Side Dish recipes
10 AIP Side Dish Recipes
Let me be straight with you about vegetables, because this is the part of the protocol people quietly skip and it's also the part doing a great deal of the work.
Nobody ever taught most of us this. You were handed 3 vegetables and a starch, and on this protocol the usual starch, the potato and the bread and the rice, just left. The gap it leaves is not a failure of effort. It is a gap in what anyone ever showed you.
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
This is the dish that gives you real comfort back. It is soft, warm, and easy, and it lands on the plate looki
AIP garlic mashed sweet potatoes, boiled with garlic and mashed with palm shortening and parsley
Comfort food takes a different shape on AIP, and this mash is a good example of what that shape can look like.
Marinated Mushroom Skewers
Marinated mushroom skewers in balsamic vinegar and oregano, a 10-minute nightshade-free side rich in selenium,
Garlic-Dill Parsnip Fries: the fry that skips the nightshade
A craving for fries deserves a real answer, and parsnips give one: roasted until sweet and tender with crisp e
AIP rosemary and shallot roasted butternut squash - a warm, simple autumn side
A whole butternut squash is not an easy thing to get into. The skin is tough, the shape is awkward, and it tak
A bright raw slaw of shredded carrot and radish tossed in a no-cook mint and turmeric pesto
There will be days in this phase when standing at a stove for even 10 minutes is simply out of reach, and this
Bacon-wrapped asparagus: a side that looks like effort and is not
This is the dish to make when you want the table to feel like a celebration and you do not have the energy for
Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Bacon with a Dairy-Free Ranch Seasoning
Crisp, savory, and full of a ranch-like flavor that comes back without any dairy. A well-browned pan of Brusse
Bacon-braised collard greens
Tough-stemmed collards do not turn tender by accident. A full, patient simmer in broth and bacon fat is what a
AIP balsamic glazed carrots - caramelized roasted side, vitamin A source
Some nights a single sheet pan is the most you can manage. Five ingredients you already have, roasted hot unti
See all 69 Side Dish recipes
- A bright raw slaw of shredded carrot and radish tossed in a no-cook mint and turmeric pesto
- A savory skillet hash of diced Japanese sweet potato caramelized in bacon fat with mushrooms and kale, finished with fresh herbs
- AIP Brussels Sprouts Gratin
- AIP Mashed Potatoes
- AIP aloo gobi - Indian cauliflower and taro braise using root and bark spices in place of seed spices
- AIP balsamic glazed carrots - caramelized roasted side, vitamin A source
- AIP curried roasted vegetables with turmeric and thyme
- AIP garlic mashed sweet potatoes, boiled with garlic and mashed with palm shortening and parsley
- AIP palak - Indian creamed spinach with coconut yogurt and root spices, paneer and garam masala omitted
- AIP parsnip-based potato salad with a creamy avocado and apple cider vinegar dressing and crispy bacon, nightshade-free and egg-free
- AIP roasted beets, Brussels sprouts, and carrots - a colorful root-and-cruciferous side
- AIP roasted cabbage wedges - foil-roasted cabbage with lemon, garlic, and bacon
- AIP roasted golden beets with apple, sage, and a coconut-butter lemon dressing
- AIP roasted parsnip and carrot mash with coconut milk - stovetop and oven, creamy potato-free side
- AIP rosemary and shallot roasted butternut squash - a warm, simple autumn side
- AIP soft veggie tacos on green cassava tortillas with cilantro-coconut sauce
- AIP stuffed sweet potato skins with bacon, mushroom, and cilantro-coconut sauce
- Air Fried Sweet Potato Cubes
- Asparagus and mushroom saute with a date-sweetened sauce
- Bacon-braised collard greens
- Bacon-braised collard greens: a green you will actually finish
- Bacon-wrapped asparagus: a side that looks like effort and is not
- Boiled Plantains with Kale
- Bok Choy Cauliflower Rice: a plain, useful side that earns its place
- Braised Belgian Endives with Bacon: a slow, silky childhood dish, kept clean
- Cauliflower Fritters: a nightshade-free stand-in for the hashbrown
- Celery Root Fries
- Charmoula roasted vegetables: one pan, North African brightness, no nightshades
- Cilantro Cauliflower Rice
- Curly Sweet Potato Fries
