Keto has a bit of a reputation of being an expensive way of living and it can be, if you choose rib eye steaks and to make a lot of keto treats. Keto on a budget is also really achievable. If you are feeding a family or on a tight budget, you will want to look out for recipes using cheaper cuts of meat like ground meat, chicken wings and chicken thighs. Tinned fish like tuna and salmon are also excellent keto on a budget choices.
Keto on a budget
Don’t let your budget be the reason that keto isn’t for you. We have put together 32 of the best keto on a budget recipes for you. That’s one for every day of the month, plus a spare one for good luck.
Now you only need to look here when you need that cheap dinner to feed the whole family. Don’t think that doing keto on a budget means you will be missing out on flavour, as these meals are all delicious!
A great tip when preparing meals on a budget is to invest in your spice rack. It’s such a great way to add flavour and keeps the meal cheap as you never need to use too much for each meal. Many of these recipes use some standard spices to ‘spice’ up the dish.
Best budget friendly meat options
Beef and Pork
Ground Meat
Ground meat or mince as we call it in Australia, is a great budget option. Some of our favourite go to meals use ground meat. We love to make bunless burgers with a mixture of half ground beef and half ground pork. Chorizo chilli and keto meatballs are on high rotation at our house.
Chorizo Chilli
Chorizo Chilli is perfect to cook up a big batch on the weekend and have leftovers to take for lunch during the week or to have 1 or 2 of your weekly dinners ready to go in the fridge. After we cook up a batch on the weekend we store 2 servings in the freezer, have one that night and 1 serving later in the week.
Keto Meatballs
Not only are these meatballs an excellent budget option but they are also a real crowd pleaser. These have been a big hit with our non keto family and friends and are often a go to when we have family staying with us. Meatballs are also a big hit with kids.
This beef bake from Low Recipecombines cauliflower rice, ground beef and cheese to make a delicious casserole. This super easy recipe will be a big hit with the kids and adults alike. A great low carb and cheap weekday meal that will keep the whole family full and not looking for dessert.
Egg roll in a bowl or crackslaw as it is otherwise known has become a really popular keto meal. I think it has become so popular as it’s such a cheap and tasty dinner option. Another dinner that will be a big hit with the whole family. It is also such a great way to add some flavour to cabbage. Thanks to Kyndra at Peace, Love and Low Carb for this awesome keto egg roll in a bowl recipe.
Keto Meatballs without breadcrumbs
You can never have enough meatballs and these meatballs from Meraki Mother are a winner. You can be assured any recipe from Meraki Mother is kid approved, so will always be a big hit with the whole family.
Pork Cuts
Pork Belly
Pork belly has traditionally been a great budget option, but has become slightly more expensive since gaining popularity from cooking shows like Masterchef. Since starting our keto journey we have fallen in love with pork belly. The fat and crackling keep as full through to the next day. It is still an excellent budget option as you don’t need much to become full.
Smoked Pulled Pork
We love pulled pork here at Have Butter will Travel and since we got a smoker we have loved making our own. Out of one pork butt (shoulder) we get about 12-14 serves and it stores really well in the freezer. Pulled pork is great for cheese shell tacos or a taco salad.
Keto Carnitas Slow Cooker Lettuce Wraps
Lettuce wraps are such a great low carb replacement for a tortilla. This recipe from Megan atmeganseelinger.comuses spices you are likely to have in your spice rack at home making it a cheap choice for dinner. Just pop it in the slow cooker in the morning and you will have delicious carnitas ready for dinner.
We love the recipes from My Keto Kitchenand this is high on our must try list. Schnitzel is easily one of Dan’s favourite food and this recipe works perfectly for anyone on a budget. It uses Parmesan cheese for the coating, which is a much cheaper than using almond flour.
Beef Cuts
This recipe from Keto Connectuses stew beef and coconut milk with a few spices you are likely to already have in your spice rack. These ingredients make it a great budget option that will store well in the freezer. I would recommend serving with somecauliflower rice.
Another awesome recipe from My Keto Kitchen is this Thai Massaman Curry. Chuck steak is another excellent cheap cut of beef that works so well in curries. I love that they are using radishes to replace the potatoes. What a great idea. Again, this recipe does use a few spices, but they are ones you are likely to have at home already.
This beef stew recipe from Kim at theLow Carb Maven uses chuck roast, which is an awesome cheap beef cut. I love a warming stew in winter and this one sounds perfect.
Chicken
Chicken Wings
Wings are my favourite budget friendly protein. I could eat baked wings and jalapeno poppers for every dinner, if Erika let me! These are some of our favourite wing recipes.
Keto Chicken Wings
Erika has perfected this baked chicken wings. We have them every week at the moment and they are definitely a favourite for us. They are super easy, just season and pop in the oven.
