air fryer – The Keto Guru

Keto Taco Zucchini Boats

Well this was good…like really good. Imagine having all the same flavors of Taco Tuesday without the extra carbs. This is exactly what you get here. Now, I’ve done several iterations of this recipe; philly boats, chicken bacon ranch, but this has to be my favorite. Did I mention how super simple this is as well? Well, get after it, what ya waiting for?

Ingredients:

1lb. ground beef
1/2 (4 oz.) block of cream cheese
3 nice sized zucchini (get them as straight as you can)
Mexican blend grated cheese
Taco seasoning
Taco fixin’s of your choice

Instructions:

We need to start out by washing our zucchini and then cutting the tip off of both ends, but just the tip! Once this is done, cut them down the center as straight as you can.

Now, take a spoon and dig out the center. Don’t dig too deep, but dig deep enough to get enough of the filling inside. Also, stop about 1/4 inch from either end so the filling doesn’t fall out. Repeat until all 6 are done this way.

Throw these into the air fryer at 400 degrees and cook for 10-12 minutes. We just want to soften them up a bit prior to filling them and cooking again. I also elect to sprinkle with salt for a bit of added flavor.

While your zucchini is cookin’, add your ground beef to a skillet and get to browning it up. Cook until it’s good and brown. At this point I elect to remove the grease because it will make a mess in our boat. And, now that it’s cooked and drained, this is when I add the seasoning. Season to your liking.

Once your meat is cooked, take your 1/2 block of cream cheese, cubed, and throw in with your ground beef. Keep your fire on low and gently work it around until the ground beef and cream cheese is combined well. Kill the fire.

At this point, everything should be ready to stuff. Take your zucchini out of the air fryer. Using a spoon, start adding your filling into your boats. Fill each one and pack them down real good. This helps prevent them from falling out. Repeat until they are all stuffed. Just for reference, 1lb. of ground beef perfectly stuffed 6 boats.

Take some grated mexican blend cheese (or cheese of your choice) and sprinkle on top of each boat. Put back into air fryer and cook for about 10 minutes, or until your cheese is nice and crispy on top.

Plate your boats and start topping with your favorite taco fixin’s. I use sour cream, guacamole and crema. Hope you enjoy!

Keto Spicy McChicken Sandwich

I’ve made a lot of dupe’s but this one here was pretty dadgum awesome. I was actually going to make chicken nuggets tonight but I changed my mind while on my long run today. It tasted very close to a McDonalds McChicken. The only thing was it didn’t come out as spicy as I hoped (add more cajun hot sauce!).

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground chicken
2 eggs
Cajun Hot Sauce
Salt/Pepper
Seasonings of choice (preferably something with some spice)
3 Eggs for egg wash
6 oz. pork rinds
1.5 cups almond flour

Instructions:

Let’s knock out the batter first. In a food processor, add your pork rinds, almond flour and some seasonings. Place on blend until you have a nice powdery pork rind mixture.

In a separate bowl, crack your eggs for your egg wash. Add as much of the cajun hot sauce as you desire. If you don’t want spicy, don’t add any. Mix well.

Onto your chicken patties. In a bowl, add your ground chicken, 2 eggs, salt, pepper and seasonings. Mix well until all combined.

After mixed, use your hand to form 1/4lb chicken patties. Pack them as tight as you can. The mixture will be a bit sticky but they will hold together. Take each patty and drown in your egg wash. Remove from egg and immediately place in your pork rind mixture. Place in a lined (helps with cleaning) air fryer. Repeat this step until you are finished. 2lbs of ground chicken should yield 8 patties.

Air fry your patties for about 15 minutes, flipping halfway. You can cook a little longer if you want to get extra crunch but you risk drying out the chicken.

While your chicken is cooking, get your bread toasted and ready. I make PSMF bread but you can also use your favorite low carb bread. If you want to make PSMF bread, look up Maria Emmerich and search for her recipe.

Butter both sides of the bread and warm it in a pan. Toast until you get it to where you like it.

Mayo both sides of your bread, add your chicken patty, a slice of cheese, sliced tomato, shredded lettuce and cap it with your 2nd slice of bread. Head to the table and enjoy!

Keto Eggplant Parmesean

Sometimes when I have no clue what I’m going to do it turns out the best. I had fresh eggplant in my garden and needed to cook it. So, I got into the Keto lab and started working. There’s nothing in this recipe that I would change. It turned out fantastic! This recipe will be a little different. I didn’t really measure my ingredients but it all worked out. I think it will work out for you as well!

