Low carb recipes: 30 meals with 15 g of carbs or less per serving

What counts as a low carb recipe on this list?

On this list, a recipe is low carb when one serving has 15 g of carbohydrate or less, computed from its grams, and the page checks every recipe against that line. It is the line Food Network states for its 45 low-carb recipes: meals of 15 grams or less of carbohydrates per serving. Other popular lists, such as Delish's 77 ideas or the American Diabetes Association's Diabetes Food Hub, state no carbohydrate line for what counts as low carb. All checked October 30, 2026.

The carbohydrate figure is total carbohydrate, as USDA FoodData Central gives it: sugars, starches and fibre together. Some recipe sites print net carbs, total carbohydrate minus fibre, so their figures look lower for the same dish; compare like with like. The recipes get their carbohydrate mostly from vegetables, dairy and a little fruit, and leave out rice, pasta, bread and potatoes, or replace them with cauliflower, zucchini or lettuce.

Each recipe is for one serving: the ingredients in grams, then a few steps under its name below each table. Calories, protein, carbohydrate and fat are added up from those grams with the values per 100 g of USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy, for the generic food, not a brand. Each ingredient names its state, raw, cooked or canned, because the figures differ. Cooking oil and butter are counted where a recipe uses them; salt, herbs and spices are not. Each table also shows whether a recipe passes the IZeat healthy check, at least 20 g of protein and 80 g of vegetables, fruit or legumes per serving; sodium and saturated fat are not computed, so their limits are not checked.

IZeat wrote these recipes and computed their figures from USDA values; creators' tested versions will replace them as they are published.

Which low carb dinners can you make?

These 16 dinners pair a protein food, chicken, beef, pork, turkey, fish, shrimp, tofu or cheese, with non-starchy vegetables, and swap rice and pasta for cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash. The bunless cheeseburger lettuce wraps has the least carbohydrate of the group, 6.9 g.

Bunless cheeseburger lettuce wraps

1. Shape the beef into patties and cook them in a hot pan until cooked through, melting the cheddar on top at the end.
2. Wrap each patty in lettuce leaves with the sliced tomato and onion.

Garlic butter salmon with asparagus

1. Lay the salmon and the trimmed asparagus on a baking tray.
2. Melt the butter with the crushed garlic, brush it over both and bake until the salmon flakes and is cooked through.
3. Squeeze the lemon juice over.

Cod with tomatoes, olives and zucchini

1. Heat the oil in a pan and soften the garlic and the diced zucchini.
2. Add the canned tomatoes and the olives and simmer until thick.
3. Lay the cod in the sauce, cover and simmer until the fish flakes and is cooked through.

Sirloin steak with garlic butter broccoli

1. Sear the steak in a hot pan to your liking and let it rest.
2. Steam the broccoli and toss it with the butter melted with the crushed garlic.

Pork tenderloin with garlic green beans

1. Brown the pork in half the oil, then roast it until cooked through and let it rest before slicing.
2. Cook the green beans in the rest of the oil with the crushed garlic until tender.

Chicken and broccoli stir-fry

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and stir-fry the sliced chicken until cooked through.
2. Add the broccoli, the grated ginger and the garlic with a splash of water and cook until the broccoli is tender, then stir in the soy sauce.

Beef and cauliflower rice stuffed peppers

1. Brown the beef in a pan until cooked through, then add the grated cauliflower and the canned tomatoes and cook until thick.
2. Fill the halved, seeded pepper with the mixture, top with the grated cheddar and bake until the pepper is tender.

Garlic shrimp and zucchini stir-fry

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and stir-fry the sliced zucchini and pepper until just tender.
2. Add the shrimp and the crushed garlic and cook until the shrimp are pink and opaque all the way through, then stir in the soy sauce.

Tilapia with cauliflower mash and spinach

1. Boil or steam the cauliflower until very tender, then mash it with the butter and milk.
2. Bake or pan-cook the tilapia until it flakes and is cooked through, and wilt the spinach in the same pan.

