Keto for the Fourth: Get Outdoors and Celebrate!

Start with Huge and Colorful Salads

Eating a generous salad can act as a fantastic nutrient-dense meal with the addition of the right ingredients, but eating a crisp and delicious cold salad is perfect on any hot summer day.

You really can't go wrong with many variations of leafy greens and other fixings, but here are some of our favorite festive salads to consider:

• Green Bean Salad with Hearts of Palm, Olives, Red Pepper, and Feta

• Cauliflower Faux-tato Salad

• Chopped Chicken Salad with Ranch

• Red, White, and Blue Cheesecake Salad

• Colorful Rainbow Salad

• Keto Coleslaw

• Nut and Berry Chicken Salad

• Grilled Green Bean Salad with Cucumbers and Dill

• Heirloom Tomato Salad

• Creamy Cucumber Salad

• Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

• Cobb Salad

• Greek Salad

• Chef Salad

• Caprese Salad

• Spinach and Mint Salad with Goat Cheese

• Asparagus, Snap Pea, and Radish Salad

• Roasted Red Cabbage-and-Collard Green Slaw

• Classic Egg Salad

Spotlight on the Grill

We can create many delightful dishes on a smoky grill, and a good sear is akin to the best summer cookouts. Here are some grilling options to consider making that are flavor-filled and low in carbs:

• Consider making some fall-off-the-bone-tender ribs slathered in sugar-free sauces and prepare to dazzle your tastebuds.

• Keto Buffalo cauliflower bites are an excellent addition to any protein or veggie that you may choose to grill.

• Whip up a batch of perfectly seared 80/20 burgers and grab a pickle along with some creamy keto coleslaw for the perfect picnic plate.

• Break out your skewers, give them a good soaking, stack them high with chicken, lamb, steak, or veggies, and pair them with refreshing cucumber yogurt sauce for a delicious option.

Delicious, Seasonal Sides

• Grilled Summer Squash With Lemon-Scallion Dressing

• Creamy Keto Coleslaw is a classic side dish that never goes out of style.

• Add a tray of seasoned and well-oiled brussels sprouts to a grilling rack, sprinkle with coarse salt and create the marvelous simple side that's ideal for anyone seeking to minimize carb intake.

• Asparagus is a fantastic keto side that works well with a wide range of foods, but wrap it in bacon, and it elevates to star status!

• Sometimes a side dish can virtually act as an entire meal since it offers a complete macronutrient profile, plus loads of antioxidants too. Dishes like chicken & cauliflower couscous salad are a perfect bowl-based dish—and it's easily portable.

• Create a keto charcuterie board on a stick with some savory antipasto kebabs. Plus, you can easily prepare these tasty creations ahead to leverage meal prep to execute a smooth experience on the big day of feting.

Summer Ready Keto Sweet Treats

The day's savory food options provide many meals to enjoy while you await the night's fireworks, but there are also tons of sweet keto treats to make if you want to cap, or graze through, the day sampling sugar-free confections.

Make a red, white, and blue keto poke cake for a fluffy and frosted dessert that's delicious and iconic. Plus, you can ditch the cake and create a similar tasty treat with a red, white, and blue keto cheesecake bowl—both are equally amazing keto dessert options tailored for the fourth.

Bake some light, low-carb french vanilla angel food cakes and top them with a heaping dollop of whipped cream, dotted with a handful of vibrant berries for a simple yet satisfying dessert option.

Pizzas aren't an exclusively savory dish, although some may argue against that point strongly. But once one tastes a flavorful keto dessert pizza, they may change their mind. This may be the year to convince your family of the allure of a sweet pizza pie.

Entice the littles in your life to eat more fruit with some berry-based pops with a splash of citrus, and fill sickle molds complete with what will become a nutritious delight, bursting with flavor.

Whip up a strawberry-packed sweet trifle and dig in and enjoy this summer salute to strawberry shortcake to round out your holiday meal.

Keto caramelized pecans are a fantastic sweet and salty treat that you can make ahead and parcel into decorative serving bags or boxes to enjoy while watching the night's fireworks display—the hardest part will be not eating the entire batch!

Strawberry shortcake in a jar is also an excellent dessert to prepare ahead of the day's events and pop open for all to enjoy while mingling and enjoying the day.

Create a simple yet satisfying dish that offers a perfect blend of sweet and savory with a delicious berry skewer with an herbaceous and creamy goat cheese dip—YUM!

Gather the troops and build some crafty fruit sparklers lined with blueberries and topped with a star-shaped watermelon—so much fun!

In the mood to bake to celebrate the fourth? Whip up a colorful firecracker cake that's as fun to look at as it is tasty to eat.

Silicone molds allow us to create endless dessert options. No-bake lemon berry cheesecakes are the perfect little poppers to line your dessert spread to offer guests a bite-sized treat to help you manage your macros.

