What Is Lazy Keto? (Plus 35+ Lazy Keto Meals) - Thinlicious (2024)

Lazy keto is an easy way to start your keto diet, especially with over 25 beginner lazy keto meals to choose from.

Keto meals may look complicated, but these delicious lazy recipes are quick to prepare and made with only a few simple ingredients.

In this post, I’ll explain how lazy keto is different from the traditional keto diet and give you a lazy keto meal plan, that is perfect to lose weight without complicated recipes. Many of the keto recipes are made with 5-ingredients or less.

What is lazy keto?

• Lazy keto – you make easy simple lazy keto meals made with a few simple ingredients as long as you are under 20g net carbs per day.
• Dirty keto – you buy and eat any keto junk food as long as you are under 20g net carbs per day.

The lazy keto diet is a cheats version of the ketogenic diet where the only thing you track is carbs, and you try to eat less than 20 grams of net carbs a day.

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You don’t count any other macros – not fat, not fiber, and not protein. Just the carbs.

Many people think lazy keto is eating keto bars and drinking keto shakes, but that is generally known as “dirty keto”. There are so many keto mistakes, so let’s clear everything up right now.

The terms dirty and lazy keto are often used interchangeably. In my “what is dirty keto” guide, I explained everything you need to know about the ketogenic diet, and which one to choose.

What is dirty keto?

• Lazy keto – you make easy simple lazy keto meals made with a few simple ingredients as long as you are under 20g net carbs per day.
• Dirty keto – you buy and eat any keto junk food as long as you are under 20g net carbs per day.

Another difference between dirty and clean keto (or pure keto) is that the dirty keto diet allows people to eat food from whatever source they want as long as they consume less than 20 grams of net carbs per day.

So many people who follow dirty keto rely heavily on keto bars, 1-minute mug cakes, low-carb bars, keto shakes, and other keto fast food meals.

Dirty keto is not as strict with the quality of meals you eat or the amount of protein/fat/grain/vegetable ratio as long as you stick to the 20g of carbs or less.

It’s useful for when there are days when you don’t have time to cook a clean keto meal and it’s more important to make a few sacrifices to stay within your macros.

Things like vegetables, meat protein, and even healthy fats are all things you could be missing out on if you do dirty keto long-term. I encourage you to care about the quality of the food you consume and its nutrition.

When you follow the strict clean keto diet, you will be giving your body the nutrition it needs.

Free keto meal plan (lazy keto meals)

One of the biggest struggles with the ketogenic diet is the time it takes to plan meals. You can download your free keto weekly meal plan to help you start out your keto journey with some delicious and simple recipes. In the meantime, let’s talk about some lazy keto recipes to try!

5-ingredient keto recipes

Lazy keto diet meals are quick and easy to make, made with only a few simple ingredients, and can be just as nutritious as when you spend hours cooking complicated keto dinner recipes.

All the lazy keto meals below are made with 5-ingredients or less. Cutting down on how many ingredients you use is one of the easiest ways to stick to your low-carb diet or keto diet and eat clean foods.

Eggs are a classic way to eat low-carb with no fuss. Eggs make perfect one pan meals for bnrekafast, lunch, or dinner.

Throw some chicken drumsticks together with some simple herbs and spices, cook in olive oil or coconut oil, and you have easy lazy keto meals made for the entire week.

Pork rinds are the perfect high-protein and high fat lazy keto recipe.

Lazy keto diet breakfasts

The easiest way to save time at breakfast (especially for keto beginners) is to make a keto smoothie or a make-ahead chia breakfast pudding. These sure beat a bulletproof coffee to start your day.

These easy lazy keto recipes will tickle the taste buds and all have a reduced carb intake to fit in with your keto lifestyle.

Here are 4 different ways to enjoy keto chia recipes. Each of them has a different macro count, so keep that in mind when you choose the one to make. There are chocolate and berry variations, the whole family will love.

Smoothies are a really easy way to start your day with a dose of nutrition without cooking. This keto green smoothie is packed with leafy greens, avocado, yogurt, and chia seeds. The entire family will love this.

When you are craving bread or muffins, you can make these keto muffins in just a minute. They actually come out pretty fluffy and taste just like carby muffins, only gluten-free and low-carb.

If you have 2 minutes in the morning, you can whip up these fluffy scrambled eggs. Top them with your favorite low-carb or sugar-free sauce, like pico de gallo or salsa. Losing weight never tasted so good.

Almond flour bread is a keto staple. Since it has so much protein, you can eat a slice of it for lunch or as a post-workout snack. This recipe helps you create bread that has a delicious taste and texture and is a firm family favorite.

