How to Make Healthy Meal on Your New Indoor Grill

You might be surprised to learn that you can cook the same meats on the indoor grill as you can on an outdoor grill. You'll be able to get that seared outer coating that keeps the juices inside the meat and creates tender, succulent food for your next meal. There are tricks to grilling properly on an indoor grill. These are a few grilling tips for your indoor grill to get healthy foods prepared beautifully. Some of them involve the way the food is prepared while other tips involve how you cook the meat.

This first tip applies to all the other meat-grilling options on this list. You can't expect to eat healthy and potentially lose weight if your portion sizes are out of control. Keep the sizes of your portions on the lighter side while reducing the fat in the meat itself. Instead of choosing a huge chunk of meat for your meal, try wrapping thinly sliced steak in lettuce to create a healthy sandwich without all the carbs from bread.

When you're buying steak in the grocery store, pick lean, flavorful options like a New York strip, which is approximately 155 calories for 3 ounces of meat. Sirloin is another good choice for steak. If you're counting calories, pick a low-calorie meat and add marinades and spices that won't pack on the calories. Flank and hanger steak are lean options that are incredibly flavorful, too.

Before putting the steak on the grill, take some time to prepare it properly. Trim the obvious fat around the piece of meat. This will remove more calories than you might expect. If the steak tends to be tough, like sirloin, you can tenderize the meat before placing it on the grill. A marinade that has acid is one of the best ways to make sure the meat is tender after cooking. Lemon and virgin olive oil should be the key ingredients in the marinade. It'll give you healthy oils in your diet, too.

If you want to enjoy a grilled burger on your indoor grill, you can cook with lean hamburger. The type of the seasonings that you use will matter for the calorie count, too. We suggest using dry seasonings that won't add many calories. Salt and pepper are simple ingredients that can add an incredible amount of flavor. After the meat is cooked, add vegetables and onions for a great burger that doesn't need a ton of condiments.

Instead of using hamburger or adding pork to the mixture, you can use turkey burger for a lighter alternative to burger meat. You can add the same seasonings to the turkey and have a flavorful burger that will definitely have less fat and calories.

Either way, the grill will pull the fat and grease away from the meat and channel it down into the drip tray where you won't have to worry about putting that grease into your body.

Any cut of pork that has "loin" in the name is one that has less fat. For example, pork tenderloin is one of the leanest parts of the meat. Country-style ribs have fewer calories than baby back or spare ribs, too. That's because country-style ribs have a dry rub instead of smearing barbecue sauce on the ribs that are filled with sugar.

You can prepare a pork chop the night before you need to make the meal. The indoor grill is fantastic for quick meals, so all you need to do is leave the meat to marinade overnight and place it on the grill when you get home from work. A great marinade that doesn't have a ton of calories is one that has lemon juice, oil, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper.

Leg of lamb, rack of lamb, or lamb chops can all be placed on the grill. For the most part, lamb is a red meat that can be lean depending on the type of cut. In 3 ounces of lamb, there's only 175 calories in many lean options. The rib and shoulder cuts have over 250 calories, so be aware of the kind of lamb you're choosing.

The marinade that you use always matters to the calorie count. Stick to marinades that use a vinaigrette type of sauce instead of a butter-based one. Rosemary butter sounds amazing and would be incredibly flavorful, but it's high in calories. If you're going to use flavors high in calories, you'll need to make sacrifices in other places.

Skinless chicken breasts have half the fat and fewer calories than chicken with skin on it. You can save time by purchasing chicken without the skin directly from the supermarket. Otherwise, you'll need to remove the skin yourself before throwing the chicken on the grill. If you want wings or thighs, you'll need to remove the skin yourself to enjoy this tasty treat.

Chicken is a meat that needs a lot of flavor on it. You can add plenty of flavor with any kind of spice from garlic to ginger to paprika. Dry spices are not the only ones that give chicken great flavors. Try a marinade with chicken, too. Try to keep them all low calorie, so you don't ruin your diet with heavy sauces or cream.

In conclusion, an indoor grill is a fantastic tool for getting more protein in your diet. Diets high in protein are great for weight loss as well as bodybuilding. If you're trying to either of those things, or you just want a healthy way to stay in shape, the indoor grill can be used for hundreds of recipes that involve the meats listed above.