I think Keto Connect are onto a winner here. What a great idea to use baking powder to coat them. We also don’t have a deep fryer, so need to bake the wings and this recipe is perfect. As it only has 3 ingredients, chicken wings, baking powder and salt, this is possibly one of the best budget options I have found.
We are yet to try these wings from Headbangers Kitchen, but they have just gone to the head of my must try very soon list. I love the spices they are using to flavour the wings and I again LOVE that they are baked. So much easier than trying to deep fry, in my opinion.
Grilled Chipotle Chicken Wings
I have never considering grilling chicken wings before. What a great idea! I love chipotle flavours and this recipe is drawing on a few of these common spices you will already have ready to go.
Chicken drumsticks
We have recently fallen in love with sheet pan dinners. This sheet pan dinner was a guest post of ours onMeraki Motherand uses Mexican flavours with chicken drumsticks. Sheet pan dinners are a great family friendly budget choice. What is better than a meal that is as easy as putting all the ingredients in a baking dish and in the oven.
Keto Garlic and Dijon Chicken Drumsticks
The marinade on these drumsticks from Paleo Leap sounds delicious. So simple and fresh. Another awesome recipe using ingredients that you are likely to have at home already.
Chicken thighs
Keto Roasted Chicken Thighs with Mushrooms
This meal is tasty, warm and comforting and leaves the house smelling amazing! Chicken and mushrooms is a classic flavour combination and you will not be disappointed with this tasty dinner.
Keto Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner with Feta and Olives
Chicken paired with olive oil, oregano, garlic and vegetables like peppers and onion give this dish beautiful colour and flavour. Add in the traditional mediterranean ingredients like olives and feta and we found the winning Greek flavour combination for this dish.
Tandoori chicken is delicious and I am so happy to have found a great keto recipe from My Keto Kitchen for it. This recipe uses the chicken leg cut, which is the thigh and the drumstick together. Again, the key to this dish are the spices. At 5g of carbs per serve this is going to be a budget staple in many low carb homes.
Whole Chicken
We love the recipes from ruled.me and the asian spices in this dish make for a delicious low carb meal. This dish would be excellent served with some sautéed asian greens like bok choy.
The thing I love about this recipe from Low Carb Maven is that you can use a pre cooked chicken from the grocery store. We would buy a BBQ chicken (rotisserie chicken in the US) and shred the chicken and store it in the freezer. This dinner would work out perfectly for us.
Roast Chicken
Sometimes the best budget meals are the most simple ones. A whole roasted chicken is so simple and so cheap. 1 chicken will feed a family of 4. For the 2 of us, it also means we have leftovers for lunch the next day.
Seafood
Keto Tuna casserole
Tinned tuna is one of the best budget seafood options. It’s much cheaper than fresh seafood as that can be pretty expensive. Our favourite way to have tuna is in this tuna casserole/mornay dish. The cheese sauce is a winner when paired with tuna.
Cajun salmon patties from Ruled.me are cheap, quick and easy. The trifecta. Also add that kids will love these and you will be making these every week.
I Breathe I’m Hungry had it right, this is super easy. It is basically tinned tuna and mayo and is a quick and easy lunch. Erika loves to have this served in lettuce cups for lunch during the week.
I love the idea of any recipe that is only going to take me 5 minutes. This salmon salad recipe from The Real Food RD’swill be a go to on those days you just can’t be bothered to cook. Having some tinned salmon in the pantry will mean you can have lunch ready to go in 5 minutes.
Eggs
Skillet Eggs
These skillet eggs are great for any meal, breakfast, lunch or dinner. They are really easy to make and are absolutely delicious.
Roasted Capsicum and Feta Frittata
Frittata is an excellent budget option. Eggs are a cheap choice and a frittata is perfect as it can easily feed the whole family. I love the flavours of this roasted capsicum and feta frittata.
Healthy Paleo Breakfast Egg Muffins
These breakfast egg muffins from Wholesome Yum may be called breakfast muffins, but they would be perfect for lunch as well. I love to take muffins like these for lunch out of the freezer for a quick and easy work lunch, when I can’t be bothered making something.
Breakfast Casserole with Bacon, Egg and Cheese
This breakfast casserole from Perfect Keto combines 3 of my favourite keto foods, bacon, eggs and cheese. The best thing about this recipes is that you will be able to get 8 serves out of one casserole. Perfect to add some leftovers to the freezer for quick on the go meals.
We love frittata here at Have Butter will Travel and we also love Rachel’s recipes from Aussie Keto Queen, so we had to include her breakfast frittata in this keto on a budget list.
There you have it. 32 keto on a budget recipes that will help you stick to your budget and continue your keto lifestyle.
What is your favourite keto on a budget friendly meal? Let us know in the comments below.
Disclosure: The above post may contain affiliate links. We may earn a small commission from purchases made through these links, at no additional cost to you. Everything we recommend on our website are products we use and love. Thank you for supporting Have Butter will Travel and allowing us to share our low carb experiences with you.
