How To Get More Leafy Greens In Your Diet 2024: 7 Tasty Ways

Mom always told us to eat our dark leafy greens. She certainly knew what she was talking about – green vegetables are some of the most important foods for proper digestion, weight management, and even bone and cardiovascular health.

What can leafy greens do for you? What are some of the best ways to eat more of them? If you’re wondering how to get more greens in your diet, we got you covered. 

Read on for all of our favorite quick and convenient ways to go green.

Adding Greens To Your Diet: 7 Best Ways

Homemade Kale Chips

Homemade kale chips are delicious and are the perfect emergency provision whenever you feel yourself succumbing to a snack attack. All you need is 3 ingredients:  kale, olive oil, and sea salt. 

After pressing the washed kale leaves with a clean towel, lay them out on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set your oven to 275F. 

You can actually dehydrate most vegetables, but kale chips really are top-notch. For an added kick, you can add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast, or anything else that you like.

Superfood Pesto

A staple of Italian households everywhere, pesto sauce is great to have on hand for salads, sandwiches, pasta, and even to spread on toast. Ideally, you’ll have some basil to incorporate into the mix, but you’re free to omit it or replace it with other green herbs like cilantro or parsley.

This recipe for a basic superfood pesto includes leafy greens and is beyond easy, requiring only a food processor and a couple of key ingredients:

• Dark, leafy greens, such as fresh spinach, kale, or beet tops
• Two cloves of garlic
• Olive oil
• Pine nuts
• Lemon juice
• Salt and black pepper
• Parmesan cheese, shredded

This is one perfect way to use fading greens in the back of your fridge. The potency of the garlic will marry well with the earthier tones of the leafy greens for a delectably balanced pesto.

Green Veggie Stir-Fry

For some Asian-inspired fare, you can never go wrong with a hot pan, some tangy sauce, and all of the green vegetables you’ve got on hand. 

Broccoli is often a staple vegetable in stir-fries, but leafy green Asian vegetables like bok choy are another naturally robust choice. When choosing which greens to add, you’ll want to use anything tough enough to withstand high heat without turning to mush.

A stir-fry is a quick meal that is also very economical. If you’re not sure how to nail your own homemade stir-fry sauce, you can simply use something from the store to save yourself time.

The Ultimate Mega-Salad

Even if you’re keeping things light with your daily diet, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a million-dollar salad. Just pick a protein and prepare for an epic meal.

Studies show that eating fresh greens like kale raw ^[1] is actually the best way to do it; heat denatures the enzymes within the plant, limiting their biomechanical potential. Start with a large handful of super-healthy greens as your base – butter lettuce, bibb lettuce, spinach, baby kale, arugula, bok choy, or even shredded cabbage.

Now, the good stuff: toppings. Add in healthy fats, some crunch, and protein to make a complete meal.

No salad is complete without some avocado, some toasted nuts, a few croutons, seasoned legumes, and any other form of pizazz that you can think of to incorporate. Make sure to add a lean protein source such as edamame, chicken, hard-boiled eggs, or shrimp.

Throw it all together, grab your favorite salad dressing, and you’re ready to munch.

An Upgraded Grain Bowl

For this super extra greens hack, simply take your favorite grain base – rice, farro, barley, quinoa, or even macaroni and any other type of pasta. You can add greens like spinach while it’s still hot, wilting them down, or dump them in cold and raw for more bite.

Aside from the greens themselves, some other awesome mix-ins include legumes, shaved radish or fennel, radicchio, endive wedges, julienned carrots, and cucumber. 

You can even add in sweet, seasonal fruit, like slices of peach, plum, pear, or apple, or roasted vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, yams, and zucchini for more textural variety.

Grain bowls are like healthy salads for those who don’t like traditional salads. If you’ve got all of the ingredients ready, this is one great way to grab lunch in a hurry.

Baking With Leafy Greens

For a healthy treat that won’t spike your blood sugar, you can sneak blended greens into your favorite baked goods. Blend greens like spinach down to mush and incorporate this slurry into banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, hearty breakfast muffins, and even quick meals like oats.

Depending on your dietary needs and goals, you can also substitute zero-calorie sweeteners like stevia and plant-based binders like flax or chia in lieu of eggs. 

Your baked goods can also be jam-packed with protein powder, nut butter, and even black beans or avocado if you’re in need of a little more energy throughout the day.

Green Smoothies And Juices

We love tasting fresh green smoothies and green juices because they can be tailored to fit any meal or dietary goal.

If you want a light green smoothie, you can keep things simple by including the following:

• Raw kale, spinach, or beet greens
• Water or lemon juice
• An apple or a pear
• Pineapple

If you’re feeling extra hungry, we recommend starting with tossing a banana into the mix, at the very least. 

Other add-ins include mango, beets, baked sweet potato, cinnamon, and pretty much anything else you can think of. Don’t forget to blend in your favorite protein powder for the perfect pre-workout meal instantly.

This is also one recipe to keep in your back pocket whenever you have a child in need of a quick, healthy snack. Sometimes, it may be easier to get them to board their greens when they aren’t in plain sight.

Feel free to tweak the recipe to your family’s preferences – you can add other ingredients like coconut milk, Medjool dates, cocoa or vanilla, berries, or anything else that makes them go “Yum!”.

Keep The Good Greens Coming

Whether your favorite leafy greens are bok choy, spinach, or kale, these tips will help you boost your green leaf intake in new and delicious ways. 

With so many ways to get your leafy green fix, there’s little stopping you from establishing a healthier (and more delicious!) routine. All of the recipes listed here are flexible and perfect for any walk of life. Your body will surely thank you for it.

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