Carnivore diet recipes are starting to get very trendy. With the popularity of books like The Carnivore Code and The Carnivore Diet, there has been a growing interest in the carnivore diet and carnivore diet recipes, especially carnivore diet steak recipes. Dr. Shawn Baker has really popularized the simple steak for this diet! I read both of these books when they first came out. Since then, I have been experimenting with the carnivore diet, recipes for it,  and variations of carnivore. It has often been called the the ultimate elimination diet and has been useful to a lot of people struggling with certain diseases. Read on to get a simple carnivore diet food list for easy reference.

Before we get into carnivore diet recipes, I think it's important to first talk briefly about what the carnivore diet is. There are as many variations of the carnivore diet now as there are of keto. In the strictest sense, a carnivore diet only contains animal products including all kinds of meat, organ meat, fish, cheese and eggs. You may want to bookmark this page because I'll be updating it in the future with links to any carnivore diet recipes published on Heal Nourish Grow as well as other recipes that may be useful.

What Can I Eat on the Carnivore Diet?

People often wonder what exactly they can eat on the carnivore diet. Like most diet variations, it really depends on your goals. Below are the popular variations of a carnivore diet.

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What you can eat on carnivore depends on which variation you're following and how strictly you adhere to it. One thing that should always be on the menu is a nice steak! That's really one of the most beautiful things about the carnivore diet. You don't actually need a lot of carnivore diet recipes. Just put a piece of meat on your plate and call it a day! We created a carnivore diet food list below for the most strict version of carnivore.

Hard Core Carnivore

This version of the diet is simply meat and water and maybe salt. The interesting thing about this version of the carnivore diet is that practitioners don't use any seasoning either. It is the most strict carnivore variation. This way of eating is the ultimate elimination diet, getting rid of all common allergens as well as plant compounds that exacerbate autoimmune symptoms in some people. This variation makes carnivore diet recipes virtually unneeded. However, the cooking method below for the carnivore diet steak recipe might be your new favorite, even if you don't add spices.

Soft Core Carnivore

The carnivore diet variation is like hard core carnivore, but allows the full spectrum of animal foods mentioned above including meats of all kinds as well as the other animal food items including organ meat, fish, cheese and eggs. Practitioners of this variation of the carnivore diet might also sparingly include spices and a small amount of vegetables typically used for flavor, like garlic and onion. Many recipes can be easily modified make them into carnivore diet recipes to fit this version.

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Carnivoreish

This variation allows occasional consumption of all kinds of other foods, but the person is eating carnivore most of the time. This is where you could use some carnivore diet recipes that have a few other ingredients in them besides meat for something like one meal a day.

Keto Carnivore (Ketovore)

Eating in this way usually includes a slightly higher fat content that allows the person to only eat meat products but still stay in a ketogenic metabolism. People doing keto carnivore typically eat eggs, fish, cheese and some low carb vegetables and fruit, but mostly eat animal products.

Animal-Based

This is a variation that's cropped up recently, popularized by Dr. Paul Saladino, author of the Carnivore Code. He has shifted his thinking a lot lately to include a diet of meat, organs and copious amounts of fruit. Animal-based carnivore diet recipes can be a little more varied, since you may choose to add fruit. While it is working well for him (he's very active and has lots of muscle mass), I would not recommend it for anyone with metabolic dysfunction. This version is best saved for those who are very active and extremely insulin sensitive, in my opinion. The carnivore diet food list we have below is really for hard core carnivores.

Benefits of the Carnivore Diet

There is a ton of anecdotal evidence about the benefits of the carnivore diet, as well as a growing interest in producing research supporting the claim of health benefits.

One of the great benefits to practicing a more strict version of this diet is that carnivore diet recipes are virtually unneeded. It really simplifies your diet. Put a piece of meat or organs on a plate and call it a day!

Reported health benefits of carnivore include weight loss, resolution of skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema, increased testosterone, decreased inflammation, better digestion, less depression, more energy and greater mental clarity.

