Best low-carb high-fat foods

All weight-loss diets include restrictions. On a low-carb diet, we say goodbye to carbs.
But ketogenic low-carb diets, like Atkins Induction and Keto, are also very high in fat. You MUST eat lots of fat in order for the diet to work.
How great is that? You can have the most indulgent and hedonistic meals – while losing weight!
This post lists the most scrumptious low-carb high-fat (LCHF) foods. Let’s count our blessings and rejoice.
Vegetarians and low-fat dieters – please don’t read this. It might be a traumatic experience for you. You have been warned!

Fatty red meat

Nothing beats a gorgeous rib-eye or sirloin steak. I like mine cooked with the meat rare, fat crispy on the outside and translucent inside.
Rib of beef roast is another favourite. Basically a gigantic rib-eye joint – lots of fat and utterly delicious (read more on roasting beef).
Lamb shoulder or neck and pork belly also have plenty of fat. The best method for those is slow-cooking.
Finally, keep your eyes open for any hog roast stands – tender pork meat with some crackling, ooh… I have in the past attended music festivals just so that I can get to eat some hog roast. (Unfortunately, I haven’t yet found a way to recreate this pork experience at home on a smaller scale.
Red meat fat percentage (fatty cuts): 20-30% fat

Bacon

Mmmm, bacon… Bacon is carnivore’s candy.
You can pan-fry or grill bacon. Cooking it in the oven takes a bit longer, but produces excellent results. Just put bacon rashers on a roasting tray, add a couple of spoons of water, stick it in a very hot oven for 10 mins or so. Then turn it down to about Gas Mark 4 and roast for another 15-20 mins.
Another cool way to cook bacon is by making a bacon weave.
Bacon fat percentage: 40-50%

Cheese

When eating out, desserts are off-limits – for obvious reasons (sugar!). Let’s thank the French for the custom of finishing a meal with a cheese course.
These days, British restaurants often include this option to their dessert menus. British cheeses can give continentals a run for their money in terms of taste. Check out Cropwell Bishop for stilton and Davidstow for cheddar.
Cheese fat percentage: 20-30% fat

Roast chicken – with skin

On low-carb, you can forget the clichéd advice of removing the skin from poultry. Chicken tastes so much better for it!
Roast chicken is one of the easiest meals to cook. Basically just stick it in the oven (20 minutes per 1lb/450g, plus an extra 20 minutes).
If you want to jazz it up, experiment with marinades, rubs and stuffing. Check out my method for slow-cooking chicken.
But if you can’t be bothered to do any of that, you can always get a ready-made roast chicken from a rotisserie.
Chicken fat percentage: 15-20% fat

Cream

We can’t have traditional sugary desserts on a low-carb diet. But who cares when we can have cream instead!
Double cream (that’s heavy cream in the USA) plus a bit of sweetener is all you need for a dessert. It definitely fills the void. Just whip up some double cream with sweetener and unsweetened cocoa powder. Check out my Keto chocolate mousse recipe with butter and cream.
You can also use double cream to thicken and add some luxuriousness to sauces and soups.
Double cream fat percentage: 50% fat

Butter

Butter is pure fat! It can make anything taste better – literally anything.
Use it for frying, spread it on low-carb bread, make gorgeous sauces like hollandaise, add it to boiled vegetables to give them some extra oomph.
Can’t go wrong!
Butter fat percentage: 100% fat

Duck breast – with skin

Duck breasts are another example of a food that is clearly meant to be eaten with the skin on. Discarding it makes the whole experience plummet dramatically. So keep it on and enjoy!
It tastes better when the skin is crispy. Make some criss-cross scores on the skin and gently fry duck breasts skin-down for about 5-10 minutes, spooning the fat out of the pan.
Then stick them in the oven for another 10-20 minutes (depending on whether you like them pink or well-done). This method removes some of the fat but makes the top layer of the skin nice and crispy.
Duck fat percentage: 40% fat

Egg yolks

Egg yolks are much more fun than the whites! On a low-carb diet, you don’t have to put up with any nonsense about discarding the yolks.
Egg white omelette, haha! Say no and embrace the yolks.
Egg yolk fat percentage: 27% fat

Marrow bones

This one is for committed carnivores. And definitely not for the squeamish!
Roasted marrow bones make a wonderful decadent treat. Bone marrow is basically pure fat.
It tastes utterly delicious and melts in your mouth.  The epitome of high-fat food!
Marrow bones fat percentage: 90% fat

Macadamia nuts

All nuts are high in fat, but macadamia nuts are the champion, with 80g of fat per 100g of nuts.
Macadamia nuts are delicious roasted and salted. You can also chop or grind them and use as a dessert ingredient.
Macadamia nuts fat percentage: 80% fat

Share your low-carb high-fat recipes and tips

Do you have your favourite low-carb high-fat food not listed here? Please share in the comments below, and feel free to include relevant links to your own blog / Pinterest / any other source.
Disclaimer about high fat
I realise that this post is a shameless ode to fat, and reading it alone is probably enough to give a heart attack to a low-fat advocate.  To those, and to anyone unfamiliar with LCHF principles, here are some additional points to note:
To those, and to anyone unfamiliar with LCHF principles, here are some additional points to note:

• LCHF works if you are very strict keeping your carbs low – then you can indulge in having high-fat foods. If you are not bothering to restrict carbs, then eating extra fat as described above will lead to weight gain.
• LCHF suppresses appetite so although you would eat high-calorie, high-fat foods, you would consume fewer calories overall.
• When on strict LCHF, your body will eventually switch into ketosis, and start burning fat for fuel instead of carbs. This is the key to this weight loss method.