Ingredients:

3 fresh eggplants
Rao’s marinara sauce or any other Keto friendly marinara
Grated parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese
4 boneless skinless breasts cut into tenders or pre-cut tenders
eggs for battering
Seasonings
- Salt
- Pepper
- Italian

Instructions:

The 1st step will be to sweat out the eggplant. This is preventative to remove any bitter taste that may come from the plant. Mine weren’t bitter but I did this step anyway. Wash your eggplant and slice into 1/4″ slices. Salt 1 side and let sit for 30 minutes.

Move onto your chicken. Use this recipe to prepare your chicken: https://justaketoguru.com/2020/08/12/keto-parmesan-chicken-fettuccine/

After sweating out your eggplant for 30 minutes, we will batter them now. Take your eggplant and dip into your egg wash, let drip off, then place in a bowl with the grated parm and coat both sides. Repeat this until all of your eggplant is battered. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove from the oven. Place a dollop of marinara on each of the eggplant. After adding marinara to all your eggplant, add a pinch of mozzarella to them and put back into the oven for 10 minutes. Remove when the 10 minutes is up.

Plate your eggplant, add your parmesean chicken and enjoy. It’s really easy to make and really yummy!

ENHANCE_BLUR

Keto Philly Steak Zucchini Boats

A couple of weeks ago I posted a recipe very similar to this one, Chicken Bacon Ranch Zucchini Boats. I knew that the boats could be stuffed with so many other things. Tonight, philly steak was the chosen one and it did not disappoint. This one took a bit longer than a normal meal because there were several parts from trimming the steak to finish. You can cut some time off by buying pre-cut philly meat but that takes the fun from it.

Ingredients: Yields 8 zucchini boats

2-3 large ribeye steaks
1 block softened full fat cream cheese
1/2 white onion
1 cup mushrooms
2 jumbo jalapeno
8 slices provolone cheese
4 large zucchini (find them as straight as possible)
1 tbsp salted grass fed butter
1 tbsp avocado oil
Salt/pepper/garlic powder to taste

Instructions:

Start by slicing your fresh ribeye steak very thin. The thinner the better. Make sure you cut against the grain so your meat isn’t chewy. Set to the side.

On a cutting board, slice the ends of your zucchini and split down the middle. Do your best to cut as straight as possible. Using a spoon, remove the insides leaving about 1/4″ of the meat.

Spray your zucchini boats with avocado oil and place them in the air fryer or oven for 10 minutes. We just need to soften them up a bit prior to stuffing.

On a cutting board, slice up 1/2 of an onion and your peppers. Open your pre-sliced mushrooms and wash, set to the side.

In a frying pan, add 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp of avocado oil. On med-high, throw in your onions only at this point. Start sweating them down. Let them cook for about 15 minutes, casually stirring.

After 15 minutes of sweating them down, toss in the peppers and mushrooms and continue on med heat for another 10 minutes or so while you are cooking your beef.

In an alternate pan, add your beef, 2 tbsp of avocado oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder and cook for just a few minutes on med-high, just to a slight pink color. We will be adding the veggies and airfrying so the meat will continue to cook.

Once your steak is cooked, drain the juice off and add it to the veggies. Combine.

Add your cubed softened cream cheese and turn your heat back on to med-high. Stir this really well until all of the cream cheese is melted and combined with the meat/veggies. This shouldn’t take more than 4 or 5 minutes.

Now that we have everything cooked, it’s time to start stuffing the boats. Using tongs or a spoon, divide your mixture into your 8 boats. You may have to use your hand a bit to get them formed into the boat and not overflowing the sides. Once stuffed, place your boats into the air fryer/oven and cook on 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, pull them out and put a slice of provolone cheese on each of the boats. I cut my slice in half to make it go end to end. Place back into the air fryer/oven for about 2 minutes, or until the cheese is nicely melted.

And that’s it! Now remove these bad boys and enjoy!

Keto Zucchini Boats – Chicken Bacon Ranch

Wow, this turned out to be a crowd pleaser. Super simple, super fresh and super clean keto. There are so many options you can do with a zucchini boat. Tonight, I decided to try a chicken/bacon/ranch version. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 boneless skinless chicken breast
3/4 cup shredded natural cheese, your choice
1/2 cup crumbled bacon
Ranch seasoning
3 large, fairly straight zucchini

Instructions:

Get your chicken cooking so you can work on your stuffing and boats while it cooks. I prefer to cook mine in the air fryer. I air fry my breasts at 400 degrees for 13 minutes, flipping at the halfway point. Spray with avocado oil and use a seasoning of your choice.

