It's turkey time! Whether it's Christmas, Thanksgiving or just your weekly Sunday roast, histamine intolerance can make dinner planning suck, a lot.
So, it's a major win when you can find recipes that won't aggravate your symptoms, are healthy for your gut and body, while also being enjoyed by those you share the dinner table with.
Today, I've got a super simple low histamine turkey recipe that will tickle your whole family's taste buds to share with you.
Before we get started, let's take a brief glance at why each ingredient has been selected - because, when it comes to histamine intolerance, knowledge about what you're putting into your body is power!
Low Histamine Turkey Recipe: Ingredients Breakdown
Here's a little look into why this mouth-watering low histamine turkey recipe is not only going to make your tummy tingle with happiness, but will have your body thriving with all of the health benefits that each of the nutrients the selected ingredients contains.
Turkey: Turkey is a great protein to include in your diet, especially if you struggle with the symptoms of histamine intolerance. Made up of so many wonderful amino acids that the body uses to make enzymes for every important bodily function, a real highlight in turkey meat is the level of a particular amino acid called tryptophan. Tryptophan has some great health boosting properties. If you’ve ever had a big turkey dinner and felt the need to have a long nap afterwards, you’ve experienced one of them already, and that’s the sleep enhancing effect! High levels of tryptophan help with relaxation, but also supports mood and reduces the symptoms of depression, as well as providing support to your body’s resilience against stress (1).
Two other amino acids in turkey meat are also noteworthy when it comes to health. It is high in choline and low in methionine - the perfect combination to regulate gene expression to keep your body biologically young.
Fat options: The high smoke point of both coconut oil and butter allows you to roast your low histamine turkey at a high temperature while still staying safe and healthy for consumption. Additionally, these fats are soothing to the digestive system while promoting the release of digestive fluid from the gallbladder to encourage maximum food breakdown and nutrient absorption. Oh, and, of course - they add an amazingly delicious flavor and will help your low histamine turkey recipe to become nicely browned and crispy!
Himalayan salt: Salt is great because it enhances food's natural flavor while also benefitting the body. Although many people are afraid of salt - everything should come in moderation and sodium is essential for mammalian survival. Using unprocessed Himalayan salt provides body-wide benefits without the typical colorants and additives in regular table salt.
While table salt might be the only option you have in your kitchen cupboards right now, we highly recommend you either get yourself some Himalayan or Celtic salt to use in your food from this point on. The iodine in table salt has been shown to be a histamine liberator, which will ruin the low-histamine effects of all of the other ingredients we have chosen for this recipe (2).
Herbs: Herbs are very powerful healers because they contain a wide variety of active constituents that have many effects on health. They're most commonly used in alternative medicines because of their actions against bacterial imbalances, inflammation and promoting health.
Selecting herbs to add to recipes can be tricky when it comes to histamine intolerance. There are a handful of herbs that can activate mast cells and cause histamine liberation. And while that’s not a bad thing for the general population, as someone living with histamine intolerance, it’s absolutely something you want to avoid. Luckily, there are a number of low-histamine herbs available for you to use in this recipe, and we have a complete list of those for you to choose from! Use your favorite combination of herbs (the more, the better!) to add a huge kick of flavor to your food while providing you with some awesome health benefits at the same time.
Freshness counts: Because histamine builds up in plants and animals after they’ve been picked/slaughtered, eating the freshest vegetables and meat possible is the best way forward when focusing on low-histamine. This method also applies to fresh herbs, instead of dried spices. Buying a fresh, wild turkey from your local farmer will be a better, and cleaner option for a low-histamine diet than a frozen, processed turkey from the supermarket. However, I realize this is not an option for everyone and is simply an extra precaution for both symptoms and overall health.
The real takeaway here is that because biogenic amines like histamine increase in food the longer they are left to degrade, the fresher the ingredients the better they will be for you (3).
For a full list of the best foods to eat and avoid for histamine intolerance and to reduce symptoms fast, be sure to download my guide to histamine intolerance, which includes a histamine intolerance food list to take the guess-work out of histamine intolerance!
Now for the low histamine turkey recipe to suit your holiday dinner party!
Low Histamine Turkey Recipe
Ingredients:
- Fresh, 12-16 lb. turkey (preferably organic or farm-fresh)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (buttery) or grass-fed butter
- Fresh low histamine herbs of choice (sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley)
- Himalayan sea salt
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 450F.
- Rub the turkey with the coconut oil or grass-fed butter until it is well greased and sprinkle with fresh herbs of choice, and Himalayan salt
- Place turkey in pan and drop the oven temperature to 350F.
- Put the turkey in the oven and roast for 15min/lb.
- Cook until internal temperature of the turkey, from the thickest part of the thigh, reaches 165F or higher.
- Remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.
- Serve this turkey up on it's own, with your favourite low histamine sides or combine it with my low histamine stuffing recipe.
I'm sure you're already drawing up a list of the people you'll be sharing this low histamine turkey recipe with at your dinner table!
Want more low histamine recipes like this? Check out my nutritionist-approved Low Histamine Cookbook Bundle with 170 delicious histamine intolerance recipes!
References:
- Müge A, İshak A, Nurcan YA. The Relationship of Depression and Stress with Tryptophan Consumption among University Youth. Bezmialem Science.2022 Aug;10(4):478-487. doi:10.14235/bas.galenos.2021.5883.
- Hrubisko M, Danis R, Huorka M, Wawruch M. Histamine Intolerance-The More We Know the Less We Know. A Review. Nutrients. 2021;13(7):2228. Published 2021 Jun 29. doi:10.3390/nu13072228
- Ede, G. (2017). Histamine Intolerance: why freshness matters.
Anita Tee
My name is Anita Tee. I'm a nutritional scientist who specializes in histamine intolerance. I hold a Master of Science in Personalized Nutrition and a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology and Psychology. For the past ten years, I have used my experience in nutritional and medical health sciences to create a scientifically backed, natural approach to healthcare that relies 100% on evidence-based research. As I previously suffered from - and overcame - histamine intolerance, my focus is to increase recognition and expand the available resources and protocols available for resolving this particular disorder. To date, I have helped over 4,000 individuals fully resolve or better manage their histamine intolerance symptoms.
