Overlook inexperienced bean casserole: These Thanksgiving aspect dishes are more healthy than the classics (however nonetheless scrumptious)
As nice as conventional Thanksgiving meals will be — generally we don’t really feel so nice after. The usual aspect dishes we all know and love at Thanksgiving are filled with carbs, which may depart you feeling sluggish and drained afterward. Consuming a meal too excessive in carbohydrates can spike our blood sugar ranges, inflicting a crash after we get residence from dinner. The same old culprits are all of the classics, akin to mashed potatoes, inexperienced bean casserole, stuffing, and that scrumptious cranberry sauce. All in all, this may be unhealthy information for anybody attempting to really feel their finest for next-day Black Friday procuring.
We’re right here to inform you that having fun with a hearty Thanksgiving meal is feasible with wholesome twists on the tasty classics. These scrumptious Thanksgiving aspect dishes are more healthy swaps, but nonetheless equally scrumptious. Whether or not you’re on a mission to shed extra pounds or just don’t take pleasure in that sluggish post-meal feeling, we’ve obtained you coated. You don’t must put your self in a meals coma with a purpose to take pleasure in Thanksgiving.
Cauliflower mashed “potatoes”
Easy and scrumptious — cauliflower serves as the proper vegetable substitute for mashed potatoes. Not solely does cauliflower have the same creamy and clean texture to mashed potatoes, however it additionally has a light taste. The delicate taste permits this veggie to tackle the style of no matter you placed on it, akin to gravy, butter, or herbs and seasonings. Swapping your mashed potatoes for cauliflower mash may help prevent so many carbs at your Thanksgiving dinner.
For comparability, 1 cup of cauliflower incorporates about 5 grams of carbs, whereas 1 cup of potatoes has about 36 grams of carbs. To not point out, potatoes aren’t excessive in vitamins, however cauliflower is a superb supply of vitamin C and vitamin Okay. Mashed cauliflower is scrumptious by itself with some butter and spices, however you can too use it to create fancier Thanksgiving sides, akin to bacon and cheddar cauliflower mash.
Low-sugar cranberry sauce
There’s little question {that a} Thanksgiving meal is solely not full with out cranberry sauce. Since cranberries are naturally a tart fruit, cranberry sauce requires vital quantities of sugar to make it style yummy. Whereas scrumptious, the sugar content material in cranberry sauce is excessive at about 22 grams of sugar per serving.
As an alternative of store-bought cranberry sauce, making your individual model may help you retain the sugar down. Making a low-carb or ketogenic model may help scale back the sugar content material, utilizing an allulose mix sweetener to exchange the sugar. Allulose is a good pure sweetener substitute since it’s a zero on the glycemic index, serving to to keep away from that “sugar crash” feeling post-Thanksgiving meal. There are different sweeteners you need to use, akin to erythritol or monk fruit sweetener blends, however allulose blends finest into cranberry sauce recipes.
Mashed butternut squash
Candy potatoes are one other important Thanksgiving meals, particularly whenever you add some butter and sugar. Yum! Like conventional mashed potatoes, candy potatoes will be excessive in carbs, too. As an alternative, strive swapping butternut squash for a higher-carb choice. You can even strive a mixture of mashed candy potato and butternut squash collectively, which helps lower some carbs however nonetheless offers you that scrumptious candy potato taste.
Butternut squash can also be an excellent supply of calcium, potassium, and magnesium, all electrolytes essential for feeling your finest. Butternut squash has a light and naturally candy taste, however it may be enhanced with olive oil, recent garlic, and heavy whipping cream to create the creaminess of this Thanksgiving aspect dish.
Gratin courgettes
Inexperienced bean casserole is a kind of “like it or hate it” Thanksgiving sides, however nearly everybody can get behind the zucchini gratin. You make tacky zucchini gratin casserole with sliced zucchini, shredded cheese, and heavy whipping cream as the primary components, making a creamy texture that’s merely scrumptious. Not solely is that this aspect dish extra versatile on your Thanksgiving meal, however it’s additionally much less heavy than inexperienced bean casserole.
This implies you’ll have extra room to strive a little bit little bit of every thing at Thanksgiving dinner. Plus, inexperienced beans are typically arduous to seek out on the grocery retailer across the holidays, however zucchini is bound to be in inventory. If zucchini isn’t your factor, Brussels sprouts are one other nice veggie aspect dish to finish your meal. With roasted Brussels sprouts, you possibly can bake them within the oven or make them within the air fryer for a easy, but tasty aspect dish.
Coconut flour stuffing
Stuffing shouldn’t be solely excessive in carbs, however it’s additionally excessive in fats and salt, which may depart you feeling fairly full afterward. As an alternative of utilizing conventional breadcrumbs on your stuffing recipe, strive a coconut flour recipe as an alternative, to maintain carbs down. By cooking a coconut flour “cornbread” first, these recipes require crumbling up the cornbread to make a low-carb breadcrumb that’s good for stuffing.
Coconut flour has a a lot decrease glycemic index than wheat flour, which implies it’ll take longer on your physique to soak up the carbs and never trigger a drastic spike in your blood sugar. However don’t fear — your Thanksgiving stuffing gained’t style like coconuts. Some low-carb stuffing recipes additionally use a mix of coconut flour and almond flour (however you’ll want to verify that none of your friends have a nut allergy!).
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