Low FODMAP recipes – How to make your favourite recipes low FODMAP
When you are just starting out on the low FODMAP diet, the biggest question is “What am I going to eat?” and “Where am I going to find low FODMAP recipes?”.
That were definitely my biggest questions when I started the low FODMAP diet in 2014. And at that time there were hardly any low FODMAP recipes to be found online.
That was the reason for me to start Karlijn’s Kitchen and share the recipes that I created myself through trial and error.
And you know what? Once you get the hang of low FODMAP cooking it is not so difficult to create tasty low FODMAP recipes. In the beginning it seems like you will never be able to eat a flavourful meal again, but once you start exploring the possibilities you will find out that you can make a low FODMAP version for almost any recipe.
In this blog I want to give you tips to create your own yummy recipes. I will also share the top low FODMAP recipes that have been shared on Karlijn’s Kitchen over the years, for when you don’t feel like creating your own recipes, but just want to use an existing recipe!
Creating your own low FODMAP recipes
Before you started the low FODMAP diet, you probably had a lot of go to recipes that you would make often. Family favourites, your grandma’s classic recipes or simple recipes that you would make on busy days.
Or maybe you had a collection of cookbooks that you loved to cook recipes from. At first it may seem that you can throw all these recipes out of the window and that you will have to start from scratch now that you have to eat low FODMAP. But that is not true.
It is not so difficult to make your favourite recipes low FODMAP. Usually you only need to make some simple swaps to turn a high FODMAP recipe into a low FODMAP recipe. And I am going to tell you how to do that.
Swap high FODMAP ingredients for low FODMAP ingredients
The first thing we need to do is to make some simple swaps. Replace high FODMAP ingredients with low FODMAP ingredients. Let’s see what some common swaps are:
- Pasta –> replace with low FODMAP gluten-free pasta (for example pasta made with rice flour or corn flour)
- Wheat noodles –> replace with rice noodles or soba noodles
- Wheat tortillas –> replace with corn tortillas
- Flour –> replace with gluten-free flour, such as Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1
- Bread –> replace with sourdough spelt bread or gluten-free low FODMAP bread
- Dairy –> Replace with lactose-free dairy. In most stores milk, yoghurt, cream cheese, whipping cream etc. is also sold in lactose-free versions.
- Cheese –> Most cheeses are low FODMAP. Just make sure to check your serving size.
- Tomato sauce –> Replace with diced tomatoes, make your own tomato sauce or buy a low FODMAP tomato sauce.
- Meat –> Meat is low FODMAP. Just make sure no wheat or high FODMAP spices such as garlic and onion have been added.
- Fish –> Fish is low FODMAP. Just make sure no wheat or high FODMAP spices such as garlic and onion have been added.
- Garlic –> replace with garlic infused-oil, such as Fody’s garlic-infused oil.
- Onion –> replace with the green part of spring onion or leek or onion-infused oil
- Spices mixes –> make your own spices mix or buy a low FODMAP spices mix, such as Fody’s taco seasoning mix or steak seasoning mix.
- Honey –> replace with maple syrup, rice syrup or sugar
- Broth for soups –> Buy low FODMAP broth or make your own low FODMAP broth
Fill in the form down here to download these swaps in a handy list, so you can take it with you on the go!
Making a recipe low FODMAP
Now that we have our essential replacements for high FODMAP ingredients, let’s see how we can make a “normal” recipe low FODMAP. Take for example this recipe for spaghetti bolognese from Erren’s Kitchen. We only need to take a few steps to make this recipe low FODMAP:
- Replace the onions and garlic with garlic-infused oil and add green tips of spring onion or leek at the end of the recipe to get some extra onion flavour to your spaghetti bolognese.
- Replace the spaghetti with gluten-free spaghetti.
Super easy isn’t it?
Let’s do another, slightly more difficult one: this burrito recipe by Recipe Tin The steps we need to make this recipe low FODMAP:
- Make your own burrito seasoning and leave out the onion powder or buy a low FODMAP seasoning, such as Fody’s taco seasoning.
- Leave the garlic and onion out of the beef. Add some garlic-infused oil instead of normal olive oil and add some green tips of spring onion at the end of the recipe for some onion flavour.
