Healthy Mardi Gras Recipes and Menus

Featured Recipes

Sausage Gumbo

To keep it simple, we've opted for just the essential ingredients in this rendition of the hearty Creole favorite: sausage, okra, rice and a little spice.

» Sausage Gumbo

Blackened salmon is great in a sandwich with a spread of mashed avocado and low-fat mayonnaise plus peppery arugula leaves, cool tomato slices and zesty red onion. We grill our Cajun-style salmon so there is no need for any added cooking oil. Catfish makes an excellent stand-in for the salmon but you'll want to use a grill basket if you have one to keep the fish from breaking apart.

» Blackened Salmon Sandwich

Deep-Dish Apple-Blackberry Pie

With a traditional high-fat pie dough, it's easy to go wrong because the dough must be chilled and rolled out while the butter or shortening is still cold - a relatively small window of time (especially for beginners). Nuts and nut oil replace most of the butter in this pie crust, so the timing is less particular. The dough doesn't need to be refrigerated, which cuts down on preparation time, and because it is rolled out between sheets of plastic wrap, it won't stick to the countertop and it can be easily lifted.

» Deep-Dish Apple-Blackberry Pie

Rosemary & Garlic Crusted Pork Loin with Butternut Squash & Potatoes

Pork today is so lean, the meat will be dry and crumbly if overcooked, but there are a couple of tricks to help avoid that fate. The first is to turn the pork over halfway through the cooking time so the juices will concentrate in the center of the roast instead of settling on the bottom. Second, take the roast out of the oven when it is about 5° below the recommended internal temperature, which is 160°F. The meat will continue to cook as it rests.

» Rosemary & Garlic Crusted Pork Loin with Butternut Squash & Potatoes

Chicken & Spiced Apples

The buttery apples suit these chicken breasts, which are pounded thin so they cook evenly and quickly. You could also serve this compote with any roasted meat or vegetable.

» Chicken & Spiced Apples

Stewed Okra & Tomatoes

This simple stew highlights two summer stars—tomatoes and okra—in a simple stew. Okra (known as gombo in much of West Africa) does especially well in a hot growing season. In this dish, it appears as both vegetable and thickener, as is typical of many of the continent's okra dishes. Serve it over brown rice.

» Stewed Okra & Tomatoes

Shrimp & Cheddar Grits

The South's version of creamy polenta, grits are easy to make on a weeknight—especially when topped with quickly broiled shrimp and scallions. Use the sharpest Cheddar you can find for these cheesy grits. Serve with: Sautéed greens and a tall glass of iced tea.

» Shrimp & Cheddar Grits

Travel to the Big Easy with these healthy, colorful Mardi Gras recipes and Cajun favorites.

Take “Fat Tuesday” a little less literally this year with a more creative, more colorful approach to your Mardi Gras menu. Our perfect-for-a-dinner-party recipes are low in calories and celebrate the colors of Mardi Gras: purple, green and gold. These hues traditionally symbolize justice, faith and power, respectively. To us, they also reflect nutrients galore. Gold-tinged produce provides beta carotene. Those green vegetables deliver folate and lutein, a phytochemical linked with healthy vision. “Red” (or purple!) fruits and vegetables can be rich in anthocyanins, antioxidants that may prevent age-related cognitive decline, and flavonoids, antioxidants that help keep blood vessels healthy.

And of course, if you want to stick to traditional Cajun favorites, we have healthier versions of those as well. These Mardi Gras recipes are delicious and totally perfect for entertaining—just toss in some colorful beads and you’ve got yourself a party.