Renal Friendly Breakfast Tacos – KidneyGrub Style

Even if you don’t like breakfast tacos, scroll down to catch some great low potassium and low sodium substitutes for some foods you may have eliminated!

One of the iconic foods of the southwest is the famous breakfast burrito, or as Texans call it, the breakfast taco (yeah…that confused me for a long time since I’m from Utah.)  Seeing as we have started this venture in Texas, we wanted to take some time today to honor a Texas classic KidneyGrub style.  Yep!  This breakfast burrito is kidney friendly – low potassium, low sodium, moderate in protein, and chock full of flavor.

The key is in the substitutes and in bulking up the eggs with veggies to cut down of protein grams/serving.

Following a kidney-friendly diet can feel a lot like “do not.”  You know what I’m talking about, “Don’t eat bananas,” “Don’t eat potatoes,” “Don’t eat bacon, unless it is the rubbery low sodium turkey bacon that shouldn’t even be called bacon…”  The good news, there are plenty of substitutes for your favorite foods, and with a little bit of sleuthing you can find lower sodium, flavorful options.  Our substitutes today:

Tomatillo (green) salsa substitute for regular red salsa.  Tomatillos are lower in potassium than tomatoes, and with some careful sleuthing we found a great brand with 100mg sodium per serving, more than 50% difference than other brands.  The key here is finding a true tomatillo or green chile salsa.  Some green salsas are made with green tomatoes, which sad to say, have the same amount of potassium as red tomatoes.  Read the ingredients on your label to make sure you get a green salsa made with tomatillos and/or green chiles.

Cheese. Last, but not least.  Truthfully, I didn’t really taste the cheese in these when I made them so I would probably leave it out  next time.  However, if you MUST have cheese in your Tex-Mex meals look for some with a lot less sodium.  Swiss is the best at ~60mg sodium per serving but doesn’t also taste the best with Tex-Mex.  We shopped around and found that La Vaquita was the best rolling in at 130mg sodium per oz versus regular mozzarella with is 200 mg per ounce. Like I said, I don’t think this added much to the meal and would leave it out next time.

Breakfast Tacos Printable version here: Recipe Serves 4-6 Filling: 2 eggs yolks 2 large whole eggs 1 c peppers 1 c onions ½ tsp turmeric ½ tsp cumin seeds or ¼ tsp ground ½ tsp bacon and chives seasoning ½ tsp garlic and herb Toppings: 1 tbsp sour cream/taco Tomatillo salsa (2 tbsp. per taco) Lime (squeezed on top) Fresh cheese (<130 mg/sodium) – optional Heat oil in your pan on medium heat.  Saute your cumin seeds and minced garlic until fragrant.  Add onions and saute until slightly translucent.  Add the rest of the vegetables and cook through.  Finally, add eggs and the rest of spices and scramble until cooked through.  Warm each corn tortilla in oven or microwave (otherwise they break when folded) and top each tortilla with 1 -2 tbsp tomatillo salsa, 1 tbsp sour cream, 1 tbsp fresh queso, more fresh chopped cilantro, a sprinkle of Bacon and Chives seasoning,  and a squeeze of lime juice.

KidneyGrub Verdict:

Very good, not incredible, but very good.  Important points: I didn’t taste the cheese and so would have left it out on second go through (unnecessary sodium, phosphorus, and calories!).  Also, I enjoyed the flour tortillas a little bit more, but think this would have been great in the premade corn taco shells, which are STILL less sodium then regular flour tortillas.  The tomatillo salsa was fantastic, definitely will use this again and again and again.  It is a much more sour flavor then regular salsa, but very good..  Overall, without any added salt, I’d say the lime juice and bacon flavoring was key in adding the pop of flavor needed!  I didn’t taste the turmeric, so while an unconventional l ingredient for Mexican foods, I would add it again for its anti-inflammatory properties.

Photo Credits: Rebecca Barksdale

Article: Jessianna Saville, MS, RDN, LD