Whether you’re consciously cutting down on carbohydrates or just fancy some lighter, less stodgy meal options, it needn't be a chore. And while we all love potatoes, pasta and pastry, try these stodge-free alternatives and you’ll be surprised how easy and delicious low-carb meals can be. From aubergine panini to lettuce wraps, here are our favourite carb swaps.
You’re already making calorie and fat savings by going for oven-baked fries rather than deep-fried. Lighten the calorie and fat load some more, and shed carbs as well, by rustling up courgette baked fries instead of potato ones. They’re pretty simple – coat sliced courgette sticks in flour, egg and panko breadcrumbs. Place on an oiled baking sheet and bake at 200°C (400°F) until golden.
Craving potato chips? A few massively flavourful Parmesan chips – packed with calcium but virtually zero carbs – will hit the spot instead. Grab them from the supermarket, or make your own by pouring heaped tablespoons of grated Parmesan onto a baking sheet. Add salt, pepper and herbs of your choice, and lightly pat down, before baking for three to five minutes at 200°C (400°F) until golden and crisp.
An oldie but goodie: instead of having a traditional carb-heavy sandwich or wrap for lunch, fill lettuce leaves with your favourite protein filling (chicken or tuna mayo, or prawns with a dash of sweet chilli sauce work well). Romaine and butterhead lettuce are stalwarts – make wraps that are one or two lettuce leaves thick, roll up and secure with a cocktail stick.
Ditch standard blinis and use a thick slice of crisp cucumber instead. Top with cream cheese and smoked salmon to make a spin on the traditional blini that’s crunchy, fresh and very delicious (plus you’ll slice off a few calories too).
Red peppers are low in carbs and have more than twice the vitamin C content of oranges. Use them as a bun alternative for your burger and you’ll also be effortlessly adding a veg portion towards the recommended five-a-day minimum. Prefer a less crunchy ‘bun’? Chargrill or griddle two pepper halves until slightly softened before clamping them either side of your burger.
Cut a celery root into wedges, drizzle with olive oil and pop in a medium oven until crispy on the outside and soft in the middle (add a shake of dried thyme and black pepper to season). Celery root has 90% less carb content than potato and only a quarter of the calories.
Cut carbs and calories (and add an extra portion of vegetables to your diet) by swapping actual rice for cauliflower rice. Remove the leaves from a cauliflower, roughly chop it, then blitz in a food processor. The resulting 'rice' can be microwaved for about three minutes or stir-fried with oil and spices for five minutes. Or to bring out a nutty flavour, pat it down into a baking tray, drizzle with oil and roast for 12 minutes at 200°C (400°F).
You might not instantly think of spiralising turnips, but they are actually very easy to do and make a really good alternative to wheat noodles in a stir-fry. As well as being super-low in carbs (just 2%), turnip noodles also provide decent amounts of calcium (around a tenth of the recommended daily amount in an 8oz (200g) serving).
A flour tortilla doubles as an instant lower-carb pizza base and makes a perfect portion for one. Much easier than making your own dough, and a brilliant option for a quick and easy low-carb meal.
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There are few things more comforting than a big bowl of leek and potato soup on a chilly day, but butternut and coconut soup is equally rich, hearty and filling. On average you’ll get a third fewer carbs in a butternut soup too.
Get the recipe for butternut squash and coconut milk soup here
OK, the carb savings aren’t huge, but with roast potatoes having around 0.5oz (17g) of carb per 4oz (100g) serving, and roast parsnips only 0.3oz (11g), that’s still worth having. Sprinkle over some Parmesan to make a gorgeous calcium-rich crust and you won’t even miss the spuds.
Bye-bye breadsticks, hello lovely fresh apple slices. Dipping apple into peanut butter or soft cheese lands you a lower-carb and calorie snack. One small apple cut into batons equals around 47 calories and 0.4oz (12g) of carbs; four average-length breadsticks equals 104 calories and 0.6oz (18g) of carbs.
