20 Paleo Diet Recipes That Are Surprisingly Delicious

Paleo Breakfast Recipes

One thing you might miss when you’re following a Paleo meal plan is cereal. By baking together seeds, nuts, dried fruit, and a touch of honey – basically everything you’d enjoy in a handful of healthy trail mix – then you can replace boxed cereal.

This one tastes a lot like Honey Bunches of Oats, even though there are no oats to be seen, and you can swap out the exact ingredients to customize.

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Baked Breakfast Casserole with Apples & Raisins

Since the squash gets its name from resemblance to spaghetti, it’s clearly a good substitute for pasta. But that’s not the only clever way to use spaghetti squash for gluten-free eats.

In this hearty casserole, it’s used as an oatmeal replacement. Once baked with mashed plantains, applesauce, and a thickener like gelatin or arrowroot (or both), this becomes a sweet breakfast prepared with no added sugar.

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Baked Breakfast Quinoa with Dates & Banana

Miss having pastries for breakfast? This special brunch dish is like eating a slice of cinnamony cake, but it’s made without flour of any kind.

Instead there’s quinoa, date filling, and a banana-almond streusel. This quinoa breakfast bake is so decadent, you can serve it if you’re adhering to your own meal plan while entertaining out-of-town guests.

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Ham & Egg Cups

Need to eat a bigger breakfast with plenty of protein?

Make creative use a muffin tin by lining the cups with sliced ham, and you’ll end up with this Paleo egg breakfast. These are awesome to serve alongside another dish (or two) for an extra boost, and unlike the other morning meals on this list, it’s low in carbs.

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Paleo Buttermilk Pancakes

To make Paleo pancakes, you have a number of options. The easiest are three-ingredient pancakes with protein powder, a banana, and an egg.

And while those are delicious, they aren’t a lot like traditional flapjacks. For that, you’ll need a wheat flour alternative like coconut flour, almond flour – or both! And a splash of buttermilk (or a non-dairy version) adds another classic element.

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Paleo Lunch Recipes: Shrimp Tacos with Paleo Tortillas

How do you make Paleo tacos without corn or other grains?

Make homemade tortillas, which have an awesome coconut flavor that pairs well with this sweet chili shrimp. The succulent shrimp is pan-fried to perfection, tossed in Sriracha, folded into tacos on a bed of cabbage and fresh cilantro, and finally drizzled with a sweet and spicy sauce.

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Cranberry Avocado Salad

A Paleo salad doesn’t need to be piled with sliced chicken or flaky fish.

Instead, enjoy a big bowl of leafy greens, creamy avocado, tart cranberries, and roasted almonds. This includes a poppy seed dressing with mustard, balsamic vinegar, and honey, but you can serve this with anything on hand, like blue cheese dressing or orange vinaigrette.

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Grain-Free, Nut-Free Sandwich Bread

If you want to make a Paleo sandwich, the first step is finding Paleo bread. But in most areas, it’s easier to make your own at home than to hunt in multiple grocery stores.

This recipe is gluten-free, but not all gluten-free breads are Paleo. This one uses coconut flour to avoid oats altogether, and it’s made with plenty of eggs, yogurt, and a little butter.

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Paleo Lunch Recipes: Cuban Pork Lettuce Wraps

These wraps have all the flavor you love from a Cuban sandwich, only without the white bread. And slaw aside, the pork is prepared with hardly any effort using a slow cooker. Altogether, you’ll be spending no more than 15 minutes to make all the components for these lettuce wraps.

They also make great leftovers, so that little amount of effort can stretch to feed you and a hungry friend for a few days.

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Paleo Lunch Recipes: Sweet & Sour Stir Fry

As long as you stick to meat and veggies, it’s easy to toss together a Paleo stir fry. This one has chicken breast, but you can just as easily use pork, beef, or mushrooms as the main part of the dish.

However, you should probably skip the tofu. Since it’s a form of soybeans, which is a legume, tofu isn’t included in Paleo meal plans.

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Paleo Dinner Recipes: Paleo Beef Enchiladas

There are a number of ways to make gluten-free tortillas, including finely ground almonds, cauliflower, and tapioca flour – as in the shrimp taco recipe included in this list. Once you have those on hand, you’ll be ready to make Mexican dishes like these enchiladas.

And even if you don’t eat Paleo, you’ll want to try this recipe for the from-scratch enchilada sauce.

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Paleo Sushi with Salmon & Avocado

If you want to make Paleo sushi, you’ll have to go without the rice. You can use nori as an outside wrap, but if you aren’t into the sharp, salty flavor of seaweed, try these hollowed-out cucumbers instead.

Then these are filled with seared, flaked salmon along with a chunk of avocado. Serve with tamari soy sauce and wasabi.

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Paleo Chicken Fingers

The most popular way to make crispy chicken fingers that appear to be “breaded” without bread crumbs is a coconut.

This recipe takes a different route by first dipping the chicken breast in egg, and then coating with almond flour. With a mix of Italian herb and garlic salt, these have flavor to serve like chicken parmesan. Or for a quick snack, you can just dip them in marinara.

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Paleo Shrimp Scampi

Scampi is a simple seafood dish, often served with pasta. And if you want a Paleo pasta, you can serve these tasty shrimp with zucchini noodles.

But this recipe is all about the shrimp, so they’re just as good on top of a bed of slightly wilted spinach. No matter how you choose to serve this scampi, be sure not to forget the fresh lemon wedges.

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Korean-Style Short Ribs

One of the best things about a caveman diet is getting to indulge in any kind of meat you love. That means ribs can be the main part of dinner, not just a small appetizer.

And if you want easy braised ribs, it’s best to pull out the slow cooker. You can leave these short ribs to cook all day, and the sauce will come together just right. To keep things Paleo, serve with cauliflower rice.

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Paleo Dessert Recipes: Paleo Salted Chocolate Caramel Bars

Craving caramel brownies? You’ll love to sink your teeth into this chocolately Paleo dessert instead. These raw, gluten-free chocolate bars will knock your socks off with how decadent they are.

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Paleo Apple Pie Cheesecake

When you need to satisfy a craving for comfort food in the form of dessert, it’s hard to say no to apple pie and cheesecake.

This recipe delivers all the flavor while keeping everything gluten-free and dairy-free. Instead of cheese, it relies on nuts like almonds and walnuts to create a rich, creamy texture. And there’s a lot of real caramel made with coconut milk to seal the deal.

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Paleo Strawberry Ginger Crisp

When it’s summertime and the strawberries are ripe, it’s hard not to think of shortbread and cream.

Instead of making a biscuit dough or buying pound cake, though, you can make this Paleo dessert. It has lots of delicious crumbs to enjoy – made from a mix of cashew, almond, and coconut flours – and roasting the strawberries will bring out the best in their ripe, juicy flavor.

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s possible to have soft, slightly cakey chocolate chip cookies without oats or wheat flour. And since these are Paleo, they aren’t just gluten-free but also use no refined flour. If you don’t have maple syrup in your pantry, you can use honey instead.

But don’t go for the other all-natural liquid sweetener – agave syrup – because it’s processed. With that in mind, also check what’s in those chocolate chips.

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Paleo Banana Pudding

This creamy, healthy pudding uses coconut milk instead of dairy. But aside from that, this is like a classic banana custard with egg yolks, honey, and vanilla extract.

The mixture is whisked over the stove so it can thicken, and the cooked bananas take on a natural caramel note. Since it’s heated, be careful if you want to add protein powder. Slowly stir it in after the pudding has completely chilled.

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