Mushroom Magic: Low-Carb Chilli That’ll Smoke Your Socks Off

What happens when you mix sweet chilli plants from B&M, enough mushrooms to fill a small forest, and a dash of sass? You get Rachel’s now-legendary low-carb mushroom chilli, coming in at less than 2g of carbs per portion. In this episode, I walk you through every smoky, garlicky, paprika-laced step of this kitchen triumph—and yes, even the unappetising-looking Vivera mince gets a mention (bless its heart). This is perfect for those keto vegans who are intermittent fasting and still want to eat something warming, satisfying and downright delicious without blowing their carb budget.

So grab your chillies, channel your inner spice alchemist, and let’s get cooking!

Key Takeaways

• Less than 2g of carbs per portion: With smart ingredient swaps and careful measurements, this chilli is a keto vegan dream.
• Chilli your way: Start with sweet chillies and build up with fresh, jarred, and puréed heat—flavour layering at its finest.
• Vivera bacon vs mince: Both are shockingly low in carbs (1.8g and 1.9g per 100g), but the bacon wins on taste—even if it looks nothing like bacon.
• Mushrooms are the unsung heroes: At just 0.3g carbs per 100g, two kilos only add 6g carbs total—and they bring texture, umami and joy.
• Tomato purée watch: It’s the highest carb ingredient here, but totally manageable with portion control. Adds depth and thickness to the sauce.
• Don’t forget the smoke: Liquid smoke and smoked paprika take this from “mmm” to “whoa!” in seconds.

Best Moments

• “Tomato purée is the highest carb thing in this whole dish… so you might decide you don’t like tomato purée, and you decide not to put it in. I wanted to put it in because I wanted the end result to be thick and not too runny—nice and thick sauciness.”
• “The Vivera bacon bits don’t look like bacon at all, but they do taste good.”
• “Don’t put the lid on because there’s going to be so much liquid coming out of the mushrooms that you don’t want it… then adding more and more liquid because you’ve got the lid on the pan—just no.”
• “I might even try that disgusting-looking Vivera mince. Sorry, Vivera, it just doesn’t look palatable. I might make it and chuck loads of red wine in it—that might be nice.”
• “This is going to be my go-to going forward. Make mushrooms the base, then add a bit of protein, because we need the protein.”

Ingredients with carb count:

• Sesame oil 0g
• Chilli paste 3.4g per 100g = >0.5g
• Chillis 4.2g per 100g = >1g
• Garlic paste 13.8g per 100g = >1g
• Vivera Mince x1 pack 220g = 4.18g
• Tomato puree 100g = 15.3g carbs
• smoked paprika 0
• liquid smoke 0
• Mushrooms x4 bags 500g each. 0.3g per 100 = 6g carbs

Total carbs = 27.98

15 portions = less than 2g carbs per portion

Valuable Resources For an extensive list of foods with their carb, fat and protein count, go here: https://www.rachelgtherapy.co.uk/1-what-why-and-how For a keto-vegan start-up menu and shopping list go here: https://www.rachelgtherapy.co.uk/1-what-why-and-how

Host Bio Rachel, a once morbidly obese individual, experienced a remarkable body transformation through the keto diet. Later, she embraced veganism and now shares her extensive knowledge and obsession with carbs in vegan proteins on The Keto Vegan podcast. Her goal is to demonstrate the simplicity of combining the keto diet with a vegan lifestyle. Resources: https://theketovegan.life Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheKetoVegan/podcasts Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/821471059206067 Email: rachelghinn@gmail.com