How to Make Carnivore Sustainable

People often call keto unsustainable, but the carnivore diet in its strictest form is restricted to eating meat only. If you have an autoimmune disorder or some other condition where an elimination diet is absolutely necessary, the best way to approach learning whether carnivore is for you is to commit to it for four to six weeks. If all of your symptoms go away and you feel amazing, it will be much easier to continue eating this way. After that time, if you're really missing a specific food, you may consider adding things back in.

Finding good carnivore diet recipes can be helpful in making this way of eating more sustainable. However, as you can see by the types of the carnivore diet, it can be difficult to cater recipes to someone's exact version without talking to them first.

When treating carnivore as an elimination diet, be sure to add things back in one at a time so you'll know when you find something that flares your symptoms. The slower you can add things back in the better. Try adding back a certain food once a week or every few days. Eat the new addition every day so you can note any changes.

If you're experimenting with the carnivore diet for general health or weight loss, you might not have the need to be as strict. Often cycling between keto and carnivore is enough to keep it interesting and sustainable. 

Carnivore Diet Recipes

Here is where we get to the carnivore diet recipes! You can use the form below to immediately get five strict carnivore diet recipes, but keep reading to learn about even more options.

One of the best things about carnivore is that you really don't need any recipes to follow this lifestyle. Just cook a delicious piece of meat or ground meat and you're done. My favorite source for grass fed meat along with organs is US Wellness Meats. They have a great selection with good prices, as well as frequent discounts. I also use Butcher Box, Crowd Cow, Fulton Fish Market and Vital Choice for high quality meat, depending on what I'm looking for. I also love Carnivore Crisps (HNG10 at checkout for 10% off) as a snack. They're not at all like jerky, they contain just meat and salt but are crunchy like a potato chip!

That said, there are actually many carnivore recipes coming online and I'm starting to offer some here as well. The problem when finding carnivore recipes is that it all depends on which variation you're following. So as you can see, it may be difficult to find carnivore diet recipes that fit your exact version of the diet.

Carnivore Diet Recipes on Heal Nourish Grow

For example, one of the most popular recipes here, Triple Meat Carnivore Chili is great for carnivoreish or keto carnivore versions of the diet, but won't work for hard core carnivore. Keto Carnivore Tortillas contain animal products only with no seasoning. Even a simple carnivore steak recipe can also be challenging since it depends on whether you feel comfortable using a nice spicy dry rub or other seasonings on your carnivore diet.

Good resources for carnivore diet recipes include various carnivore cookbooks that can be found on Amazon, as well as Pinterest. I hesitate to link to any specific sites, because again, whether or not you consider these good carnivore recipes will depend on your version of the carnivore diet.

Carnivore Diet Steak Recipes

For the most part, I really don't like to do a whole lot to my steaks besides season them properly and occasionally add a good dry rub. They're definitely extra delicious though cooked in butter. My favorite method for cooking steaks, especially thick ones, is the reverse sear. Although I plan to write more in depth about that soon, I'll give you the basics here.

You can also find a great carnivore diet steak recipe in my Grain-Free Cookbook for Beginners.

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
2. Salt and pepper both sides of the steak, if using or use a dry rub.
3. Place the steaks on a baking sheet. If you have one, use a cookie cooling rack to elevate the steaks off of the baking sheet.
4. Bake the steaks for about 15 minutes before beginning to check the temperature, alternatively you can use an oven thermometer placed in the thinnest steak.
5. Remove steaks from the oven when they're 20 degrees away from your target temperature. Target temperature for rare is 120, medium rare 130, medium 140, medium well 150 and 160 degrees for well done.
6. In a large skillet (cast iron preferred) over medium heat, melt some butter.
7. Add the steaks, and cook for 2 minutes on the first side and flip. You might need to flip again depending on your target temperature.
8. Continue checking the temperature of your meat and remove when it's within 7 to 10 degrees of your target temperature. Allow the steak to rest for at least 5 minutes for the juices to distribute.

