Paleo meal plan for family. Being a busy mom doesn’t have to mean compromising your health. You don’t have to use processed food or eat out all the time because you don’t have time to prepare healthy meals. You can find a way to make paleo meal plan for family work for you and your family, whether you’ve got kids at home or not.
35 Paleo Family Style Dishes Everyone Will Love
We’ve all heard that families who eat meals together are generally less stressed, and eating while under stress can cause indigestion. Therefore, wouldn’t eating meals together as a family help our digestion and every aspect of our lives? I believe we can. So read through these family-friendly and Paleo dishes and choose a couple to try this week.
1. Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Squash
Everyone loves chicken enchiladas, and serving in in spaghetti squash instead of wrapped in corn tortillas is a great way to make them paleo and up the nutrition. Also, kids love eating food stuffed in other food. Call them boats and you’ll earn bonus points!
2. Italian Chicken and Tomato Skillet With Roasted Peppers
Skillet dishes should never be underestimated. The average family has busy evenings, at least during the week, and anyway, who doesn’t love a dinner that’s easy to make and uses fewer dishes? Nobody! So give this colorful dish a try.
3. Paleo Chocolate Maple Tahini Muffins
I love muffins, I love maple, and I love chocolate, and let’s face it: tahini is amazing. So let’s all agree that these family-friendly maple tahini muffins are perfect and we need to make them. You’ll also need vanilla, coconut flour, eggs, and a few other typical baking ingredients.
4. Easy Chicken Piccata
Anything with “easy” in the title is a winner in my book. This chicken piccata is no exception with it’s lovely lemony sauce, capers, and perfectly cooked chicken breasts. Take the paleo option and replace the cornstarch with arrowroot flour for the glaze.
5. Vietnamese Restaurant-Style Grilled Lemongrass Pork
Eating out is fun, but it’s not always the healthiest option, the cheapest option, or the easiest option with the whole family, homework, bedtimes, etc. So stay in and make this lemongrass pork with shallots, honey, and lime. Replace the tamari with coconut aminos.
6. Weeknight Zucchini and Beef Ragout
You don’t have to reserve this recipe for a weeknight, but you can rest assured that if you put it on your list, it’ll be the perfect family meal for an evening when you’re short on time. All you’ll need is ground beef, onion, zucchini, carrots, cushed tomatoes, and seasonings.
7. Paleo Coconut Flour Pancakes
These pancakes are super healthy and rich in protein from all those eggs (pastured eggs are best!). You’ll also need applesauce, coconut flour, baking powder, cinnamon, melted coconut oil or butter, vanilla, and whatever add-ins or toppings you like.
8. Paleo Chocolate Chip Fudge Brownies
These brownies are the perfect occasional dessert after a family dinner, and they’re made from sunflower seed butter, coconut sugar, egg, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, vanilla, and, of course, love. Okay, the love is optional—but why wouldn’t you add it?
9. Grilled Spatcock Chicken
Grilled chicken is a dish that’s sure to please the whole family, and this one, Spatchcock style, is seasoned will with paprika, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, lemon juice and zest, olive oil, and paleo barbecue sauce if you wish.
10. Paleo Carrot Cake Cookies
These cookies have all the classic flavors of carrot cake with none of the grains or refined sugars. You’ll need almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, coconut oil, maple syrup, shredded carrots, vanilla, and cashews for a creamy cashew-based frosting.
11. Grain Free Strawberry Shortcake
I have the best spring and summer memories of my dad making strawberry shortcake for us kids. I’d love a paleo version, and I think this recipe is just the ticket. You’ll use grain free shortbread and a silky strawberry cashew cream with fresh berries.
12. Roasted Thyme Carrots
Carrots are a very family-friendly vegetable, because they’re packed with vitamins and they have a slightly sweet taste, so kids just happen to love them. This recipe uses whole carrots, olive oil, fresh thyme, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. So easy and super tasty.
