35 Mediterranean Diet Lunches That Can Help Reduce Inflammation

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Updated on June 25, 2024

Reviewed by Dietitian

Christa Brown, M.S., RDN, LD

vegetarian protein bowl — Photo: Fred Hardy

Chronic inflammation can end up causing you all kinds of pesky problems, from stiff joints to poor digestion. That's why eating more nutrient-dense anti-inflammatory foods, like cauliflower, avocado and fish, can be a healthy way to shake up your routine.

These delicious Mediterranean diet-friendly lunches incorporate lots of those tasty ingredients and include the pillars of the Mediterranean diet, like whole grains, fish, fruits and veggies. Recipes like our Chopped Salad with Chickpeas, Olives & Feta and Vegetarian Protein Bowl are tasty ways to add some flavor to your next midday meal.

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Chopped Salad with Chickpeas, Olives & Feta

Chopped Salad with Chickpeas, Olives & Feta — Kelsey Hansen

This quick and easy chopped salad is inspired by the flavors of the Mediterranean, including chickpeas, cucumber and feta. A garlicky oil and vinegar dressing brings everything together.

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Cauliflower Rice Bowls with Grilled Chicken

These healthy Greek-inspired cauliflower rice bowls topped with feta, olives, veggies and grilled chicken are impressive yet take just 30 minutes to make.

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Baked Falafel Sandwiches

baked falafel sandwich

This street-style falafel sandwich is herbaceous, tangy and rich. The falafel gets nice and crispy in the oven while the veggies inside keep it simple and fresh. Make the tahini sauce (included as one of the Associated Recipes) ahead of time for easy prep. Wrapping the sandwich in foil makes it a perfect bring-along lunch and helps hold it together for eating on the go.

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Avocado Tuna Spinach Salad

Avocado Tuna Spinach Salad — Greg DuPree

Avocado adds creaminess while sunflower seeds provide texture and crunch in this easy tuna-spinach salad.

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Lentil Salad with Feta, Tomatoes, Cucumbers & Olives

Lentil Salad with Feta, Tomatoes, Cucumbers & Olives — Jennifer Causey

This Mediterranean lentil salad, with chopped veggies, feta cheese and a light dressing, is perfect to have on hand for a quick lunch.

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Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

This Mediterranean quinoa salad is chock-full of fresh veggies that marinate in a bright, fresh dressing. It's an easy vegetarian dinner recipe that can also be made ahead as a healthy lunch option. Add some chopped chicken or shrimp for added protein and variety.

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Chickpea Tuna Salad

Chickpea Tuna Salad — Photography / Caitlin Bensel, Food Styling / Ruth Blackburn

This chickpea tuna salad with capers, feta and cucumber makes for the perfect lunch to pack for work or school. You can prep the salad the night before—just be sure to keep the spinach separate and dress the salad right before serving.

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Vegetarian Protein Bowl

vegetarian protein bowl — Fred Hardy

This vegetarian protein bowl has everything you need for a complete meal in one bowl. Beans not only boost protein, but also add creaminess to the farro mixture. Chimichurri sauce brightens the dish.

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Salmon Rice Bowl

Salmon Rice Bowl — Ali Redmond

This tasty bowl makes for a satisfying lunch or dinner. With a handful of healthy ingredients, like instant brown rice, heart-healthy salmon and lots of crunchy veggies, you'll have a filling and flavorful meal in just 25 minutes. Looking to cut down on carbs? Try swapping in riced cauliflower in place of the brown rice.

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Avocado Chicken Salad

avocado chicken salad and crackers — Caitlin Bensel

This avocado chicken salad is herbaceous, bright and creamy. The blend of cilantro, dill and chives pairs nicely with fresh avocado. Enjoy this easy chicken salad over lettuce, on crackers or in a wrap.

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Vegetarian Chopped Power Salad with Creamy Cilantro Dressing

Vegetarian Chopped Power Salad with Creamy Cilantro Dressing — Brie Passano

Cilantro adds color and flavor when blended to make a creamy dressing. Serve this healthy salad for lunch or dinner. Not a fan of cilantro? Try swapping out a Green Goddess Dressing for the cilantro dressing.

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Winter Greens Bowl

Winter Greens Bowl — Ali Redmond

This one-pan meal packs in lots of plant-based protein and flavor thanks to beans and quinoa, while a creamy lemon-garlic dressing completes the dish.

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Avocado Tuna Salad

Avocado-Tuna Salad — Photography / Greg DuPree, Styling / Ruth BlackBurn / Julia Bayless

Jazz up a can of tuna with this easy avocado tuna salad recipe. Silky avocado adds creaminess that's cut with a hit of acidity from lemon and a briny punch from feta cheese. Romaine hearts and cucumber offer refreshing crunch.

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Quinoa-Black Bean Salad

Enjoy this quinoa and black bean salad as a delicious and quick vegetarian main dish or as a side for grilled chicken or fish. And don't forget the leftovers! They make an easy lunch on the go.

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White Bean & Veggie Salad

White Bean & Veggie Salad

This meatless main-dish salad combines creamy, satisfying white beans and avocado. Try mixing it up with different seasonal vegetables. For added crunch toss on some slivered almonds.

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Chickpea & Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Quinoa and chickpeas pack this vegetarian grain bowl with plenty of plant-based protein. Whip up a batch of these Mediterranean meals and pack them in containers with lids to stash in the fridge for easy, healthy grab-and-go lunches all week long.