Carnivore Diet Food List

This list is by no means totally comprehensive, but it will give you a list of foods that are easily found and suitable for carnivore diet recipes. The list also includes a few slightly more unusual meats in case you want to shake up the usual fish, chicken, beef and pork lineup. Download the carnivore diet food list and the carnivore diet meal plan for easy reference here. The cooking method for the carnivore diet steak recipe is below. Steaks are definitely a staple on carnivore!

Meat	Dairy	Animal Products
Alligator	Butter	Bone Broth
Beef	Cheese	Bone Marrow
Buffalo	Heavy Cream	Eggs
Caribou	Milk	Lard
Chicken		Tallow
Duck		Suet
Elk
Escargot
Fish
Frog Legs (Louisiana, can't help it)
Goat
Goose
Kangaroo
Lamb and Mutton
Moose
Organ Meats (Brain, Heart, Kidney, Liver, Spleen, Tripe, etc.)
Ostrich
Pork
Quail
Rabbit
Shellfish and Other Seafood (crab, crayfish, eel, lobster, longustinos, octopus, oysters, shrimp, squid, etc.)
Turkey
Venison
Wild Boar

Carnivore Diet Meal Plan

The carnivore diet meal plan will give you a good idea about what eating carnivore looks like day to day. This carnivore meal plan offers a few different options, some days are more hardcore carnivore, while some days incorporate a few vegetables or spices, but you can easily leave them out.

For the most part, the ideas in this list are mostly animal products. While this carnivore diet meal plan doesn't give any considerations for calories, amounts or serious carnivore diet recipes, it will give you an idea about what eating carnivore looks like day to day.

The suggestions in this meal plan are meant to be simple carnivore diet recipes that show you how easy eating carnivore can be. There is no need to over complicate things with complex recipes. Change up the calories and amounts to suit your goals whether it's weight loss, maintenance or weight gain. Be sure to check out our free keto macro calculator.

If you go by the higher protein keto numbers, that will give you an excellent idea of how many grams of protein you should eat on carnivore. Make up the balance of calories with mostly fat or a few vegetable carbs, depending on which version of carnivore you're following.

7 Day Carnivore Meal Plan

Day 1

Breakfast: Scrambled egg and cheese tacos with Keto Carnivore Tortillas

Lunch: Tuna and hard boiled egg salad, chop and add mayo, if desired

Dinner: Sirloin steak

Day 2

Breakfast: Poached eggs with Carnivore Crisps (use code HNG10 at checkout for 10% off)

Lunch: Burger patty with an over easy egg on top

Dinner: Roasted chicken, could use a grocery rotisserie

Day 3

Breakfast: Consider skipping breakfast for an intermittent fast or have sausage with or without eggs

Lunch: Grilled fish on a Chaffle Bun

Dinner: Buffalo burger with or without cheese

Day 4

Breakfast: Omelet with ground lamb, with or without cheese

Lunch: Ham and cheese rollup or make a wrap with Keto Carnivore Tortillas

Dinner: Salmon with herb butter

Day 5

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with or without cheese, add bacon or leftover chicken if desired

Lunch: Ground pork bowl, with cabbage if desired

Dinner: Ribeye steak

Day 6

Breakfast: Consider skipping breakfast for an intermittent fast or have turkey a rollup with cheese

Lunch: Pan cooked cod with butter and lemon

Dinner: Bison burger with or without cheese

Day 7

Breakfast: Scrambled egg and sausage tacos with Keto Carnivore Tortillas

Lunch: Lamb lollipops (lamb chops), simply prepared in a pan using butter, salt and pepper. They cook quickly!

Dinner: Pot roast in the crock pot, put sliced onions on the bottom, add your roast and cover with some bone broth. Cook on low for about 8 hours or until tender.