Ketogenic diet recipes

Ketogenic diet recipes

Before using, please refer to our Recipe Disclaimer.

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat diet that can be used as part of the treatment plan for children who suffer from seizures. The diet should not be started without supervision and guidance from your child’s medical team.

These recipes are designed to be used by patients who are followed by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Division of Neurology Dietary Treatment Program. Before using, please refer to our Recipe Disclaimer.

If your child is not already under the care of a CHOP neurologist, and you would like to explore the ketogenic diet, please contact our Pediatric Regional Epilepsy Program for a consultation before trying any of these recipes.

Beginner/starter recipes

Breakfast recipes

Dips and sauces

Savory recipes

Sweet recipes

Modified diet recipes

The modified ketogenic diet (MKD) recipes should only be followed if specifically prescribed the MKD by your medical team.

Helpful Tips & Tricks

The Ketogenic Diet

Fat Hiding Tricks
  • Combine weighed heavy cream and mayonnaise with weighed raw eggs, cook the mixture in a pan to form fluffy scrambled eggs.
  • Add weighed canola oil to weighed yogurt; the oil will completely absorb and blend into the yogurt.
  • Mix weighed room temperature butter into weighed creamy peanut butter. This not only helps hide fat, but also increases the volume of the spread.
  • Add weighed canola oil into weighed liquid heavy cream. Use a milk frother (used to make cappuccinos) to emulsify the two together perfectly. Can be served as a drink!
Cooking Tips
  • When weighing your ketogenic ingredients in one bowl, always start with the dry ingredients. Try to form small mounds of the dry ingredients while weighing to allow for easy removal if the weight goes over. The liquid ingredients (heavy cream, oil, etc.) should be weighed in a separate bowl individually. The reason for this is because if you weigh two liquids together and go over on the weight, you will not be able to safely remove the one liquid due to them mixing together.
  • Always be sure to use nonstick cooking spray (any brand). Ketogenic foods tend to stick more than regular foods due to their high fat content. It’s important that no food residue is left behind on any cookware to avoid losing nutritional value.
  • Dry seasonings can be used on the ketogenic diet as a “free” ingredient (single dry seasonings only, not pre-packaged mixes). In large quantities, fat tends to mask the natural flavors of foods that we know and love, therefore we encourage you to season the foods with dry seasonings to make them tasty and enjoyable. Especially salt!
  • Ketogenic foods generally freeze very well, however the reheating process can be tricky. When reheating foods, the fats always tend to melt first, which is the main component for ketogenic foods. The best way to reheat keto foods is in the oven or on the stove top.
  • When baking ketogenic foods, never fill molds all the way to the top (¾ full is ideal). During the baking process, the heat may make the fat separate from the recipe, creating a pool of fat on the top. If the recipe is filled all the way to the top, the melted fat will go over the edge and result in loss of nutritional value. To avoid this from happening, fill only ¾ of the way full, then allow the recipe to fully cool and reabsorb the fat before removing from the mold.
  • How to Calculate
  • Batch Cooking 101