This is another quick and easy breakfast idea on the clean keto plan. A keto breakfast burrito is so full of taste that you’ll want to make it for lunch too! It’s a complete meal packed with high-protein and mozzarella cheese.

Granola bars are a fantastic way to start the day. These grain-free granola bars are packed with fiber and antioxidants for a healthy jump start for your day or a midday snack.

You don’t have to give up bread when you are on keto, you just have to make your own. This 3-seed bread has a satisfying texture and you can pile it high with your favorite meats and veggies.

Lazy keto diet meals

The best lazy keto meals are the ones that are quick to make and taste delicious. Lazy meals don’t have to be bland, in fact, each meal is tasty and full of flavor.

Why not make double recipes for some lazy keto meals later in the week?

This is known as an ABC burger because it has avocado, bacon, and chicken. It’s a really different way to enjoy a quick burger for lunch.

If you’d like a completely different burger experience, try this Mexican Chicken burger. It uses ground chicken instead for a surprising texture that actually tastes pretty amazing.

Here are 50 more bunless burger ideas to try and a quick and easy keto chicken burrito bowl.

The perfect high-protein lazy keto meal has to be keto chicken salad. It’s a fun way to shake up your meal prep routine!

You don’t even need to cook the chicken, just pick up a hot rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, and mix shredded chicken with shredded cheese or a creamy keto sauce.

With only a few minutes of prep time, this lazy keto recipe looks impressive but throw it in the oven and forget it. Serve with leftover cauliflower mac and cheese for a comforting low-carb keto meal.

This is a really simple way to make chicken for dinner and it is full of surprising flavor! Tandoori chicken tastes like curry chicken from your favorite takeout restaurant. Serve with cauliflower rice for a complete meal.

There are so many creative ways you can use this slow cooker chicken recipe. Shred the chicken and eat it for lunch, or add a few veggies and make this a homemade chicken soup. You’ll never go back to canned soup again!

Think this looks complicated? Think again. Just throw a chicken in the slow cooker and you have meals made for days. Almost zero prep time.

Keto slow cooker pulled pork is another classic staple that you can use in tons of other recipes! Eat it by itself or pile it on top of a bed of lettuce greens with some sour cream for a filling lunch. It’s the ultimate lazy keto meal prep.

If you have an Instant Pot, you can have a filling lazy keto meal ready in just minutes (yes, minutes). This keto salmon recipe even comes with a mayo recipe that you can use on other recipes too.

Lazy keto snacks

Don’t reach for a keto bar, these easy recipes are keto-friendly and super fast to make. 70+ lazy keto snack ideas (for beginners) is a great list to keep on hand.

Hard-boiled eggs are the perfect high-protein snack. You can chop them up in your salad and they make a really easy breakfast you can take with you out the door. This is how to make hard-boiled eggs in the Instant Pot in just a few minutes.

Chaffles are some of the most amazing creations of keto recipes. They are amazing cheese waffles and super versatile. These double chocolate chaffles taste like dessert! You make them right on your waffle maker in a matter of just minutes.

Super easy keto recipes (under 5 minutes)

What do you eat on the keto diet if you have no time to cook? These recipes can all be made in under 5-minutes, and are low-carb, gluten-free, sugar-free, and tasty too.

This single-serve keto mug cake takes only 1 minute to prepare. It is packed with healthy fats and fiber.

You can have that scrumptious hazelnut spread on the keto diet- just make it with clean ingredients and no sugar. This sugar-free Nutella tastes amazing on your favorite chaffle!

Easy lazy meal prep

The best meal prep tips for easy lazy keto recipes are:

Cook once, serve twice – try to get into the habit of cooking a double meal and you can use the leftovers the next day for a quick keto dinner.

Vegetables – go to your local grocery store and buy pre-packaged bags of salad and pre-chopped vegetables, and frozen vegetables.

Rotisserie chicken – buy a cooked rotisserie chicken on your way home from work and throw it on a bag of salad or some fresh vegetables. No meal prep is required and you can use the leftover chicken for a creamy chicken salad the next day.

Cook plain meat – cook plain chicken breasts or ground beef then use the cooked meat in a few lazy keto recipes for the rest of the week.

Lazy keto freezer meals -never ever go back for second servings but pack any leftovers in an airtight container and freeze so you have plenty of lazy keto meals in your freezer. Just reheat and dinner is ready.

One of the best meal prep ideas I have found is to use ground beef. This recipe saves really well and you can use it in a ton of different ways and recipes too.

Cooked beef can be used for easy meal prep and lazy keto meals such as:

Finally, if you are craving fast food and want to spend a little more time in the kitchen, check out this list of 29 copycat keto recipes. You’ll find everything from how to make low-carb bread to pizza recipes. This is a fantastic list to keep on hand when you need it.

Lazy keto FAQ