves

🌿Vegetarian💪High protein⚡Quick

Tags

Other tags

Filter the archive by another angle — diet, speed, or a flavour note.

Vegetarian Keto Quick Spicy Gluten-free low-calorie High protein Vegan