12 Healthy Easter Dinner Recipes — From Appetizers to Dessert

Easter is a wonderful holiday for enjoying home-cooked food with friends, family, and loved ones. While traditional Easter foods can often be on the richer side, there are so many great ways to lighten up some of the classics — as well as innovative ways to bring health-boosting, seasonal ingredients into your celebration. If you’re hosting an Easter dinner this year or have been tasked to bring a dish for the host, we’ve discovered some great healthy Easter dinner recipes to try — from healthy appetizers, sides, mains, and desserts.

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1. The Prettiest Spring Vegetable Platter

Why not start your festivities off with a showstopper that will impress your guests? This spring vegetable platter is an easy way to serve up some of the season’s best, most vibrant vegetables that your guests can easily enjoy while mingling. The two featured dips (spinach hemp seed pesto and white bean dill dip) are as simple as combining ingredients in a food processor, and you can even use the same device for both without needing to clean in between. If you’re short on time, just swap out for store-bought hummus, and for gluten-free options, try grain-free almond flour crackers in lieu of pita.

Try the recipe from Love & Lemons.

2. Healthy Spinach Dip

Spinach dip is always a crowd-pleaser, but this version takes this classic appetizer to a whole new, healthy level. This healthy spinach dip is made with two times more spinach and four times less mayonnaise than more traditional recipes. Perhaps best of all, you’re getting even more fresh vegetables instead — there’s a whole carrot in here, in addition to the spinach. This is a great make-ahead recipe to help you enjoy a stress-free Easter celebration with your guests.

Try the recipe from ifoodreal.

3. Perfect Spring Salad

Bring the best spring vegetables together in one bowl with this perfect spring salad. This nutrient-dense salad is made with seasonal vegetables, herbs, and finished with an easy lemon dressing. While this recipe is naturally vegan, you could add your favorite cheese on top, like feta or goat cheese, for even more flavor and texture.

Try the recipe from Two Peas & Their Pod.

4. Honey Roasted Carrots

If you want to make grocery shopping easier, you’ll love this honey-roasted carrots recipe, which is made with just three main ingredients. Carrots are a health-boosting food, high in vitamin A, beta-carotene, and antioxidants. By using small carrots and trimming the ends, you’ll get a nice pop of color with the orange carrots, green tops, and optional parsley garnish. This only takes 5 minutes to prep, so you can focus your attention on the other dishes in your Easter feast. You can substitute maple syrup for the honey to make this recipe vegan, too.

Try the recipe from Dinner at the Zoo.

5. Simple Sautéed Radishes

If you need to save your oven for your other Easter recipes, this simple sautéed radishes recipe is a perfect side. This dish adds a natural, beautiful pink color to your table, which feels like such a fit for Easter, with its palette of pastels. It’s also made with just a handful of simple ingredients and can be made vegan easily by using vegan butter (we’d recommend Miyoko’s, which melts and browns really well). If you’re short on time, this side dish is ready in 10 minutes or less. Plus, radishes are a good source of fiber as well as vitamin C, potassium, and folate.

Try the recipe from The Chic Life.

6. Spring Peas with Pancetta and Shallots

We’ll admit that pancetta doesn’t usually make an appearance on a list of healthy recipes, but this spring peas recipe gets such a fun twist (and such big flavors) with the combination of salty pancetta and sweet shallots… and you can use half the pancetta recommended in the recipe if you want to keep it a little lighter. Or if you want to make this recipe totally plant-based while keeping the flavor profile intact, consider swapping out the pancetta for a few sprinkles of smoked sea salt flakes (we love this version from Maldon). This recipe cooks in only 20 minutes and is a great choice if you’re trying to save space in the oven.

Try the recipe from Culinary Ginger.

7. Lightened Scalloped Potatoes

Scalloped potatoes are a classic Easter side dish, but they tend to be pretty heavy. This lightened scalloped potatoes recipe has all the traditional ingredients, but in a less calorie-dense version — and it’s also gluten-free. Substitute unsweetened almond milk if you prefer to avoid dairy.

Try the recipe from Erin Lives Whole.

8. Apple and Honey Glazed Ham

Most Easter ham recipes are made with quite a lot of refined sugar, but this gem is actually made with apple juice and honey for a delicious, refined-sugar-free apple and honey glazed ham. All you need to do for this easy recipe is warm the ham through, simmer the glaze, top, and bring the glaze to a beautiful golden brown to finish.

Try the recipe from Jessica Eats Real Food.

9. Easter Lamb

Roast lamb is a classic Easter main, and this stuffed Easter lamb recipe is one fantastic, healthful option. The leg of lamb is stuffed with zesty lemon, bell pepper, garlic, and a mix of antioxidant-packed dried and fresh herbs. The sauce is made with three simple ingredients: just olive oil, honey, and lemon juice. While it’s hard to avoid the long bake time of a roasted lamb recipe, the prep time takes only 15 minutes, which is pretty impressive.

Try the recipe from Sweet & Savory Meals.

10. Paleo Hot Cross Muffins

You can avoid carbs while still enjoying the flavors of traditional Easter hot cross buns with these paleo hot cross muffins. This recipe is made with almond flour, tapioca flour, and coconut flour, and is gluten-free, grain-free, and dairy-free. Plus, you’ll get all the lovely fruit and spices you know and love in this healthier version.

Try the recipe from Nourish Every Day.

11. Healthy Gluten-Free Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

This classic springtime cake gets a modern makeover with this carrot cake with maple cream cheese frosting recipe. This version is free of gluten, grains, and sugar. Plus, it contains more carrots than most carrot cake recipes, which adds extra nutrients, and also uses applesauce to reduce the amount of oil needed for a moist cake. If that’s not enough, this cake is easy to make thanks to the carrots being chopped in the same food processor (or blender) the rest of the batter is made in.

Try the recipe from From Scratch Fast.

12. Keto Sugar-Free Easter Eggs

For an easy, make-ahead dessert, try these keto sugar-free Easter eggs. This deliciously coconut-y recipe only requires five ingredients and is paleo, vegan, sugar-free, gluten-free, and dairy-free. In three simple steps, you can have a fun chocolate dessert your guests will love. If you’re not doing keto, you can use unrefined sweeteners like maple syrup, agave nectar, honey, and brown rice syrup.

Try the recipe from The Big Man’s World.

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Diana Celestine is a healthy, high-vibe lifestyle content creator and coach. She loves making healthy recipes that not only taste amazing but are quick and easy to make for busy, high-achieving women. You can get her tips, recipes, and how-tos at thechiclife.com.