Simple Keto Chicken with Garlic, Rosemary, and Bay Leaves

Chicken is the bodybuilders most favorite.

Alright, alright, it’s chicken breast and this recipe is with chicken thighs.

Well, I LOVE chicken thighs and can’t help myself coming up with recipes to make them taste even more delicious!

Furthermore, as many of you, I like simple recipes: few ingredients, quick from pan to plate, little cleaning afterward.

Guess what, this one-pot recipe is all of that!

And it’s a keto recipe too!

*ROAR OF APPLAUSE* (thank you, thank you)

It uses mainly herbs that you should have in your kitchen available (if not, what are you even eating hahah) and other staple ingredients.

It uses wine, but as I always say, you don’t need the expensive stuff. Buy the cheap one and it keeps in the fridge forever (it’s for cooking!).

This super easy to make recipe provides almost 50g of protein per serving, 1g of carbs and 630kcal. What an amazing way to cut weight, if you ask me!

This goes great with a salad made of fresh lettuce, fennel, arugula, celery, and a couple of cherry tomatoes. With, it goes without saying, some tasty extra virgin olive oil drizzled on top.

You don’t need to be a bodybuilder to appreciate this keto recipe. Given the high-protein content, though, this recipe is indicated for whoever does resistance training which means lifting weights. Also if you do calisthenics or gymnastic and you are on a ketogenic diet, this recipe is good for you too!

Besides being keto friendly, this recipe is also suited for the following diets: Paleo, Primal, LCHF.

You can replace the wine with beer, vinegar, chicken broth.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe!

GIF Recipe

Chicken Drumsticks with Cherry Tomatoes

You know when you open your fridge and you can find just a couple of ingredients and get discouraged?

That’s what happened to me before making this recipe.

I opened my fridge and I just had chicken and cherry tomatoes.

On top of that, I wanted to make something quickly.

That inspired me to create this one-pot very simple and easy recipe which also takes 10-15 min to make.
This recipe is great for a meal-prep too since you can make it in advance, store in the fridge, and reheat before eating.

It’s very high in protein and so low-carb that even people on the ketogenic diet can make it.

The taste is completely unexpected: sweet from the cherry tomatoes, sour from the wine and garlic, and great savoriness from the chicken blend together to give you a unique mouth-watering experience.

This makes a great post-workout or dinner when you are looking to pack some muscle mass with an high-protein meal.

Besides being Keto, this recipe is also Paleo, Primal, LCHF, and ofc IIFYM.

If you want to add more carbs, pair this with some rice or (oven baked) potatoes fries.

About the wine: it doesn’t to be the expensive stuff. I truly buy the cheapest there is and, once opened, it can last in the fridge basically forever. You can use wine for a lot of recipes to make them even more delicious so it’s not a waste!

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Mouth-Watering Italian Pork Sausage with Mushrooms and Ricotta

Pork sausage was on discount, therefore I bought 1.5 kg.

What to do with it?

Pork sausage is one of those foods that you can put together with anything and it will taste superb.

This does indeed in this amazing recipe I am presenting to you today.

It’s pretty low in carbs so perfect for a ketogenic diet or low-carb high-fat (LCHF).

If you don’t care about your carbs intake, this goes perfectly with pasta. I had it with some gnocchi and, boy, was this foodgasmic!

Trust me, it tastes way better than it looks 🙂

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Italian Cabbage Dumplings

You know, well, everybody knows that cabbage is good for you.

Right. But that taste…

I wanted to include some green cabbage in my diet and tried to think of how can I make this enjoyable and not a dread.

I thought: Chinese have been using green cabbage since forever and they make delicious stuff out of them!

Since I am not Chinese and I wouldn’t dare mess around with such a complex, rich, and ancient culinary art, I decided to give Chinese cabbage rolls an Italian spin so nobody gets offended. Though if you are Chinese and want to teach me how to make high-protein healthy cabbage rolls, please write me 🙂

So, what makes this dish “Italian”?

Besides the usual aromatics (onion, carrots, leek) I used red wine and fennel seeds. Fennel seeds really give a twist to this dish!

This has only 19g of carbs per serving which makes it ideal for someone on a LCHF diet or keto (when carbs are kept below 50g).

It’s also fairly high-protein. But if you want to increase the amount of protein without increasing calories, go for lean beef (here I used a fatty cut).

This dish can easily be boosted in protein to have 30-40g per serving just by using lean beef.

This dish has less than 500kcal per serving so it can be used for cutting as well (use lean beef in this case which will also increase the amount of protein per serving!)

