Looking for healthier festive food options? At first, cutting out carbs over Christmas might sound crazy. When you consider the many health benefits of eating low-carb meals, you may just want to give it a try!
A low-carb diet can:
- boost weight loss
- improve your blood pressure and blood sugar, especially if you’re diabetic or insulin resistant
- increase your levels of “good” cholesterol, by eating more fat
- lower your triglycerides (the fat molecules circulating in your bloodstream that increase your risk of heart disease)
- reduce your appetite and calorie intake
Here’s a sample low-carb Christmas menu to tickle your taste buds:
Broccoli, feta, & almond salad
(Servings: 4 | Preparation time: 20 minutes | Cook time: 3 minutes | Carbs per serving: 366mg)
This simple salad perfectly balances textures and tastes as a low-carb starter for your festive spread. Broccoli is a superfood with its antioxidant and immune-boosting properties and helps reduce inflammation, plus promotes heart health.
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Ingredients:
- 450g broccoli crowns (trimmed and cut into florets)
- ½ cup almonds (slivered)
- ½ cup feta cheese (crumbled)
- 1 large clove of garlic
- 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (divided)
- 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
- 1 + ¼ teaspoon salt
- generous pinch chilli flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Fill a medium-sized pot with water and add 1 teaspoon of salt, bringing to a boil.
- While the water heats, trim the broccoli crowns, cutting them into bite-sized florets.
- When the water boils, add the broccoli, blanching for 3 minutes before draining the broccoli and cooling it.
- Mash the garlic with ¼ teaspoon of salt.
- Mix in the chilli flakes and red wine vinegar, allowing it to sit for 10 minutes.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan, adding the almonds and fry for 2-3 minutes until lightly browned.
- Drain the fried almonds on a plate covered with paper towel, allowing them to cool.
- Crumble enough feta to make ½ cup.
- After 10 minutes, whisk the remaining 4 tablespoonof olive oil into the vinegar-garlic mixture for the dressing.
- Combine the broccoli, feta and half the almonds in a bowl, tossing with the dressing to coat.
- Serve immediately with a sprinkling of the remaining almonds and enjoy!
Loaded cauliflower bites
(Servings: 8 | Preparation time: 25 minutes | Cook time: 10 minutes | Carbs per serving: 4.1g)
Cauliflower is a low-carb alternative to grains and legumes. It’s high in fibre and vitamins B and C, and can be cooked in numerous ways. This delicious side dish boasts crispy roasted cauliflower slices, loaded with cheese, sour cream, and bacon. It’s a tasty substitute for potato bake, minus the carbs!
Ingredients:
- 3 slices cooked bacon (crumbled)
- 5 cups of ½ cm thick slices cauliflower (1 medium head, stem trimmed)
- ½ cup cheddar cheese (grated)
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup sliced spring onion
- 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
Instructions:
- Pre-heat your oven to 230°C.
- Stir oil, salt, and pepper together in a large bowl, adding cauliflower slices and gently tossing to coat.
- Transfer to a large rimmed baking sheet, roasting for 10-14 minutes until tender.
- Top with cheese and return to oven, roasting for 1-2 minutes until cheese has melted.
- Top each cauliflower slice with a dollop of sour cream, sprinkling bacon, and spring onions.
Keto glazed Christmas ham
(Servings: 6 | Preparation time: 15 minutes | Cook time: 40 minutes | Carbs per serving: 11g)
What’s Christmas without gammon? This high-fat, low-carb keto-inspired glazed ham oozes with the rich, sweet, and savoury flavours of a classic glazed Christmas ham… and it’s sugar-free! The bonus? Scrumptious leftovers to enjoy in a frittata or salad.
Ingredients:
- 1kg fully cooked ham (not sliced and not already glazed)
- ½ cup brown sugar alternative (try a shop-bought or online-sourced blend of white and brown erythritol and stevia)
- ¼ cup butter (unsalted)
- ¼ cup honey/maple syrup (sugar-free)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 teaspoon garlic (crushed)
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 180°C.
- Place the pre-cooked ham in a 25x25cm baking dish.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Stir in the garlic, sautéing for 30 seconds.
- Add the honey, brown sugar substitute, cinnamon, and ground cloves, bringing to a boil for 2 minutes, and then remove from heat.
- Pour half the glaze over the ham, baking for 20 minutes.
- Remove the ham, basting with the thickened glaze again.
- Return the ham to the oven for an additional 20 minutes.
- Slice to serve.
Low-carb Christmas pudding
(Servings: 4 | Preparation time: 5 minutes | Cook time: 6 minutes | Carbs per serving: 12.5g)
Top off your low-carb meal with this sugar-free, gluten-free, low-carb, and diabetic-friendly Christmas pudding that’ll be ready in less than 15 minutes! To keep this pudding ultra-low-carb, avoid dried fruit. If you want it sweet, pick prunes instead of sultanas due to their lower carb content.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 egg
- ½ cup carrot (grated)
- ¼ cup blueberries (frozen)
- ¼ cup cherries (frozen)
- 10g walnuts (crushed)
- 2 tablespoon powdered sweetener
- 2 tablespoon butter (melted)
- 1 tablespoon double whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cacao powder (unsweetened)
- 2 teaspoon mixed spice
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- orange zest from ½ orange
- glug of brandy (optional)
- double whipping cream (to serve)
Instructions:
- Grate carrots or blitz them in a food processor, adding the frozen fruit, and chopping them. The chopped carrots and fruit should together fill 1 cup.
- Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Melt the butter, adding it and the remaining ingredients to the bowl, stirring until combined. Optional: Add a glug of Brandy, adjusting sweetener if needed.
- Grease a pyrex glass bowl with butter, filling in the Christmas pudding batter. Microwave at 700W for 6 minutes.
- Turn out the pudding upside down onto a plate.
- Serve with thick cream and devour.
Low-carb or carb-less meals can be easy and quick. They’re an effective way of losing some extra kilos and can inspire healthier eating in the new year and beyond. There are plenty more mouth-watering alternatives to a classic Christmas menu you can attempt so you don’t feel left out of the festivities. Make this 25th of December’s lunch one to remember, and have a merry low-carb Christmas! Cheers!
Date Published: 30 November 2022
