Are these 300 calorie recipes the new Viking Toast?

As January is in full swing, many people are looking to lose weight by lowering their calorie intake and eating healthier meals.

After Pinch of Nom’s viking toast recipe sent dieters into a frenzy, Femail tested out the viral phenomenon and realised it lived up to the hype.

But how do other 300 calorie recipes compare? The viking toast was filling, packed with punchy flavours and cheap and simple to cook – what more could you want from healthy food?

After the success of this Welsh rarebit-inspired healthy snack, Femail has decided to see how other low-calorie recipes compare, from sweet muffins to a ‘fakeaway’ curry. But do they cut the mustard?

Breakfast muffins – 100 calories without filling

METHOD

I started off by greasing a 12-hole cake tin with low-calorie cooking spray before lining it with multicoloured muffin cases (purely because they look so nice). Meanwhile, I preheated the oven to 200C.

The cooking method for these muffins, from The Big Man’s World, couldn’t be simpler – it basically involves mixing together the wet ingredients and dry ingredients into two separate bowls before combining them.

In one bowl, I added flour, a sugar substitute (I used Truvia but you could use any sweetener), baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. In another bowl I whisked together vegetable oil, milk and a beaten egg. 

If you wanted to go for the lowest-possible calorie content, I would recommend using rapeseed oil and skimmed milk for this.

Once the two bowls were mixed up, I poured the wet ingredients onto the dry and began to combine. I found the mixture became quite lumpy and, while the recipe explains you should fold the ingredients, I became impatient and used a whisk (which came back to haunt me later).

The muffins are 100 calories each without a filling, but who wants a plain cake? I folded in some chopped up raspberries for a bit of sharpness and some substance.

Once the mixture was ready I spooned it evenly(ish) into the rainbow muffin cases and put the tray into the oven for 18 minutes. After this time I took them out to have a look and decided they needed a couple if minutes more, so the cooking time took a total of 20 minutes. 

VERDICT

The muffins looked pretty impressive once cooked and the smell was deliciously sweet, so I was excited to dive in once they had cooled.

On my first bite, I was still pleased with what I had produced. It was a well-cooked cake (if I do say so myself), moist and sweet with just the right amount of sharpness from the raspberries to cut through. 

My second and third bites were equally as yummy, although three mouthfuls was about enough to finish one cake – to be honest, they aren’t very substantial. At 100 calories each, perhaps that isn’t much of a surprise.

Still feeling smug at the results, I turned back to the tray to put the cakes away and realised in the time I’d eaten one, the remaining 11 muffins had shrunk – my fault for whisking the mixture instead of folding, which knocked out all the air.

My smugness continued to dissipate as time went on and I was left with an unpleasant aftertaste in my mouth from the not-quite-sugar substitute. 

Perhaps it’s just about preference, but I don’t like the taste of Truvia. Although a natural substance, something about it tastes very artificial to me. Perhaps I’ve become far too used to the delicious taste of real sugar. Either way, I won’t be giving up the real stuff any time soon. 

Flatbreads with feta, avocado and harissa yoghurt – 213 calories

The topping for Jamie Oliver’s flatbreads was tangy, creamy and salty – but there wasn’t an awful lot to go around

METHOD

I began this Jamie Oliver recipe by toasting cumin seeds in a pan to bring out their flavour – this is a relatively quick process so if you’re replicating, keep an eye on the seeds so they don’t burn.

Once toasted, I tipped the seeds into a bowl (they’d continue to cook in the pan) and set them aside before getting started on the flatbread mixture.

Although I felt it was a lot of effort to make my own flatbread, once I was actually following the recipe it couldn’t have been easier. It’s essentially equal quantities of Greek yoghurt (low fat, for the purpose of this experiment) and self-raising flour combined, plus a touch of baking powder. And don’t forget your toasted cumin seeds!

Don’t be afraid to get stuck in with your hands to combine the ingredients – you need to use them to knead the dough anyway.

Once the dough had formed, I set it aside while I prepared the topping – again, this couldn’t be easier.

I sliced up some avocado and tossed it into a bowl before adding some lemon juice and salt (but only a tiny pinch). Then I crumbled in some feta and gave it a good mix.

Setting the bowl aside, I put some more Greek yoghurt into a new bowl and added some harissa paste. The recipe doesn’t add this detail, but I squeezed in a little bit of lime juice before combining for some extra tanginess.

Once the topping was ready, it was time to cook the flatbreads. I heated a pan and dry-fried each flatbread for two minutes on each side.

When all the components were ready, it was time to assemble. 

