10 Protein-Rich Healthy Christmas Recipes

Christmas is a special holiday for everyone, which is about love and being together with your loved ones, but also about eating together. Traditional Christmas dishes are typically made using plenty of flour, sugar and fat. Anyone who has chosen a healthy lifestyle on the other days of the year, or has just started a diet, won’t have to worry during the holidays because in this article we bring 10 recipes for delicious diet Christmas food.

Switch to healthy ingredients!

Christmas recipes contain many ingredients that can be easily replaced with a healthier version. It is also worth choosing healthier alternatives on a daily basis, so it can be more practically transformed into a traditional recipe to be included in a regular diet any day of the year.

Let’s look at some healthier solutions:

• Instead of sugar, we can also use erythritol or stevia (or a mixture of these) so we can sweeten it calorie-free and put sugar-free cake on the table.

• We can use a wholefood version instead of white flour, so bread and desserts will also be healthier. Oatmeal can be used very well for cakes because it has no aftertaste and is almost indistinguishable from traditional white flour in the case of a Christmas biscuit.

• Instead of frying in plenty of oil and fat, prepare the food by baking it in the oven. Thus, an alternative to fried foods and fried potatoes can also be solved. For food, it is advisable to use a little olive oil or other healthy oil afterwards, without heat treatment.

• Choose sugar-free jam instead of regular jam, but it’s best to use fresh fruits or even making sauce from them for dessert.

• You can also use sugar-free versions instead of syrups, such as Zero Syrup, available in strawberry, chocolate and maple syrup flavors.

• Sauces are often full of fat and sugar, which on one hand are unhealthy and, on the other hand, hinder the outcome of the diet. You can already find many sugar-free sauces on the supermarket shelves, but it is also worth trying Zero Sauce, which is ideal not only for meat but also for flavoring salads.

It is also worth paying close attention to complete protein sources during the holidays, as you can avoid consuming extra calories with proper protein and lower carbohydrate and fat intake.

Healthy Christmas recipes

Appetizers, soups

1. Cinnamon plum soup

Ingredients (1 serving):

• 4 plums

• 2.5 dl of water

• 12 g Iso Whey Zero Natural drink powder in vanilla-cinnamon flavor

• Cinnamon and erythritol or stevia to taste

• Garnish with mint leaf and quartered plum slices or berries

Boil the chopped plums with the cinnamon and the sweetener with approximately 1.5 dl of water and then mash them to make puree. Meanwhile, the protein powder is mixed with the remaining water and gradually added to the soup.

2. Salmon arugula salad

Ingredients:

• 50 g salmon

• 70 g of arugula

• 2 cherry tomatoes

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Sweet chili Zero Sauce

Alternative sauce:

• 1 tsp mustard

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• Lemon juice, salt, pepper to taste

Mix the halved tomatoes and the other ingredients of the salad, season with the sauce and serve with salmon on top. Tip: Making a larger portion is also perfect as a main course.

Main courses

3. Apple and beetroot salad with grilled peanut butter chicken breast

Ingredients (1 serving):

• 1 piece of beets

• 1 carrot

• 1 apple

• 1 dl natural yogurt

• 1 pinch sea salt

• 0.5 tbsp olive oil

• A larger slice of chicken breast

• Sea salt and spices to taste

• 1 larger tsp peanut butter, lemon juice and soy sauce

• Coconut oil for frying

Peel the vegetables, grate them or cut them into strips. Stir in the olive oil, sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Natural yogurt is also added. Put in the fridge for a little time to bring the flavors together.

Season the meat and fry both sides. Meanwhile, we mix the peanut butter, lemon juice and soy sauce to make a sauce, and then we pour this on the meat. When done, serve with the salad.

4. Chestnut pumpkin turkey breast salad

Ingredients (1 serving):

• 100 g chestnuts

• 200 g of pumpkin

• Half a clove of garlic

• A little olive oil

• Salt, pepper and basil

• 170 g turkey breast

Chop the pumpkin and place it with the other ingredients in a pot with a little water. Cover and simmer until soft. Once soft, remove the lid and cook a little more. Next to this, we also season the meat and put it in the baking sheet with the other ingredients or we can fry it in a pan. Tip: You can use sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin.