Turkey meatballs with zucchini noodles

1. Roll the ground turkey into small meatballs and brown them in the oil until cooked through.
2. Add the tomato sauce and simmer, then toss in the spiralized zucchini until just tender.
3. Serve with the parmesan grated over.

Roast chicken thighs with Brussels sprouts

1. Halve the Brussels sprouts and toss them and the chicken with the oil and seasoning.
2. Roast on one tray until the chicken is cooked through and the sprouts are browned.

Chicken cauliflower fried rice

1. Grate the cauliflower into small grains.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the diced chicken until cooked through, then push it aside and scramble the egg.
3. Add the cauliflower and the grated carrot and stir-fry until tender, then stir in the soy sauce and the scallions.

Tofu, bok choy and mushroom stir-fry (vegan)

1. Cube the tofu and brown it in the oil in a large pan, then set it aside.
2. Stir-fry the sliced mushrooms and bok choy with the grated ginger until tender.
3. Return the tofu and stir in the soy sauce.

Chicken thigh fajitas over cauliflower rice

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the sliced chicken, peppers and onion with fajita spices until the chicken is cooked through.
2. Cook the grated cauliflower in a covered pan with a splash of water until tender.
3. Serve the fajita mix over the cauliflower rice with the lime juice.

Spaghetti squash with beef and tomato sauce

1. Halve the squash, scoop out the seeds and roast it cut side down until tender, then scrape out the strands.
2. Brown the beef in a pan until cooked through, add the canned tomatoes and simmer.
3. Serve the sauce over the squash with the parmesan grated over.

Zucchini lasagna roll-ups (vegetarian)

1. Slice the zucchini lengthwise into thin ribbons.
2. Spread each ribbon with ricotta, roll it up and stand the rolls in a small dish over the tomato sauce.
3. Top with the mozzarella and bake until bubbling and the zucchini is tender.

Which low carb lunches can you make?

These 8 lunches are salads and lettuce wraps around chicken, tuna, turkey, salmon, shrimp or eggs, dressed with weighed oil, Greek yogurt or avocado in place of bread and croutons.

Egg salad lettuce cups (vegetarian)

1. Chop the eggs and mix them with the Greek yogurt and the finely chopped celery.
2. Spoon the egg salad into the lettuce leaves.

Ginger chicken lettuce wraps

1. Heat the oil in a pan and cook the finely chopped chicken with the grated ginger until cooked through, then stir in the soy sauce.
2. Spoon it into the lettuce leaves and top with the grated carrot and the sliced scallions.

Chicken Caesar salad with a yogurt dressing, no croutons

1. Stir the Greek yogurt with the lemon juice, the oil and half the grated parmesan.
2. Toss the chopped lettuce in the dressing, top with the sliced chicken and the rest of the parmesan.

Salmon, cucumber and spinach salad with yogurt dill dressing

1. Stir the Greek yogurt with the lemon juice and chopped dill.
2. Toss the spinach and the sliced cucumber with the dressing and top with the drained, flaked salmon.

Tuna-stuffed avocado

1. Mix the drained tuna with the Greek yogurt, the lemon juice and the finely chopped celery.
2. Halve and pit the avocado and fill each half with the tuna.

Shrimp, avocado and cucumber salad

1. Heat the oil in a pan and cook the shrimp until pink and opaque all the way through, then let them cool.
2. Toss them with the diced avocado, cucumber and tomatoes and the lime juice.

Turkey cobb salad

1. Cook the turkey in a dry non-stick pan until cooked through, then cool and dice it.
2. Arrange it on the chopped lettuce with the chopped egg, tomatoes, avocado and grated cheddar, and dress with the oil and lemon juice.

Greek salad with chicken and olives

1. Chop the cucumber, tomatoes and onion and toss them with the olives and the oil.
2. Top with the crumbled feta and the sliced chicken.

Which low carb breakfasts can you make?

These 6 breakfasts are built on eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese or tofu. Eggs carry almost no carbohydrate, 0.7 g per 100 g, so most of a breakfast's carbohydrate comes from what goes with them.

