Diet by Priyanka
Grilled zucchini with tomatoes
Zucchini rounds grilled in a teaspoon of olive oil, topped with halved cherry tomatoes and herbs. The plate is 82 kcal, 5.5 g net carbohydrate and 2 g of fibre, which makes it the lightest thing on this site.
Why this dish works
Zucchini is about 94 per cent water, so 150 g of it fills a plate for almost nothing. That is the whole reason it appears on plans: it adds volume to a meal without adding much of anything else.
Grill it on a dry, properly hot pan rather than a cool one with more oil. Cool oil makes it sweat and go limp. Hot metal drives the water off the surface first, and then it colours.
Salt at the end, never at the start. Salted raw zucchini releases water within minutes and you end up steaming it in its own liquid.
What you need
Makes one plate:
- 150 g zucchini, cut into 1 cm rounds
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 4 to 5 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 green chilli, slit
- ½ tsp mixed dried herbs, oregano and thyme
- ¼ tsp coarse black pepper
- Salt, at the end
- A squeeze of lemon
How to make it
Cut the zucchini into rounds about a centimetre thick. Thinner than that and they collapse before they colour.
Heat a grill pan or heavy tawa until a drop of water skitters across it. Brush the rounds with the olive oil instead of pouring oil into the pan.
Lay them down in a single layer and leave them alone for two to three minutes, until the underside has dark grill marks. Turn once and give the other side two minutes.
Add the halved cherry tomatoes and the slit chilli to the pan for the last minute, cut side down, just long enough to blister.
Season with salt, pepper and the dried herbs off the heat, and finish with lemon.
Nutrition per plate
| Calories | 82 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 2.1 g |
| Fat | 5.4 g |
| Net carbohydrate | 5.5 g |
| Fibre | 2 g |
Figures are for one plate built on 150 g of zucchini, 1 tsp of olive oil and four to five cherry tomatoes. The oil is about half the calories. Priyanka recalculated these figures from the exact ingredient weights in September 2026.
Who this suits
Almost any plan, and particularly a weight loss plan, where the problem is usually the size of the plate rather than the food on it.
At 5.5 g of net carbohydrate it also fits a strict low-carb day, so it is a useful side next to a prediabetes main course. It has no real protein, so serve it next to something that does.
Have a question about this recipe?
Priyanka answers WhatsApp herself. Ask about ingredient swaps, portion size, or whether this dish suits what you are working on:
There is no charge for a question, and you will be talking to Priyanka, not an assistant.
More from Priyanka’s kitchen
Every published recipe is listed on the low-carb recipes page, with macronutrients listed for each.
If this one worked for you, these are close cousins from the same plans:
- Cucumber, onion and tomato raita
- Low carb keto rice with vegetables
- Air fried zucchini chips
- Broccoli and paneer tikki
Recipes work best inside a plan built around your history and your routine. To start there, book a Discovery Call with Priyanka.
These meals come from the same plans Priyanka builds for PCOS, thyroid, prediabetes and fatty liver support.
Written by Priyanka Chanana, nutritionist, practising since 2021. Nutrition support runs alongside medical care rather than replacing it.