Smoothies and fruit juices may seem like the healthier option compared with drinks that have added sugar. But the natural sugars in fruit juice are just as concentrated and damaging to your teeth – and potentially your waistline – as the added type. For an everyday drink go for water instead, but jazz it up a bit, choosing sparkling water and infusing with a few berries or a slice of citrus.
Biscuits can give you an immediate sugar high that quickly fades. However, snacking on delicious crunchy almonds will keep your appetite curbed longer. A 30g (1oz) handful of virtually carb-free almonds has 0.2oz (6g) of appetite-curbing protein and lots of fatigue-fighting magnesium too.
For those looking for a low-carb lunch, skewers made with leftover chicken and vegetables are a tasty and inviting option served with a good handful of salad. If you're taking lunch on the go, pack a dressing separately, ready to drizzle over later.
Shave down the carbs by having a baked apple for dessert instead of apple pie or crumble. Remove the core from a large apple (leaving half an inch at the bottom) and stuff with a little butter, some stevia and a few walnuts and hazelnuts. Serve with a dollop of full fat yogurt for a delicious, healthier treat.
Those ultra-thin rice paper wrappers only contain a trace of carb but can neatly hold together any selection of meat or veg you fancy. Once you've made the wraps, they also freeze well for later use – have some soy sauce on standby for when you want to dig in.
Sweet potatoes have 60% fewer carbs than bread and make a yummy ‘toast’. You can pop raw ¼-inch-thick sweet potato slices (sliced using a heavy-duty knife) straight in the toaster, but this may require several toasting cycles. For better results, pre-bake for 15–25 minutes in a medium oven on a wire rack. Store the completely cooled slices in the fridge until you’re ready – just one go in the toaster should then produce the perfect result.
Butternut spaghetti is delicious with bolognese sauce and slashes the calories in a typical serving of spag bol from around 700 to nearer 350. A spiraliser is a great investment if you’re looking to cut your carb intake but for the occasional lower-carb meal, squash spaghetti is now routinely available in supermarkets too.
Whether you swap your potato mash for 100% cauliflower mash, or go half spuds and half cauli, you’re cutting carbs and upping your vitamin C intake as boiled cauliflower has more than three times the amount of potato mash. To make your cauliflower mash zing, add a little cream cheese and a handful of chives.
Try boiling carrots until tender and then mashing into a sweet and velvety purée. Nutmeg, pepper and a touch of orange zest make this lower-carb alternative to potato mash a winner. Or mix half and half with spuds for a yummy vitamin A-rich topping to cottage pie.
Parsnip (12.5% carbohydrate) makes a lower-carb mash than potatoes (20% carbs) and its sweet taste is a hit atop a family favourite savoury cottage pie. It will also work brilliantly with any stewed meat or even steak.
Marvellous mushrooms are so versatile – and fantastic in place of bread to pile a serving of eggs Benedict on top of. One low-carb portobello mushroom has less than 20 calories, versus the 150 or so in an English muffin or a thick slice of toast.
Enoki mushrooms – a mainstay of East Asian cuisine – are long, thin strand-like fungi, which work brilliantly as a low-carb noodle or spaghetti replacement. Try tossing them into a stir-fry towards the end and adding your favourite sauce. Or add a few to bulk up soup. These mushrooms are believed to have cholesterol-lowering properties too.
Serve your burger – meat or veggie – between two grilled portobello mushrooms to bag yourself a much lower-carb version of a traditional hamburger in a bun. This version will be equally filling and higher in fibre.
To make perfectly firm and not-too-watery aubergine lasagne sheets, first salt the aubergine slices for 10 minutes to draw out excess moisture. Then pat dry (removing salt), before griddling the aubergine for a couple of minutes on either side. Use exactly as you would with pasta sheets in your favourite lasagne recipe.
Move the aubergine from the middle of your panini to the outside. Meaty strips of the grilled veg go fantastically with a cheese and ham filling, which can be served cold or warm and melting – your choice. Either way you get a much lower-carb meal.
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