Spinach and feta omelet (vegetarian)

1. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and wilt the spinach.
2. Pour in the beaten eggs, cook until almost set, then scatter the feta over, fold and cook until set all the way through.

Pepper and cheddar egg muffins (vegetarian)

1. Whisk the eggs and stir in the diced pepper, the chopped spinach and the grated cheddar.
2. Pour into oiled muffin cups and bake until set all the way through.

Turkey, egg and avocado breakfast plate

1. Heat the oil in a pan and cook the turkey until cooked through, then fry the eggs until set.
2. Serve with the sliced avocado and tomato.

Tofu scramble with mushrooms and spinach (vegan)

1. Heat the oil in a pan and cook the sliced mushrooms until soft.
2. Crumble in the tofu with turmeric and pepper and stir until hot.
3. Stir in the spinach until it wilts.

Greek yogurt with strawberries and walnuts (vegetarian)

1. Spoon the Greek yogurt into a bowl.
2. Top with the sliced strawberries and the chopped walnuts.

Cottage cheese with cucumber and tomato (vegetarian)

1. Spoon the cottage cheese into a bowl.
2. Add the diced cucumber and tomato and the chopped walnuts, and season with pepper.

How do you cut the carbs in a recipe you already make?

Most of a dinner's carbohydrate sits in its starch. Replacing the starch with a vegetable cooked the same way keeps the dish and removes most of the carbohydrate, as the table shows.

1. Keep the protein food and its portion: chicken, fish, meat, eggs, tofu or cheese carry little or no carbohydrate.
2. Replace the rice, pasta, bread or potatoes with cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash or lettuce leaves.
3. Weigh the sauce and the fruit: tomato sauce, honey, soy sauce and berries add carbohydrate a gram at a time.
4. Weigh the fat too: oil, butter, cheese and avocado add no carbohydrate but many calories per gram.

The cooking fat guide explains how to count the oil, and the raw-or-cooked guide which weight to use.

How do low carb recipes fit into your day?

A recipe is one meal; a low-carb diet is a daily total. Mayo Clinic says a low-carb diet allows on average 60 to 130 g of carbohydrate a day, and some very low-carb diets less than 60 g, while the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend 130 g a day for adults aged 19 to 59. Cleveland Clinic gives the usual share as 45% to 65% of daily calories, 225 to 325 g on a 2,000-calorie day. All checked October 30, 2026.

Both sources list cautions. Mayo Clinic names short-term side effects of a sudden, large drop in carbohydrate (constipation, headache, muscle cramps) and says long-term risks are not clear; Cleveland Clinic says low-carb diets are not recommended for children, during pregnancy or for people who train hard, and that people with diabetes should talk to their healthcare provider first. A varied diet with vegetables, fruit, legumes and whole grains suits most people; check with a doctor or dietitian before restricting a whole food group. This page gives each recipe's figures and sets no daily target.

IZeat is the five-star chef calorie tracker that suggests satisfying, great-tasting meals, so you enjoy every calorie you have left. It works inside ChatGPT, Claude or any other assistant: IZeat knows your numbers for the day, which foods fill you up and what you like.

After you connect your assistant, say what you ate in one sentence. IZeat logs the meal and returns calories, protein, carbohydrate and fat for the day, with the source of each figure; with a carbohydrate target you chose, it shows what remains.

Where are the other recipe lists?

Recipes with at least 20 g of protein for every meal of the day are on the high protein meals list, meals of 500 kcal or less on the low calorie meals list, and snacks from 10 g of protein on the high protein snacks list. Lunches and breakfasts that pass the IZeat healthy check are on the healthy lunch ideas and healthy breakfast ideas lists, and dinners on the healthy dinner ideas list. Recipes to cook once for several days are on the meal prep ideas list, and the weekly meal plan guide shows how to plan a week. More low carb lists get their own page in the Recipes section as they are published:

• Low carb meals, whole low-carb plates for lunch and dinner.
• High protein low carb meals, with at least 30 g of protein per serving.
• Low carb snacks, with 5 g of net carbs or less per serving.

How to keep a carbohydrate record, total or net, is in the low-carb tracking guide.