12/12/2025
Comfort Without the Carbs: Dishes To Warm and Restore
https://diatribe.org/diabetes-recipes/comfort-without-carbs-dishes-warm-and-restore?omhide=true&zone=5&cat=6&utm_source=diaTribe&utm_campaign=edce0a8b96-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_LEARN_546&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-e42c070d76-156115907
43 readers recommended
Low Carb
We bring you low-carb comfort food for good days, bad days, cold days, and everything in between – these recipes will warm you right up and make you feel like things are okay in the world.
These dishes are the fleece blankets of the dinner world. They’re so warm and cozy that they’ll give you a kind of “bring it on” feeling about both life and cold weather. They smell fantastic while they’re in the oven or on the stovetop – and taste even better. And, yes, most of them are not exactly light – they’re more like stick-to-your-ribs fare, made to be eaten before you go ice skating or before you curl up to watch whatever show you’re binge-watching.
Low-carb comfort food might sound like an oxymoron – where’s the pasta? The potatoes? – but trust me when I tell you that these hit all of the same notes as the classics. They’re long-cooked and aromatic and totally like what your grandma used to make. Plus, they’re unfancy crowd pleasers, and the leftovers always heat up well. While none of them are going to win any prizes in, say, the salad category, they do all offer way more in vegetable matter than their carbier cousins, which means loads of bonus nutrition in every bite. So, hunker down, give in to the cozy, and enjoy.
1. Baked Zucchatoni
This is like a cross between an unfussy lasagna and a baked ziti: cheesy, rich, and deeply satisfying, despite the actual absence of noodles. Even my daughter, who tends to be totally skeptical about “fake vegetable pasta dishes,” loves it. Don’t be daunted by the ribboning of the zucchini with a vegetable peeler – it honestly doesn’t take that long, and the resulting strands are thinner and wider and just generally more noodle-like than what you’d get with a spiralizer. That said, if you want to start with a pound of zoodles, go ahead – just be sure to salt and drain them really, really well or the resulting dish will be watery. One last thing: if you’d prefer a meat sauce, go ahead and brown a pound of ground beef after you sauté the onions and before you add the tomatoes (and expect the dish to feed more people that way).
View the recipe here.
2. Best-Ever Beef Stew
This classic stew should be the mascot of your winter kitchen. It’s completely delicious, and it smells fabulous during its long stint in the oven, filling the house with warmth and promise. I love mushrooms and the fact that they’re healthy, but if you don’t like them or don’t have any, just leave them out. This stew takes a long time to make, but honestly, after the rigorous and somewhat tedious browning of the meat, the oven does most of the work. Serve it with creamy mashed cauliflower and a nice, sharply-dressed green salad.
View the recipe here.
3. Chicken (Sort of) Noodle Soup
This recipe is designed around the chicken-eating habits of your household: if you love rotisserie chicken but favor one kind of meat over the other, then just enjoy your favorite parts, and make soup with the rest of it. Or feel free to devote the whole chicken to the soup – just pull off your favorite meat and dice it, then add it back at the end once the soup is cooked. Please note that you don’t have to use all of the noodle-like ingredients. The zucchini strands are tender, the mushrooms are chewy, and the cabbage adds some texture, but omit any that you don’t like or don’t have.
View the recipe here.
4. Cottage Pie
If your own mum isn’t English, then maybe you don’t know the difference between shepherd’s pie and cottage pie – but I do! Shepherd’s pie is traditionally made with lamb, while cottage pie usually means beef. But just use whatever meat – and whatever name – you prefer. This is homey comfort food at its best, even with cauliflower swapped in for the usual mashed potatoes.
View the recipe here.