The flatbreads with their topping were delicious, but unfortunately the serving size is a little bit small

VERDICT 

Good old Jamie Oliver, what would we do without him? These flatbreads were truly delicious, with a great balance of flavours.

While cutting the avocado, I was concerned I’d chosen one that was a little too unripe, but I was pleased by the end result as it helped to give a bit more bite to each mouthful. If you’re trying this one for yourself, I’d recommend choosing a firmer avocado over a softer one.

The harissa yoghurt provided a fragrant spicy flavour as the base, and the flatbreads themselves were deliciously soft with a bit of spice from the cumin seeds.

Unfortunately, the delicious snack comes with the same catch in that it’s not very big or filling.

When I separated the mixture into four portions, there was barely a handful of topping for each flatbread (which, of course, meant I piled on more than 300 calories’s worth). 

While the taste was undoubtedly delicious, it was just too small a portion for me. 

Butter chicken – 300 calories

METHOD 

I’m pleased to report this recipe, from @jalalsamfit on TikTok, was the easiest method of all five recipes I tried out – and who doesn’t want to hear that about a fakeaway?

The first step was to chop and marinade the chicken. After slicing chicken breasts into curry-sized chunks (ie. not too big) I tipped it into a bowl before adding Greek yoghurt (the recipe doesn’t specify but for a low calorie option, I went for the fat free stuff), lemon juice, garlic and spices, plus some seasoning.

Then I combined the lot with a spoon, although you could just as easily use (clean!) hands, covered the bowl with clingfilm and set it aside.

After that it was time to make the sauce. I used some low-calorie cooking spray in a heated pan before adding sliced onion. Then I added the same spices as I’d put into the marinade to the pan and combined.

A tip if you’re worried about the spices being too dry and catching on the pan: add a little water to the spices and combine them into a wet paste before adding them in with the onions. You’re much less likely to find they catch and the water also helps to soften the onions.

The recipe also calls for a handful of cashew nuts to be enters into the pan, but unfortunately I’m allergic to nuts so that wasn’t possible for me.

Instead, I continued to follow the recipe and added a tin of chopped tomatoes and another dollop of Greek yoghurt to the mixture and let everything simmer. 

After a few minutes, the mixture is ready to be blended – but I’d recommend letting the sauce cool slightly before putting it into the food processor. You’ll be putting it back into the pan later anyway.

It takes a matter of seconds to whizz up the sauce to make it smooth and creamy, and once it’s all done, it smells divine.

Next, I tipped my yoghurt coated chicken into the pan which had been heated with more low-calorie spray and cooked it on a medium-high heat. After a few minutes, poured the blended sauce into the pan and let the chicken finish cooking in the sauce.

To garnish, the recipe recommends coriander, but I absolutely detest the stuff and it tastes like soap to me (yes, I’m one of those people) so I garnished with spring onion instead.  

This low-calorie version of a butter chicken curry was definitely a success and proved to be a delicious ‘fakeaway’

VERDICT 

Well, thank goodness I didn’t garnish with coriander, because it would have absolutely destroyed what was a delicious dish!

I was thrilled with the results of this and would definitely make it again. Perfectly spiced and seasoned and with tender, moist chicken breast, there’s very little not to like.

As I enjoyed my fakeaway, I thought that surely there must be a catch to this meal. It tastes too good to be true.

And sadly, it turns out there is a catch. One serving of the curry is indeed 300 calories – but that’s just on its own and doesn’t include rice or bread.

While a little bit disappointing, to add rice to this curry would increase the calorie count by approximately 200 calories. And at 500 in total, that’s still not half bad!  

Roasted tomato mac and cheese – 299 calories 

The method for this macaroni (or in my case, fusilli) and cheese is one of the strangest I’ve ever read, but I thought best not to deviate from the recipe

METHOD

I consider myself a fairly experienced cook, but I’ve never actually made mac and cheese before. However, from similar meals I have made, I was confident I knew the rough outline of the recipe.

Boil the pasta, make a bechamel, combine and put under the grill, right? Wrong, apparently!

This method, from myrecipes, was one of the most unusual I’ve ever seen and, as it came from a US author, required some conversion into metric measurements.

The first step was to slice five big tomatoes and ‘broil’ them (I assumed this meant’ grill’) for around 10 minutes. The recipe didn’t specify, but I sprinkled them with a little sea salt beforehand to bring out their flavour.

Then I created a paste from butter and flour, ingredients which would normally form the base of a roux sauce.  

Next, I heated a large pan on a high heat and added chicken stock, milk (skimmed, for the lowest calorie results), salt and mustard and whisked to combine.