13. Lemon and Thyme Italian Wedding Soup
My husband is Italian, and I can tell you that if an Italian recipe isn’t family friendly, I don’t know what is. This delicious soup uses ground turkey and almond flour meatballs, grass-fed butter, onion, garlic, chicken, thyme, escarole, and other ingredients.
14. Sweet and Spicy Glazed Brussels Sprouts
These sprouts have such an awesome sweet and spicy flavor from coconut sugar and crushed red pepper flakes that the whole family is sure to enjoy them and demand that they’re made every week. These are so good with balsamic vinegar!
15. Paleo Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Please believe me when I say that these meatballs are SO GOOD. They have the best Asian-style flavor with garlic, red pepper flakes, onion, coconut aminos, honey, orange juice, and tomato passata sauce. They are absolutely perfect for dinner with the family.
16. Low Carb Cinnamon Chicken
Let me tell you, I am ALL over this recipe. I’m a huge fan of cinnamon with meats and vegetables, and this one is also seasoned with thyme, salt, pepper, cayenne, coriander, garlic powder, and onion powder. Serve with vegetables or cauliflower rice for an easy and delicious meal.
17. Lemon and Thyme Chicken Drumsticks
Drumsticks are great for family dinners, and this recipe is super tasty with free-range, organic chicken, lemon zest, fresh thyme, olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. They’ll do all their cooking in the oven, so you can get them set up in there and then make the other dishes while they’re baking.
18. Breakfast Casserole
Wouldn’t it be nice of the whole family could sit down and eat breakfast together every day? Maybe that isn’t realistic for many families, but on the rare days we manage it (or not), this breakfast casserole is the perfect meal to serve. Bacon, coconut milk, sausage…yum!
19. Fried Pesto Potatoes and Bacon
This yummy side dish or easy lunch is made with diced potatoes, nitrate free bacon, pesto (paleo-style, so use homemade or cheese-free), olive oil, salt, and pepper. They’re super easy to make and full of amazing bacon and basil flavors everyone will be talking about.
20. Shredded Chicken With Summer Veggies
This is my go-to lunch when I don’t feel like cooking, summertime or not! I like to roast and shred a bunch of chicken breasts right after I buy them and then freeze plenty of the meat so I can pull it out and defrost it the day before a busy day. And then I make this salad!
21. Grapefruit Glazed Turkey Tenderloin
I’m a huge fan of citrus flavors with meats, so I’m pretty excited to give this dish a try. It’s a bit sweet, a bit tangy, and full of flavor with grapefruit, cilantro, garlic, and honey. And that crispy part across the top if it? Let’s just say I’m drooling over my screen right now.
22. Paleo Chicken Sweet Potato Bake
Here’s a fun one-dish skillet back the whole family can enjoy. You’ll need chicken breasts, sweet potatoes, assorted grape tomatoes (colorful ones are more fun), garlic, Italian seasoning, cracked red pepper, sea salt, and olive oil. Simple ingredients, fabulous flavor.
23. Grain Free Apple and Cranberry Crisp
This recipe is certainly a dessert, but a fine dessert at that. It’s made with coconut maple sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, cranberries, apples, almonds, almond flour, flax seed, and vanilla. I’d love a piece of this topped with some homemade, paleo-friendly coconut milk ice cream, wouldn’t you?
24. Greek Marinated Lamb Chops
These lamb chops have the lovely flavor of red wine vinegar, marjoram, rosemary, oregano, parsley, sea salt, and finely ground black pepper. You could serve them with cauliflower rice, roasted vegetables, or any other side dishes you like. The point is you NEED to make these.
25. Paleo Pancakes
These yummy pancakes are perfect for easy Sunday mornings with fresh squeezed orange juice and maybe a bit of bacon on the side. You can make them with arrowroot powder, almond flour, almond butter, eggs, honey, almond milk, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
26. Perfect Paleo Flatbread
This flatbread will fool even the most diehard wheat-eater with its pillowy softness and it’s amazing yeasty flavor—despite the recipe being a flatbread, the yeast adds a necessary bready flavor and adds a bit of lift to help with the texture and taste, so it mimics “real” bread.