5. Walnut salmon rolls with cheese cream and fried mushrooms with basmati rice

Ingredients (2 servings):

• 40 dkg sliced salmon fillet

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Chives with fresh basil

• 100 g low-fat cream cheese

• 6 larger mushrooms

• 1 clove garlic

• Small handful of spinach

• 4 walnuts

• 100 g of basmati rice

Season the fish and put it in the fridge. Add the green spices to the cheese cream. Fry the walnuts in a little oil then cut the garlic and mushrooms into slices. Spinach is piled on the fish slices, followed by the green cheese cream and finally sprinkled with the toasted walnuts. We roll them up and secure with a toothpick. Bake in a pan or oven until ready. Meanwhile, we prepare the basmati rice and serve the finished fish with the mushrooms and rice.

Desserts

6. Protein gingerbread

Ingredients:

• 300 g of whole grain spelt flour

• 1 packet of baking powder

• 1 teaspoon gingerbread spice

• 30 g Iso Whey Zero (vanilla, hazelnut or vanilla cinnamon roll falvor)

• 120 g of honey

• 1 egg

• 50 g butter

• 50 g of coconut oi

First, mix the dry ingredients. Then the melted butter and coconut oil are mixed with the eggs and honey and kneaded with the flour mixture. It is advisable to put the finished dough in the refrigerator for one hour. After stretching, the dough is torn into molds as desired. Finally, place the gingerbread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, smear the top with beaten eggs and bake at 200 ° C for approx. 5-10 minutes.

7. Peanut Butter and Protein Cream Banana Snacks

Ingredients:

• 2 bananas

• Peanut butter

• Protein Cream

• Dark chocolate

• Shredded coconut

Slice the banana in little circles (around 1 cm thick). Spoon thinly peanut butter and Protein Cream on top. Sprinkle with dark chocolate and sprinkle with coconut. Put in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

8. Raspberry cottage cheese chocolate roll

Ingredients:

• For pasta

• 200 g of wholegrain oat or spelled flour

• 30 g Iso Whey Zero chocolate

• 0.5 packs of baking powder

• 100 ml of water

• 4 eggs

• 2-3 tbsp cocoa powder

• 80 g butter / coconut oil

• 100 g of unrefined cane sugar or erythritol

For cream:

• 300 g cottage cheese

• 3-5 drops of vanilla Zero Drops

• 30 g Iso Whey Zero raspberries

• Frozen raspberry or forest fruit mixture

Whip the egg until they are foam, mix the other ingredients, and then mix in the beaten egg whites too (can be softened with water if necessary, depending on the flour). Fill into a small baking dish / cake tin and bake at 180 degrees. When it is ready, we place it on a wet kitchen towel and roll it up, then let it cool down. Meanwhile, mix the cream ingredients in a blender. Roll out the dough, fill it with the cottage cheese filling, sprinkle more fruit in the middle and roll again. Tip: It can also be made in cake form. Poured with melted chocolate on top it is even more delicious.

9. Tiramisu

Ingredients (2-3 servings):

• 15 whole grain ladyfingers (home-made is the best)

• 1.5-2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder on top

For cream:

• 2 eggs

• 200 g light mascarpone cream cheese

• 30 g tiramisu flavored Iso Whey Zero

• Rum aroma, erythritol or stevia to taste

The sponge cake is soaked in coffee with rum aroma or half a dose of tiramisu-flavored protein powder diluted with water. The egg yolk is mixed with the erythritol and then the cold mascarpone is added. Beat the egg whites into foam and mix it into the dough as well. The soaked sponge cake (ladyfingers) are placed on the bottom of a pot. Stack the cream and sprinkle the top with the cocoa powder. Tip: You can even serve it in portions in cups

10. Baked apple walnut protein pancakes

Ingredients (1 serving):

• 1 apple

• A couple drops of honey or stevia

• 2 tablespoons oatmeal

• 1-2 dried plums

• Raisins

• Orange juice and grated orange peel to taste

• 2 walnut

• 1 serving (40 g) Protein Pancake (vanilla)

Chop the apples and mix in the chopped dried fruits and nuts. We can flavor it with cinnamon and cloves. Add a teaspoon of water, put it in a glass baking plate and bake it in the oven. The pancake powder is mixed with 50 ml of water and then left to rest for 1 minute. In a pan, fry both sides of the dough in oil until golden brown. Stack the baked apples on top.

You can make pancakes in many different ways, for this we also recommend our diet pancake recipes, where you will find 5 more of our favorite variations. And if you want to make something really fast but high in protein, we also have some very special recipe ideas using protein powder.