While your chicken is cooking, cut the 2 ends of your zucchini off and slice down the middle. Do the best you can to cut as straight as you can. That’s why it’s important to select nice and straight zucchini.

Using a spoon, scoop out the insides. Be careful not to go too deep and don’t go all the way to the end. You want to create a nice pocket down the center.

Once you have scooped out the insides, spray with a bit of oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven, or another airfryer if you have 2 like me, and cook for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. We just want to softened them up a bit.

Now, your chicken should be done. Let your chicken rest for no less than 5 minutes. Once rested, slice your breast longway, then chop into small pieces. I only needed 1 and 1/2 breast to fill 6 boats.

Add your sliced chicken to a mixing bowl, add your bacon and cheese and top with ranch seasoning. I didn’t measure, I just poured what I thought would be good. Mix well. Hit it again with some more ranch seasoning.

Now, time to get to filling up your boats. Get your spoon and put some of the CBR into the boat. Pack it in real good and make sure it’s not over-flowing. Continue until all of your boats are filled.

Place your boats into the air fryer or oven and cook at 400 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. You’ll know when they are ready when you see the cheese nice and brown and the bacon looking crispy. Remove, plate and enjoy!

Keto Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Pork Chops

This was plum ridiculous. It’s bursting with flavor and super easy to make. If you like jalapeno poppers and pork chops, you get the best of both worlds here. You are going to want to save this one and make it STAT!

Ingredients:

1 block softened full fat cream cheese
1/2 cup bacon crumbles
4 or 5 fresh jalapenos
Seasonings of choice
6 center cut pork loin chops

Instructions:

Begin by preparing the stuffing. In a large mixing bowl, add the cream cheese, bacon and jalapenos. Mix well until combined.

Now it’s time to prepare your pork chops. Begin by slicing a pocket on each one of the chops. Be careful not to cut all the way to the bottom and not too far on the sides. This way, all the stuffing will stay inside.

Using a spoon, pack each one of the pork chops with filling. Start with 1 spoonful in each and then keep adding until you are out of stuffing. You may have to use your thumb to pack it on in there! Use a toothpick across the top to close as best as you can.

Hit wach pork chop with some avocado spray and season to your liking. Don’t be afraid to season here!

Place your chops into the air fryer or oven, standing up. This will ensure all of your stuffing will stay inside during the cooking process. Air fry/bake at 400 degrees for about 17 minutes or you hit a minimum temp of 145 degrees. Remove and rest a few minutes.

Plate and enjoy!

Keto Buffalo Chicken Dip Tacos

Now hear me out…. this was incredibly good. Just had an itch for buffalo chicken dip and tacos, so, I just combined them both. You won’t believe how smooth and creamy this is. And if you cook the chicken just right, it’s nice and spicy as well. You got to make this one!

Ingredients: (Yields 6 tacos)

1/2 block softened full fat cream cheese
1 cup grated natural cheese
1/2 cup buffalo dip
3 thin chicken breasts
6 low carb tortillas (I order from these people, they are the best): https://www.facebook.com/thesalsatexan

Instructions:

Start by seasoning up your chicken and getting it cooked in the air fryer. Don’t be shy to season your chicken well. Cook in the air fryer at 400 degrees for about 12-14 minutes (or 165 degrees internal).

While the chicken is cooking, get your softened cream cheese and cut into blocks. Add your 1 cup of cheese. We will wait on the chicken at this point.

Once your chicken is cooked, let it rest for 5 minutes. Slice your chicken up in small chunks and add to your bowl. Now add your buffalo sauce and mix well.

Get your low carb tortillas and put a good spoonful on each of them. Fold over and crisp up in a frying pan on med-high heat. Flip, and crisp up the other side.

Plate and enjoy. Add guacamole, sour cream, salsa… however you like to dress up your tacos! Hope you enjoy

Keto Air Fried Colossal Turkey/Chicken Nuggets

No need to run out to your favorite fast food joint for that nugget fix. These are super simple to make at home and 100% Keto. For this batch, I used ground Turkey. It was very lean meat but came out extremely moist. You will not be disappointed. I made them huge but you can make them whatever size you want. Just remember that the cooking time will vary depending on how big you make them.

