Low FODMAP Barbecue

Now that the sun’s out, I thought I’d share how I plan for a low FODMAP barbecue, to avoid gluten, onion and garlic, while enjoying all the delicious summer flavours. It does require a little more work than your average barbecue to ensure all salads are homemade, and meat is marinated in FODMAP friendly sauces, however it’s definitely worth it!

Since starting the low FODMAP diet I have become a slight expert in identifying the foods that contain onion and garlic, however I still get caught out! The other day I went to heat up a packet of Tilda wholegrain rice and quinoa, and by complete chance noticed that it contained onion and garlic. I will stick to the safe Merchant Gourment packets of quinoa in the future, but lesson learnt – always check labels! So for today’s barbecue, I ordered my groceries in advance from Sainsbury’s so that I could check all the ingredients online and avoid the bank holiday rush! As there’s just the two of us today, I ordered sausages, burgers and chicken, to give a little variety.

My all-time favourite burgers are the Taste the Difference Beef Steak Burgers in Sainburys, shown below. These are low FODMAP (no onion, garlic or gluten) and incredibly juicy!

The range of sausages available seems to change regularly, however I often try to find a suitable low FODMAP chipolata! At the moment, the Cumberland chipolatas are free from gluten, onion and garlic, and are great on the barbecue.

Finally, I made up some piri piri chicken skewers, as I love a bit of spice! The recipe is below (if you don’t like your food too spicy, I’d halve the amount of cayenne pepper as they did have quite a kick!)

Piri Piri Chicken Skewers (Makes 8 skewers)

Ingredients
320g chicken mini fillets
3 tbsp cayenne pepper
3 tbsp paprika
3 tbsp garlic infused oil
1 tsp ground ginger
mixed peppers (I used ¼ red, yellow and green)
salt and pepper
wooden BBQ skewers

Method
Slice the chicken into small chunks, and cut the peppers into small squares. Prepare the marinade by mixing all of the spices (cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic oil, ginger & seasoning) in an ovenproof dish. Prepare your skewers by alternating the chicken and peppers. Place these into the marinade, and use a teaspoon to coat all of the meat and peppers with the piri piri sauce. Leave in the fridge to continue marinating for about an hour.

While your barbecue is warming up, place the skewers in the oven for about 10-15 mins to cook the chicken (Gas Mark 5 / 190 degrees). Then finish them off on the barbecue (be sure to coat the remaining chicken with the piri sauce but go careful as the oil will cause the barbecue to go a little wild), until they are slightly blackened and chargrilled! Check one of the skewers to ensure the chicken is cooked, and enjoy!

I served mine with a delicious carrot dip (left), this recipe was shared by a fellow fodmapper (Lottie from The Tummy Diaries – give it a try!) and some guacamole (right), which is simply mashed avocados, a squeeze of lemon juice, a dash of garlic oil and some chilli flakes (this is only suitable if you can tolerate avocados as they are considered high FODMAP during the elimination phase)…

I served all the meat with Promise gluten free supersoft white sandwich rolls (currently £1.20 for three in Sainsbury’s), sesame buns (for my other half), Arla lactose free cheese, Schar gluten free/low FODMAP grissini breadsticks (go well with the dips above!), salad (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber with a balsamic vinaigrette), tomato slices, a bean salad (not low FODMAP but I love a few edamame), and of course, a jug of Pimms!

I hope you’re all enjoying this lovely weather, let me know if you give my piri piri chicken a try, or if you have any other low FODMAP barbecue ideas. I’d love to hear from you.

Alice x