10/02/2025

Easy Lunch Ideas

I’m most definitely not one of those people who say that lunch is for wimps. For me, a decent meal in the middle of the day is vital. Not only does it physically revive you after a morning’s work and sustain you for whatever you’ve planned until dinner time, don’t we all deserve something delicious?

That’s why I’m always on the lookout for easy lunch ideas. And I bet lots of you are too. So, in this post I’ve brought together over 40 of my favourites.

Easy lunch ideas

Although these days I have the luxury of working from home, I don’t want to spend a lot of time making lunch though. So I’ve concentrated on lunches that can be made relatively quickly or where some elements can be prepped in advance. Also, while some of the recipes are only suitable for eating at home, the majority will work as a packed lunch too.

From quick soups, pasta and noodles, salads and nutritious egg dishes, to dips and spreads to serve on bread, toast or crackers, I hope you’ll find lots to inspire you to make the most of lunchtime.

Savoury Flapjacks with Vegetables, Nuts, Seeds & Cheese

A tasty change from sandwiches with your choice of veggies, nuts, and seeds. Wonderful in packed lunches.

Quick Dumpling Soup

Based on frozen gyoza dumplings and inspired by East and Southeast Asian flavours, this easy, delicious soup can be made in fifteen to twenty minutes.

Smoked Salmon Smørrebrød (Scandinavian open sandwich)

This easy but delicious open sandwich has a perfect combination of flavours and textures: cream cheese with lemon and herbs, crunchy cucumber, rich smoked salmon, tangy quick-pickled onion.

Baked Eggs with Mushrooms & Kale

A tasty and healthy one-pan meal: garlic sauteed mushrooms and kale with eggs cooked on top. Serve on its own for a light lunch or with toast or whole grains.

Hummus Soup

Leftover hummus? Turn it into a light and refreshing, super-quick and easy soup!

Cucumber & Sesame Noodle Salad

Perfect for a refreshing summer lunch: cucumber, spring onion, coriander leaf and noodles in a sesame and soy dressing flavoured with garlic and ginger. Add optional protein like smoked mackerel or salmon, egg, peanuts or fried tofu.

Chilli Bean Cheese Toastie

Inspired by Tex-Mex flavours, a warmly spicy bean, corn, and melting cheese filling is a great contrast to buttery, crunchy and crispy golden bread.

Prawn Cocktail

A classic salad that's so quick and easy with cooked prawns and homemade creamy and tangy Marie Rose sauce. Serve on its own or with a baked potato.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Using tinned chickpeas and jarred roasted peppers, this lightly sweet, smoky and spicy version of traditional hummus is made in just 10 minutes. Serve with crunchy raw veg for an easy, healthy lunch.

Chickpea and Spinach Pasta

The sauce ingredients in this speedy dish can be prepped and cooked in the time it takes the pasta to boil: tinned chickpeas and fresh or frozen spinach flavoured with garlic, lemon, and parsley.

Potted Ham

Fancy something a little more interesting than a ham sandwich for lunch? Simply whizz up cooked ham with butter to make a delicious spread for toast or crusty bread. Lovely with some pickles on the side.

Tuna & Potato Salad

With the gutsy flavour of capers, olives, garlic, lemon, optional anchovies, plus potatoes and hard-boiled eggs, this Italian-influenced tuna salad is great when you need a lunch that's both tasty and satisfying.

Turkish Eggs with Garlic Yogurt (Çilbir)

Simple but so good: poached eggs on garlic-scented yogurt, topped with a drizzle of melted spiced butter. Perfect for a light lunch on its own or serve with toasted bread plus chopped tomatoes and cucumbers.

Cashew & Bean Sprout Stir Fry

Quick, healthy and incredibly tasty: stir-fried cashews and bean sprouts in a light sauce of garlic, spring onion, soy sauce and sesame.

Caesar Salad / Chicken Caesar Salad

A well-deserved classic with a punchy homemade dressing drizzled over salad leaves and crunchy croutons, with optional chicken (and bacon too if you like).

Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes & Mint

An elegant but quick and easy lunch: cherry tomatoes and chilli flakes briefly cooked in olive oil subtly flavoured with garlic, then tossed with pasta, capers and mint.

Chickpea Feta Salad Sandwich

Smashed chickpeas, tangy feta, crunchy veg, garlic and herbs, plus a little creaminess from mayo or yogurt, come together in a sandwich filling that's both healthy and delicious.

Mixed Grain Salad

Use this recipe as a template to create a whole range of healthy lunchtime salads by swapping in your favourite combination of mixed grains and veggies, plus a protein like cheese or nuts.

Bean & Tuna Salad

Based on Tuscan fagioli e tonno, the flavour of this easy, delicious salad is enhanced by marinating the cannellini beans in a warm dressing until you're ready to assemble and serve.

