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| Don't settle for plain old coleslaw! Perk it up with some tangerine juice and walnuts. |
Many low carbers avoid fruit on a low-carb diet, due to its higher carb and fructose content, but if you use it wisely and carefully, it can add lots of flavor to standard dishes like coleslaw.
By adding fresh tangerine juice and zest to your cole-slaw dressing recipe and tossing a few chopped walnuts into your greens, this salad goes from everyday keto to a festive dish that's perfect for company or your next barbecue.
FAST.
Boredom on a low-carb diet is the kiss of death, but bringing a bit of spunk to your meals doesn't require a lot of extra work in the kitchen.
You can take your low-carb meals to a whole new level just by becoming more familiar with herbs, spices, and fruits.
Yes, fruit.
Since most fruits are moderate in carbs, many low-carb dieters tend to avoid them, but if you're careful to use only low-glycemic fruits, and use them sparingly, you don't have to go without that nice fruity taste. You just have to account for the carbs.
(Check out our post on summer fruit. It shares the carb counts for a wide variety of fresh fruits. Sorted into groups of less than 10 or 15 nets carbs, there are also low-carb fruit lists with total carbs if doing Atkins 72.)
Summer-Salad Hack: Use Fruit as a Flavoring on Keto
When I'm watching my carbs, I like to use fruit as a flavoring, rather than a full side dish.
Using a little bit of fruit helps to keep your menu unique and interesting. While traditionally, low carbers have only turned to berries, due to their low sugar content, a tangerine only contains about 8 net carbs each.
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| Some fruits are lower in carbs than you might think. Smaller fruits can be a carb bargain, like tangerines. |
When you spread those 8 carbs across 4 to 8 servings of cole slaw, a tangerine suddenly makes a nice tangy low-carb addition to your dressing.
To doctor that salad up even further, adding a few chopped walnuts or pecans can give you a low-carb meal that's praiseworthy enough to serve to company.
Traditionally, coleslaw is made with a mixture of green and purple shredded cabbages, plus some grated carrot. Since I was already using a tangerine for flavor, I only used one carrot and added a few grated radishes for a new twist.
The celery seeds generally found in cole slaw dressing are not optional. They give coleslaw its characteristic flavor.
If you can't afford the carbs in the tangerine, you can substitute a lemon or lime.
Low-Carb Tangerine-Walnut Coleslaw Recipe
Ingredients:- 1/2 head total of shredded cabbages
- 5 grated radishes
- 1 grated carrot
- 1-1/2 cups mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 1/4 tsp celery seeds
- juice and grated peel from 1 tangerine
- 1/4 cup bulk Splenda or other sweetener
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
When I created this recipe, I used bulk Splenda for the sweetener, but you can substitute whatever sweetener you like. Bulk Splenda is carb heavy, due to the maldodextrin filler. A quarter cup or 6 packets will cost you 6 carbs, but in this case, it adds a little less than 1 carb per serving. Using a liquid, no filler sweetener will save you 6 carbs for the whole recipe.
Pour the dressing over the veggies and toss well. It will look like there isn't enough dressing, but the cabbage will wilt as it sits in the refrigerator, thoroughly coating the greens. Chill for at least 24 hours, the longer the better.
While you can eat this right away, the tangerine flavor will intensify if you allow the salad to sit for at least 24 hours. This salad makes about 8 servings, 4 to 5 carbs each, depending on the type of sweetener you use.
Alternatively, I've used an orange for this, and it still came out great. An average sized orange is about 15 carbs, with 3 grams of fiber, so it will up the carb count on each serving of salad by only 1/2 carb.
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