Healthy Crockpot Cooking, The Low Carb Way
Healthy Crockpot Cooking, The Low Carb Way
Cooking with a crockpot, also known as a slow cooker, is a great way to prepare a very wide variety of hearty, healthy meals. They’re perfect for making sure that dinner is ready and waiting when a busy family heads home after work and school. Crockpot recipes are generally very easy, and utilize many fresh foods and healthy ingredients that are ideal for the low carb lifestyle. Slow cooker recipes make a great meal choice in the winter months when it’s cold and having something hot and hearty is appealing.
We’ve put this article together to help you get the most from your slow cooker with some handy tips and healthy recipes for delicious and nutritious low carb meals.
Low Carb Crockpot Tips
Not all crockpot recipes are low in carbs, however. Many common slow cooker recipes include ingredients like potatoes, which are not desirable as part of a low carb diet. In addition, many sauces used in these recipes can be high in carbs and sugars, so it’s important to make sure that the recipes you choose for your crockpot hit all the right points for a low carb meal. When choosing a recipe, be on the lookout for common carb sources like potatoes, noodles, and flour, as well as in the sauces where you’d want to avoid high levels of sugars.
Fortunately, most crockpot recipes that contain higher levels of carbs can be easily altered to reduce or remove carbs in order to make them healthier. For example, potatoes can easily be left out of stews and soups without impacting the taste, and substituted with any of your other favourite vegetables. If a recipe calls for flour as a thickener, switch it with cornstarch or another alternative thickener that will do the same job without the carbs. Prepared sauces can easily be swapped for low-sugar or sugar-free versions, or you can even make your own sauces from scratch in order to suit your tastes and fit your diet plan.
Low Carb Crockpot Recipe Ideas
We’ve got a couple of amazing low carb slow cooker recipes for you that we just have to share. These are easy and delicious, with only a few ingredients needed, and are sure to satisfy the hunger of any family.
Pulled Pork Wraps with Colourful Coleslaw
Pulled pork is a favourite of ours, and this recipe is simple to prepare, but big on flavour. We like to combine the savoury pork with a light, fresh coleslaw and serve on low carb tortilla wraps, or use large lettuce leaves for an even lower carb count. Simply delicious!
For the Pulled Pork:
- Ingredients:
o 1 pork tenderloin
o 1 bottle of your favourite low carb barbecue sauce
- Try one of Crazy Mooskie’s No Added Sugar BBQ Sauces
- Preparation & Cooking:
o Place pork tenderloin in slow cooker and set to low heat for 6-8 hours
o Pour barbecue sauce over entire pork tenderloin
o With 1 hour remaining, remove pork from slow cooker and pull apart with two forks on a plastic cutting board
o Put shredded pork back in the slow cooker & mix with the sauce
- If the sauce has become too thick or too thin for your preference, simply add a bit more sauce or some water to thin it, or a small amount of cornstarch to thicken
o Simmer for remaining time
For the Colourful Coleslaw:
- Ingredients:
o 1 cup shredded red cabbage
o 1 cup shredded green cabbage
o 1 cup shredded carrots
o ½ cup mayonnaise
o 2 tbsp sour cream
o 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
o 1 dash of salt
o 1 dash of black pepper
- Preparation:
o Simply mix together all the ingredients in a large bowl until thoroughly combined
- We suggest adding the mayo, sour cream, vinegar, and salt and pepper slowly and tasting every so often to make sure you end up with your preferred consistency and taste of coleslaw.
Once you’ve got the pork and the coleslaw ready to go, simply serve on your favourite low carb tortilla wrap and enjoy. We suggest these low carb Whole Wheat Tortillas from La Tortilla Factory. Alternatively, you might choose to use large fresh lettuce leaves as a wrap to bring the carb count down even more.
Teriyaki Chicken & Broccoli on Noodles
This Asian-inspired slow cooker recipe is so tasty, you’ll be wishing for leftovers so you can have it again the next day! You can easily customize this recipe however you’d like, adding your choice of vegetables in the mix, and serving over your favourite style of noodles.
- Ingredients:
o 1lb of boneless skinless chicken thighs
o 2 cups broccoli florets
o 1 cup of chopped mushrooms
o 1 cup bean sprouts
o 1 bottle of Seal Sama Sugar-free Teriyaki Sauce
o 1 package of low carb noodles of your preferred style
- Preparation:
o Put chicken thighs in the slow cooker and set to high heat for 4-6 hours
o Pour teriyaki sauce over chicken and mix to ensure chicken is fully coated and simmer
o With 1 hour remaining, place broccoli florets in the slow cooker and mix up, coating thoroughly with the sauce
o With 30 minutes remaining, place mushrooms and bean sprouts in the slow cooker and mix up, coating thoroughly with the sauce
o Prepare your chosen style of noodles as the chicken and vegetables simmer for the last 15 minutes of cooking time.
Once your noodles are ready, simply serve the chicken and vegetables on top of a bed of noodles, and enjoy. We recommend Miracle Noodles Angel Hair Pasta for those who like a longer noodle, or you can always go a different route and serve your meal on top of Miracle Noodles Miracle Rice. Either way, we’re sure you’ll love this dish!
Conclusion
Once you start experimenting with all the different things you can do with your slow cooker, you’ll wonder why you don’t use it more often! We’re sure that with these tips, that is about to change. Crockpot meals are simple to prepare, convenient, and definitely satisfying, especially for low carb dieters.
If these recipes have got you excited for some more ideas, this collection of low carb crockpot recipes from the blog at LowCarbYum.com is sure to be a great resource for you. We hope that we’ve been able to provide some inspiration, and have encouraged you to fire up your crockpot sometime soon. Happy cooking!
