7 Fast and Filling Low Carb Dinner Ideas

Cooking dinner can be really hard. Mostly because you need to decide what you feel like eating and what you have energy to make.

I have this problem all the time, which is why I came up with 7 “go-to” dinner ideas, that are low carb and can be made in just 20 mins.

Making dinner one of the smallest meals of the day is important for weight loss success. At the end of the day we’re usually the most tired, and so that means we either eat too much or crave unhealthy foods like fats, sugars and simple carbs.

So if weight loss is your priority at the moment, then focusing on eating a bigger breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea will help you eat less and crave less food at night. So that means you’ll be eating the least amount of calories at the end of the day when your metabolism is traditionally the slowest.

Traditionally your metabolism is slower at night because you’re typically less active unless you workout out or do recreational activities in the evening. That means your body uses less energy, which means you burn fewer calories. Going to bed on a full stomach is also bad because it prevents your body from “recovering” and “resting” because of this it needs to spend more time breaking down your heavy dinner.

The best dinner to consume is something low in carbs (because you don’t need that kind of fuel at this time), low in protein (it’s harder for your body to break down proteins and as a result your body isn’t getting a chance to rest, which will explain why you wake up really tired some mornings and energised others)

So do me a favour and try eating a low carb, low protein dinner for the next week and see how you feel waking up in the mornings.

Here are some low carb dinner ideas:

P.S.  Some of the ingredients in these recipes you may not have heard of. If you’re interested I have organised a shopping cart from Iherb, which contains the ingredients you might not own. If this is something you’re interested in then click straight here, enter your address details and sign up. From there simply pay the $33 and Aussie Post will have your order shipped to your door in just days!

Click here to access your personal shopping cart!

P.S.S.  Ingredients such as coconut oil and vegetable stock, are cheaper if brought in your local supermarket.

Monday Night: Tomato, Rice and Cumin Soup

Image Source: Live Energized

(serves 1, total calories 203)
Ingredients:

• ½ organic tin tomatoes
• ½ cup water
• ¼ onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tsp. veggies stock powder
• 1 tsp. coconut oil
• 1 tsp. Olive oil
• ¼ tsp. grounded cumin powder
• ¼ cup cooked basmati rice (or miracle rice for an extra low calorie dish)

Directions:

1. Saute onion and garlic on a non-stick pan with coconut oil until soft
2. Add ½ organic tinned tomatoes,  ¼ cup cooked basmati rice, water, cumin powder and veggie stick
3. Season with salt and pepper, to taste
4. serve into bowl with 1 tsp. of olive oil and fresh parsley
5. Enjoy!

Tuesday Night: Zoodles with cauliflower alfredo sauce

(serves 1, total calories 107)
Ingredients:

• 1 large zucchini
• 1.5 cups cauliflower, roughly choppped
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• ½ tsp. veggie stock
• ½ tsp. garlic powder

Directions:

1. Dry Saute garlic on a non-stick pan until soft
2. Add cauliflower, chicken stock and 1 cup of water
3. Simmer and cook cauliflower on low-medium heat until really soft
4. blend cauliflower with olive oil, sea salt, cracked pepper and garlic powder in your blender until it makes a sauce like texture
5. Make your zoodles using a spirazeller
6. Add cauliflower alfredo sauce to your zoddles and sprinkle with cheddar cheese or parmesan if you’d prefer!

Wednesday: Vegetable Stir-fry with homemade sugar free Satay Sauce

(serves 1, total calories 345 with lentils, 230 calories without lentils)
Ingredients:

• ½ cup green beans
• ¼ sweet red or white onion, roughly chopped
• ½ cup capsicum
• ½ cup carrot
• 1 tsp. coconut oil
• 1 tbsp. peanut butter
• 1 tbsp. sweetme (or natural sweetener of choice)
• 1 tbsp. braggs liquid aminos (or coconut aminos or tamari)
• ½ cup lentils (optional)
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• 1 serve of angel hair “zero calorie” noodles

Directions:

1. Saute onion in coconut oil until soft
2. Add carrot, capsicum and green beans and cook until soft
3. Add peanut butter, sweetme, braggs, and garlic powder and combine well
4. Add pre-cooked lentils in last (or organic tinned lentils) Plus angel hair noodles if you have any and combine well
5. serve and enjoy!

Thursday Night: Salmon Fillet with Mashed Cauliflower and Salad

(serves 1, total calories 371)
Ingredients:

• 150g “skin off” raw salmon Fillet
• 1 cup cauliflower, roughly chopped
• 1/2 tsp. olive oil
• Spinach and red onion salad

Directions:

1. Steam the cauliflower until really soft
2. Blend the cauliflower with 1/2 tsp. olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper into a blender until smooth
3. pre-heat pan to medium heat (for salmon)
4. Season the salmon with sea salt and cracked pepper
5. Cook salmon on each side for 3 minutes
6. Serve salmon on top of mashed cauliflower with a quick and easy spinach and red onion salad

Friday Night: Raw Sushi Rolls with peanut sauce

Image source: This Rawsome Vegan Life

(serves 1= 2 rolls, total calories 262)
Ingredients:

• carrot, grated
• Cucumber, thinly sliced
• cabbage, shredded
• capsicum, thinly sliced
• Alfalfa Sprouts
• 2 nori sheets
• 2 tbsp. Natural Peanut butter
• braggs liquid aminos (or tamari), to dip in

Directions:

1. Prepare the veggies accordingly
2. Spread 1 tbsp. of peanut butter on each nori sheet and top with veggies
3. Roll the nori sheets just like large sushi rolls and serve with braggs!

Saturday Night: Very Healthy San Choy Bow

Image Source: Once upon a chef

(serves 1, total calories 373)
Ingredients:

• 150g chicken mince (or tofu for vegetarian option!)
• ¼ onion, roughly chopped
• ¼ cup zucchini, diced
• ¼ cup carrot, diced
• ¼ cup capsicum, diced
• ¼ cup corn, diced
• Baby cos Lettuce leaved
• 1 tbsp. braggs
• 1 tbsp. SweetMe
• ⅛ tsp. ginger powder
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. sesame oil

Directions:

1. Saute onion in sesame oil until soft
2. Add Chicken Mince, season with sea salt and cracked pepper and cook until done
3. Prepared the carrot, capsicum, corn and zucchini accordingly
4. Add cooked Chicken mince mixture with the veggies and combine well
5. Add Braggs, SweetMe, ginger powder, and garlic powder to the bowl and combine well
6. Serve in a bowl and enjoy with cos lettuce cups!

Sunday Night: Tomato and White Bean salad with Avocado

Image source: Testing 1000 Vegan Recipes

(serves 1, total calories 378)
Ingredients:

• 2 large tomatoes, seeded and roughly diced
• ½ cup cooked or canned white beans (cannellini, white navy beans or butter beans)
• ½ medium-large avocado
• ¼ red onion, diced
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 ½  cups cauliflower, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp. coriander
• ½ juice of a lime
• Chilli powder, to taste (optional)
• Sea salt and cracked pepper

Directions:

1. Steam cauliflower flower until soft
2. Prepare tomatoes accordingly
3. Mash avocado in mixing bowl with a fork
4. Add white beans, red onion, tomatoes, coriander, lime, sea salt, and cracked pepper and combine well
5. Once cauliflower is done, blend with 1 tsp. olive oil and keep blending until the consistency looks like “mashed potato”
6. serve mashed cauliflower on plate with tomato, white bean and avocado salad!