If you're doing a carnivore or animal-based diet and looking for the best non-toxic cooking tools, you're in the right place! We hope you love these products as much as we do.
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Since I started the carnivore diet two years ago, I've learned a lot about how to properly cook meat and have experimented with many different cooking tools along the way. These are my top kitchen gadgets that help make meat preparation easy, quick, and delicious.
Cast Iron & Stainless Steel Pans
Our cast iron and stainless steel pans are a staple in our household. They're non-toxic and cook food very evenly. We use them to sear steaks, saute meat, cook eggs, reheat food, and more. Here's a video to show you how to make a stainless steel pan non-stick.
We use these enameled cast iron dutch ovens multiple times a week. They are great for slow cooked meats (ex. chuck roast, pork shoulder), bone broth, tallow rendering, and more. My husband uses them to bake his bread.
Dutch Ovens are great alternative to crockpots, which can leach toxins into your food. We switched to using them about a year ago and haven't looked back. They retain moisture very well and make for the best slow cooks.
Our Dutch Ovens are from Great Jones. These are a great lower cost alternative to brands such as Le Ceuset, while still being very high quality. We have both the "dutchess" (6.75 quart) and "baby dutch" (3.5 quart), and find its nice to have both sizes for different use cases.
If you want to make homemade jerky, this is a must have. Heavy duty stainless dehydrators work much better than the plastic kind (the heat distribution is much more even). They are easy to use and clean.
We've had our Cosori Dehydrator for over a year now, and love it. They have both a 6 tray and 10 tray option. You'll save so much money making your own jerky and will love having meat snacks on hand. Here's my recipe for making homemade beef chips.
*This is a much better deal than similar alternatives (or purchasing on amazon)
If you cook a lot of meat, the Meater wireless thermometer could be a game changer for you. It makes it very easy to cook the perfect steaks, smoked meats, and more. We've been using Meater for over a year now and love it!
All you have to do connect the probe through the Meater app on your phone, stick it in your meat, and set a desired end temperature. It will alert you when its ready! Last week we were smoking brisket and checking the temperature while at church. It really makes the cooking experience more relaxed and hands off.
I was so excited to find a glass air fryer, as most are made with teflon. In the past, we used a stainless steel air fryer, but it was close to impossible to clean.
This glass air fryer from Fritaire works really well and is very easy to clean (it actually has a self-cleaning function). We love it! I often use it for making steak bites, meatballs, bacon, reheating food, and more. Of course, this is more of a nice to have than a "must have". But I find it really convenient when I want to make something quickly and contain the mess.
Fritaire has generously offered my community 15% off your order with the code RIBEYERACH and this link.
My mom got me an immersion blender for my birthday last year, and I use it almost everyday. It has a blender attachment, whisk attachment, and food processor attachment. It's great for blending protein shakes, whipping up eggs, and making homemade mayo.
It's so much less mess and cleanup than using a big blender or a kitchen-aid mixer. Just throw the attachment in the dishwasher after you're done using it.
There are many different brands for this, but I really love mine from Braun!
Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
The instant pot pressure cooker is great for cooking meat or bone broth in much less time than a dutch oven or crockpot. You can even cook your meat from frozen in it! This is a great cooking tool to have, especially if you are experiencing histamine intolerance.
Personally, I prefer the taste with longer slow cooks, but the instant pot is so handy to have in a time crunch. I love that it's stainless steel. You can even get a glass lid to use it as a slow cooker, which I much prefer than using a crockpot. They come in several different sizes including 6 quart, 8 quart, and 10 quart.
Having a quick read thermometer is important for cooking your meat properly! We love having the meater wireless thermometer for longer cooks, but it isn't instant read. There are many great options for quick read thermometers, but we really like our thermopro one.
Having an ice cream maker makes it so easy to make animal-based ice cream (yes, there's such thing)! This has become a favorite treat and activity in our household. We use heavy cream, egg yolks, salt, vanilla, and honey—here's the full recipe.
We found our cuisinart ice cream maker on FB marketplace for about $40, so it may be worth checking to see if there's a deal. If not, you can snag one on amazon! Make sure to leave the bowl in the freezer for at least 24 hours before using it.
For a long time, we only used our cheap Walmart knife set for our meats, and it was a struggle to cut our meat, haha. Once you start using a good quality, sharp knife there's no going back. It makes a huge difference!
We love smoked meats in our family. It adds a whole new level of flavor that can really help if you're finding the carnivore diet boring or you're tired of the same taste profiles. There's definitely a learning curve to smoked meats, but it really isn't as difficult as you might think!
We now are using a camp chef smoker, but have used traeger in the past and love both. Getting a smoker is a huge investment, but may be worth it if you make a lots meat! Check out Facebook marketplace to see if there's any deals!
Burger Press
Burger patties are a staple in our household. I love getting mine really thin, and always use a burger press to do so. I use 1/4 lb of ground beef for each patty, form a ball, then press with parchment paper on each side.
Hopefully this list was helpful for you. If you're starting an animal-based or carnivore diet, I'm wishing you all the best! You'll figure out your favorite recipes and cooking tools in no time. Feel free to leave a comment sharing what you can't live without in your own kitchen!
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