Cooking Tips for How to Make Keto Meals at Home

April 03, 2020
Posted by Shopify API
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Cooking at home is fun and relaxing for some, while difficult and frustrating for others. Regardless of how you feel about cooking, we can all agree that we are doing it more than ever right now due to social distancing efforts.

For those new to the ketogenic lifestyle, or considering the keto diet, this article covers keto macros and explains how to create easy keto meals. We will also share some of the best strategies for meal planning, so prepping and planning meals isn’t stressful.

During this uncertain time, it is common to experience stress eating, which can lead to weight gain and other health issues. Knowing how to make low-carb meals will not only help you gain a stronger feeling of control during your extended stay at home, it can also help you be healthier during this stressful time.

Before we get to cooking basics, here are some reasons eating a keto diet can be beneficial to your health:

Supports immune health [1]
Promotes weight loss [2]
Improves mental focus [3][4]
Boosts energy [5]
Enhances sleep quality [6]

Keto Cooking Basics

Let’s start with macros, which is short for macronutrients. The three macros are:

Fat
Protein
Carbohydrates

The keto diet is typically broken down like this:

75% fat
20% protein
5% carbs

READ: How to Calculate Macros for Keto

How to Build Keto Meals

Keto cooking is actually very simple because you don’t really need to worry about typical carbohydrates like bread, pasta, and rice.

Here are the basic steps for creating a keto meal:

Pick a high-fat protein
Add a low-carb vegetable
Add a healthy fat, if desired

Here are some examples:

Skirt steak and sautéed kale
Roasted salmon and Brussels sprouts
Chicken thighs and broccoli
Pork chops with asparagus

Below we’ve listed food options for each macronutrient to help you create low-carb meals with ease. Pick a serving from each macro group.

Keto-Approved Fat Options

Avocados
Butter / Ghee
Oils (olive, MCT, coconut, avocado)
Mayonnaise
Full-Fat Dressings (Ranch, Blue Cheese, Italian, Caesar)
Heavy whipping cream
Cream cheese
Nuts: cashews, almonds, macadamias, walnuts, pecans
Seeds: flax, chia, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin

Keto-Approved Protein Options

Meat: chicken, beef, pork, lamb, turkey (pick fattier options)
Seafood: salmon, tuna, halibut, cod, shrimp
Eggs
Cheese
Cottage Cheese
Greek yogurt

Keto-Approved Carbohydrate Options

Dark leafy greens (spinach, kale, swiss chard)
Asparagus
Bell Peppers
Broccoli
Zucchini
Arugula
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Green Beans
Berries
Tomatoes (in moderation)

VIEW: Keto Essentials Shopping List

Master All The Ways You Can Cook Eggs

Eggs are a superfood. They’re amazingly nutritious. They’re inexpensive. And they’re extremely versatile.

You can fry them, scramble them, poach them, boil them… the possibilities are endless. Here are some of our favorite keto egg recipes.

No-Cook Keto Meal Ideas

Piece together some keto snacks to create a meal. An example is: Cheese + avocado + deli turkey.
Make a salad with whatever you have on hand. Keto salad toppings include: bacon, cheese, avocado, and almonds. Avoid croutons, tortilla strips, and dried fruits. We love this Chef’s Keto Cobb Salad!
Have a meal replacement shake. KetoLogic KetoMeal is a low-carb meal replacement shake made with MCT oil powder. It’s delicious and satisfying and is a perfect solution if you don’t have time to cook or are too tired to cook. Plus, it’s a shelf-stable pantry item that only needs to be mixed with water to enjoy!

Plan For Leftovers

There’s a reason why casseroles are so popular. They don’t take a ton of effort and you can get several meals out of one cooking session.

Here are our favorite keto casseroles:

Soup is another recipe category that often yields leftovers and reheats amazingly well. You can store them in single-serve containers and freeze them to make them last longer.

Try these hearty soup recipes:

Learn the Most Common Keto Substitutes

To minimize carbs, you’ll need to replace high-carb foods with lower-carb options. Here are the most common keto substitutes to learn:

Pasta → Zucchini noodles or shirataki noodles
Rice → Riced cauliflower or riced broccoli
Mashed potatoes → Mashed cauliflower
Bread → Almond flour bread
Pizza → Portobello mushroom caps or zucchini boats

Stock Your Freezer, Fridge, and Pantry with Keto Staples

It’s helpful to keep your kitchen well stocked with keto staple items. This can help you stay on track and minimize the temptation to indulge in carb-heavy foods.

Pantry Keto Staples

Meal replacement shakes
Keto supplements
Cheese crisps
Nut butters
Nuts
Meat sticks/jerky
Oils (olive, MCT, coconut, avocado)
Spices and seasonings
Sugar-free sweeteners

Refrigerator Keto Staples

Eggs
Meat
Bacon
Sausage
Heavy whipping cream
Butter
Cheese
Cream cheese
Mayonnaise
Greek yogurt
Low-carb vegetables
Berries

Freezer Keto Staples

Meat
Fish
Frozen low-carb vegetables
Frozen berries

Take Control Of Your Health With Homemade Meals

Cooking at home can improve your health if you make the effort to use fresh and healthy ingredients. Restaurant meals tend to have processed oils and too much sodium. Plus, they’re expensive compared to eating at home.

Cooking keto meals is not harder than making a carb-heavy meal. In fact, it can even save you time because you don’t need to boil water for pasta or rice. And it can save you money because keto meals are more satiating, which means you’ll feel full longer and won’t need to eat as much or as often.

Check out the KetoLogic recipe section for more easy-to-make keto meals.

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