My Favorite Places to Get Low Carb, Gluten Free Dinner Recipes

Although I don’t feel #blessed to have diabetes and celiac disease in my home, there certainly hasn’t been a better time for it. This moment, right now, is the heyday for gluten free, low carb cooking. Some days, the best menu I can come up with on my own is celery with peanut butter and a glass of wine. Fortunately, a hive of creative and generous cooks with gluten free and low carb lodestars share their ideas—freely and beautifully. Even foodies who don’t share these food restrictions are in on the act, since it seems (go figure!) practically everyone feels a bit livelier/less inflamed/less bitchy when they incorporate low carb gluten free meals into their lives. These are the internet resources I love most right now, all humming with fresh ideas for low carb, gluten free dinners:

Mel Joulwan’s Five Dinners: Every Thursday for the last ninety or so Thursdays, the author of the Well Fed cookbooks posts five ideas for dinner with links to recipes. The generosity of these posts—five ideas, when I really only need one!—with links to simple recipes make this a go-to site for dinner inspiration. These are always gluten free, and usually low carb. For example: Bacon Jalapeño Burger Balls.

Nom Nom Paleo: Paleo dieters are among the most creative, energetic cooks on earth, and Nom Nom Paleo’s Michelle Tam is their queen. This site vibrates with enthusiasm for the dietary restrictions that we, the people with celiac disease and/or diabetes may or may not embrace with joy in our hearts. The recipes are always gluten free and nutritious, and are often low carb. Lazy devils have permanently elevated my boiled egg game.

I Heart Umami: is a gorgeous site to peruse when you’re weary and hungry and don’t know what to make. Author ChihYu Smith describes the vibe of her recipes as Asian-inspired paleo. Every photo has me convinced it depicts exactly what I’m craving, even during those dark times when I think I’ll never want to cook again. The Scalloped Potato Frittata has the most brilliant gluten free crust.

Eating Well: the web site associated with Vermont’s uber-wholesome Eating Well magazine features an index of recipes that can be filtered for many allergies and diets. What I find most useful on this site is the “Special Diets” section of the recipe index, which offers a Low Carb Diet Center filled with recipes and how-to videos. The videos cover basics like cauliflower mash, cauliflower rice, and spaghetti squash; the video How to Make Zucchini Noodles with Avocado Pesto solves (in under forty-five seconds!) the mystery of the perpetually soggy zoodle.

Two Sleevers: Urvashi Pitre is famous for her Instant Pot butter chicken recipe, but her repertoire goes way beyond fast Indian. Sort your search for gluten free and low carb recipes, and then further by appliance (oven, slow cooker, Instant Pot, air fryer…) and also by cuisine: Pakistani, Greek, Jamaican, Maharashtrian. But if you haven’t made it yet, try the butter chicken.

And Here We Are: Arianna Mullins is a world traveler and parent who cooks and writes original grain-free recipes with an emphasis on pleasure. In addition to creating nourishing meals, she also ferments, offering instructions for intriguing concoctions like lacto-fermented honey rhubarb soda and hard cider. Although her culinary interests are intense, she’s also a realist, and manages to keep things streamlined and family-friendly. When you’re not sure what the next pound of ground beef will become, consider easy and delicious Chelo Kebabs.

All Day I Dream About Food: Keto goddess Carolyn Ketchum’s recipes will never lead you astray; everything she cooks is low carb and gluten free, and even has a new cookbook out with low carb, gluten free dinner recipes. Using the search feature, you can pinpoint recipes for whatever vague inkling you have. This is so handy when staring blankly at a lump of chicken, wondering what it might become. Originally published here on A Sweet Life, everyone must try the Blistered Green Beans.

Food52: Food52 is not a low carb or gluten free environment, but can easily be manipulated to reveal what you need. This is such a beautiful and useful site, it’s worth the tiny bit of jiggering. When perusing its recipes, select “gluten free” under the Special Considerations filter and then, under the Dish Type filter, peruse cocktails, salads, soups, or stews for low carb jackpots. The recipe for Paul Bertolli’s Cauliflower Soup—a gluten free, low carb miracle—was my introduction to Food52, long before I cared a whit about gluten or carbs.

Whole30: always gluten free and nearly always low carb too, Whole30-approved recipes are sure winners for my family. Vegetables and meat are the focus here, with riffs on popular themes leading to unexpected combos. As summer approaches, I’ll be referring back to the Summer on a Stick series, all about kabobs. This week, I’m inspired by this series of four paradigm-flipping taco recipes. 

Katy Killilea

Katy Killilea lives in Rhode Island with her family. The younger of her sons was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2011 when he was 8 years old. Two years later she was diagnosed with Type 1 herself. Her older son is a test subject in an experimental trial for a drug that stops the progression of Type 1 diabetes. This son, her husband, and their dog remain (relatively) unaffected by diabetes. She writes the blog Bigfoot Child Have Diabetes.