27. Paleo Banana Bread
Everyone loves banana bread, especially kids. Let them splurge a bit and eat this for breakfast just once…or maybe twice, because it’s Monday morning and things are a little crazy. It’s packed with eggs, so you’ll know they’re getting plenty of protein in the morning.
28. Healthy Chocolate Mint Truffles
These truffles may still be a treat, but they’re a treat made without refined sugar or grains! You’ll need dates, honey or maple syrup, vanilla, salt, cocoa powder, mint leaves, and coconut oil. The minty flavor is subtle and perfectly balances the sweet chocolate.
29. Frozen Mint Chocolate Whoopie Pies
Who loves Whoopie Pies? As a born and bred Pennsylvanian, I like to think I know more about Whoopie Pies than the average Joe or Jane. And while these are the traditional molasses-oatmeal-sweet-white-filling version, they’re a healthier and tastier version, I think!
30. Brad’s Homemade Garden Salsa
There are few things better than gathering the family around the table with a bit batch of paleo chips or crackers, plantain chips, or anything else dippable and going at a bowl of delicious salsa. So try this version, with jalapeno, cilantro, cumin, garlic, and more.
31. Simple Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
Let’s not pretend even for a minute that chocolate chip cookies don’t top the list of family-friendly foods. They may be a dessert, but everyone loves them, and a little treat now and then is good for the soul. Try this awesome honey-sweetened recipe!
32. Honey Mustard and Rosemary Chicken
Honey mustard is a flavor everyone can appreciate—kids love it! This recipe is made with grainy mustard, Dijon mustard, honey, extra virgin olive oil, onion, chicken thighs and drumsticks, salt, pepper, and rosemary. It can be made either in the oven or on the barbecue.
33. Spicy Lamb and Bacon Meatballs
These meatballs make a great side dish or main dish scooped out over a pile of spaghetti squash, zucchini noodle, sweet potato noodles, or whatever else you like. This recipe also happens to have super nutrient-dense liver hiding in it, and you can’t even taste it!
34. Creamy Chicken Lazone
This easy family-style chicken can be served with cauliflower rice for a no-fuss weeknight dinner. You’ll need garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper, butter, chicken tenders, and full-fat coconut milk (to replace the heavy cream).
35. Paleo Crock Pot Roasted With Chimichurri
This dish, like pretty much everything you make in a crock pot, is ridiculously simple. I don’t even need to delve into how I feel about crock pots because you guys already know. There is a recipe for a fantastic chimichurri sauce that elevates this roast available in the ingredient list.
WEEKLY PALEO MEAL PLAN #1
Nicki, a reader, writes the following about this week’s Paleo meal plan: “Being Paleo, I thought I would share some Paleo meal ideas. It really is a way of life now, and it’s not as intimidating as it frequently seems to be. Simply said, the Paleo diet calls for avoiding foods like refined sugars and grains while consuming complete, unprocessed foods like root vegetables, grass-fed beef, and berries. Click here to read more about the Paleo diet. This Paleo meal plan can be ideal for you if you’re seeking for some Paleo meal ideas or simply want to include more healthy foods in your diet.
Find more of my meal planning tips here:
- How to meal plan
- Meal planning printables
- Past meal plans
- My weekly planner pad
MONDAY
Curried Pure Pork Sausages with Salad and Beetroot – Curried sausages are a favourite in our household as it is so easy to whip them up and even double the amount you make. Serve with salad and beetroot, Cauliflower rice or Sweet potato mash.
TUESDAY
Beef mince Nachos with homemade sweet potato chips – I love, love, love sweet potato chips and can just imagine the delicious flavour complimenting the nacho mince! Your family won’t even be able to tell the difference between these sweet potato chips and regular corn chips with this delicious Paleo meal idea.
