Seriously the best keto coleslaw! Everything you love about a BLT in a simple and delicious low carb side dish anyone can make.
Perfect for keto at only 3.5g net carbs per serving
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It seems like we are always in search of a new low carb side dish to keep our meals exciting and obviously, delicious. Because why the hell would we not want things to be delicious? I like to use variety to keep things exciting, and make every low carb meal more enjoyable than the last.
BLT keto coleslaw accomplishes all of those things. While many coleslaw recipes, and store bought coleslaw contain sugar, honey, or other sweeteners, adding extra carbs for no reason. This BLT coleslaw contains no added sugar making it a perfect keto friendly side dish.
What it does contain is crunchy cabbage, crispy bacon, sweet tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, a rich, creamy homemade dressing, and very few carbs. Oh, and it takes no time, and very little cooking skill to prepare.
Skills required to make this:
- Cut something
- Boil water
- Open and close oven door
- Stirring things
Doesn’t sound too hard right? I would be surprised you read this and thought “Well damn, I can’t do those things!”, unless you are a small child. Are you a small child? Yes. Weird choice of reading for a small child. No. Then you can have this coleslaw ready in no time.
This is the perfect low carb side dish to prepare while the rest of your dinner is in the oven, or finishing on the stove. BLT Keto coleslaw pairs wonderfully alongside roast chicken, steak, bunless burgers, roast pork. Really anything that needs a good side dish.
Low carb BLT coleslaw is also an excellent recipe to make ahead for a potluck, party, or picnic. It is a keto friendly dish that can be enjoyed by everyone, keto or not. Who doesn’t like a good coleslaw, or even better, a coleslaw with a twist!…and by twist I mean bacon because, bacon.
Give me a “B” - Bacon!
I am sure that I don’t need to tell you why bacon makes this coleslaw delicious. As long as it is cooked correctly that is.
There is some debate about how bacon should be cooked. I actually know some “people” who don’t like crispy bacon. Monsters. WHO LIKES SOGGY CHEWY BACON. Monsters, that’s who. But for this recipe you really should cook up some crispy bacon.
Bon-appetit actually did a great piece on the various methods to cook bacon, it gets a little out of hand after a bit but still some valuable stuff.
My preferred way to cook perfect crispy bacon every time is in the oven, from cold. This means I do not preheat the oven before putting the bacon in. The bacon browns and crisps perfectly every time, and it stays uniform and flat, ideal for slicing or crumbling.
Put the bacon on a foil lined baking sheet, place it in the oven, and then turn the oven to 375F-400F and cook the bacon for 15-20 mins. Keep an eye on it, you will know when it is done.
You should put the bacon in the oven first, before you start preparing the rest of the ingredients. Once the bacon is cooking, you will have plenty of time to make the rest of the coleslaw.
Much like when we were making our keto friendly nacho chips, you can drain the rendered fat from the baking sheet into that jar of bacon fat all normal people keep above their stove. It makes a great cooking oil and it gives food a wonderful bacon flavour.
Toss some broccoli in bacon fat and cook in the oven until crispy and you will never have to convince your kids to eat broccoli again. It’s like broccoli candy, you’re welcome.
Give me an “L” Cabbage?
- Using a large knife to the thinly slice cabbage
- This is my preferred method since I have complete control over the size of each slice, and I am generally already using a cutting board and knife for dinner so this is less equipment and less dishes.
- Use a cheese grater to shred the cabbage
- You can use your standard cheese grater to shred the cabbage by hand, this is a pretty quick and simple method.
- Use a food processor
- A food processor will shred anything pretty quickly. Many come with a grating/shredding disc which is what you want to use here
- I use this food processor and it came with 2 grating discs, and one standard blade
- Amazing for making cauliflower rice
- I use this food processor and it came with 2 grating discs, and one standard blade
- A food processor will shred anything pretty quickly. Many come with a grating/shredding disc which is what you want to use here
- Use a mandoline
- A mandoline is another great option for shredding cabbage for coleslaw. A mandoline is not something everyone has, but if you do, it’s great for making perfect, thin, slices, every time
- A mandoline also works very well for slicing other vegetables. I use mine frequently to save time
- If you want to know more about how to use a mandoline slicer, Fine Cooking has done a nice tutorial & video
Fine Cooking: How to use a Mandoline
A full head of cabbage would make a huge amount of coleslaw. One head usually lasts me forever, so I just store the extra in the fridge, it doesn’t spoil very easily so you should be able to use it for quite a few meals.
If you are making this coleslaw for a keto friendly party snack then you may want to use the whole head.
Gimme a “T” - Tomato!
There isn’t much to say about this, it’s tomato, it’s yummy.
Tomatoes are something a lot of people are scared of on low carb and keto diets and I don’t know why. Yes they do have carbs, and yes they can add up quickly. But unless that is causing you to lose control of your hunger and overeat on something else. It’s unlikely that eating tomatoes is going to cause you to gain weight and derail your diet.
Besides, this recipe contains 10-15 grape tomatoes (unless you are making a massive batch) cut into thirds, so a little goes a long way. If you were to eat all 15 of them that would only be 3g net carbs. That’s nothing! You could eat the entire batch if you wanted, and after you taste this, I bet you’ll want to!
I’d like to buy a vowel - an ‘E’?
You can have an egg in a BLT right? Is that a BLTE? A BELT?
