If you don’t have time for anything complicated or time-consuming in the middle of the day, you’ll need some simple but delicious keto lunch ideas to keep you going. Here, you’ll find easy-to-make keto lunch ideas as well as recipes, making them easy to fit into your keto meal plan.
Keto lunch recipes on this page can also be excellent choices for dinner. Protein options like eggs, shrimp, and beef are equally delicious in the middle of the day and evening. And you can combine them with various vegetables like cauliflower, paprika, and lettuce or with greasier options like bacon and avocado.
Don’t forget about blue cheese and mayonnaise either, as these make a great addition to many main and side dishes. All in all, these low-carb lunch ideas prove you don’t need any bread to stay full.
Cobb Egg Salad
Cobb egg salad is one of our favorite low-carb lunch ideas. Egg salad is delicious alone, but add avocado, bacon, blue cheese, and cherry tomatoes, and you have the low-carb lunch of your dreams. The vinegar-yogurt dressing is wonderful and works well in traditional cobb salad, too.
This recipe yields six servings. If you want to make it smaller or bigger, just adjust the number of these simple ingredients.
You’ll need:
- 8 hard-boiled eggs cut into eight pieces
- 8 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1 thinly sliced avocado
- ½ cup of halved cherry tomatoes
- ½ cup of crumbled blue cheese
- 2 tbsp. of freshly chopped chives
- 3 tbsp. of Greek yogurt
- 3 tbsp. of mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp. of red wine vinegar
- Sea or Himalayan salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
How to Make It
Gently mix eggs, avocado, bacon, cherry tomatoes, and blue cheese in a large serving bowl. Then, stir together Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, and red wine vinegar in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. Next, gradually fold the dressing over the ingredients and garnish with chives. This is one of the easiest low-carb lunch ideas and tastes amazing! And you can even serve it as a light dinner.
Keto Chili
If you’re a fan of hot and spicy, you’ll love this meal prep lunch. A deep, savory beef broth base is spiked with paprika, cumin, and chili powder and filled with vegetables and beef. Topped with crispy bacon, creamy avocado, and fresh green onions, this healthy keto stew will satisfy even the most discerned hedonists! You can eat it alone or pair it with Greek salad, Caprese, or simple iceberg lettuce with lemon.
But if you don’t like beef, you can substitute it with ground turkey or pork. However, the beef broth adds depth of flavor to the meal, so we recommend it instead of substitutes.
As with most leftover stews, this chili tastes even better the next day after all the delicious flavors mingle more. So, make sure you have some leftovers for lunch the next day. Keep them in the fridge for up to four days in an airtight container. Since this recipe yields eight servings, you’ll likely have plenty of leftovers to savor the following days.
You’ll need:
- 2 lb. of ground beef
- 2 cups of beef broth
- 3 slices of bacon cut into ½ strips
- ½ of a medium onion, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- ½ cup of sliced baby bella mushrooms
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp. of smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp. of chili powder
- 2 tsp. of dried oregano
- 2 tsp. of ground cumin
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Sea or Himalayan salt
For garnish:
- Sliced avocado
- Sour cream
- Shredded cheddar
- Sliced green onions
How to Make It
Cook bacon in a large pot over medium heat until it becomes crisp. Once crisp, remove it from the pot with a slotted spoon. Add onion, pepper, celery, and mushrooms and cook until soft. Next, add garlic and cook until fragrant.
Once you’ve done that, push vegetables to one side of the pot and add beef. Cook it until no pink remains while stirring occasionally. Then, drain the fat and return it to heat. Add chili powder, oregano, cumin, and paprika, and season with salt and pepper for an amazing taste. Next, add beef broth and bring to simmer. Let it cook for 15 to 20 more minutes until most of the broth evaporates.
All you need to do next is to ladle the stew into a bowl and top it with sour cream, cheddar cheese, avocado, and green onions. Simple, healthy, and delicious!
Cauliflower Pizza Crust
It might sound crazy, but cauliflower pizza can be a tasty and healthy alternative to traditional pizza. That's especially true when you need some comfort food. In this simple, gluten-free pizza recipe, you’re making cauliflower rice as the base for your crust. However, you must drain the cooked cauliflower to keep the crust dry and encourage crisping while it bakes.
When it comes to topping, you can keep things simple with fresh tomatoes and basil or get creative. We keep it simple in this recipe but feel free to add sliced olives, sautéed onions and pepper, bacon, or sausage, if you like.
This recipe yields four servings, so just adjust as needed.
You’ll Need:
- 1 large cauliflower, roughly chopped
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups of shredded mozzarella
- ½ cup of freshly grated parmesan
- ¼ cup of pizza sauce or marinara
- 1 cup of halved cherry tomatoes
- 2 minced cloves of garlic
- Fresh basil
- Balsamic glaze
- Sea or Himalayan salt
How to Make It
First, preheat the oven to 425°. Put water and salt into a large skillet and bring it to a boil. Then, add cauliflower in one even layer and cook until crisp-tender. Transfer it to a clean dish towel and squeeze it to drain excess water.
Next, add drained cauliflower to a food processor and pulse until grated into cauliflower rice, and drain any excess water left in a dish towel. The next step is to transfer drained cauliflower to a large bowl and add egg, 1 cup of mozzarella, ¼ cup of parmesan, and a pinch of salt.
Transfer this low-carb dough to a baking sheet lined with cooking spray and pat it into a crust. Bake it until it dries out and becomes golden, then top it with marinara, mozzarella, and parmesan. Add garlic and tomatoes, and bake until crust is crisp and cheese melted. Take it out of the oven and garnish it with basil and balsamic glaze, and there you have it! Cauliflower pizza can also be an excellent light dinner.
Buffalo Shrimp Lettuce Wraps
If you like seafood, you’ll love this low-carb keto lunch. It’s fresh, tasty, and ready in less than one hour. Besides that, it’s one of the healthiest low-carb recipes.
It yields four servings, so if you want more, just double the ingredients!
You’ll Need:
- 1 lb. of peeled and deveined shrimp with no tails
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 1 head of romaine, leaves separated
- 1 rib of celery, thinly sliced
- ½ onion
- ½ cup of crumbled blue cheese
- ¼ tbsp. of butter
- 1 tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup of hot sauce
- Freshly ground pepper
- Sea or Himalayan salt
How to Make It
Start with the buffalo sauce. First, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When melted, add garlic and cook until fragrant. Then mix in hot sauce and stir well. Once you’ve done that, turn the heat to low while you cook the shrimp.
Heat extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add shrimp, salt, and pepper. Cook while flipping halfway until shrimp is opaque and pink on both sides. Once you’ve done that, turn off the heat and add the buffalo sauce.
Once you’ve done that, add a small scoop of shrimp to the center of a romaine lettuce leaf and top it with celery, onion, and blue cheese. Enjoy your healthy meal!
Delicious and Healthy Keto Recipes
Even though the keto diet is low-carb, you should still make it as balanced as possible and eat healthy lunches to get all the essential nutrients. And that’s exactly what you get from these savory keto recipes!
