Diabetic? Try These 4 Delicious Recipes

If you’re living with diabetes, the restrictions on what you can or can’t eat can be frustrating. But the good news is that you don’t have to stick with bland, unappealing food to stay healthy. There are actually plenty of delicious, flavorful recipes that are completely diabetic-friendly. Just because you can’t eat as many carbs or as much sugar doesn’t mean you can’t eat food that you genuinely enjoy. Here are some of my favorite diabetic-friendly recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even dessert.

Applesauce Pancakes

These applesauce pancakes balance sweet and savory flavors, and you wouldn’t even know they were low-sugar when you taste them. Using applesauce adds a little bit of sweetness without the need for refined sugar. With only 11.5 grams of carbohydrates, they’re a great option if you’re craving pancakes.

What You’ll Need

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp baking soda

• ⅛ tsp salt

• 2 tbsp toasted wheat germ

• 1 cup nonfat buttermilk

• ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce

• 2 tsp vegetable oil

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

• Cooking spray

Directions

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and wheat germ in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk with the applesauce, oil, and egg. Then, add the liquid buttermilk mixture to the dry flour mixture and stir until the dry ingredients are moist.

Then, heat up a nonstick griddle or skillet with cooking spray on medium heat. For each pancake, pour ¼ cup of the batter onto the skillet, spreading it into a circle with a diameter of about five inches. Cook until the top has bubbles and the edges look cooked, then turn them and cook the other side.

Serve with fresh fruit and sugar-free artificial maple syrup.

Vegetable Tostadas

In the mood for Tex-Mex? No problem! This vegetable tostada recipe is a great low-carb, low-sugar choice for diabetics. Plus, it’s super-simple to make and it’s vegetarian.

What You’ll Need

• Cooking spray

• 2 cups sliced mushrooms

• 2 small zucchini, sliced

• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped

• Black beans (canned)

• 4 tostadas

Directions

Cover a medium-sized nonstick skillet with cooking spray over medium to high heat. Then, add mushrooms, zucchini, and bell pepper. Saute for 3-5 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Heat the black beans in a saucepan. Spoon about ¾ cup of the vegetable mixture over the black beans onto each tostada. Top with lettuce and salsa.

Snapper with Tomato-Caper Topping

This simple yet elegant dish is sure to delight, and it’s low on carbs and sugars but full of flavor.

What You’ll Need

• 2 cups halved grape tomatoes

• 2 tbsp capers, drained

• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

• 2 tsp olive oil

• 1 ½ tsp dried basil, OR 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil

• ¼ tsp salt

• 4 6-oz snapper or grouper fillets, about ¾” thick

• Cooking spray

• 1 tsp paprika

• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

• 1 lemon, cut into quarters

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine tomatoes, capers, lemon juice, olive oil, basil, and salt in a bowl and set it aside. Place the fish fillets on a broiler pan lined with foil, after coating the foil with cooking spray. Sprinkle paprika over them, and coat them with more cooking spray. Bake for 10 minutes.

Then, remove the snapper from the oven, and top with the tomato mixture. Then, bake for another five minutes, or until the fish flakes easily. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with lemon wedges.

Cookies ‘n’ Cream Crunch

Diabetics can have dessert, too! This surprisingly low-sugar no-bake frozen dessert is a great choice.

What You’ll Need

• 1 6 ½ inch package of sugar-free chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed

• ⅓ cup chopped pecans

• 3 tbsp reduced-calorie margarine, melted

• 1 quart of no-sugar-added, fat-free ice cream, softened slightly

Directions

Combine crushed cookies, pecans, and margarine. Take 1 cup of this mixture and set it aside. Press the remaining mixture firmly into a 9” square baking pan, and freeze it for 10 minutes.

After removing the pan from the freezer, spread ice cream over the crumb mixture. Take the remaining cup of crumb mixture and sprinkle it on top of the ice cream. Cover the pan, and freeze it for at least eight hours.

To serve, let it sit and thaw slightly for five minutes, then cut into nine squares.