- Fan-Cut Sweet Potatoes That Crisp at the Edges
- Garlic Herb Sweet Potato Fries
- Garlic-Bacon Cabbage
- Garlic-Dill Parsnip Fries: the fry that skips the nightshade
- Ginger-salted roasted okra, 4 things and a hot oven
- Honey Glazed Beets
- Jamaican yam mash: creamy, garlicky, and nothing like a potato
- Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts
- Marinated Mushroom Skewers
- Mashed Roasted Garlic Sweet Potatoes
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Oven-Roasted Beets with Herbes de Provence
- Oven-Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Orange Glaze, the AIP Way
- Oven-roasted butternut squash with cinnamon
- Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus
- Rainbow roasted vegetables with basil-mint pesto
- Roasted Autumn Vegetables
- Roasted Beets
- Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Bacon with a Dairy-Free Ranch Seasoning
- Roasted Carrots
- Roasted Masala Sweet Potatoes - AIP elimination compliant
- Roasted carrot fries with a raw carrot-top chimichurri
- Roasted squash with balsamic-orange glaze: a holiday plate worth celebrating
- Root Vegetable Fries
- Rustic leek gratin with coconut milk
- Shiitake Broccoli
- Silky mashed 'potatoes', 3 ingredients, no dairy
- Steamed broccoli mash
- Sweet and sour asparagus and mushrooms: a bright, date-sweetened side
- Tostones
- Twice-baked butternut squash with toasted coconut
- White Sweet Potato Fries: the crispy fry that does not fight your body
- air fryer Greek cauliflower, lemon-herb florets crisped in the air fryer
- air fryer butternut squash with cinnamon and thyme, a nightshade-free side
- coconut creamed hardy greens, a rich AIP side for kale and chard
- riced cauliflower sauteed with onion and simmered in coconut milk, finished with cilantro and lime, a grain-free pilaf
- roasted acorn squash mashed with apple butter and cinnamon, a warm naturally sweet AIP side
- thick grilled cauliflower steaks over a blended lemon-garlic tigernut sauce with mint and dates, AIP Core friendly
Range matters more than amount
Different plants feed different populations in the gut, and a rotating range is linked to a more diverse microbiome than the same 3 on repeat. If broccoli, carrots, and spinach are your whole week, the work isn't more of them. It is a wider circle.
A gentle way in: pick 1 vegetable a week you've never cooked. Celeriac. Kohlrabi. Fennel. Most are inexpensive, most roast beautifully, and over a few months your range widens without a single act of willpower.
The technique that carries this protocol
High heat, good fat, real salt, and space between the pieces on the tray. Roasting makes vegetables sweet and deeply savory without a single ingredient you're avoiding, and it works on nearly everything.
The usual error is crowding the tray, which steams the food instead of browning it. Use 2 trays. That difference is often the whole distance between vegetables you tolerate and vegetables you look forward to.
Let 1 tray become 3 meals
Roasted vegetables are a side tonight, the base of a salad tomorrow, and part of a hash the morning after. That quietly solves the range problem as well, because 3 different vegetables on 1 tray widen the week without adding a task to it.
Side Dish recipes, answered
Which vegetables are not allowed on the Autoimmune Protocol?
Nightshades come out during elimination: tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplant, and the spices made from them. Sweet potatoes are not nightshades and they stay. Nearly everything else in the vegetable aisle is available to you, which is a far longer list than the one you're avoiding.
Are sweet potatoes allowed on AIP?
Yes. Despite the name they're not related to white potatoes and they're not nightshades. They're a staple of this way of eating and a good source of carbohydrate if your energy dips on a lower-carbohydrate approach.
How many vegetables should I be eating?
Most Autoimmune Protocol guidance points toward filling a large share of the plate at most meals, and toward variety across the week rather than a fixed number. If counting helps you, count how many different plants you ate this week instead of how many cups.
Can I use frozen vegetables?
Yes, and they're often picked and frozen at their best. They're a practical, affordable way to keep range up, particularly in the weeks when shopping and prepping are more than you have in you.