If I had a broiler, I would have put some Parmesan cheese on top and gave them a couple of mins to become crunchy and even more delicious!

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Stuffed Eggplants

My grandma (and mom) used to make this all the time: a big tradition in southern Italian cuisine.

The flavors are incredible and the way they combine makes you feel in Italy after a first mouthful.

Little that I realized, how high-protein and low-carb high-fat this dish can be!

Therefore, whenever I have some time and can find cheap eggplants, this dish is a must do for my post-workouts.
This is very filling too so if you are cutting you can make it as well.

So, there you have it, the authentic south Italian stuffed eggplants recipe adapted for muscle mass gains!

(I’m sure my grandma would kill me if she knew I posted her recipe hahah)

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Sausage and Beans (Rural Italian Classic)

Have you ever heard of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill? They are famous Italian actors, famous for action-comedy movies such as “They Call Me Trinity”.

In this movie, there is an epic scene of almost 3 minutes in which the main character is eating a delicious beans course straight from the pan.

The scene is so well done that you start drooling right away.

Your brain goes: “MUST. HAVE. NOW.”

I tried to imagine how that recipe would be like and went about to re-create it. t was as delicious as in the movie.

It was as delicious as in the movie it seems to be.

This is a healthy, high-protein, low-carb recipe which is great for building muscles!

If you want to be as strong as Bud Spencer, you should try this recipe. It’s super easy!

This recipe is also gluten-free.

Note: the carbs indicated on the nutrition label are already net carbs (as in the style of European nutrition labels)

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Pork Sausage with Lentils (Very Filling High-Protein Lunch/Dinner)

How to make a cheap, (fairly) healthy, and high-protein dinner?

Well, you use pork, legumes (lentils in this case), and veggies!

This recipe is a great high-protein lunch/dinner idea since it packs a lot of proteins and a ton of fibers (for those of you struggling with fiber intake!). It delivers an incredible 38g of fibers per serving. If I remember correctly that’s the recommended intake for an adult male!

While being all good for your intestinal health, it’s also very delicious as the aroma of the pork meat perfectly combines with the texture and taste of lentils and tomato sauce. Then, the added spices add a touch of unexpected flavor that blends delightfully with the whole dish.

It’s not a quick recipe (it might require up to 50 min), mind you, since you have to cook the lentils but if you have a slow cooker than it’s perfect!

Since this is a high-calories recipe, it’s ideal if you struggle to gain weight and muscle mass.

This recipe is good also for people on the slow-carb diet!

The amount of carbs in the label is net carbs (as in European nutrition labels’ style).

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Simple Yet Tasty Pork Sausage Risotto

Today we go for something rather sophisticated but actually incredibly easy to make.

On top of that, it is gluten-free and perfect if you are coeliac and doing bodybuilding.

The recipe is not the quickest but it’s simple and straightforward. This would make you look like a master chef even if your biggest culinary achievement so far has been scrambled eggs.

I would recommend this recipe to whoever has never tried making risotto since it’s very basic and simple and can help you getting started.

Once you can master this high-protein risotto, every other risotto recipe is going to be a no-brainer and will add endless possibilities to your cooking repertoire. For instance, you could try this foodgasmic risotto with pumpkin and pork sausage.

I love to have risotto as my post-workout because I can get in one package carbs, proteins, and fat with benefits of an incredible creamy taste.

Great for when you are bulking and want to eat a lot of calories in a single meal!

Creamy&Crunchy Fragrant Italian Pumpkin, Sausage, and Rosemary Risotto

My plan was to cook this, wait 1 hour and then have dinner.

I failed.

The taste was so delicious, I ended up eating the whole thing after the first “tryout” bite.

In my mouth, there was a mixing of textures and flavors that left me truly surprised and in that ecstasy that only certain food can give you.

The crunchiness of the roasted pumpkin perfectly matched with the creaminess of the rice. The richness of the pork sausage masterfully combined with the smoky fresh flavors of paprika and rosemary.

This recipe is a keeper. It will always be in my repertoire from now on.

This bodybuilding recipe is high in protein and high in calories and gluten-free (great if you are coeliac!).

It’s a perfect bulking meal idea when you don’t have to watch too much at your calories.
I use it as post-workout since it gives you carbs, protein, and fat in a good ratio.

Feel free to change the amounts used to fit your macros.

Pollo alla Romana

A big traditional Italian classics which is perfect for building muscle and strength too!
Furthermore, this recipe has very low amount of carbs and it’s very cheap and easy to make.
Next time you have guests at home thinking how miserable your life must be on a LCHF diet, serve them this, and you might get a convert right there 🙂