our favorite Whole 30 recipes

My “5 steps to a successful Whole 30” post got pretty long so I wanted to do a separate post with my favorite Whole 30 recipes from around the internet.

Disclosure: occasionally I link to items I have personally used and like. These are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. 

BREAKFAST

There are a ton of fun Whole 30 breakfast recipes on Pinterest (this post has 30 ideas!) but since my husband is in charge of breakfast (and really good at it) we stuck with bacon, sausage or smoked salmon, eggs and some fruit most mornings. Occasionally I would do a sweet potato bowl with fruit, almond butter, coconut flakes and cinnamon. I also had “sweet potato toast” a few times. I made egg cups and did not enjoy them reheated. The best breakfast ever was the scrambled eggs with leftover caramelized onions from burger night!

LUNCH

If you’ve followed me for long you know we eat lunch on the go most days. I had gotten into a bad habit of eating lunch out even if I’d packed lunch for the kids. I knew I needed to keep it simple at lunch so I grabbed these compartment containers and most days I ate chicken salad that I made in bulk at the beginning of the week. I also had peaches and prosciutto for lunch several times which was not a great choice and doesn’t follow the “meal template” of protein plus veggies with a little fat and occasional fruit. You can’t have traditional hummus (made with chickpeas) because no legumes, but you can make alternatives like this cauliflower hummus or garlic lime cashew hummus. I am not a huge veggie eater but I can mow down some cucumbers and sugar snap peas with hummus! Occasionally I would have leftovers like pulled pork with homemade BBQ sauce on lettuce cups, or lettuce wraps with turkey and leftover mango salsa. I ate lunch out once and got In-N-Out and had a hamburger, protein style with mustard, tomatoes and pickles.

DINNER

Almond Crusted Chicken with Kickass Ketchup and Sweet Potato Fries or Parsnip Fries

I made this chicken three times during this Whole 30! The only thing I do different is I use boneless skinless chicken thighs, and I brine my chicken in salt water for an hour or two before I cook it.

Blackened Fish with Mango Guacamole, Red Cabbage Slaw and Coconut Lime Cauliflower Rice

I loosely followed the recipe for Whole 30 Fish Taco Bowls (combined steps and simplified as much as possible) and I LOVED this coconut lime cauliflower rice recipe and made it once a week.

Coconut Curry Chicken Meatballs with Coconut Lime Cauliflower Rice and a side salad

This coconut curry recipe was so yummy and easy that I made it three times! The first time I made the chicken meatballs from the recipe but once I found gluten free meatballs at Costco I just used those.

Lettuce Wrapped Burgers with Carmelized Onions and Salt & Vinegar Potato Salad

YUM, this hit the spot and made me believe I could skip the hamburger bun after Whole 30 too!

Beef Roast and Baked Sweet Potato

My husband made this delicious meal. The roast was some sort of ready-to-go thing from Costco and I’m pretty sure it was compliant. The baked sweet potato had coconut butter and coconut flakes on it.

Almond Crusted Chicken and Roasted Cauliflower with Ranch Dip

We just moved, we did not move all our spices with us, and I did not want to go out and buy a ton of new spices, so I cheated on the ranch dressing. I followed the recipe I linked as far as using compliant mayo, coconut milk and lemon juice, but I cheated and used a packet of gluten free Hidden Valley Ranch mix. I’m guessing the mix is not compliant, but on little things like that where I could save myself time and money I just did not care.

Lamb Vindaloo, Mashed Sweet Potato and Broccoli with Cashew “Cheese” Sauce

My husband made this meal and I don’t know what all he did with the lamb. I made the cashew “cheese” sauce and I really liked it!!! The flavor comes from nutritional yeast which my husband was skeptical of but ended up loving and sprinkling it on lots of things!

Italian Sausage and Zucchini w/ Red Sauce

This was a really easy one! Italian sausage, a package of frozen zucchini and yellow squash, and a jar of Trader Joe’s roasted garlic spaghetti sauce (the only compliant red sauce I could easily find, we used a jar or two of this a week).

Smoked Pulled Pork with Homemade BBQ Sauce and Broccoli with Cashew “Cheese” Sauce

We love this smoked pulled pork from Costco and I am 99% sure it’s compliant. The BBQ sauce I made was so tasty, I would definitely make it again!!!

Steak & Lobster, Potatoes and Broccoli

Another meal made by hubby! We had friends visiting from out of town and this meal was SO good.

Gluten Free Meatballs with Spaghetti Sauce and Roasted Fennel w/ Artichoke Hearts

These meatballs from Costco are super yummy and made mealtime so much easier. This fennel/artichoke side dish was a favorite from the first time we did Whole 30 too, I don’t know what, why or how, but it tastes a lot like pizza to me!

Burgers w/ Eggplant “Buns”, Caramelized Onions and Vegan Cheese

No recipe, another meal made by Kyle 🙂

Salad w/ Prosciutto and Mango Guacamole (top left)

This was a last minute dinner that Kyle threw together. He topped it with leftover mango guacamole from this recipe.

Almond & Coconut Crusted Tilapia with Coconut Lime Cauliflower Rice and Mango Guacamole

MMmmm, this one was really good.

Sautéed Apples with Cinnamon and Almonds

This was dessert, not dinner. And Kyle made it.

Salad w/ Strawberries, Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Almonds

There might be more in this salad, but that’s what I remember!

NOT PICTURED

Carrot Noodles w/ Spaghetti Sauce, Meatballs and a Salad

I tried zucchini noodles and carrot noodles from Trader Joe’s freezer section and we LOVED the carrot noodles. They keep their shape and texture and don’t turn into a tiny slimy mess. As always the roasted garlic spaghetti sauce from TJ and the gluten free meatballs from Costco. We did this meal a few times and added mushrooms once which made it even better! We also did it once with cashew “cheese” sauce instead of red sauce.

Sausage, Spinach and Potato Soup

I have to mention this one that I made several times during our first Whole 30 (because it was February in Indiana, not summer in Las Vegas!). This sausage, spinach and potato soup is AMAZING and the only thing I changed in the recipe is to substitute coconut milk instead of the heavy cream.

SNACKS

I got lots of great snack ideas from this blog post. Things I kept on hand were:

  • apples + lime juice
  • plantain chips + guacamole (Whole 30 founder says no to these because although they’re technically compliant it’s easy to binge on them like a chip, I say yes and just always kept it to a serving size)
  • mixed nuts + salami
  • frozen peaches
  • ants on a log
  • salt & vinegar potato salad
  • prosciutto + fruit
  • alternative hummus (cauliflower hummus or garlic lime cashew hummus) with cucumbers and sugar snap peas

BEVERAGES

Sugary drinks, coffee with tons of creamer, and diet Coke are probably my biggest downfalls when it comes to dieting and eating healthy. On Whole 30 there is none of that (you can have coffee but I don’t like black coffee) and I was nervous about going off caffeine completely so I ordered this fruity high-caffeine tea and drank it most mornings with some coconut milk. I also drank tons of La Croix and other sparkling waters with natural flavor (no artificial sweeteners) and to make those even more delicious I made ice cubes out of pureed fruit and mint. I would put a few in my water in the morning and they would keep my water extra flavored through multiple refills of sparkling or plain water. The other thing we did was buy a Soda Stream and put some bitters in to make our own yummy sparkling waters! We ended up getting this variety pack of bitters. In the evenings Kyle would make “mocktails” with sparkling water, a dash of bitters and fresh herbs.

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2 thoughts on “our favorite Whole 30 recipes”

    1. tinainreallife

      I am so honored that you read my post and commented! That BBQ sauce is BOMB!

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