These finger-licking good, oven baked pork ribs are marinated in spices, baked until fall-apart-tender and then brushed with the most delicious sugar-free chocolate BBQ sauce!

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Low-Carb Oven Pork Ribs with Barbecue Sauce

Everyone should know how to make proper Greek Tzatziki, especially if you follow the Mediterranean Keto approach where healthy fats, adequate protein, as well as nutrient density are our priority.

This Greek Tzatziki is in fact an improved version of a recipe I created for the KetoDiet App many years ago. I like both versions and they are slightly different so I decided not to update the original recipe in the app but rather keep both of them for you to choose (which you can do if you get the free trial).

This version of Tzatziki is more flavorful thanks to extra herbs, plus it's creamier because we are not going to be adding any cucumber juices which tend to make Tzatziki too runny.

Just like with any other traditional recipes, there are different versions of Tzatziki in different parts of Greece. You may find versions with no lemon zest, no olive oil and no herbs. There is no wrong way! This is my partner's family recipe and I think it's the most flavor-packed, creamy, chunky version of Tzatziki I've tried!

Recipe Tips

First of all, if you want truly creamy tzatziki, you need thick and creamy yogurt such as Fage. You don't necessarily need to use full-fat 10% yogurt as Fage makes really thick and creamy 0%, 2% and 5% fat yogurt.

If you can't tolerate A1 dairy (cow dairy products), use sheep's or goat's milk yogurt instead. Just keep in mind that you may have limited options as most A2 yogurt products I've tried were not as thick as Fage.

How to Serve Tzatziki?

Tzatziki can be served as a side dish with any fish or meat. It goes particularly well with meat skewers like these Lamb Souvlaki but you can even serve it with vegetarian options like these Halloumi Veggie Skewers.

Another way is to serve Tzatziki as a dip with freshly chopped vegetables such as bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots or celery stalks.

Finally, you can serve Tzatziki with your favorite keto crackers. I recommend you try them with these Crispy Multiseed Keto Crackers, the most popular cracker recipe amongst our readers!

Preparation time

Hands-on:    10 minutes
Overall:     10 minutes

Nutritional values (per serving, about 2/3 cup, 150 g/ 5.3 oz)

Total Carbs 6.4 grams
Fiber 0.5 grams
Net Carbs 5.9 grams
Protein 9 grams
Fat 13.8 grams
of which Saturated 4.1 grams
Energy 182 kcal
Magnesium 20 mg (5.% RDA)
Potassium 335 mg (17% EMR)

Macronutrient ratio: Calories from carbs (13%), protein (20%), fat (67%)

Ingredients (makes 8 side servings)

  • 1 large cucumber (350 g/ 12.3 oz)
  • 750 g Greek yogurt such as Fage 5% (1.65 lbs)
  • zest from 1 organic lemon
  • juice from 1 organic lemon (60 ml)
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 4 tbsp finely chopped dill
  • 4 tbsp finely chopped mint
  • 1/3 extra virgin olive oil (80 ml)
  • 3/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper

Instructions

  1. Start by grating the cucumber. Once grated, use your hands to transfer the cucumber to a bowl with yogurt. Do not pour in the cucumber juices or the tzatziki will be too runny.
    Note: If you want really thick Tzatziki, you can squeeze even more cucumber juices out before adding to the bowl with yogurt. If you do, don't waste the cucumber juices but instead make some refreshing cucumber water by mixing them with still or sparkling water and some ice.
  2. Add juice and zest from 1 lemon, crushed garlic, finely chopped dill and mint. Add about half of the olive oil, leaving the remaining oil for drizzling on top (or simply mix in all olive oil at this point).
  3. Stir to combine and season with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Drizzle the remaining olive oil on top and optionally garnish with more herbs and black pepper. Serve immediately as a dip or side dish (see recipe tips above). To store, place in a sealable container, cover with a lid and store in the fridge for up to 4 days.


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Authentic Greek Tzatziki

If you thought you can't make chicken drumsticks crunchier and more flavorful, you haven't tried butterflying them! These drumsticks are perfect for summer barbecues. You can cook them on the grill, in the oven, or like I did, in an my Air Fryer.

Why Should You Butterly Chicken Drumsticks?

The term "butterflied" refers to slicing the chicken drumsticks along the bone to open them up and reveal the bone. Not only they will cook faster but with a larger cooking surface you'll also get crunchier chicken that's still juicy and tender inside!

You can marinate the drumsticks before cooking or simply season with salt, pepper and drizzle with oil. You can then add flavor by using any dips and sauces. Apart from Chimichurri Sauce, try them with our Italian Salsa Verde, Spicy Chocolate BBQ Sauce, Harissa Paste or some sweet Teriyaki Sauce.

