If you’re looking for healthy side dish ideas to go with your main course this fall, you’ve come to the right place! These tasty side dishes are full of delicious, seasonal ingredients like carrots, cauliflower, and sweet potatoes. Plus, they’re packed with at least 7 grams of protein per serving, helping to maintain muscle and bone strength and keep you feeling satisfied for longer. Try these great side dishes to complement your main course, like Roasted Butternut Squash Salad or Cauliflower Tots with Burrata and Parmesan.
Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Burrata
This beautiful butternut squash salad with creamy burrata cheese and tangy arugula is perfect for fall entertaining.
Mashed Potato and Root Casserole
Rutabaga or celery will give this casserole a more delicate flavor, but you could also use turnips or kohlrabi, or just make it with potatoes instead.
Parmesan Cauliflower Tots
Photographer: Jake Sternquist, Food Stylist: Annie Probst, Prop Stylist: Joseph Wanek
Cauliflower replaces potatoes in this potato-free cauliflower tots recipe. It’s mashed, mixed with cheese, coated in crunchy breadcrumbs and baked. These healthy cauliflower tots make a delicious side dish or appetizer. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
Hearty cauliflower casserole
Eat well
Once you try this delicious recipe, you’ll never want to eat roasted cauliflower any other way. Bacon, sour cream, and sharp cheddar cheese envelope the wholesome cauliflower in a delicious, easy side dish that’ll get everyone craving their veggies.
Scalloped Sweet Potato
For a twist on traditional scalloped potatoes, this recipe with roasted sweet potatoes and melted Gruyere adds a new flavor without compromising the creaminess of the original. The sweet potatoes and light sauce made with flour and low-fat milk are healthier than versions loaded with butter and cream. Don’t cut the sweet potatoes too thinly, or they’ll soften under the sauce.
Seasoned Black Eyed Peas
To infuse black-eyed peas with flavor, simmer them with dried spices that pack a stronger punch than fresh peas.
Gratin Potatoes with Bacon, Cheddar Cheese and Chives
Imagine the ultimate comfort food casserole, combining the deliciousness of creamy scalloped potatoes with baked potatoes topped with bacon, cheddar cheese and chives.
Parmesan Broccoli Bites
Almond flour (also known as almond meal) adds crunch and flavor to the batter of broccoli fries, and can be found in the gluten-free section of most large supermarkets and natural foods stores.
Apple and Sausage Stuffed with Wild Rice
This fantastic wild rice stuffing recipe is full of fall flavors, including rye bread, sausage, apples, dried cherries, pecans and fresh herbs.
Thinly sliced Brussels sprouts salad
Department: Eating Well, Brand: Eating Well Digital, Source Type: Staff, Photographer: Stacy K. Allen, Props: Julia Bayless, Food Stylist: Ana Kelley
In this easy sliced Brussels sprouts salad, sweet cherries complement the tart goat cheese, and pistachios add extra crunch. A sharp chef’s knife is useful for thinly slicing the sprouts, and a microplane grater is perfect for finely shredding the goat cheese.
Sweet potato fritters with smoky pinto beans
These easy sweet potato fritters are crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. The beans are seasoned with smoked paprika, but they are also delicious with a sweet or spicy option. For a Mexican twist, use chili powder as the spice instead of paprika.
Chicken, mushroom and wild rice casserole
In Minnesota, chicken, mushrooms, and wild rice are often served in a casserole with cream of mushroom soup. We forego high-sodium canned soups and create a light, creamy sauce with deep flavor from dry sherry and Parmesan cheese.
Apple, Onion and Cranberry Stuffing
Apples and fresh cranberries add a unique twist to this variation on a classic stuffing. Use fresh or grated sage for this healthy stuffing recipe; ground sage is too bitter.
Parmesan Scalloped Potatoes and Spinach
Classic scalloped potatoes get a boost of color, texture and healthiness with the addition of chopped spinach, a green side dish that provides a lovely contrast with the creamy, smooth potatoes.
Brussels sprouts stuffed with bacon
This healthy Brussels sprouts and bacon stuffing recipe is a lighter version of a must-have holiday side dish. We love the soft texture and egg flavor of challah bread, but any kind of rustic country bread will work well.
Easy Scalloped Potatoes
In this easy scalloped potatoes recipe, sliced potatoes are oven roasted, tossed with a simple, creamy stovetop sauce, and sprinkled with cheddar cheese. A few minutes under the broiler gives the dish a golden, crispy texture.
Broccoli casserole
This light broccoli casserole is sure to be a hit, so learn how to make this classic side dish even healthier.
Pumpkin and oyster stuffing
This healthy stuffed oyster recipe made with butternut squash is a lighter version of a must-have holiday side dish.
Layered Mashed Potato and Mushroom Casserole
Elevate your mashed potatoes with a layer of mushroom duxelles (sautéed finely chopped mushrooms and shallots), which ditch the traditional butter and add Swiss chard for a nutritious boost.
Brussels sprouts gratin
Creamy Brussels Sprout Casserole is a delicious addition to any holiday meal, and our healthy version skips the heavy cream and butter used in most recipes, saving you about 160 calories and 12 grams of saturated fat compared to the traditional version.
Broccoli with Creamy Parmesan Sauce
Steamed broccoli topped with a healthy cheese sauce is an easy way to get even the pickiest kids to eat their veggies.
Healthy kidney bean casserole
A typical kidney bean casserole bathes ingredients in a rich cream sauce, but our healthy version is lower in calories and fat thanks to our homemade roux.