Holiday Beverages

Enjoying various foods is a central part of any Fourth of July festivities, but a meal is never complete without the complement of a refreshing beverage.

There are many flavorful options to sip on this summer, and here are some of our favorites that you may also want to concoct for the upcoming festivities:

• Consider a berrylicious low carb margarita to wind down as you enjoy your grilled salmon and veggies; it's a perfect complement to any keto meal.

• A touch of red adds a tantalizing streak of color to your beverage layout, and a rosé with a sprig of fresh mint is another fabulous addition to incorporate into your libation selection.

• Mojitos are a perfect cocktail on keto since it contains vodka, lime, mint and any keto-friendly sugar alternative of your choosing.

  
  Also, add a handful of blackberries to your drink for an extra touch of pizazz and a hint of fruity flavor.

• Coconut and lime is a match made in heaven, and they pair perfectly to create a spiked coconut limeade; it's refreshing and brightens up any meal!

• Grab a handful of fresh strawberries and make a spiked berry lemonade in moments. It's a refreshing beverage that aids in replenishing electrolytes.

Dressings and Sauces

There is an endless amount of keto-friendly dressing to quickly whisk together in moments if you want to create your concoctions at home. Still, there are also some low-carb-friendly store-bought dressings or sauces to use if you're seeking a ready-made option. Just remember to read ingredient labels to make sure they are keto friendly and free of added sugars.

If you want to try making some homemade keto sauces or dressings, you're also in luck as it's easy, and you can control the ingredients to ensure the freshest quality and customized taste.

Here are some options to explore:

• Keto Bang Bang Sauce: Combine sweet chili sauce, mayonnaise, sriracha (or your preferred hot sauce), and you're on your way to creating a creamy sauce with a kick that's perfect with everything!

  
  Plus, couple the sauce with our Bang Bang Shrimp recipe, and you've got a perfect match.

• Big Mac Sauce: Most would agree that the element that makes the Mac major is the sauce! The great news is that it's super simple to make: whisk together mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, yellow mustard, and ketchup (for that iconic salmon-colored hue) with vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika, and voila!

• Homemade Basil Pesto: Adding some savory basil pesto to your meals is a fantastic way to elevate a recipe's flavor. Plus, making pesto at home is an excellent way to save as it's considerably more cost-effective to DIY.

• Spicy Lemon Herb Sauce: Citrus and herbs make an excellent marinade for chicken or fish and can brighten or cut through the richness in some decadent keto dishes.

• Keto Avocado Hollandaise: Allergic to eggs, or opting not to eat them? This recipe is an excellent egg-free alternative to traditional Hollandaise sauce.

  
  This sauce is super luscious despite the omission of eggs and is a perfect option for those eating a vegan or vegetarian keto diet.

• Garlic Avocado Caesar Dressing: For those who opt to journey into the niche keto vegan lifestyle, dressings like this avocado-based beauty are excellent to make regularly, especially for festive occasions.

• All-purpose Easy Keto Mustard Salad Dressing: You can use a mustard sauce in so many ways, in dressings, sauces, or as a standalone condiment.

  
  Prepare an all-purpose mustard sauce, and you have the base for a variety of remixes and options to add an extra burst of flavor to your Independence Day dishes.

• Sugar-free Caramel Sauce (perfect for a mile-high keto ice cream sundae!)

• Garlic Butter: There are endless uses for garlic butter when grilling; it enhances the eating experience with everything from grilled shrimp to seared steak.

  
  Garlic and compote herb butter are an excellent option to keep available in your keto kitchen as they're a simple way to inject rich flavor and dimension to dishes with ease.

• Coconut Herb Sauce: This versatile sauce is another fantastic dairy-free option and works wonderfully with fish and chicken.

• Chimichurri Sauce: Make sure to grab this flavorful sauce if you're preparing some steak for your July 4th spread. It's the perfect complement to a marbled cut of quality meat.

• Keto Cheese Sauce: Heavy cream, butter, and parmesan cheese are ingredients found in many keto kitchens, and they're essential for making an easy and delicious keto cheese sauce.

  
  Grill some broccoli and drizzle a bowl brimming with cruciferous stalks using your preferred silky and savory keto cheese sauce.

• Cowboy Sauce: This is another universal sauce that's delicious with everything; it's a butter-based sauce, after all. How could one ever go wrong?

  
  This sauce is so spectacular that it makes grilled bites of chicken or steak sing. Plus, you can pour this buttery sauce over some grilled mushrooms or creamy cauliflower mash for a genuinely comforting food option.

• Easy Greek Tzatziki: If you're a grill or pitmaster and prepare some slow-fired lamb for keto gyros or kebabs, you'll love this refreshing and crisp sauce.

