If you are hosting this year’s Thanksgiving dinner, these healthy Thanksgiving recipes are bound to inspire you. Although holiday celebrations are usually about feasting delicious meals, the carb overload could make you feel drowsy and bloated. This can spoil the festive mood, and you will not have the energy to shop for Black Friday Deals!
So if you are following a low carb diet and want to share healthy and delicious meals with your loved ones on your Thanksgiving Dinner, here are the best recipes to consider. These healthy Thanksgiving recipes are as delicious as their high-carb counterparts, so none of your guests will recognize that the recipes have been modified.
You can find some more healthy Thanksgiving recipes in these previous recipe roundups: Easy and Delicious Keto Thanksgiving Recipes
7 Low Carb Thanksgiving Meal Ideas
Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes | Low Carb & Keto
1. Low Carb Pumpkin Soup with Curry and Coconut
Would you want to include soup in your Thanksgiving dinner menu? If so, this Low Carb Pumpkin Soup with Curry and Coconut from Amanda Hughes of Wicked Stuffed would be the perfect recipe to try. It has all the right ingredients to help you stay in ketosis.
Pumpkin is definitely keto-friendly, for as long as you are mindful of the portion size. For this recipe, the author uses a can of pumpkin puree and a cup of coconut milk. With only 2 grams of net carbs per serving, you can treat yourself to a bowl of this soup without feeling the guilt this Thanksgiving.
The addition of red pepper creates a wonderful depth of spicy flavor to your meal that you’ll surely enjoy every sip you make of this healthy pumpkin soup.
2. Keto Thanksgiving Turkey
Turkey has become the symbol of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Fortunately, turkey meat is naturally keto-friendly. Whether roasted or fried, a 3-ounce serving of turkey contains less than 2 grams of net carbs.
However, some turkey recipes out there use ingredients that are not suitable for the keto diet. But this Keto Thanksgiving Turkey recipe from Mira of My PCOS Kitchen is guaranteed low carb. To make the turkey taste even more delicious, she stuffed herbed butter under the skin before baking. It resulted in a super crispy skin with tender and juicy meat.
3. Keto Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
If you are not a fan of turkey or are having just a small gathering for Thanksgiving this bacon wrapped stuffed pork tenderloin from Ruled.me makes a very tasty alternative.
It’s stuffed with cream cheese, spinach, onion, and garlic and served with a colorful vegetable sauté on the side but you can serve it with whatever you like.
It might take a bit of work to make the latticed bacon effect to wrap the tenderloin in but the finished dish will look amazing.
4. Keto Buttery Mashed Cauliflower
Even though the turkey is the real star of any Thanksgiving Dinner, your dinner will feel incomplete without the trimmings. But you have to be wary of the type of sidings to prepare since these could easily rack-up carbs and added sugars, which is detrimental to your keto diet.
When it comes to healthy trimming recipes, this Buttery Mashed Cauliflower recipe from Karina of Café Delites comes highly recommended. It’s light, buttery, flavorful, creamy, and tastes just as good as the regular mashed potatoes. This is the perfect dish to share over Thanksgiving dinner and can go perfectly well with your roasted turkey.
4. Low Carb Keto Gravy
Never serve your turkey and mashed cauliflower without gravy. For a low-carb gravy recipe, this Keto Gravy recipe from Delish would be perfect! This gravy is not made of flour and other carb-loaded ingredients, which is why it deserves to be in this list of the best healthy Thanksgiving recipes.
But if you choose to have flour on your gravy, you better stick to keto-approved flour alternatives such as almond flour and coconut flour. Still, even without flour, this gravy turned out rich, thick, and creamy and is just the right accompaniment to your roasted turkey and mashed cauliflower.
5. Low Carb Green Beans with Bacon and Tomatoes
This fresh green beans cooked with bacon, onion, garlic, and tomatoes recipe from Karly of That Low Carb Life is easy to prepare and is colorful and fancy enough for a holiday meal. It’s not too rich either so you won’t feel bloated after dinner.
Beans can be a little higher in carbs than some other low carb green vegetables but this dish works out to be about 6 net carbs a serving which hopefully will be low enough depending on the amount of daily carbs you are currently eating.
6. Cauliflower Casserole
If you don’t want to mess around with mashing cauliflower this make ahead Cauliflower Casserole from Kelly Kwok of Life Made Sweeter makes for a stress-free way of hosting Thanksgiving dinner.
