This protein packed keto Christmas recipe is exactly what you need to make it through the holidays.  Chicken can be boring, but we’ve taken it to a whole other level with this twist on the classic muscle meal staple.  We’ve taken a Chicken, which is low in calories and high in overall protein, and packed it full of highly nutritious things like Almonds and Hazelnuts, which are full of good fats, and full of Cranberries which are full of healthy vitamins and provide a great holiday flavor!

The end result is a highly satisfying protein packed flavor bomb that will leave you full for hours!

BULKING TIPS

If you are bulking, need, or want to add calories to this amazing Christmas keto chicken dinner, you can mix the stuffing ingredients with cream cheese.  This will change the flavor profile somewhat, but the cream cheese will be full of great calories (protein and fats) while also positively complimenting the flavors that are already present.  I would add 4 ounces and fully mix it with the stuffing, and you can easily add a few 100 calories.  You can add more or less to taste and depending on your own personal nutritional requirements.

CUTTING TIPS

If you want to still enjoy this dish and cut some calories, there are some ways you can do it, but it will lessen the flavor.  You could start by halving the amount of almonds and hazelnuts and cranberries that go into the stuffings.  This will save you significant calories in the fat and carb department.  If you needed to go lower, you sacrifice losing a bit of protein by switching from Chicken bone broth, to a regular Chicken broth, and while you will lose some calories in the process, you will maintain your flavor.

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The best thing about this recipe is that it’s easy to make, which means it’s very low risk and easy to experiment with.  The puree’d cauliflower acts as a vehicle for just about any flavor that you’d like.  Try a version of this recipe with a pinch of nutmeg, and then try this keto-friendly cauliflower puree recipe with a pinch of cayenne, onion, or anything else you’d like to match whatever flavor your looking for.  If you try a version of this recipe that blows your mind, tell us about it in the comments and we will add your notes with full credit officially to the recipe!

Bulking Tips

If you’re bulking and doing keto because you’re some kind of crazy person, then you can add calories by swapping heavy cream for creme fraiche.

Cutting Tips

This recipe is already pretty lean, so cutting calories anywhere would be tough without making huge sacrifices to flavor.  Perhaps you could use some kind of butter substitute, but why?  If you are using this as a low-carb Holiday option, then it’s already healthy and delicious as-is!  Enjoy it.

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I like to pair my high protein teriyaki chicken with broccoli, as it’s high on fiber, vitamins, and minerals.  With as much meat as we like to get in every day, it’s incredibly important to keep your fiber up.  The fact that broccoli tastes delicious paired with teriyaki chicken is an added bonus.

This meal is great for post-workout, lunch, or dinner.  It’s got the nutrients required to begin repairing and aiding your body, and to begin refueling your body for your next workout.

Cut Calories

You can cut extra calories from this by completely removing the brown sugar, which will shave off roughly an extra carb per serving.

You can also cut calories by going completely with chicken breast, instead of half-thigh meat.  This will save you 80 total calories and 10 grams of fat over the whole dish.

Lastly, you can easily cut calories by cutting the amount of broccoli served with this.  I like broccoli because it’s high in fiber and it’s a great energy source, but if you’re going keto, you could easily cut the broccoli in half or all together and potentially shave off 400 extra calories.

Add Calories

You can add calories by going full thigh meat.  This will add a considerable amount of fat to your meal, which if you’re bulking, may be exactly what you need.

You can add calories and a ton of flavor by adding an extra tbsp of butter to the final dish sauce.  This will add a ton of extra flavor, and a ton of extra calories.

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Spice it up!

Spice is great for your immune system and overall health.  This recipe has quite a few sources of spice, which means quite a few ways to make it spicier to your liking.  If you would like it spicier, feel free to kick any of them up as you’d like.  Want a spicier red pepper flake flavor?  Go heavier on the red pepper.  Love the taste, but just want a bigger kick?  Try adding a few more splashes of Texas Pete Extra Hot, or add some cayenne pepper.

A word on butter

Butter can improve flavor but also comes with a ton of extra calories, and for the purposes of healthy hot sauce, actually has the effect of making it feel less “hot”.  We like to add a bit; primarily for frying the garlic, but also to give it a tiny bit of richness.  Add or remove as much as you’d like, depending on what your diet regimen allows, but keep in mind if you’re counting calories that this can quickly change the macros of the final result.

Secret Ingredient: Anchovy Paste

Anchovy paste is my secret ingredient in this keto-friendly hot sauce.  The trick is to add a tiny amount.  So tiny, you don’t even taste it, but it works to make the dish pop by bringing out all the hidden flavors of everything else.

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The 2nd best thing about this recipe, next to it’s fantastic flavor, is that it’s incredibly simple, and next to impossible to mess up.  It’s warm, light, and full of protein and will become a staple in your meal prep recipe catalog.  If you’re cooking for two, it’s also easy to double the recipe without too much room for user error.

Quick Tips

A few words of warning: this high protein soup requires patience.  The key to a good French Onion soup is to make sure you allow your onions to caramelize long enough to develop a deep and dark richness.  If you are a beginner in the kitchen and you haven’t yet developed your confidence, it will be tempting to say “okay, this is far enough”.  Don’t be afraid to push it a little farther than what your comfortable with.  Onions are incredibly cheap and if you mess up the caramelization process, it’s really no big deal to start over since that’s really the first step in the entire process.

Make sure to use a stainless steel or copper pan to encourage a high level of browning and to cultivate the “sticky” bits that form at the bottom of a pan.

Cut Calories

You can easily modify this recipe to be even lower calorie by cutting out an extra tablespoon of butter.  That would save you 102 calories across the whole dish.  This will affect the flavor some, but it will still be delicious if you are currently on a serious cutting or other low calorie diet that limits your options.

Add Flavor

A word on cheese. We tried and experimented with several different cheese types while fine tuning this dish: Jarselburg, Swiss, and traditional Guyere.  All of them taste great, but each had slightly different nutritional values.  Ultimately, our taste tests determined that a Guyere resulted in the most flavorful dish. Because Jarselburg resulted in the lowest calories, we have featured that cheese in this dish’s recipe info, though it’d only cost you 6 extra calories to switch to Swiss or 16 extra calories to switch to Guyere.  Feel free to mix and match!

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