Sides to Serve with Butterflied Chicken Drumsticks

You can serve these crunchy drumsticks with any low-carb sides. Here are some of the many options:

Oven Baking Instructions

If you don't have an air fryer, you can simply bake the chicken in the oven. To do that, place the butterflied and seasoned chicken drumsticks skin side up in a tray lined with parchment paper and bake at 200 °C/ 400 °F (fan assisted), or 220 °C/ 425 °F (conventional) for about 30 minutes. An instant read thermometer should read 74 °C/ 165 °F when done.

Preparation time

Hands-on:    10 minutes
Overall:     30 minutes

Nutritional values (per serving, 2 chicken drumsticks + 1/4 cup chimichurri)

Total Carbs 4.9 grams
Fiber 1.9 grams
Net Carbs 3 grams
Protein 27.8 grams
Fat 48.6 grams
of which Saturated 8.3 grams
Energy 572 kcal
Magnesium 42 mg (11% RDA)
Potassium 498 mg (25% EMR)

Macronutrient ratio: Calories from carbs (2%), protein (20%), fat (78%)

Ingredients (makes 4 servings)

  • 8 chicken drumsticks (1 kg/ 2.2 lbs)
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tbsp virgin avocado oil or olive oil (30 ml)
  • 1 recipe Chimichurri Sauce, about 1 cup (240 ml/ 8 fl oz)

Instructions

  1. Pat dry the chicken drumsticks using a paper towel. Using a sharp knife, slit open each drumstick to "butterfly". Season with salt and pepper from all sides.
    Note: 1 kg (2.2 lbs) should be 8 to 10 drumsticks. Each chicken drumstick will yield about 60% meat (edible parts). If you're viewing this recipe from the KetoDiet app, you will see net weight per edible parts (meat) only.
  2. Place the drumsticks cut side up in the air-fryer in a single layer. If you have a small air fryer like I do, work in batches so the skin gets nice and crispy.
  3. Drizzle with avocado oil (or olive oil). Turn the air fryer on and set the temperature to 210 °C/ 410 °F and cook for 18 to 20 minutes, turning the drumsticks half way to help the skin crisp up.
    Note: If you don't have an air fryer, check the tips in the recipe post above for oven baking.
  4. While the chicken is cooking, prepare the Chimichurri Sauce by mixing finely chopped parsley, oregano and chile pepper with minced garlic, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. If you prefer your chimichurri super smooth, place in a food processor and pulse until smooth.
  5. When the chicken is all cooked, remove from the air fryer. If you cooked the drumsticks in batches, place all of them back in the air fryer and cook for another minute or two to heat up and crisp up.
  6. Serve with the prepared chimichurri sauce and sides of choice such as cauliflower rice, roasted green beans or salads.
  7. These crispy air fryer chicken drumsticks are best served immediately while still crispy but they can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.


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Butterflied Chicken Drumsticks with Chimichurri Sauce

Making single-serve Victoria sponges have never been easier! Plus these are a lot healthier than the typical British dessert because they are 100% keto-approved, sugar-free and gluten-free.

We've got a simple keto mug cake base from our Keto Tres Leches Mug Cake recipe topped with Chunky Sugar-Free Strawberry Jam, lightly sweetened whipped cream and fresh strawberries.

Tips & Substitutions

You will need to have the strawberry jam ready but even if you don't it doesn't take too long to make from scratch. Or if you're short on time, you can just mash 2 to 3 strawberries with a teaspoon of powdered sweetener.

There's always more low-carb recipes you can use instead of our Chunky Sugar-Free Strawberry Jam:

If you don't have a microwave, bake the base in the oven. Simply divide the batter between 4 ramekins and bake in the oven preheated to 175 °C/ 350 °F (fan assisted), or 195 °C/ 380 °F (conventional) for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked in the centre.

Preparation time

Hands-on:     10 minutes
Overall:      20 minutes

Nutritional values (per serving, 1 mug cake)

Total Carbs 10.2 grams
Fiber 4.3 grams
Net Carbs 5.9 grams
Protein 12.6 grams
Fat 32.8 grams
of which Saturated 14.7 grams
Energy 390 kcal
Magnesium 65 mg (16% RDA)
Potassium 299 mg (15% EMR)

Macronutrient ratio: Calories from carbs (6%), protein (14%), fat (80%)

Ingredients (makes 4 servings)

Mug Cakes:
Filling:

Instructions

  1. Prepare the mug cakes. Whisk the liquid ingredients: almond milk, melted butter, eggs and vanilla extract.
  2. Add all of the dry ingredients: almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder and granulated sweetener. Whisk again.
  3. Divide the mixture between 4 ramekins. Microwave each one for 90 seconds or up to 2 minutes, checking half way.
  4. When all of the mug cakes are done, carefully flip onto a chopping board (they will be hot) and let them cool down completely before slicing in half widthwise and filling.
  5. Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Whip the cream with the remaining sweetener until stiff peaks form. Slice the strawberries.
    Note: If you don't have any strawberry jam ready, check the recipe tips for quick options.
  6. Fill the cooled Victoria sponge cakes with the jam and whipping cream. Finally topped with sliced strawberries and the remaining half of sponge cake.
  7. Serve immediately or refrigerate for a few hours for a firmer set. Store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
    Tip: These mug cakes won't be even. Make sure to assemble the cake with the bottom part cut side down and then top with the other half cut side up so the uneven surface is inside the cake.