You can prep the cream sauce a day in advance and store it in an airtight container. You can also roast the cauliflower a day ahead. When you’re ready to cook, simply combine the cream sauce with the cauliflower and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. This casserole is ideal to serve with low-carb salads and the other keto-friendly side dishes.
7. Bacon Wrapped Asparagus
When it comes to keto-friendly side dishes, this Bacon-wrapped Asparagus from Maya Krampf of Wholesome Yum is a sure winner! It tastes so good that it could outshine the other healthy Thanksgiving recipes you prepare.
It’s also very easy to make. In fact, it’s one of those dishes that you can prepare ahead of Thanksgiving, which allows for stress-free entertaining. Simply store them in a covered container and put in the fridge. If you are ready to serve, just pop them in the oven for a few minutes!
8. Homemade Keto Cranberry Sauce
The cranberry sauce is one of the most popular components of a traditional Thanksgiving meal. It’s usually used as a glaze for turkey and other poultry. However, the sauce is often made with sugar, so it will not go well with your low-carb eating plan.
Thankfully, there are healthier versions of cranberry sauce recipes out there. One of these is this Homemade Cranberry Sauce made by Julianne of Keto Cooking Christian. It takes only a few minutes to prepare and contains only 4 grams of net carbs per serving.
Although the recipe has been modified to go with a low-carb eating plan, it tastes just as great as the traditional version.
9. Crustless Pumpkin Pie
When it comes to Thanksgiving desserts, pumpkin pie often reigns supreme. In fact, it’s the most popular dish served during the holidays across the United States. And although pies are often associated with carbs, you can still indulge in your pumpkin pie cravings without ruining your diet by making it crust-less.
This Crustless Pumpkin Pie recipe from Katie of Chocolate Covered Katie can serve as your inspiration into making a delicious and guilt-free pumpkin pie. Top it with coconut whipped cream or any low-carb ice cream, this dessert is sure to delight your guests!
If you prefer more of a traditional pumpkin pie with a crust then take a look at this Delicious Low Carb Pumpkin Pie Recipe.
10. Low-Carb & Keto Chocolate Pecan Pie
If you or your family are not a fan of pumpkin then you might want to serve this delicious Keto Chocolate Pecan Pie. Who doesn’t love chocolate?
As well as being sugar and grain free it’s also dairy free so is ideal for anyone who is avoiding dairy products.
Leanne Vogel of Healthful Pursuits who created this recipe uses a rather unusual ingredient in place of sugar to hold it all together. Can you guess what it is? Zucchini! I’ve used it often in cakes and you really wouldn’t know. It just works!
You can make either one large keto pie or individual tarts with this recipe. Although the tarts take some extra work they look so pretty and enticing that it’s well worth it if you have the time.
11. Pumpkin Pie Martini
If you want the taste of pumpkin pie with a kick then these Pumpkin Pie Martinis will do it for you. Carolyn of All Day I Dream About Food created this low carb recipe with some pumpkin puree, spices and a low carb sweetener.
Instead of the sugary crème de cacao she’s replaced it with dark rum which gives the drink that brown sugar taste.
Each serving contains only about 1.5 g of carbs so at a push you could probably get away with a couple of them. They are so delicious that you will be tempted to have more I can tell you!
12. Low Carb Pumpkin Spice Latte
For a bit of fun why not serve a pumpkin spice latte after your dinner? This is a much healthier version of the popular pumpkin spice latte served by that well known coffee chain.
Sweetened with some liquid stevia it will not spike your blood sugar. You can find out how to make it in this previous post > Low Carb Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe.
Low Carb & Keto Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes
This roundup of healthy Thanksgiving recipes won’t be complete without the healthy cocktail drinks. There are tons of low-carb cocktail drinks recipes out there, but this Pumpkin Pie Martini from Carolyn of All Day I Dream About Food is just the perfect drink to serve at your Thanksgiving dinner.
The original recipe uses sweetened pumpkin pie filling, but this low-carb recipe uses pumpkin puree, some spices, and a little bit of low carb sweetener. Carolyn uses dark rum to mimic the brown sugar taste of pumpkin pie.
Each serving has approximately 1.5 g of carbs so you can probably drink a couple without ruining your keto diet.
This drink is so delicious and will be loved by everyone, whether they are on the keto diet or not.
Well, I hope you’ve gotten some inspiration for some low carb and keto healthy Thanksgiving recipes from this quick round up.