- Replace the flour tortillas with corn tortillas
- Use a maximum of 75 g of corn kernels per person because corn kernels are limited low FODMAP.
- Leave the black beans out
- Leave the onion out.
And voilà, another high FODMAP recipe made low FODMAP. It really is easier than it seems! This is the method that I use to make lots of my favourite recipes low FODMAP. Classic recipes that I have done this for are for example: nasi goreng, pasta puttanesca (on the picture below) and chicken tikka masala.
Low FODMAP recipes online
Ok, but what if you find it too much hassle to make your own low FODMAP recipes and want to use existing ones instead? There are plenty of recipes to be found online and also a lot of other resources available.
Popular FODMAP recipes from Karlijn’s Kitchen
Of course, I had to start with my own blog first. Over the years, these have been the most loved FODMAP recipes on the blog:
- Low FODMAP chicken tikka masala
- Best gluten-free pizza ever
- Low FODMAP nachos
- Tofu fried rice
- Vindaloo (Indian curry)
- Low FODMAP spaghetti carbonara
- Pasta with salmon and cream cheese
- Nasi goreng with homemade spices mix
- Low FODMAP pad thai
- Carrot soup with ginger and coconut milk
For breakfast and lunch:
- Gluten-free soft pretzels
- Buckwheat pancakes
- Snickers oatmeal
- Healthy breakfast brownie
- Peanut butter baked oatmeal
- Low FODMAP shakshuka for one
And something sweet:
- Healthy pineapple ice cream
- Lemon blueberry muffins
- Low FODMAP banana oat cookies
- Low FODMAP lemon cake
- Low FODMAP blueberry cheesecake
- Low FODMAP banana bread
- Low FODMAP apple crumble bars
- Low FODMAP cinnamon rolls
I have also made several collections of low FODMAP recipes, so that you can easily find them in one place:
- 33 healthy low FODMAP dinner recipes
- 10 healthy low FODMAP breakfasts
- 8 healthy low FODMAP lunches on the go
- 80+ low FODMAP snack ideas for every day
- 26 healthy low FODMAP snacks
- 10 freezer-friendly low FODMAP snacks
- 10 low FODMAP pasta recipes
- 10 low FODMAP casseroles
- 10 low FODMAP chicken recipes
- 10 low FODMAP party snacks
- 12x low FODMAP soup
- 10 light low FODMAP dinner recipes
Other places to find recipes
Luckily, you can find information about the low FODMAP diet and recipes in many more place nowadays than when I started the FODMAP diet. My go-to places for low FODMAP recipes are:
FODMAP bloggers
There are plenty of low FODMAP blogs around. These are my personal favourites:
- A little bit yummy – Alana shares lots of useful information about the low FODMAP diet and yummy recipes.
- Fun without FODMAPs – Emily is a Monash University trained dietician and she creates drool-worthy low FODMAP recipes.
- Lauren Renlund – Lauren is a Canada-based dietician who shares delicious and healthy low FODMAP recipes.
- She can’t eat what?! – Emma is a London-based FODMAP blogger and she shares easy and original low FODMAP recipes on her blog.
- Gluten-free cuppa tea – Becky is also based in London. She shares delicious low FODMAP recipes, very open stories about life with IBS and even low FODMAP food diaries and vlogs.
Low FODMAP cookbooks
There are also several lovely low FODMAP cookbooks on the market. These are the ones I like most:
- The FODMAP friendly kitchen – Emma Hatcher
- Low FODMAP diet step by step – Kate Scarlata
- The gut-friendly cookbook – Alana Scott. This book still has to be released, but is available for pre-order. Knowing Alana’s recipes, it must be good!
- Low FODMAP and vegan – Jo Stepaniak
- The FODMAP friendly vegan e-book – Sharon Rosenrauch
As you can see there are quite some ways to make delicious low FODMAP recipes! I hope this guide has helped you to start making your own delicious low FODMAP meals and enjoy food again.
If you have any questions, would like to have tips for a recipe or want to see a certain recipe on Karlijn’s Kitchen, feel free to drop me a message in the comments!
1 Comment
A very useful article, but I juat want to mention that Monash now list 75g of canned corn kernels as low FODMAP.