Hard boiled egg adds a soft texture, and a rich flavour that contrasts the crunch of the cabbage and the salty, crispy, bacon perfectly. Cooking the egg just right is key to getting the pleasant texture that is soft and not rubbery, as well as making the peeling process much easier.
Right after you put the bacon in the oven, you will want to get some water boiling for the eggs. Everyone has secrets they use to make the perfect boiled eggs every time. If you have your own fancy method you can go ahead and use that.
I make them the exact same way my Mom taught me to. I don’t know if there are better ways or not. I just know this way works every single time, so there has never been a need for me to try anything else.
How to make perfect, easy to peel, hard boiled eggs every time
How to cook perfect, easy to peel, hard boiled eggs every time step-by-step
- Bring plain tap water to a boil on the stove
- Don’t fill the pot to the top with water, otherwise the water level will rise and overflow when you add the eggs.
- Sometimes when I am in a hurry I fill the pot with hot water from the tap so it boils quicker.
- Once the water is boiling carefully place the eggs in the water
- Don’t just drop them or they may break. Slowly lowering them into boiling water with a spoon works well.
- Boil the eggs for 12 minutes.
- Immediately remove from heat, drain boiling water and replace with ice cold water
- I usually place the whole pot in the sink and run cold water over the eggs, if I can’t get the water cold enough I add ice.
- This step keeps the yolks bright and yellow and makes them super easy to peel. Most of the time the shells come off in a few large pieces.
This has worked every time for me for 20 years. Thanks mom!
Don't come in I'm dressing! - Making the dressing
No real secret to this dressing. Put all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix well. I would suggest that you either mix the dressing in a separate bowl or mix the dressing in the salad bowl before adding the other coleslaw ingredients.
After the dressing is well combined, then lightly toss the slaw mixture in the dressing. Reason being, you want the dressing to be mixed well, but you don’t want to mash up all the ingredients of the slaw into a paste trying to mix up the dressing. You just want the dressing to lightly coat the individual ingredients like you see below.
Every bite should have the full effect of crispy bacon, crunchy cabbage, rich eggs, bright tomato, and creamy tangy dressing. In order to accomplish that you need mix the dressing ahead of time.
Make Ahead Tips
A great thing about this recipe is that you can have some of these ingredients prepared ahead of time which can really save you some time.
BLT Keto coleslaw takes about 25-30 minutes to make from scratch, mostly due to the time it takes to cook the bacon, and boil the eggs. You can however make it in less than 15 minutes if you have the bacon pre-cooked and the eggs pre-boiled ready in the fridge.
We almost always keep both those in the fridge. We boil up eggs at the beginning of most weeks to use as a low carb snack, and we often have cooked bacon left over from other recipes we are making. That’s actually how this recipe was born, I looked in the fridge, saw the bacon and eggs and thought, “Well that would be yummy for me”
Make ahead for a potluck or party
BLT keto coleslaw is also ideal for bringing to a party, or potluck as a low carb snack. You can make it days in advance and it will keep well in the fridge.
The wonderful thing about cabbage is it doesn’t get soggy with dressing on it like lettuce does. The first thing to go will be the tomatoes, so make sure they are fresh if you are going to make it ahead of time. Or, make the rest and add the tomatoes on game day!
What does it spell?...BLTE..
You can see why I omitted the E and decided to go with just BLT keto coleslaw.
I sincerely hope that you enjoy this recipe for BLT keto coleslaw. Finding new recipes for keto friendly side dishes is a really important step in making your low carb or keto lifestyle sustainable.
A new side can really add variety to your meals, and make even familiar recipes like roasted chicken, brisket, pulled pork, anything really, feel exciting again.
If you do enjoy this, it would be great if you could take a second to share the joy that is BLT keto coleslaw with your gang, and consider joining our gang so you can get some great stuff right to your inbox. You can do both right down below!
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Makes 6 servings | Cook Time: 20 min | Prep Time: 10 min
Macros:
Calories: 210 cals
Fat: 19g
Carbs: 5.6g
Fiber: 2g
Protein: 5.2g
BLT Keto Coleslaw
Equipment
- Cutting board
- large knife
- Mixing bowl
- salad bowl
- egg slicer (optional)
- pot
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
The slaw
- 5 cups cabbage shredded
- 6 strips bacon cooked, and crumbled/sliced
- 10-15 grape tomatoes sliced into thirds (any tomato works)
- 4 hard boiled eggs sliced
The Dressing
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 4 tablespoon parsley finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 2 teaspoons mustard
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- salt & pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder optional but recommended
Instructions
- Lay the bacon out on a foil lined baking sheet and place in oven at 375°F-400°F for 15-20 minutes until crispy and golden brown
- While the bacon is in the oven, boil the water for the eggs, once boiling carefully place eggs in water for 12 minutes, immediately place eggs in ice cold water until cool
- To prepare dressing, add all the ingredients for the dressing to a mixing bowl and mix well
- Shred cabbage with a knife or grater, slice bacon, eggs, and tomatoes
- Add all ingredients to a salad bowl and lightly toss to coat with 1/2 cup of dressing, any extra dressing can be stored in the fridge
- Serve as a side to your favourite low carb dinner recipe, as a crunchy snack, or at potlucks and picnics
Notes
- Store bought dressing could be used in place of homemade dressing
- See post above for make ahead tips, you can make this days in advance
- This recipe can also be made in less than 15 minutes if bacon and eggs are cooked ahead of time
- store covered in fridge
Nutrition
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