  
  Pair with a cucumber and feta cheese salad with olives and red onions for a Mediterranean-inspired delight.

• Sugar-free BBQ Sauce: There are several fantastic and flavorful bbq sauce options available in stores and online, but it's also a great base recipe to master so you can customize it as you wish.

  
  It's a perfect ingredient for your chicken and other meats with a broad range of flavor profiles and styling options—like white bbq sauce put on the map by pitmasters in northern Alabama.

Condiments & Dips

• Eggplant Dip: Also known as baba ganoush, eggplant dip is a versatile and nutritious addition to any grilled keto platter.

• Keto Spinach Dip: You can never go wrong with a creamy and dreamy keto spinach dip. Dunk keto tortilla chips or veggies for an ooey-gooey, healthy and decadent treat.

• Keto Chimichurri: We love enjoying the boost of flavor provided by chimichurri sauce poured over a seared fatty steak with a discrete topping of caramelized onions; delish!

• Keto Avocado Hummus: This dip offers a little, “guacamole, and hummus had a baby,” in the best way.

  
  It's an excellent recipe because it delivers all the traditional taste and texture you'd want with a fraction of the carbs.

• Wasabi Mayonnaise: Add some wasabi powder to mayo, along with some horseradish, and make your own fresh and spicy keto wasabi mayonnaise. It may inspire you to make or order some keto-friendly sushi to celebrate your efforts—delish!

• Satay Sauce: Add a dash of satay (or peanut) sauce to infuse a bit of Asian flair to various recipes; it adds an unexpected flair that many enjoy.

• Blue Cheese Butter: Mash together some premium grass-fed butter with a pungent blue cheese to create a fatty and flavorful condiment that can significantly enhance flavor with just a pat or two.

• Low-carb Ketchup: A cookout without ketchup is incongruent; they go together like peanut butter and jelly and sorely missed when you have one without the other.

  
  Fortunately, you can quickly whip up some homemade, sugar-free ketchup in your high-speed blender in moments. Not only is it a simple recipe, but the flavor of freshly made ketchup also adds a delightful touch of home to the day's fare.

  Also, take advantage of compote herb butter and infused oils to create depth of flavor in grilled, smoked, and barbecue recipes; the addition enhances taste exponentially.

  Try the following options to increase and expand the flavor profile of your keto diet:

• Lemon and Dill Butter: Grilled fish is this butter's perfect companion. Spread this zesty herb treat on generously and dig in!

  
  Plus, additional butter blends like parmesan butter, whipped lemon butter, or cilantro butter are excellent options to elevate the taste of any grilled entree–make all, if you like, so you have lots of options.

• Bacon Butter: Just the idea of the two items in the condiment makes it a winner. Bacon: yes. Butter: also, yes, please.

  
  Even add this savory butter to keto pancakes, french toast, or pound cake for a fantastic sweet-savory flavor explosion.

  And, incorporating rosemary, thyme, and oregano blended infused oils (e.g., avocado oil is an ideal carrier since it can handle high heat during cooking, unlike olive oil.) is another way to impart flavor while preventing the food from sticking to the grill.

• Herbs de Provence Oil: Grilled or broiled veggies are excellent when tossed in an herbaceous oil infused with herbs de Provence.

• Infused Ghee (or clarified butter): Like avocado oil, ghee is an excellent item to have around in abundance because it provides a uniquely nutty flavor to foods and can tolerate high heat while cooking.

Summary

Enjoying the outdoors, gathering with friends and loved ones, and soaking up the sun are all strong draws in the summer months, and July 4 is the perfect opportunity to get together with those you haven't seen in a while to reconnect and rejoice in the priceless gift of health and having each other.

Although coming together and reconnecting will likely be the highlight of your fourth of July festivities, adding in delicious keto recipes reminiscent of the season undoubtedly makes the day even more memorable.

Marinate your meats and fish well to achieve the most flavorful result. Toss veggies in some herb-infused avocado oil before laying on a hot grill and top with coarse salt for the most amazing grilled keto sides.

Enjoy everything from colorful seared kebabs to keto-friendly mojitos or even an acai berry smoothie as you relax and unwind and await the night's fireworks display.

And leave a little room in your macro budget on this day for reasonable splurges; it's a celebration, after all. Enjoy!

Sources

• Erkan, N., Özden, Ö., & Selçuk, A. (2010). Effect of Frying, Grilling, and Steaming on Amino Acid Composition of Marine Fishes. Journal of Medicinal Food, 13(6), 1524–1531. https://doi.org/10.1089/jmf.2009.0203

• Jung, D. E., Joshi, S. M., & Berg, A. T. (2014). How Do You Keto? Survey of North American Pediatric Ketogenic Diet Centers. Journal of Child Neurology, 30(7), 868–873. https://doi.org/10.1177/0883073814545115