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Tomato, Cucumber & White-Bean Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

This no-cook bean salad is a delicious way to use summer's best cherry or grape tomatoes and juicy cucumbers for a light dinner or lunch. Fresh basil elevates an easy vinaigrette recipe that dresses up this simple salad into something extraordinary.

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Vegan Grain Bowl

This easy grain bowl has so much to love—sweet potatoes, protein-packed chickpeas, creamy avocado and homemade tahini dressing. Make the full recipe on the weekend and pack it into individual serving containers for ready-to-go lunches for work all week.

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Couscous & Chickpea Salad

Cooked couscous and canned chickpeas come together in this quick lunch salad. The basil vinaigrette makes it taste anything but basic! When in season, we recommend adding fresh chopped tomatoes for a spin on tabbouleh.

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Tomato-&-Avocado Cheese Sandwich

Parmesan cheese is such a bold flavor, you only need 1/4 cup to add a big punch to this vegetarian toaster-oven sandwich. Get a serving of fruit too, when you enjoy the sandwich with a fresh pear. To keep this sandwich truly vegetarian, look for Parmesan cheese that has been made with a vegetarian rennet, as opposed to an animal rennet (the label should tell you which one was used).

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Quinoa Chickpea Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Dressing

This hearty vegan salad is loaded with plant-based power ingredients: chickpeas, quinoa and hummus. We love the crunch of the sunflower seeds and the unexpected flavor of roasted peppers.

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Meal-Prep Falafel Bowls with Tahini Sauce

These quick Mediterranean-inspired couscous bowls come together in 20 minutes thanks to healthy convenience items like frozen falafel and steam-in-bag fresh green beans. Whisk together the simple tahini sauce while the other ingredients cook.

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Chicken & Apple Kale Wraps

Using kale leaves instead of bread to wrap your filling makes this healthy chicken lunch recipe low-calorie (and lower in carbs!). If you can't find lacinato (aka Tuscan) kale, try cabbage for your wrap.

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Orzo Salad with Chickpeas & Artichoke Hearts

Orzo Salad with Chickpeas & Artichoke Hearts — Photography / Fred Hardy, Styling / Kady Wohlfarth / Kay Clarke

This hearty orzo salad features feta, lemon and dill, three ingredients often found in Greek cuisine. Enjoy for lunch or dinner.

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Veggie & Hummus Sandwich

Veggie & Hummus Sandwich

This mile-high vegetable and hummus sandwich makes the perfect heart-healthy vegetarian lunch to go. Mix it up with different flavors of hummus and different types of vegetables depending on your mood.

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Black Bean-Quinoa Bowl

Black Bean-Quinoa Bowl

This black bean and quinoa bowl has many of the usual hallmarks of a taco salad, minus the fried bowl. We've loaded it up with pico de gallo, fresh cilantro and avocado plus an easy hummus dressing to drizzle on top.

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Salmon-Stuffed Avocados

Salmon-Stuffed Avocados

Canned salmon is a valuable pantry staple and a practical way to include heart-healthy omega-3-rich fish in your diet. Here, we combine it with avocados in an easy no-cook meal.

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Pesto Chicken Quinoa Bowls

Pesto Chicken Quinoa Bowls

This pesto chicken quinoa bowl is packed with herbs from the basil pesto and the Italian spice mix and gets a slight kick of heat from the red pepper. If you enjoy the flavor profile, this dish can also be made with whole-wheat orzo in place of quinoa.

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Kale & Quinoa Salad with Lemon Dressing

Kale & Quinoa Salad with Lemon Dressing — Photography / Antonis Achilleos, Styling / Christine Keely, Ali Ramee

This kale-quinoa salad pops with different flavors and textures. Massaging the kale helps break down its fibrous nature, while add-ins like toasted almonds, feta and cucumber add crunch and saltiness.

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Kale & Avocado Salad with Blueberries & Edamame

Bursting with nutrient-rich produce, this California-inspired salad is a delicious and satisfying way to get your vitamins. We love the unique combination of blueberries, edamame and goat cheese.

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Tuna Salad with Egg

Tuna Salad with Egg — Photography / Jennifer Causey, Styling / Ali Ramee / Audrey Davis

This simple tuna salad with egg has a clean and balanced flavor. The capers and lemon bring acidity to help everything come together and chopped arugula adds a peppery kick. Enjoy it with greens or on a slice of your favorite whole-grain bread.

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Quinoa, Avocado & Chickpea Salad over Mixed Greens

Protein-rich quinoa and chickpeas add staying power to this zesty and healthy salad recipe. The avocado adds creaminess and the carrot adds a nice crunch to round out the texture profile.

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Chopped Salad with Sriracha Tofu & Peanut Dressing

Prep four days' worth of high-protein vegan lunches using just four easy ingredients from your local specialty grocery store, including a veggie-heavy salad mix as a base. Because this salad mix is hearty, you can dress these bowls up to 24 hours before serving to allow the flavors in this healthy chopped salad to marry. If you can't find a hearty mix, go with broccoli slaw or shredded Brussels sprouts—or put several separate ones all together to make your own.

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Tuna & Olive Spinach Salad

Mediterranean Tuna-Spinach Salad

This tuna salad recipe gets an upgrade with olives, feta and a tahini dressing. Served over baby spinach, this is the perfect easy and light lunch or dinner salad.

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Chicken Tenders & Couscous Wrap with Fresh Herbs

This wrap is stuffed with chicken tenders and couscous with a hit of lemon and a healthy dose of fresh herbs. Save any leftovers to wrap up for an easy lunch.

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