12 Low-Carb, High-Protein Recipes to Whip Up Any Night of the Week

Paleo. Atkins. Keto. It seems like there’s a different low-carb diet every week, and the food industry will do everything in their power to complicate it.

We sometimes like complicated. Google Sheets are impressive and apps are cool, but we’re not ones to log our calories or calculate our macros. We like simple — as in meals-that-magically-cook-themselves kind of simple, don’t-even-have-to-do-the-dishes simple, and recipes-that-take-all-of-10-minutes-to-cook simple.

The diet industry doesn’t share our views. So in a world where everything is overly complicated, allow us to break it down for you: On a high-protein, low-carb diet, you want to eat more meat, fish, eggs, and plant-based protein like beans, nuts, and seeds. You want to avoid grains, sugar, starchy vegetables, and many fruits. Almost all veggies — including leafy greens, bell peppers, cauliflower, you name it — are fair game. 

In other words, if you pair a protein like chicken with a low-carb veggie like broccoli, you have a low-carb meal. But while chicken and broccoli for dinner certainly isn’t intimidating, it’s not exactly exciting, either. So here are 10 easy, yet totally delicious, high-protein, low-carb recipes you can work into your weekly meal prep (that is, when we're not handling it). 

12 High-Protein, Low-Carb Dinner Recipes You’ll Love

Starting a new diet is stressful enough. Searching around for recipes shouldn’t be. If you’re starting a low-carb diet, sink your teeth into one of these veggie-loaded, protein-packed dishes.

1. Chicken Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Move on over, meatball hoagie — we can get the same flavors you offer without the added carbs. This dish loads hollowed-out zucchini halves with chopped chicken breasts, pizza sauce, and mozzarella, resulting in a lightened take on your favorite Italian sub. With an incredible 32 grams of protein and just 8 grams of net carbs per serving, this will satisfy your Italian cravings without weighing you down.

2. Parmesan Chicken Tenders and Green Beans

Sometimes the healthiest, simplest dishes are also the most satisfying. In this dish you’ll combine everything you need to make a high-protein, low-carb dinner: Chicken, greens, and a little oil for cooking. Yes, that’s all you need, and yes, we sort of lied and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top for flavor. Simply pop everything into your Tovala Oven, bake for 15 minutes, and your dinner is served. You can find this recipe on the Tovala App.

3. Zesty Lime Shrimp and Avocado Salad

Here’s a mental shift you need to make when starting a low-carb diet: Lunch is no longer smashed between buns or rolled into a wrap. Lunch will probably be served in a bowl or atop a salad, and you’ll probably need to rekindle your relationship with this thing called a fork. But salads don’t have to be boring. This zesty lime shrimp and avocado salad packs red onions, shrimp, tomatoes, jalapeños, and cilantro into one delicious lunch that’s ready in just 20 minutes.

4. Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps

You might want to sit down for what we’re about to say. While tacos are usually not considered low-carb because they come wrapped in a flour or corn tortilla, you can easily enjoy everyone’s favorite Mexican dish by swapping tortillas for lettuce wraps. In this recipe, you’ll combine cheddar cheese, black beans, ground turkey, avocado, and salsa, and wrap it all in romaine leaves for a low-carb take on taco Tuesday.

5. Low-Carb Greek Chicken, Green Beans, and Tomatoes Sheet Pan Meal

On our mission to over-simplify things, allow us to streamline your clean-up process. By using one-pot and single-pan dinners, you’ll go from washing four to five dishes to washing one. With this Greek sheet pan dinner, you’ll enjoy cherry tomatoes, feta, green beans, and chicken with hardly any clean-up. We prefer zero clean-up, but we digress.

6. Easy Low-Carb Paleo Meatballs

Carbs are a sneaky mistress. They seem to hide in everything, including places that are completely unnecessary. So if you’ve ever wondered why breadcrumbs are in meatballs, we don’t have an answer for you. All we know is these gluten-free, paleo meatballs get on fine without them and pair well with spaghetti squash in lieu of pasta.

7. Baked Cod With Arugula and Cherry Tomatoes

Don’t have a lot of time on your hands this evening? If you can squeeze out 13 minutes, that’s just enough time for you to make this simple, low-carb dinner. All you need are a couple skinless cod filets, arugula, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, and salt. Assemble all your ingredients on a tray, place it in your Tovala Oven, set the timer, and watch as your dinner cooks perfectly. Check out the app for this and many more low maintenance recipes. 

8. Paleo Whole30 Pesto Turkey Burgers

Have you ever noticed that buns, wraps, and tortillas are more for structure than flavor? A bun allows you to pick up a juicy burger with two hands, without the need for a fork. Here’s a little trick: Buy a head of butter lettuce, and use the leaves to physically wrap your burger — fixings and all. Sure, you may need an extra napkin or two to get the job done, but it’s nothing you can’t handle.

9. Low-Carb Beef Tips + Peppers

We said it once, and we’ll say it a thousand times more: The easiest dishes are often the tastiest. This beef and peppers recipe takes all of three main ingredients (plus a dash of balsamic vinegar and soy sauce for flavor) to prepare. It packs an incredible 48 grams of protein into a single meal with only 11 grams of net carbs, fitting perfectly into your low-carb diet.

10. Low-Carb Lasagna Stuffed Peppers

Lasagna might be the cheesiest, gooeyiest dish, but no recipe that packs six layers of noodles into a casserole is low in carbohydrates. Luckily, some true heroes have reinvented lasagna using eggplant slices, zucchini noodles, or in this recipe, bell peppers. You’ll keep the flavor but lose the carbs by stuffing ground turkey, pasta sauce, and three kinds of cheese into each pepper for a delicious meal.

11. Thai Sweet Chili Salmon

We’re partial to recipes with as few ingredients as possible. If you’re a fellow foodie minimalist, you’re going to love this Thai sweet chili salmon, made with all of two ingredients. Simply drizzle sweet chili sauce over crispy salmon fillets, then sear on the stovetop. Serve with a side of cauliflower rice for the easiest dinner ever (unless you order from us).

12. Scallops and Asparagus

When we said we like to keep things simple, this is what we were talking about. This easy, incredibly healthy meal only needs scallops, asparagus, Old Bay seasoning, and a little olive oil to be complete. Pop it in your Tovala Oven for nine minutes, and you’re ready to enjoy. You can find this recipe in — you guessed it — our app. 

For More Low-Carb, High-Protein Dinners, Try Tovala

For those extra busy weeknights, an easy-to-follow-recipe just isn’t going to cut it. But completely outsourcing the cooking process might.

With Tovala, we take care of every step of the cooking process, including the shopping, prepping, cooking, and clean-up. And if you’re reading this wondering, “Why wouldn’t I just grab takeout?,” sit tight because we’re getting there.

If you’re following a low-carb diet, you’d be shocked (and horrified) to learn about the carbs and sugar packed into your takeout spot. With Tovala, we offer hundreds of menu options, many of which are low-calorie or low-carb friendly. Our low-carb menu filter selects meals containing 35 grams of carbs or fewer, including a light chicken parmesan, balsamic glazed pork chops, and blackened-chicken Caesar salad. Simply select your meals, and allow us to take care of the rest.