Keto Side Dishes
Do you need a delicious and easy keto side dish to pair with your main?
These more than 50 keto side dishes are all easy to make, delicious for everyone and most people won’t even notice that they are low in carbs!

What Are Keto Side Dishes?
Keto Side Dishes are a collection of simple low-carb preparations to serve as a side to your mains.
While most fish and meat-based mains are keto-friendly, it’s very frequent that side dishes are rich in carbs.
Therefore, it’s recommended to cook low-carb side dishes if you are on a ketogenic or low-carb diet.
The best Keto Side Dishes typically include the following low-carb veggies:
- Cauliflower: Cauliflower can be used to make rice, potato salad, or many other casserole and steamed side dishes.
- Cucumber: Cucumber is perfect for salads as it’s fresh and very low in carbs.
- Brussels Sprouts: While Brussels sprouts are often disliked by kids, they can be delicious when cooked with the right sauce and method.
- Cabbage: Cabbage, like many leafy vegetable is an excellent choice on a keto diet.
- Spaghetti Squash: Spaghetti Squash is one of my favorite winter veggies to make keto-friendly sides.
And of course, once you’ve made your keto side dish, try one of my keto desserts!
How To Make Keto Side Dishes
Making keto side dishes is just as simple as making regular side dishes. It’s just about knowing which ingredients to include and which not to.
Ingredients
To make a recipe like my loaded cauliflower casserole, the keto side dish by excellence, you would use:
- Cauliflower – Cauliflower is one of the lowest carb vegetables and yet it’s very filling and super versatile.
- Cream Cheese – Cream cheese is a keto-friendly dairy product that adds a welcomed thickness and texture to sauces to low carb side dish recipes.
- Heavy Cream – Heavy cream is just as keto-friendly as other cream options.
- Garlic Powder – Keto side dishes can easily be enhanced by a touch of garlic.
- Onion Powder – Onion always makes sides taste better.
- Salt
- Shredded Cheddar – All cheeses are keto-friendly.
- Chopped Dill
- Bacon Slices – There’s nothing wrong with adding a touch of meat to side dishes!
Instructions
Making a side dish like my cauliflower casserole is very straightforward.
First, you have to cut the cauliflower.
Then continue by pre-cooking the cauliflower with one of my options:
Once the cauliflower is pre-cooked, you can make the cheese sauce by combining the ingredients in a saucepan and simmering the mixture.
Finally, you just have to assemble the casserole in a large baking dish and cooking it in the oven for 20 minutes.
Storage Instructions
Keto Side Dish leftovers can always be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
You can also freeze them in freezer bags. I recommend storing them in individual portions so you don’t have to defrost an entire batch.
Reheat them in the oven for about 10 minutes, or if you prefer, for a couple of minutes in a microwave.
50+ Keto Side Dishes
Frequently Asked Questions
Cooking vegetables doesn’t have to be bland! Just adding butter, pepper, spices, Parmesan garlic, lime, olive oil, or cilantro can supercharge a meal without adding carbs.
To keep a side dish low in carbs, avoid higher carbs vegetables like potatoes and limit the medium carb ones like tomatoes.
There are hundreds of sides you can have on a keto diet.
It’s just a matter of avoid the ingredients too rich in carbs,
No, potatoes are so rich in carbs that you would need to limit the portion to such a small size it wouldn’t be enjoyable.
50+ Delicious Keto Side Dish Recipes
Nutrition Snapshot
Want My Kitchen Equipment?
Ingredients
- 1 large Cauliflower Head cut into bite size florets
Cheese Sauce
- 9 oz Cream Cheese
- ½ cup Heavy Cream
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder or 3 fresh garlic cloves, crushed
- ½ teaspoon Onion Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 cups Shredded Cheddar divided
- ¼ cup Chopped Dill
- 9 oz Bacon Slices chopped into bite size pieces, about 6 slices
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C) Grease a 9-inch x 13-inch baking dish. Set aside.
- Cut the cauliflower head into bite-size florets, you should have about 1.8 lb/800g of small florets.
- Place the cauliflower florets into a steamer basket and place the basket into a large pot with 2 inches of water at the bottom. Steam the cauliflower for 8 minutes until fork tender.
- Drain the cooked cauliflower florets and set aside 10 minutes to steam out.
- Meanwhile, prepare the cheese sauce.
- In a large pot (can be the one you used to steam the cauliflower), fry the bacon pieces for 2-3 minutes. Set aside 1/3 cup of cooked bacon in a bowl (you will use this to add on top of the casserole later).
- Stir in heavy cream, cubes of cream cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt, and simmer the sauce over low/medium heat until cream cheese is melted and sauce is thick and creamy.
- Remove from heat, stir in fresh chopped dill, half shredded cheddar (1 cup).
- Stir in the cooked cauliflower florets until evenly coated with the cheese sauce.
- Transfer the cheesy cauliflower florets into the prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer.
- Top the casserole with the remaining crispy bacon and shredded cheese.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, switching to grill mode for 3-4 minutes if needed to grill cheese on top.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle with extra fresh dill if desired.
- Serve immediately as a main dish or low carb side dish to grilled meat/fish.
Storage
- Store up to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Can be frozen in an airtight container. Defrost in the fridge the day before and rewarm in the microwave or saucepan.
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