There’s hardly any meal more convenient than a BLT sandwich. You assemble some bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, and condiments between bread slices, and bam! A whole lunch ready to pack and go!
But if you have extra time in the morning, consider making a healthy BLT sandwich side using these 14 easy and delicious recipes. Not only would you have a more satisfying and flavorful meal, but you also build on the nutrition!
1. Easy Tomato Soup
A bowl of rich, creamy, and nutrient-packed tomato soup is almost standard with any good sandwich, including a BLT. It’s a heartwarming comfort dish that rounds up, if not elevates, the meal. The flavors from the tomato puree and spice medley are complex yet well-balanced; the acidity is also on point to complement the simple flavors of the BLT sandwich.
2. Crispy Baked Onion Rings
A plate of crispy baked onion rings is a fun addition to any BLT sandwich meal. However, most variants are deep-fried in oil, leading to unhealthy fat. With this recipe, you won’t have to worry about that – the onion rings are baked to perfection but are still as crunchy and crispy as you love them. Serve with your favorite dips and BLT!
3. Oven-Baked Sweet Potato Fries
French fries are a quintessential tandem to a great BLT sandwich. But if you’re watching your health and fat consumption, swap those deep-fried frites for these oven-baked sweet potatoes. They’re as crispy as French fries, and you can flavor them with any seasonings or dips you like. The flavors are also uniquely sweet, giving you a new experience.
4. Pickled Vegetables
BLT sandwiches pair well with healthy, acidic sides, and what else fits the bill more than pickled vegetables? You can have these deliciously sour treats packed right into the sandwich or eaten on the side. Also, there’s much room for creativity when making pickled vegetables – you can choose the veggies, spices, pickling liquid, and length of pickling period!
5. Healthy Potato Soup
If you’re still missing some potato goodness with your BLT sandwich, make a bowl of this healthy and creamy delicious potato soup! The recipe was designed to have lower calories than the usual heavy potato soup but still taste as good as any other. If you do without the bacon topping, it becomes inclusive to many diets as it’s dairy-free, gluten-free, paleo-friendly, and vegan.
6. Healthy Macaroni Salad
A healthy macaroni salad is a refreshingly sweet and delicious addition to your BLT sandwich. This recipe uses Greek yogurt and minimal mayonnaise for creaminess; such a combination helps keep the fats in your meal low, especially if your BLT already has mayo. Besides the yogurt, there’s also an addition of cheese and fresh vegetables, each contributing unique nutrients, flavors, and textures.
7. Healthy Coleslaw (No Mayo)
Coleslaw is a classic side dish known for its crunchy textures and creamy, acidic flavors. These qualities make it a perfect pairing to BLT, but you can do better. This recipe uses a healthy dressing made from maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, and spices to keep the fats low and the flavors spectacular. Also, you can have other veggies besides cabbage, like carrots, jalapeño peppers, almonds, and more.
8. Greek Yogurt Deviled Eggs
Deviled eggs are an excellent pair for your BLT sandwich if you’re building on protein. Although usually made with mayo, this recipe uses Greek yogurt to minimize the fat content. Also, making deviled eggs does take some effort – taking out the yolks, making the creamy and spicy filling, then putting them all back – but it’s all worth it.
9. Simple Avocado Salad
This simple avocado salad is an underrated side dish. It has everything good about avocado – creamy, delicious, and nutritious – but the flavors are subtle enough that they don’t detract from the main meal: your BLT. Such subtlety is credited to the dish’s simplicity, as it’s made from only avocados, green onions, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
10. Honey Lime Rainbow Fruit Salad
You’ll love this honey lime rainbow fruit salad if you enjoy a medley of nutrients, flavors, colors, and textures. It purposely uses a honey lime mixture – instead of the usual creamy dressings – to avoid overwhelming the fresh and sweet fruit flavors. The overall simplicity of this fruit salad makes it perfect for equally simple meals like a BLT sandwich.
11. Easy Homemade Pickles
If you love those pickled vegetables with your BLT, you’ll also enjoy these homemade dill cucumber pickles. The flavors are much more tangy and fresh, plus the textures are wonderfully crisp. Although, as pickles, the flavors are unavoidably sour, it isn’t overwhelming because of the salt, sugar, and spices that cut through it all. Have them on the side or added to your BLT!
12. Healthy Potato Salad
A bowl of this delicious potato salad brings everything a BLT needs from potatoes – the starchiness, creaminess, and fantastic flavors but all in a much healthier way. This recipe stands out from other potato salads because there is no mayo! Instead, you get that creamy texture from a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, and various herbs and spices. You can also add Greek yogurt for extra creaminess.
13. Guacamole
Guacamole isn’t just for nachos! This Mexican-inspired side dish is perfect for various dishes, including your BLT sandwich. It works just like the simple avocado salad above – the subtle creaminess of the avocados highlights the deliciousness of the BLT. But this one is much more flavorful and complex, thus contributing to the fantastic depth of flavors, nutrients, and textures.
14. Cucumber Salad
Cucumbers are an excellent addition to any sandwich, whether as a side dish or an additional layer or ingredient. They contribute many nutrients, fresh flavors, crunchy textures, and a refreshing feel to the meal. With this cucumber salad, you get all those and a bit more because of the other ingredients: rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and chopped chives.