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Keto Individual Victoria Sponge Cakes

How to add protein to your breakfast scrambles and made them super fluffy at the same time. Learn how to make the latest TikTok viral recipe step by step!

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Fluffy Scrambled Eggs with Cottage Cheese

Quick Summary tl;dr

Coconut oils is 65% MCTs, which are burned efficiently for fuel.

Coconut oil has antimicrobial and antioxidant properties.

It’s important to only purchase virgin or raw coconut, never refined.

Coconut is controversial. Some people say it’s a superfood, others say it will poison your heart health. Why the confusion?

Fat Profile of Coconut

Let’s start by discussing the unique fat profile of coconut because, although coconut is almost entirely saturated fat, the saturated fats in coconut are very different from those in milk or meat.

Coconut oil is ~15% caproic, caprylic, and capric acid. These saturated fatty acids are between six and ten carbons in length and are called medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs).

About 50% of the fat in coconut is lauric acid, a 12-carbon fatty acid. ( Dayrit, 2015) While it is sometimes commercially classified as a long-chain fatty acid, it is metabolically classified as an MCT as well. Isn’t that confusing? Sorry about that. Bottom line, about 65% of the fat in coconut oil is MCTs, and I’ll explain why that matters in the next section.

The remaining ~35% is mostly long-chain fatty acids, including myristic, palmitic, and stearic acids (14 - 18 carbons). These are the typical fatty acids found in dairy and meat. So, as you can see, coconut is not like other sources of saturated fat.

Medium Chain Triglycerides are an Excellent Fuel

What makes the 65% of saturated fats that are in coconut oil, the MCTs, unique?

Longer chain fatty acids, both saturated and unsaturated, begin their journey through the body in boats called chylomicrons. While in the intestines, long-chain fats get packaged into chylomicrons, then are transported via lymphatic vessels and get squirted into the bloodstream at the lymphatic duct, where the vein that runs near your left collar bone meets the vein coming down from the left side of your head.

Next, when the long-chain fatty acids get into cells, they need special transporters and transformers (carnitine shuttle) to allow them to get burned as fuel.

MCTs are different. Unlike most other fats, MCTs begin their journey by flowing, not through lymphatics and the lymphatic duct into main blood circulation, but directly through the “portal vein” to the liver. (Also, as a fun fact, MCTs are less dependent on bile acids for digestion and better absorbed directly in the stomach, which makes them easier to absorb for people with bile acid or pancreatic insufficiency.)

In this way, they are more like carbohydrates or proteins than fat. Perhaps more importantly, MCTs don’t require transporters and transformers to allow them to get burned by cells, which means that they are excellent fuels!

If that’s all very technical for you, the take away remains, MCTs are great easy-access fat fuel. Here are some data: In one human study, people were given a series of different fatty acids — palmitic, stearic, oleic, elaidic, linoleic, linolenic, and lauric — that were each labeled with carbon-13. ( DeLany et al, 2000) This just means that the researchers were able to trace how much of each fat was burned over the following nine hours. What they observed is that lauric acid was burned at a much greater rate than the other fats over this time period. You can see this very clearly on the graph, represented by the outstanding area under the curve in the back row.

Coconut oil is 65% Medium Chain Triglycerides, which get burned more quickly than longer chain fats because they don’t require the carnitine shuttle system.

Benefits of Lauric Acid in Coconut

Lauric acid, being the main MCT in coconut oil, deserves further details. Lauric acid itself can also activate fat-burning enzymes in the PPAR family, including PPARα and PPARγ. In this way, lauric acid acts similar to the monounsaturated fat, oleic acid, found in extra virgin olive oil, avocado, and macadamia nuts.

Additionally, lauric acid and monolaurin (lauric acid attached to glycerol backbone) have potent antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial properties, including against  C. difficile, H. pylori, Candida, Clostridium, and E. Coli.

It’s actually pretty cool! Pathogenic microbes aren’t easily able to evolve resistance to lauric acid and monolaurin because they work through three mechanisms: destruction of gram-positive bacterial cell membranes and lipid-coated viruses, interference with microbial signal transduction and transcription, and stabilization of human cell membranes. This is just me getting on my nerdy soap box, but the simple explanation is that lauric acid may be protective against pathogenic bacterial infections.

