Coming up with meal ideas every day or every week can sometimes be a bit too daunting. Long days at work, with the kids, stress, illness, and just the general business of day-to-day can often drain inspiration. It can be especially tough when you're following a diet, like a keto diet, to find inspiration and new flavors to keep your tastebuds and dietary needs happy at the same time. Keto works well for many people. In a nutshell, keto is a low-carb, high-fat diet designed to help your body burn off fat as your primary energy source instead of carbohydrates.
When you lower or cut off your body's supply of carbs, the body seeks out fat to burn instead—eating keto shifts you into a state of ketosis when your body stops using carbs and starts using ketones (from fat burning) as your most significant source of fuel. There are many reasons for going on a keto diet, from personal to medical, and we'd love to be able to inspire and help our keto family find dinner ideas that they may love.
Here are some of our favorite keto dinner ideas!
Keto Dinner ideas
All-Powerful Cauliflower
Cauliflower is a great cruciferous veggie to choose as a versatile substitute to rice and flour-based doughs or potatoes. It's pretty bland in taste, and while you'd think that might be a strike against cauliflower, that's an excellent thing, as it is adaptable to almost everything you could create with it or while adding it into a meal. With the right spices, sauces, or ingredients, cauliflower can take the place of a lot of keto-restricted foods like pizza!
It's true; go ahead and have pizza on Monday or any day you like. Find a cauliflower pizza crust recipe you'd like to try and utilize this low-carb version to create a perfect pizza base.
What else can you replace with cauliflower? Here are just a few creative ideas and replacements:
- Create cheesy cauliflower breadsticks
- 'Everything bagel' cauliflower rolls
- Bacon cheddar cauliflower chowder
- Asian cauli-fried rice
- Cauliflower tots
- Cauliflower Crust Grilled Cheese
- Cauliflower Couscous
- Cauliflower Tortillas
- Cauliflower protein bread
- Cauliflower hummus
Satisfy Burger Cravings
If you're missing your fast food, especially burgers, we've got some fantastic news. There are innovative and new keto-friendly bread and good bun recipes—or perhaps better—than the real thing. Still, there is also a wealth of perfectly keto-friendly burger recipes that will satisfy that craving all without going off your diet. With some clever searching, several keto-friendly copycat recipes may taste exactly like your favorite fast-food chain burger!
Easy Keto Buns
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese. (Mozzarella has a mild flavor, so we picked this to not overwhelm the buns' flavor too much.)
- 2 oz of cream cheese
- 1 ¾ cups of almond flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 large eggs
Keto Bun Glaze & Topping:
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds (optional.)
How to Make Keto Buns
- Preheat over to 400F/200C. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper and set it aside.
- In your microwave in a microwave-safe bowl, add the shredded mozzarella cheese, the cream cheese and begin microwaving it in 20-second increments, stirring occasionally until it is mostly melted. Remove and whisk until the cheese is combined and smooth.
- Transfer your warmed cheese mix to a food processor and add your dry ingredients, along with your eggs, and pulse until you see a thick dough remains.
- Lightly dust a flat kitchen surface with almond flour, transfer your dough onto it, and using slightly damp hands (to prevent dough from sticking), knead it until your dough turns into a smooth ball. Divide the dough into six even portions, roll them into balls and place them on your parchment paper-lined baking tray. Press them down gently until they form a burger bun shape—flat on the bottom, rounded on the top. Brush the tops with 1 whisked egg and then sprinkle with optional sesame seeds.
- Bake your keto burger buns for 14-17 minutes, or until golden brown on the top. Remove, let cool for 5 minutes before slicing in half and serving.
What sort of burgers can you make that are keto-friendly and go well with these keto buns? Here are some fantastic recipe ideas to consider:
- Caramelized onion and Brie cheese-stuffed burgers
- Switch out beef to try the pork and add diced onion, rendered bacon, duck or lard for fat, salt, pepper, one egg yolk, garlic, and onion powder, some ground mustard and cumin, red pepper flakes, and top with the cheese of your choice for a special, flavor-bursting different type of burger.
- Spice it up by stuffing cheddar cheese or cream cheese and jalapenos for a jalapeno popper-like burger.
Other Keto Dinner Ideas We Love
If you're looking for other inspiring dishes, here's a list of just some that you might adore:
- Are you a fan of Middle Eastern-influenced flavors? Why not try a Ras el hanout, grilled chicken with yogurt and lime? Get yourself some ras el hanout (Moroccan spice blend) and dive into this delicious, flavor-layered moist chicken dish.
- Don't skip on trying a goat's cheese, broccolini peas, and zucchini frittata for a savory anytime meal.
- Try some time-saving Satay steak skewers by slicing steak of your choice into 3 long strips, thread them onto skewers. Then combine honey, garlic, and oil into a bowl and brush over the skewers. Toss them on the grill for 2-3 minutes and make satay by combining peanut butter, sriracha, kecap manis, lime juice, fish sauce, and ¼ cup of water in a bowl. Serve the skewers drizzled with the Sriracha satay.
If you feel like you're having a hard time going keto or that it may be impossible, we're here to help you rethink that! With all of these easy dinner recipes just packed with unique flavor, and plenty of low to no-carb replacements for some comfort food, you'll be well on your way to wowing yourself, family, or friends with these fantastic ideas.
At Wholey, we're not just about the business of food; we're here to provide more accessible, more flavorful meal solutions to our families around the country. We hope we've inspired your next keto meal!