It can be hard to find a good lunch menu for a diabetic. Perhaps you are at work or school without access to a kitchen but with plenty of unhealthy choices around you. That’s why it’s important to plan ahead and to have a good list of healthy diabetic lunch ideas to choose from!
For this roundup, I have chosen a mix of cold lunches, lunches that you can make beforehand and reheat, and a few that require cooking at lunchtime. What they all have in common is that they are (relatively) low-carb, taste amazing, and will give you a healthy boost in energy for the afternoon.
I try to follow the guidelines that my diabetic lunch ideas should have:
- Less than 20 grams of carbs
- Mostly carbs with a low glycemic index
- At least 20 grams of protein
- Some healthy fat
For even more healthy low-carb recipes, check out my roundups of Breakfast Ideas for Diabetics and Dinner recipes for Diabetics.
Enjoy!
Healthy diabetic lunch ideas
Chicken & Egg Salad
This is one of my go-to lunch recipes. It tastes amazing, is so easy to make that you can barely call it cooking, and you can make a huge batch and store it in the fridge for days. Put it on a piece of low-carb bread and eat a few veggies on the side for the perfect lunch!
Nutrition: 175 calories – 2 g carbs – 30 g protein – 5 g fat
Tuna Nicoise Salad
This is my take on the classic Tuna Nicoise Salad with a slightly spicy parsley and mustard dressing. It has been one of my lunch favorites for a while now, since it’s really easy to prep and bring with me wherever I go.
Nutrition: 405 calories – 18 g carbs – 39 g protein – 13 g fat
Spinach Rolls
This is a great vegetarian lunch idea (if you are ok with eggs and cheese). The rolls are savory, filling, and just a little bit spicy. I often make enough for several days and they almost taste better cold the day after you make them.
Nutrition: 310 calories – 20 g carbs – 27 g protein – 10 g fat
Turkey Meatballs
These healthy turkey meatballs are juicy little protein bombs packed with flavor. They’re super easy to make and ready in just 40 minutes. Add a little tomato sauce, crumble them in a salad, or just wrap them up and bring them to work or on a picnic!
Nutrition: 183 calories – 12 g carbs – 31 g protein – 3 g fat
Curried Chicken Salad with Apples
This is a more elaborate variant of the chicken and egg salad above. It adds diced apple, cashews, tahini powder, and cinnamon for a really deep savory flavor. Great in a low-carb sandwich!
Nutrition: 236 calories – 9 g carbs – 29 g protein – 6 g fat
Healthy Chicken Nuggets
This is the low-carb, homemade chicken nuggets recipe you’ve been waiting for! They’re a much healthier choice than traditional chicken nuggets and they taste even better!
Nutrition: 311 calories – 3 g carbs – 24 g protein – 24 g fat
Beef Fajitas
These healthy and easy Beef Fajitas are perfect for a quick meal if you have access to a stove. You can have them ready in less than 20 minutes from the time you decide to start cooking (they are also great cold or reheated in the microwave).
Nutrition: 336 calories – 11 g carbs – 31 g protein – 16 g fat
Keto Cobb Salad
This high fat, low carb Keto Cobb Salad is an easy-to-make keto salad recipe that is full of flavor. Who doesn’t like a salad with bacon, avocado, and crumbled cheese?
Nutrition: 412 calories – 12 g carbs – 38 g protein – 24 g fat
Instant Pot Chicken Chili
If you have an instant pot, you can cook up this tasty chicken chili in about 25 minutes. It freezes and reheats really well so you can always have a quick lunch ready to go!
Nutrition: 253 calories – 9 g carbs – 30 g protein – 12 g fat
Smoked Salmon Wrap
Smoked salmon and cream cheese has to be one of the most iconic brunch combinations but I will happily have it for lunch as well. This is a wrap you can even eat in your car while driving if you are REALLY in a hurry and don’t have time for a sit-down lunch.
Nutrition: 291 calories – 18 g carbs – 24 g protein – 15 g fat
When you have tried any of these healthy diabetic lunch ideas, please let me know in the comment how you liked them.
Suggested next post: 10 Healthy Diabetic Chicken Recipes
Jean says
June 7, 2019 at 6:33 pmHello , a teenage girl has come to stay with us for a year for school, she is type 1 and 16 years old .. I’m trying to make meal plans to help keep her in track . She tell me she eats but I dont believe she is eating like she should .. she says .. oh I carb count and adjust my insulin .. I’m confused 🙁
Christel Oerum says
June 9, 2019 at 8:35 amIf she takes her insulin there’s technically nothing she can’t eat. Some food choices can make it more challenging to manage her diabetes, but it can be done.
Gent Bond says
April 22, 2019 at 10:11 pmThank you so much for this! It’s so challenging and expensive to live with diabetes, especially type 1. I hope our medical experts will have some solution to it in the near future. 🙁
Sharon Edwards says
January 9, 2019 at 1:58 pmThe only problem I have with these recipes is the salt content is very high. Any way to reduce this? because the recipes sound good.
Tobias Oerum says
January 9, 2019 at 10:19 pmMost of the recipes only have one main source of salt (like bacon) so you can try to substitute that ingredient or find a low-sodium version.
Nicole Noel says
October 5, 2018 at 11:46 amI just found this site and just love the recipes. When I found out I was a type 2 diabetic, I was given the Canadian Diabetic Food Guide at the clinic and they gave me a breakdown of how much to eat for each meal. I was told 60g of carbs per meal. Meat & Alternatives: 1 choice (example 1oz for real meat) for breakfast, 2-3 choices for lunch and 2-3 for dinner. And for the snack before bedtime 22.5g of carbs and 1 choice of Meat & Alternatives. So I kind of figured that the Meat total for the day is 8oz.
I noticed that the percentage of the daily value for the Healthy Chicken Breast is 96%. That would leave only 4% for breakfast and lunch and snack. How much protein should we have per day? I’ve always been confused in that area.
I also notice you referencing the keto diet which I have been reading up on it (confused on this because percentage amounts doesn’t tell me a lot LOL). The healthy fat idea seems like that’s how we should be eating. But I don’t want to go to that extreme right now. I never quite figure out why the Food Guide has us eat so much carbs when you try to get the sugar down and carbs IS sugar.
Thank you so much for this blog and thank you for the great recipes.
Christel Oerum says
October 5, 2018 at 9:43 pmHi Nicole,
All the various nutrition guidelines can be very confusing and contradicting.
In general, when it comes to protein you can safely consume a high amount as long as you don’t have any kidney issues. General guidelines state that you should consume between 0.7-2.0 G. of protein per kilogram you weigh. So if you weigh 60 Kg., that would mean 42-120 G protein per day. Pretty broad range. Also, going above or below one day doesn’t make a huge difference.
Keto is a very restricted way of eating that works well for some and not at all for others. If what you do now works for you I see no reason to do something extreme. Just continue eating a healthy balanced diet as you are
Nicole Noel says
October 6, 2018 at 4:54 pmThank you so much Christel. This was very helpful.