Tamagoyaki Japanese Omelette

Made with layers of folded egg and your chosen flavourings, this Japanese style omelette is great for packed lunches and bento boxes as well as lunch at home.

Waldorf Salad

A classic, simple salad of apple, celery and walnuts plus optional raisins in a mayonnaise dressing lightened with natural yogurt. Serve on its own or toss in some diced cooked chicken or cubes of cheese.

Potted Chicken with Tarragon, Garlic & Lemon

A great way to transform leftover roast chicken into a delicious spread for crusty bread, toast, or crackers. Fresh tarragon, garlic, and lemon pair well with it, or swap in your own favourites like chives, thyme, or parsley.

Mediterranean Oat Bake

Although I originally created this delicious bake as a warm vegetarian main course, with veggies, herbs, nuts, and seeds, it's also wonderful cold for lunches at home or away.

Pea & Pancetta Pasta

Inspired by the simple dishes of Rome, this quick and tasty pasta dish is perfect when you need a hot and satisfying lunch in double-quick time.

Watermelon Salad

With refreshing mint and lime plus optional feta, this quick and easy watermelon salad makes a cooling lunch on hot summer days as well as a great side dish for spicy or barbecued foods.

Smoked Salmon Paté

Whizzed up in minutes with cream cheese and lemon, this is a real treat eaten with vegetable crudités, bread sticks or on toast.

Crunchy Salad with Thai Peanut Dresing

Creamy, salty, sour, hot, and sweet, the dressing is whizzed up in minutes to cloak crunchy veg, or use it as a dip for crudite.

Green Gazpacho with Cucumber, Avocado & Mint

The perfect lunch on a hot day and much less acidic than traditional tomato-based gazpacho, this one's flavoured with invigorating lime, mint and chilli.

Tuna Pâté

So quick to make, simply blend tinned tuna with soft butter and flavour with a hint of lemon and black pepper. Light, delicate, and so good on toast or crackers.

Panzanella (Italian tomato & bread salad)

A simple but delicious and refreshing salad dressed with olive oil, vinegar and basil. I like it with crunchy croutons, or you could swap in the traditional soaked bread.

Homestead Eggs

The combination of onion, apple and bacon fried in butter with eggs cooked on top sounds unusual but it really works when you want an easy, hot lunch.

Quick Pea & Bacon Soup

Using frozen peas, this easy soup with smoky bacon and garlic can be on the table in less than thirty minutes.

Artichoke Spread with garlic, lemon & mint

Quickly made using a jar of chargrilled artichokes, enjoy this easy spread or dip bruschetta-style on toasted Italian bread or with raw veg.

Tuna & Egg Salad

A simple and hearty lunch, without pretensions to the niçoise original it's inspired by. But it will satisfy you until dinner time.

Bang Bang Chicken Noodle Salad

Full of bold flavour from a knockout sauce made in 5 minutes, this salad is great for using up leftover cooked chicken.

Smoked Salmon Frittata

Simple, but with a rich flavour, this frittata is great served with a big crunchy salad. Perfect cold for lunchboxes too.

Quick Roasted Pepper Pasta

A super-quick sauce for pasta based on jarred roasted peppers that tastes so good! For a more substantial lunch, add extra protein e.g. chicken, prawns, sausage, toasted pine nuts.

Cheat’s Chicken Broth

Using stock cubes and fresh chicken, this broth is perfect when you want something light but nourishing. Or make it more filling by adding cooked pasta, rice or other grains.

Rice and Vegetable Salad

A salad that's adaptable to whatever vegetables you have can be turned into quick lunches when you add protein like tuna, egg, beans or nuts.

Smoked Mackerel Paté

Incredibly easy but so good on toast or crackers: smoked mackerel fillets whizzed with butter and a few simple seasonings. If you've a little extra time, it's even better topped with a horseradish-flavoured butter.

Cobb Salad

With chicken, bacon, avocado, eggs, crispy bacon and blue cheese, all on a bed of greens, this popular US salad is a satisfying bowlful and really deserves to be better known in Britain.

Egg Foo Yung: Chinese Style Omelette

Quickly cooked Chinese-style omelette that's good for using up leftover cooked meat, or swap in mushrooms or beansprouts for a veggie version.

I hope you’ve found lots to inspire you among my easy lunch ideas. If you’ve made any of these recipes, I’d love to know what you thought. Please do leave a comment and rating on the individual recipe posts.

Filed Under: Lunch, All recipes, Recipes

2 thoughts on “Easy Lunch Ideas”

Sue says:

11/02/2025 at 16:41

What a fantastic selection of lunch recipes, so generously shared :)) Thank you so much. I do find lunch tends to be my most ‘not thought about or planned for’ meal.

This inspires me to do better!

Reply
- Moorlands Eater says:
  
  11/02/2025 at 22:48
  
  Thank you, Sue. So glad to have inspired you!
  
  Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply