7 Easy Low-Nickel Recipes (Nickel-Free Diet Ideas)

Seven everyday recipes, easy and with no hard-to-find ingredients, written using only foods that published lists rate low in nickel: white rice, fresh meat and fish, eggs, dairy, zucchini, cucumber, apples, lemon, olive oil and butter. No legumes, cocoa, nuts, whole grains, tomato or canned food.

"Nickel-free" is how people search, but no food is completely free of nickel. These recipes use foods from the "low" column of our low-nickel food list, leaving out the ones the lists disagree on. They are not a diet: if your doctor gave you a list, check each recipe against it.

1. Parmesan risotto

A plain risotto without onion, wine or stock: rice, butter, Parmigiano and salted water. The creaminess comes from beating in cold butter off the heat. Ready in 30 minutes.

→ Parmesan risotto recipe

2. Lemon chicken with basmati rice

Thin chicken cutlets browned in a non-stick pan, with a lemon-butter sauce and fluffy basmati rice. Lemon is acidic, so the recipe avoids stainless steel pans.

→ Lemon chicken with basmati rice recipe

3. Sea bass and zucchini parcels

Sea bass fillets baked on a bed of zucchini in baking paper, with lemon and olive oil. Twenty minutes in the oven and no pan to wash.

→ Sea bass and zucchini parcels recipe

4. Zucchini frittata

Eggs, zucchini, milk and Parmigiano. Good hot, cold or packed for lunch.

→ Zucchini frittata recipe

5. Italian rice salad without canned food

The classic Italian rice salad uses canned tuna and pickles. This one uses poached chicken, hard-boiled eggs, cucumber, zucchini and mozzarella, dressed with olive oil and lemon.

→ Rice salad without canned food recipe

6. Baked beef meatballs

Fresh minced beef, egg, white bread soaked in milk and Parmigiano, baked instead of fried. White bread, not whole-grain: whole grains are rated high.

→ Baked beef meatballs recipe

7. Baked apples with yogurt and honey

A dessert with no chocolate, cocoa or nuts: apples baked in a glass dish with butter and honey, served with plain yogurt.

→ Baked apples with yogurt and honey recipe

Three rules behind all seven

1. Fresh, not canned. Many lists remove canned food.
2. Non-stick, enamelled or glass pans for acidic food. A presentation by pediatrician Roberto Berni Canani, published by the Italian association ASIPAN, lists stainless steel with acidic foods among the factors that can raise nickel in a meal.
3. Refined flour and bread, not whole-grain. Nickel sits mostly in the bran and germ of grains, according to EFSA.

Make your own low-nickel recipes with ChefExtract

Seven recipes run out fast, and the recipes you see every day on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube are not written for someone limiting nickel.

With ChefExtract, on iPhone and Android, paste the link to a reel or a website and get the recipe with ingredients and steps. Then create a custom variation (up to three, on top of vegan and vegetarian): give it a name such as "Low nickel" and write your doctor's list in the description. The app rewrites the recipe with swaps and tells you what it changed. It is a draft to check, not medical advice.

Read next

• Printable low-nickel food list (PDF)
• Nickel allergy diet: what to eat and how to adapt recipes
• Foods high in nickel: what to avoid and what to choose
• Nickel allergy symptoms: skin, food (SNAS) and diagnosis