Elite Supps x Jaz Hand: Keto Recipes

Five keto meals from Elite Supps athlete Jaz (@jazgoesfitspo): cauliflower mac and cheese, burgers without buns, cream cheese pancakes, zoodle bolognese and a caesar salad.

All low carbohydrate, all straightforward, and none of them requires a specialty ingredient you will use once and forget.

Cauliflower and bacon "mac and cheese"

Ingredients

• 100 ml thickened cream
• 30 g cheddar cheese
• 30 g cream cheese
• 50 g bacon
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 100 g cauliflower
• Paprika
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Chop the cauliflower into small florets and steam for a few minutes until slightly tender, then add to a baking dish.
2. Chop and cook the bacon, then set aside.
3. In a pan, add the thickened cream, cream cheese, minced garlic and spices, mixing regularly until melted and thickened.
4. Pour the mixture over the cauliflower, then top with cheddar.
5. Bake at 180C for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cheese has browned slightly.

Good as a side with chicken breast.

Keto burgers

Ingredients

• 100 g beef mince, or your choice of protein
• Iceberg lettuce
• Tomato
• Red onion
• American mustard
• Japanese-style mayonnaise
• Cheddar cheese
• Egg
• Avocado
• Coconut oil

Method

1. Press the beef mince into patties and cook in a pan with coconut oil.
2. Cook the egg however you like it.
3. While the patties cook, prepare the lettuce bun by carefully separating the leaves.
4. Add the tomato, red onion and avocado to the lettuce cup.
5. When the patty is cooked, set aside and add the cheese on top to melt.
6. Add the patty to the lettuce bun, then the sauces.
7. Top with the egg.

Cream cheese pancakes

Ingredients

• 50 g cream cheese
• 3 eggs
• Sugar-free maple syrup
• Pinch of cinnamon
• 1 tbsp psyllium husk
• Pinch of baking powder
• Berries
• Coconut oil

Method

1. Add the cream cheese, eggs, cinnamon, psyllium husk and baking powder to a blender.
2. Leave the mixture for 5 minutes to thicken.
3. Add coconut oil to the pan and pour the first pancake.
4. Flip when bubbles form on top.
5. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
6. Serve with sugar-free maple syrup and berries.

Zoodle spaghetti bolognese

Ingredients

• 150 g beef mince
• 1 zucchini
• A jar of low-carb bolognese sauce
• Parmesan or cheddar cheese
• 1 cup spinach
• Garlic powder
• Coconut oil
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Add the beef mince to a pan with coconut oil, along with garlic powder or your choice of spices.
2. Once the beef is cooked, add the jar of sauce. Add about 30 ml water to the empty jar, swirl, and add that to the pan too. Turn the heat down and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Add a cup of spinach and stir through the sauce.
4. Prepare zucchini noodles using a spiraliser.
5. Add the zucchini noodles to a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes, then strain.
6. Either add the noodles to the sauce pan, or plate them and spoon the sauce over.
7. Top with parmesan or cheddar.

Keto caesar salad

Ingredients

• 150 g chicken thigh or breast
• 50 g bacon
• Half an avocado
• Low-carb caesar dressing
• 1/2 cup cos lettuce
• Cherry tomato
• Parmesan or cheddar cheese

Method

1. Cook the chicken and bacon.
2. Prepare the salad while the chicken cooks.
3. Add the meat to the salad, then finish with the dressing and cheese.

Why do the zoodles go watery?

Because zucchini is roughly 95% water, and boiling adds more.

Five minutes in boiling water, as the bolognese recipe says, is at the upper end. If yours end up in a puddle, try one of these instead:

• Skip the boiling entirely. Spiralised zucchini softens perfectly well in hot sauce. This is the simplest fix.
• Salt and drain first. Toss the noodles in salt, leave 15 minutes, then squeeze in a tea towel. Removes a surprising amount.
• Dry-fry for 2 minutes rather than boiling, then drain.
• Plate them separately and spoon the sauce over, as the recipe allows. The water then stays in the bowl rather than diluting the sauce.

What does the keto diet actually do?

Worth being accurate about, because this is one of the most over-claimed diets there is.

Restricting carbohydrate to a low enough level depletes glycogen, and the body increases production of ketones from fat as an alternative fuel. That part is real and well established. It is a genuine metabolic state.

What it does not do is make fat loss happen independently of energy balance. Ketosis is a metabolic state, not a result. People who lose weight on keto lose it because they end up eating less, and there are good reasons that happens: protein and fat are satiating, and cutting an entire macronutrient removes a lot of food from the menu without any counting.

That is a genuine practical advantage. It is not the same as the claim that keto burns fat that other diets cannot.

Which vegetables are off limits on keto?

Nothing is strictly banned, but the starchy ones use up your carbohydrate budget fast.

Generally limited:

• Potato, sweet potato, corn, peas. The main ones.
• Parsnip, beetroot, pumpkin. Higher than people expect.
• Carrot, in quantity. Fine as a garnish.

Freely eaten: leafy greens, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, capsicum, mushrooms, asparagus, cucumber, celery, avocado.

The pattern is simple enough to remember: things that grow above ground are usually fine, root vegetables usually are not. Not a perfect rule, but a workable one.

Can you eat salad on keto?

Yes, and salads are among the easiest keto meals to build. The caesar above is a good template: leaves, protein, fat, cheese.

The thing that catches people out is not the salad, it is the dressing. Many commercial dressings carry added sugar, and a couple of tablespoons can put a genuine dent in a daily carbohydrate allowance. Check the label, or make your own from olive oil, vinegar or lemon, and mustard.

Also watch: croutons, dried cranberries, candied nuts, and anything described as honey mustard or sweet chilli.

Which salad is lowest in carbohydrate?

A leafy green base with protein and fat and no sweet elements. Cos, rocket or spinach with chicken, egg, bacon, avocado, olive oil and parmesan will be very low.

Greek salad is close behind, though the tomato and onion add a little. A garden salad heavy on tomato and carrot is higher than it looks. Anything with corn, beans, pasta, potato or fruit is out.

Is Greek yoghurt keto friendly?

In moderation, and full fat only.

Plain full-fat Greek yoghurt carries roughly 4 to 6 g of carbohydrate per 100 g from lactose. A small serve fits comfortably into most keto allowances; a large bowl may not. Low-fat and flavoured versions are considerably higher, because removing fat usually means adding sugar to compensate.

If you want something closer to zero, unsweetened coconut yoghurt or double cream are lower again.

What about the branded ingredients?

Several recipes above name particular products. None of them is required. Any low-carb bolognese sauce, caesar dressing, mustard or mayonnaise will do the same job.

What matters is reading the label rather than the brand. Sauces and dressings are where hidden carbohydrate lives, and two identical-looking jars can differ several times over.

For more like this, browse the full recipe collection.