Once I had combined the liquids, I added the pasta and brought the whole thing to the boil. Although the recipe calls for macaroni, I decided to use fusilli as we already had it in the cupboard and it seemed wasteful to buy more!

After a good 15 minutes the pasta was cooked. I added another splash of milk and some artichokes, mixing the whole lot together to combine. Then, it was time to add the cheese.

The recipe calls for low-fat cheddar, fontina cheese and parmesan. I’ve never heard of fontina cheese, but a quick Google search told me gruyére would do the trick in its place. This may have worked out at a higher calorie could but it was the best I could do.

I’d pre-grated all the cheeses before beginning the recipe, and tipped them into the pan before turning it off the heat and giving it all a good mix.

Once combined, I spooned the pasta mixture into a large baking dish and topped it with the tomatoes and another sprinkling of parmesan. Then I popped the whole thing under the grill until the tomatoes were nice and charred (about 15 minutes). 

The finished result was quite delicious and hit the spot, but unfortunately the serving size ended up being quite small

VERDICT 

What’s not to like about mac and cheese? I’d be a very difficult person to please if I had any real complaints about this dish.

The combination of the gruyére, cheddar and parmesan was deliciously salty and I’d managed to cook the pasta al dente – although I’m almost certain this was a fluke.

Adding artichokes to the mix was an inspired idea and not something I’d ever considered before, but their almost vinegar-like acidity cut through the creaminess for a little more variety of flavour.

If I’m being picky, I think the tomatoes were a little bit pointless. They were slightly mushy and weren’t necessarily unwelcome on the dish, but I think if you decided to make it without them, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

I wouldn’t necessarily say the dish had the texture of a classic mac and cheese and was definitely dry in comparison to a full-fat version. But this is diet food at the end of the day, and for a 300 calorie version, I think it does a pretty good job!

The catch (because, as I have learnt, there is always a catch): It’s probably more of a side dish in terms of portion size. But if you wanted to make it into a main meal, you could easily load up your plate with plenty of veg and still enjoy it very much. Overall, I would recommend.

Jacket potato stuffed with tuna and cucumber  – 237 calories

The method for this recipe couldn’t be simpler and only involves a handful of ingredients, taking just minutes to prepare

METHOD

Of all the recipes I tried out, this BBC Good Food creation was by far the most simple. Firstly, I baked a potato (if you don’t know how to do this, I can’t help you). 

Next, I mixed together the filling. The recipe calls for tuna, fat free cottage cheese with onions and chives in it, and celery.

I substituted the celery for cucumber, which I thought was a good alternative as the ingredients have very similar calorie contents, and to be honest I wouldn’t eat a stick of celery if you offered me all the money in the world.

I also couldn’t find onion and chive cottage cheese in the supermarket, so I chopped up a little bit of red onion and mixed it in instead.

Then I combined some tuna with the cheese and cucumber, giving it a really good mix. You need to get stuck in as tuna doesn’t combine as well with cottage cheese as it does with something like mayonnaise.

But it really was that simple, and within a matter of minutes my meal was ready (garnished with some spring onion). 

Sadly, even the spring onion garnish couldn’t save this utterly awful meal, which I definitely won’t be making again

VERDICT

Jacket potatoes are the ultimate comfort food, and I often find myself opting for a baked potato filled with tuna, mayonnaise and cucumber after a long day when I don’t really fancy cooking too much. But we all know mayo is quite calorific, so could this low-calorie option sway me?

This is perhaps the time to mention that I loathe cottage cheese. If hell is a real place, I imagine its rivers are lined with the stuff. It reminds me of early noughties fad diets that put together bizarre ingredients in the dangerous and false promise that you could lose a stone in five days.

However, having already substituted the celery, I couldn’t swap out another key ingredient and besides, I couldn’t think of anything else I could have used in its place. 

But after garnishing with some spring onion and saying a little prayer, I hoped I might be converted and potentially enjoy the meal. 

Unfortunately, I was wrong. One bite was enough for me to know I would never, ever be trying this recipe again. I imagine if you like cottage cheese and are trying to lose weight, it could well be a great option for you but for me, it wasn’t to be.

After finishing my mouthful and brushing my teeth to get rid of the taste, I did a very unscientific Google search to find other low calorie options that you might be able to turn to so you can spare yourself.

It appears a tablespoon of extra light mayo contains approximately 10 calories, compared to nine calories in the same amount of cottage cheese.

So if you want to recreate a lovely, humble, comforting jacket potato, don’t punish yourself, choose a lighter option of the ingredient you know you enjoy. Losing weight doesn’t have to be joyless.

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