Healthy Food in Riyadh

If you are just going to eat steamed or boiled food, do it yourself!  Get a food steamer.  Food steamer can be used to steam vegetables, fish, prawns, etc.

Not many restaurants serve steamed or boiled food, and even when they do, it is mostly rice.  Stews are available in many restaurants: Indo/Pakistani, Yemeni, Chinese, Thai, etc.

By the way, steamed/boiled/stewed food does not necessarily mean it is healthy food.  If you steam/boil/stew something unhealthy, you will still have unhealthy food.  And stews available in restaurants probably use very unhealthy oils like corn oil, sunflower oil, or palm oil.  Olive oil on the other hand, is one of the healthiest things you can eat, especially for your heart and circulation.  What you can do, is to get steamed/boiled/stewed food, hopefully made with healthy ingredients, and then drizzle olive oil on it at home before eating it.

Specific restaurant suggestions I will leave them to Riyadhians (Riyadhites? Riyadhawis? Riyadhis?)

Thanks Trapezius,

The problem is that I'm staying at hotel and don't have a kitchen to cook myself. That's why I've asked for a tips on places where more or less healthy food is served.

Thanks for your reply!

How @Trapezius said it couldn't have been said better. There is a LOT of food in Riyadh but healthy food is scarce.

Go to the places serving 'fool'.  Get a heaping bowl of fool for just 3 riyals.  It is cooked plain fava beans and they are cooked without any oil/fat, not even salt.  Add a bit of salt, and drizzle with olive oil, and dig in!  It can't get healthier than that!  They also have 'qilabah' which is fava beans cooked with tomatoes, spices, and salt.  This is tastier than fool.  They also have 'adas', which is lentils cooked to nearly a soup-like consistency.  Also very tasty.  Such places (always manned by Yemenis) are all over the place in SA.

Also look for local Lebanese, Saudi, and Egyptian places, also found everywhere.  Get hummus, mutabbal, baba ghannouj, and tabboula.  All are super healthy items.  Check on Wikipedia for descriptions if you are not familiar with them.  These are also available in big supermarkets, near the fresh produce section.  They are all great with olive oil drizzled on top.  Get some brown pita bread (Arabic flat bread) to eat such items, as well as the fool, etc.

You seriously can't eat healthier than what I just mentioned.  And all this will cost you under SR. 8-10 daily.

Other items you can get from supermarkets:

Canned tuna
Canned beans, various kinds
Canned olives
Yogurt (plain)
Brown Arabic flat bread
Fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, etc

Mix and match the various items to produce different variations... all tasty, all super-healthy!

Thanks. As I see, there are no options besides eating beans and canned tuna drizzled by olive oil )

10 riyals a day, and heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes kept far away... what more could you ask for?!

P.S. You can even get tuna canned in olive oil... in that case, don't drain it, and eat the oil as well!  Brand name is "California Gardens".  Chop tomatoes, cucumber, roca/arugula (green leaves, in Arabic "jarjeer") into the tuna, and mix in a can of drained chick peas or kidney beans, and a small can of pitted black/green olives, and you are good to go!  Healthy, cheap, and filling, indeed a rare combination when it comes to food!

you are right, it's healthy indeed and quite cheap. But I can't imagine it eating everyday D  can you?

and thanks for the salad recipe!

Well no, but I gave you several different items in the 3 groups (one group is the fool group, one is the hummus group, and one is the supermarket group).  That gives you many possible choices if mixing and matching.

But yes, you should treat yourself 1-2 times a week by eating whatever you want from wherever you want!