WEDNESDAY
Paleo Chicken Nuggets with Salad and Coleslaw– A healthier alternative to regular chicken nuggets, these Paleo Chicken Nuggets are perfect for the whole family. These Paleo chicken tenders are so quick and easy too – they will be in the oven within 15 minutes.
THURSDAY
Braised Steak and Onions with Sweet Potato Mash– I love a good slow cooker meal. This slow cooked braised steak looks so delicious and full of flavour, complemented again by yummy sweet potatoes.
FRIDAY
Hamburgers with Paleo Homemade Bread Rolls – Who doesn’t love a good hamburger? These Paleo hamburger buns take only 5 minutes to prepare and are a great way to get the kids involved in cooking with you.
SATURDAY
Tuna Steaks and Vegetables – We are not big fish eaters in my house, though I try to include it in our weekly meal plan at least one night a week. We do, however, love Mexican food, so perhaps these Mexican Tuna Steaks will tick all the boxes for us!
SUNDAY
Roast chicken and vegetables and salad – I love a classic Sunday Roast, and this one accompanied by delicious roasted vegetables is sure to be a crowd pleaser in your house. This Roast Chicken is a really simple Paleo meal to add to your regular meal plan.
Find Paleo Roast Chicken and Vegetables recipe here.
BAKING
5 Ingredient Paleo Chocolate Cake – 5 ingredients! This Paleo Chocolate Cake is said to be moist, delicious and nut-free making it the perfect all-rounder. Topped with those delicious berries, my mouth is watering a little bit!
Eating Paleo: A 5-Day Sample Menu, Recipes, and Book List
When you initially start the paleo diet, it may seem difficult to switch up the things you consume at each meal, especially if your pre-paleo plate was laden with foods like spaghetti, yogurt, and bread.
Because of this, many of the foods that modern Americans consider mainstays in their diets are rejected in favor of a return to the eating behaviors of our Paleolithic ancestors.
You’ll have to say no to items that are well-known to be harmful, including ice cream, potato chips, and soda, as well as to all grains (including whole grains), most dairy products, legumes (beans), and starchy vegetables, among other things, if you decide to follow this eating strategy. According to this line of reasoning, contemporary farming methods have made the foods in these elimination groups poisonous to human systems.
No one of these items has been proven to be hazardous to the body, although the paleo diet can result in vitamin shortages and isn’t recommended for everyone.
However, some evidence indicates that, at least temporarily, the eating regimen may aid in weight loss and lower your chance for developing a few chronic conditions.
You might be eager to ditch processed snacks and possibly inflammatory foods like dairy and grains in order to improve your health and waist size. However, those aspirations won’t make changing your eating habits any simpler.
A 5-Day Sample Menu for the Paleo Diet
Day 1
Breakfast Eggs prepared your favorite way with sausage and a side of berries
Lunch Garlic Cajun shrimp bowls with spiralized zucchini
Dinner Slow-cooker sweet potato chili with green chilies and ground bison or beef
Day 2
Breakfast Gluten-free paleo porridge with chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, and coconut
Lunch Broccoli, cauliflower, and orange salad with added grilled chicken or shrimp
Dinner Thai wraps with Bibb lettuce and ground chicken
Day 3
Breakfast Paleo pancakes made with coconut flour and added berries
Lunch Roasted sweet potato vegetable salad with crumbled bacon and chicken
Dinner Beef, ginger, and broccoli stir-fry cooked in ghee
Day 4
Breakfast Chorizo breakfast scramble with eggs, gluten-free chorizo sausage, feta cheese, veggies, and herbs.
Lunch Paleo-friendly vegetable soup
Dinner One-pan lemon chicken with asparagus, garlic, and herbs
Day 5
Breakfast Italian spaghetti squash breakfast casserole with salami, olives, eggs, and tomatoes
Lunch Paleo pinwheels with cashew cream cheese
Dinner Slow-cooker Hawaiian shredded chicken with avocado and citrus served in lettuce wraps