How To Thicken Low Carb Sauces

One of the troubles that people on low-carbohydrate diets often have is finding foods that will still appeal to their palate and conform to their dietary needs. First they must get used to replacing typical snacks such as pretzels, crackers, cereal and fruit with other high-protein, moderate fat snacks like canned tuna, peanut butter on celery or egg white omelettes. This in itself can be quite a big transition for some.

Another issue that many of these dieters face is trying to find a way to flavour their main dishes. Normally a sauce is used to put over top of your meat or vegetables (pasta is out of the question on these diets obviously), however sauces themselves are normally quite high-carb. This leaves you with a problem.

One option you have is to start using mustard or soy sauce. Both of these are low in calories and carbs and can add a high degree of flavour. The drawback here is that there are really only so many foods that you can put mustard on that still taste okay.

Your next bet is going to be to find a way to prepare a sauce while still ensuring it is low carb. Since most sauces are thickened with flour, this is the main issue you are going to face.

Before finding a replacement, consider how much of the sauce you will be actually using. If it is a small amount, you might just be able to get away with using a regular recipe as the carb count still will not be that high.

If you will require more sauce though, then you need to seek out an alternative. One thickening agent you may wish to use is cornstarch. This has slightly fewer carbohydrates than the flour that is typically used. Two tablespoons of cornstarch have 14 grams of carbohydrate and would serve to thicken about 3-4 cups of liquid. When you divide 14 by the number of servings this would produce, you will not end up with any considerable amount of carbs that would put a big dent in your diet.

Another option is to use sour cream to thicken your sauce. You have a choice here between low fat or full fat and that will likely be dictated by the guidelines of your particular diet. Keep in mind obviously that sour cream is going to give a creamer taste so it will be best for sauces of this nature.

Finally, you can try using vegetable gums as your thickening agent. This would be a product such as guar gum or xanthan gum. The thing to keep in mind with these however is that if you use too much, your sauce is going to turn out more slimy than anything. If you add the gum slowly though, making sure it is fully dissolved than you shouldn't have too many issues.

Below is a gravy recipe that uses xanthan gum as a thickening agent.

3 cups of chicken stock

2 tbsp butter

1 can of mushrooms

½ tsp sage

1 tsp dry onion flakes

1 tsp xanthan gum

salt and pepper to taste

Combine stock, butter, mushrooms, sage and onion flakes in a saucepan, bringing to a light boil. Next slowly add in xanthan gum and stir continuously until thickened.

Makes 8 servings.