Making charcuterie a healthy meal

I first heard the term “girl dinner” from my oldest daughter, an elementary school teacher in Oakland, CA. Her husband had other obligations on Friday nights, and after a long week of teaching, she didn’t feel like cooking an elaborate meal just for herself, so she started making a charcuterie board full of snacks instead.

At the same time, women across TikTok were showing off their snack-plates-for-one with the phrase, “This is my meal. I call it ‘girl dinner.’”

The trend originated with a women named Olivia Maher, who created a charcuterie tray with hunks of butter and cheese, slices of a baguette, grapes, pickles and a glass of red wine. Since she posted it in May 2024, the 15-second clip has been watched more than a million times. It has inspired other women to post their versions as well.

The charcuterie tray is the most popular quick dinner, but once the trend caught on, plenty of other easy meals have been labeled the same. Everything from a bowl of instant oatmeal to cheese quesadillas, a bowl of popcorn, Kraft Mac and Cheese or even bread dipped in tomato sauce.

“It’s basically the easiest things you can find in your cabinet,” said Olivia Pitasi, a soon-to-be registered dietician who has a master’s degree in nutrition and works for Nutrition Services at Cape Cod Hospital. “I think the fun of the charcuterie board is using what you have available and adding your favorites.”

Making It Healthier

We asked Pitasi how to make these trending dinners healthier, starting with the classic charcuterie board version. Her first advice was to pay attention to portion size with any deli meats so you can make sure you are not eating too much sodium. The general recommendation for sodium is around 140 milligrams of sodium per snack. Food labels are particularly handy for gauging this because they allow you to stick to whatever health guidelines apply to you.

“I think it’s all about balance,” she said. “The cheese and crackers and packaged meat are the fun of it and then thinking about what I can add to it to make it a little bit more nutritious. You can add fresh fruits and vegetables and have whole grain crackers and some nuts and seeds to get some healthy fats and some additional nutrients.”

Swapping out the deli meat for hummus and vegetables to dip is another good way to get protein with less sodium. Cottage cheese and hard-boiled eggs are also healthy and good protein sources that would go well on a charcuterie style dinner.

Another suggestion Pitasi made was a bagged salad that includes nuts, seeds, ground beef and cubed chicken like those found at Trader Joe’s.

“You can just throw everything in a bowl and have an easy meal that way. It’s quite filling because you have the roughage but it’s also fun because you’re not just eating chicken and lettuce,” she said.

Buttered noodles are a mainstay of easy comfort meals, but Pitasi recommends using lentil-based or protein-rich noodles instead of white ones. There are easily prepared boxed pasta mac and cheese kits with chickpea-based pasta that can provide a low-effort meal in about 10 minutes. A grilled cheese on whole grain bread is another quick meal.

Little Changes Add Up

“Just changing little things about meals like adding whole grains can make what you’re eating that much more nutritious for you,” Pitasi said. “I think any comfort dish is quite easy to mimic while making small changes to increase the nutrients you are getting.”

Another quick, no-cook meal is yogurt parfait made with plain yogurt, fruits, berries, nuts and chia seeds. Add a drizzle of fresh honey and some granola, Chex cereal or high-protein Cheerios on top and you’ve upped the health benefits.

“We always want to have a carb and a protein together to make sure we’re giving our body energy and keeping us full, and cereal is pretty popular right now,” she said.

Yogurt is a good choice for people with allergies or sensitivities because there are so many options like dairy-free, lactose-free and gluten-free yogurts.

A similar hot meal can be made with oatmeal as the base instead of yogurt. Just add fruits, berries, nuts and seeds and maybe even a sprinkle of protein powder and you have a complete and healthy meal that can be put together quickly.

“I think really focusing on taking your favorite meal and thinking, what can I add to it to make it healthy?” Pitasi said. “In terms of a charcuterie board or a yogurt bowl, the options truly are endless when you are talking about fresh fruits and vegetables and nuts and cheese, and I think that creates a balanced mindset when it comes to food because girl dinners can be healthy, even if you are just eating mac and cheese.”