No, really, who has time to make homemade sushi? Not to mention master sushi rice and perfect that roll without having a mini kitchen meltdown? (If it’s you, serious applause.) Deconstructed meals aren’t just a showy trend—cough cough, Instagram—they’re also an easier way to make some of your favorite (and most complicated) recipes. These nine deconstructed recipes let you enjoy your favorite flavors without all the fuss.
1. Easy Weekday Skillet Lasagna
Lazy dinners don’t have to be tasteless dinners. While many lasagna recipes are labors of love, this deconstructed version keeps things simple by breaking up dried lasagna sheets and scattering them throughout the skillet. (No pre-boiling and meticulous layering here!) Full of cheese and meaty protein, and requiring only 20 minutes of prep time, this recipe means every night can be lasagna night.
2. Deconstructed Egg Roll Wraps
Egg rolls are such a guilty pleasure. But not because they’re super unhealthy—though most varieties are fried (and fried again). It’s actually because they’re not something most people would whip up at home. Which is a shame because they’re so delicious!This recipe takes all the best ingredients—chili garlic sauce, sesame oil, scallions—and wraps them in lettuce to keep them keto- and Paleo-friendly. It also opts for ground chicken instead of pork, which is great for those looking to cut back on red meat.
3. Veggie Pot Pie
Does the thought of puff pastry make you shrivel a little inside? (Not eating it, of course, but managing it.) Nailing perfectly golden homemade biscuits is tough—as is perfecting the rolling and fitting and pinching that’s required with store-bought puff pastry.To keep in line with no fuss, this recipe sticks to store-bought biscuits—which we can’t for the life of us seem to mess up—and frozen veggies so chopping (and grunting) is minimal. Feel free to sub nutritional yeast for the cheese and coconut milk for the dairy milk if you want to keep the broth vegan.
4. Deconstructed Stuffed Pepper Casserole
Stuffed peppers are such a fun and healthy dinner—not to mention, super tasty. But a lot can go wrong. Is the pepper too al dente? Did they topple in the oven, ingredients spilling everywhere? Can’t decide if you want red, green, yellow, or orange? Sigh.We say skip the drama and opt for this skillet stuffed pepper casserole, which can be cooked in a half the time without losing any of its flavor. Customize to your heart’s desire—use tofu or mushrooms to keep it vegetarian—and enjoy a night of no stress. (You deserve it.)
5. Vegan Deconstructed Sushi Salad Bowl With Sesame Ginger Miso Dressing
This recipe answers so many of our (sushi) prayers. First of all, it provides an incredible option for vegans. (Cucumber and avocado rolls just don’t cut it.) Second, it combines sushi with that infamous ginger miso dressing, which we can never get enough. Third, it doesn’t require a rice cooker, sushi rolling tools, or anything fancy or expensive (we’re looking at you, sushi-grade fish). Just a plain bowl and some simple toppings will do the trick.
6. Paleo Keto Cabbage Roll Soup
Cabbage rolls are another dish that falls into the super-messy, lots-of-room-for-error category. Breakage is practically inevitable, and it’s hard to take advantage of all that sauce. An easy solution: Turn it into soup. Sliced cabbage means no wrapping woes, and extra sauce (and a spoon and bowl) means every ounce of that liquid is accounted for. We also love the heartiness from adding cauliflower rice, a classic keto trick.
7. Vietnamese Chicken, Avocado, and Lemongrass Spring Roll Salad
As much as we love a little deconstruction, sometimes we miss the crunchy wrapper. Fortunately, this salad delivers with crispy homemade hoisin crackers that make that crunch craving disappear. (Though truth be told, you could skip the homemade and use tamari rice crackers.)We love the beautiful smattering of ingredients across the plate, which makes it a great dish for date night or when you simply feel like a little something special.
8. Deconstructed Bagel and Lox Salad
Wait, lox without a bagel? It’s true: You don’t need a hunk of dense bread to enjoy smoked salmon and cream cheese. For days you want to keep it lighter, opt for a spinach salad filled with tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and all your favorite lox fixings. We love sprinkling a little Everything Bagel Spice on top to make it even more complete and serving with lemon wedges. (Psst… this tastes extra good stuffed into a wrap.)
9. Deconstructed Zucchini Manicotti
We didn’t know “go green” applied to pasta. But boy, are we pleased that it does. This recipe uses thick zucchini noodles in place of traditional manicotti shells, making this dish gluten-free and much easier to fit two portions into one sitting—because it’s still pasta, and sometimes we can’t help ourselves. We love the addition of spinach for extra greens and the simple homemade sauce that makes all the difference when it comes to flavor.