Interestingly, lauric acid and monolaurin are among the strongest antimicrobials in human breast milk. ( Gardner et al, 2017) Evidently, our evolutionary biology would not be trying to poison our infantile microbiomes, so it’s fair to assume that lauric acid is protective for the gut at best, and neutral at worst.

The lauric acid in coconut oil is also found in human breast milk. It may protect against H. pylori, Candida, Clostridium, and E. Coli.

Refined vs Virgin Coconut Oil and Antioxidants

Another important source of the coconut controversy comes down whether the oil is refined or virgin. ( Seneviratne et al, 2008)

When oil is refined, it loses 85% of the disease-fighting polyphenols, an impressive list that include gallic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, vanillic acid, catechin, rosmarinic acid, myricetin glucoside, quercetin, and kaempferol. When recommending coconut, we are specifically recommending virgin or raw coconut.

As an example of one basic science study, treating colon cells with 100 μg of virgin coconut oil polyphenols protected the against oxidative stress-induced cell death induced by 75%. ( Illam et al, 2017) The effect was due both to the direct antioxidant effects of the above list of polyphenols and also their ability to upregulate the Nrf2 system, which controls the expression of the body’s own antioxidant enzymes.

In humans, the list of potential health benefits attributed to “virgin” and “raw” coconut products include the following: antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, protection against infection, improved gut health, and increased HDL cholesterol. ( Khaw et al, 2018)

How To Use Coconut in Recipes

There are several ways you can incorporate coconut into your diet — in the form of coconut meat, coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut yogurt and cream, coconut flour and coconut butter (also known as coconut manna):

There are also so many creative ways you can use raw coconut in you diet. Here are just 15 recipes from our new book, The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook that incorporate virgin coconut oil, coconut cream, or coconut butter. Yummy!

  • Breakfasts and snacks: Crunchy Vanilla Protein Bars, Spiced Antioxidant Granola Clusters, Creamy Cinnamon Porridge, Fat-Fueled Cereal, Strawberry Collagen Smoothie, or Ultimate Nut Butter
  • Soups: Chilled Avocado Pesto Soup and Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup
  • Dinners: Salmon Brain Bowl, Carb-less Crab Cakes, Coconut Shrimp Skillet, Halloumi Curry Skillet, or Moroccan Lamb Tagine
  • Desserts: Chocolate Hazelnut Powerhouse Truffles and Protein Halva Slices


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The Coconut Controversy: Is Coconut Oil Really Healthy?

This is a Czech version of coleslaw called Hanacky Salat which is using red cabbage. My cousin made it for a garden BBQ and it was a big hit. I knew I had to share it with you too!

It's just like regular Coleslaw but uses more mayonnaise and red cabbage instead of white, which means there are more antioxidants!

It's also similar to this Pink Sauerkraut Side Salad which is how some Czechs actually prepare classic Hanacky Salat.

You can watch me make this Creamy Red Cabbage Coleslaw step by step on YouTube!

Recipe Tips

You can add some sweetener if you like it sweeter although I find the sweetness coming from the cabbage, onion and carrot to be more than sufficient.

This creamy coleslaw is the perfect side to make for a barbecue as it goes well with meat, fish and even seafood. Our favorite way to serve this coleslaw is as a side with keto burgers, especially if you serve them bunless!

Preparation time

Hands-on:    15 minutes
Overall:     15 minutes

Nutritional values (per serving, about 1 cup/ 160 g/ 5.6 oz)

Total Carbs 9.4 grams
Fiber 2.5 grams
Net Carbs 7 grams
Protein 2 grams
Fat 34.5 grams
of which Saturated 4.9 grams
Energy 345 kcal
Magnesium 17 mg (4.24% RDA)
Potassium 287 mg (14.3% EMR)

Macronutrient ratio: Calories from carbs (8%), protein (2%), fat (90%)

Ingredients (makes 8 side servings)

  • 1 head red cabbage (700 g/ 1.5 lbs)
  • 1 large carrot (100 g/ 3.5 oz)
  • 1 medium red onion (100 g/ 3.5 oz)
  • juice of 1 lemon (about 4 tbsp)
  • 1 1/2 cups avocado oil or other paleo mayonnaise (330 g/ 11.6 oz)
  • sea salt and pepper, to taste
  • Optional: 1-4 tbsp Allulose or powdered Erythritol if you like it sweet

Instructions

  1. Slice the cabbage or place in a food processor and shred using a grating blade. Peel & grate the carrot. Peel and slice the onion.
  2. Place everything in a large salad bowl. Add lemon juice, mayo, salt and pepper.
  3. Mix well and season more as needed. Optionally, add powdered low-carb sweetener to taste if you like it sweeter.
  4. Serve or store in the fridge for up to 3 days. This salad tastes even better the next day!


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Creamy Red Cabbage Coleslaw

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