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground turkey or chicken
5 eggs
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
5 tbs almond flour
1/2 bag Kroger plain/spicy pork rinds
Seasonings of choice

Instructions:

Batter:

Add your pork rinds to the blender and blend for ~10 seconds. Remove lid, add your almond flour and 1/2 cup grated parmesan. Put lid back on and blend again for ~10 seconds until you have a nicely mixed powder.

In a separate bowl, whip 2 eggs for the egg wash.

Nuggets:

In another bowl, add your turkey/chicken meat. Season generously, add your 1/4 cup of grated parmesan, and add 2 eggs. Mix really well until all of the ingredients are mixed well.

Roll out balls in whatever size you like. Dip in the egg and directly into the pork rind breading. Repeat this process until you use all of your meat.

Place your nuggets into your 400 degree pre-heated air fryer and air fry for ~20 minutes. If you do not have a rack system, you may need to flip at the halfway point. It’s important to ensure you hit the 165 internal temp. You might need a thermometer to check. You can find one here (this is my favorite and it’s cheap)—> https://amzn.to/2YFiV8m

Plate and enjoy!!

Keto Air Fried Pork Chops

Wow is all I can say. It’s been a long time since I had a good fried pork chop. And this did not disappoint. The flavor was there, the chops were very tender, and the texture was awesome. This Keto friendly pork rind crust does not disappoint.

Ingredients:

Bone-in or bone-out pork chops. I used bone-in and cut the bone out.
Seasonings of choice
6 tbs almond flour
4 oz grated parmesan cheese
1/2 bag Kroger pork rinds (mild or spicy or mixed) or pork rind of your choice
3 eggs

Instructions

Take your pork chops and season both sides generously. Trust me folks, season your meat. Don’t be shy.

Make your breading first. In your blender, add your pork rinds. I find it easier to semi-crush them in the bag first before dumping them in. Pulse them for 10 seconds. Add the almond flour and parmesan cheese. Blend again for 10-15 seconds. You should have a nicely formed pork rind powder.

In a large bowl, crack your eggs, add some seasoning and whip your eggs for battering. Set up your batter station with your pork chops, egg wash, and pork rinds, left to right.

Dip your pork chop in the egg wash. Let the excess wash run off. Immediately lay your chop on the pork rinds and press gently. Flip and press the other side as well. Repeat until all of your chops are battered. Place them on your air fryer rack as you go. Lightly season the top once again with your seasoning of choice. I chose pepper here.

Place your chops in your pre-heated air fryer and air fry for 17-20 minutes, or internal temp of 145. If you don’t have an air fryer with racks, you will need to flip at the halfway point to crisp both sides. You may go a little longer to get the outside crunchy. When you hit temp, remove from air fryer and rest a few minutes, preferably where you can get air under. This helps keep them crispy. Plate and enjoy.

Keto Guru Air Fried Coconut Chicken

Super simple, super sweet coconut chicken. This actually happened by chance tonight. I was going to make shrimp again and the batch I was given wasn’t too appealing. So, I pulled out the trusty yard bird and threw down some tenders. This is really easy and I’m telling you, the coconut sweet drops really bring out that coconut flavor that’s missing from the unsweetened coconut flakes.

Ingredients:

6 tbs coconut flour
2 or 3 eggs
5 oz unsweetened coconut flakes
2 squirts of coconut sweet drops; can be found here —>> https://amzn.to/2Q0Ccwp

Instructions:

Set up your batter station from left to right. Chicken, coconut flour, egg wash, and then coconut flakes. In the eggs, add your 2 squirts of the sweet drops. You can thank me later.

Take your chicken from the package and roll in the coconut flour. Make sure you coat the entire surface of the tender.

Dip coated tender in the egg mixture. Make sure you let the excess run off.

Directly place your tender on the coconut. Press down gently and then flip. Make sure you get the coconut all over the entire surface. Place on your air fryer rack. Repeat until all of your tenders are coated. Season the tenders once all battered for extra flavor. I chose a spicy seasoning so we could have that sweet and spicy combo.

Place your tenders in your pre-heated air fryer for 12 minutes at 400 degrees. If you don’t have an air fryer with racks, you will need to flip at about 6 minutes. Remove when your 12 minutes are up and let the rest for a few minutes.

Plate however you like. Pair with a nice vegetable, a great salad (like I did), or just use to dip in your favorite Keto approved sauce. Enjoy this super simple recipe!