A good low-cholesterol lunch is a wholemeal sandwich, soup, salad or jacket potato built around beans, fish, skinless chicken or eggs, with plenty of vegetables and no butter, cheese or creamy mayonnaise. Every idea below has 2.5g of saturated fat or less, compared with over 13g in a buttered cheddar sandwich.
Below are 13 easy lunch ideas with the saturated fat for each, three full recipes (a bean and vegetable soup, a smashed chickpea sandwich and sardines on toast), and the lunches where saturated fat adds up fastest.
General information, not medical advice
If your doctor or dietitian has given you specific limits for fat, salt, sugar or calories, follow those. Nutrition figures in this article are estimates from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values and vary by brand.
What makes a lunch good for cholesterol
- Lean or plant protein. Fish, skinless chicken, eggs, beans, lentils and tofu keep you full without much saturated fat. Cheese, ham, salami and sausage rolls are where it adds up.
- Fibre. Wholemeal bread, beans, lentils, oats and vegetables bring soluble fibre, which helps your body clear cholesterol. See soluble fibre and cholesterol.
- Watch the spreads and dressings. In a sandwich or salad, the butter, mayonnaise, cheese or creamy dressing often has more saturated fat than everything else put together. Our guide to how much saturated fat per day puts the numbers in context.
13 low-cholesterol lunch ideas
Saturated fat is per serving, worked out from USDA FoodData Central values.
| Lunch | Serving | Saturated fat | Why it works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bean and vegetable soup with wholemeal bread | 1 bowl + 1 slice (recipe below) | 1.2g | 15g of fibre and freezes well |
| Smashed chickpea salad sandwich | 1 sandwich (recipe below) | 0.9g | No cooking, packs well |
| Sardines on wholemeal toast | 1 tin on 2 slices (recipe below) | 2.0g | Oily fish in 10 minutes |
| Jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn | 1 large potato + 80g tuna + 50g sweetcorn, with yoghurt | 0.4g | Filling and almost fat-free |
| Tuna salad sandwich made with yoghurt, not mayo | 80g tuna on 2 slices wholemeal | 0.8g | The classic, minus the mayonnaise |
| Prawn and avocado salad | 100g prawns + 1/4 avocado + salad | 0.8g | Light, high in protein |
| Leftover red lentil dal with brown rice | 1/4 of the dinner recipe | 0.9g | Tastes better the next day |
| Lentil, quinoa and roasted veg bowl | 120g cooked lentils + 100g cooked quinoa + veg | 1.1g | 16g of fibre |
| Mixed bean salad | 200g mixed beans + pepper, onion, 1 tsp olive oil | 1.2g | 14g of fibre from store-cupboard tins |
| Hummus and salad wholemeal pitta | 1 large pitta + 50g hummus | 1.5g | Hummus instead of butter or cheese |
| Chicken salad with new potatoes | 100g roast skinless chicken + 150g potatoes | 1.7g | Lean protein, olive oil dressing |
| Egg and cress sandwich made with yoghurt | 1 egg on 2 slices wholemeal | 2.2g | Yoghurt instead of mayonnaise |
| Tofu and edamame noodle salad | 100g tofu + 50g edamame + 50g noodles | 2.5g | Soy protein, 11g of fibre |
Three easy low-cholesterol lunch recipes
Nutrition figures are estimates per serving from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values.
1. Bean and vegetable soup
Serves 4 · Prep 15 min · Cook 35 min
- 1 tbsp / 15ml olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 celery sticks, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 courgette (zucchini), diced
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 x 400g / 14oz tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 x 400g / 14oz tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 x 400g / 14oz tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 500ml / 2 cups reduced-salt vegetable stock
- 500ml / 2 cups water
- 100g / 3.5oz kale, tough stalks removed, shredded
- Black pepper
- 4 slices wholemeal bread, to serve
- Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion, carrots and celery over a medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes until soft.
- Add the garlic, courgette, paprika and thyme and cook for 2 minutes more.
- Add the tomatoes, both tins of beans, the stock and water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.
- Stir in the kale and simmer for 5 minutes until tender. Season with black pepper. For a thicker soup, mash a few of the beans against the side of the pan.
- Serve each bowl with a slice of wholemeal bread. Leftovers keep for 3 days in the fridge and freeze well.
Per serving (with 1 slice of bread) (approx.): 365 kcal · 6.5g fat (1.2g saturated) · 0mg cholesterol · 60g carbs · 15g fibre · 10g sugar · 21g protein
Why it helps: each bowl has 15g of fibre, most of it from the two tins of beans, which bring the soluble kind that helps clear LDL with almost no saturated fat. Most of the 895mg of sodium comes from the stock, tinned beans and bread, so use a low-salt stock cube or swap some of the stock for water if you're watching salt. It makes a good batch lunch to take to work in a flask.
2. Smashed chickpea salad sandwich
Makes 2 sandwiches · Prep 10 min · No cooking
- 1 x 400g / 14oz tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 60g / 1/4 cup 0% fat Greek yoghurt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 celery stick, finely chopped
- 1/4 red onion, finely chopped
- Black pepper
- 4 slices wholemeal bread
- 60g / 2oz cucumber, sliced
- 1 tomato, sliced
- A few cos (romaine) lettuce leaves
- Mash the chickpeas roughly with a fork or potato masher, leaving some whole for texture.
- Stir in the yoghurt, lemon juice, mustard, celery and red onion, and season with black pepper.
- Spread the filling over 2 slices of bread, top with the cucumber, tomato and lettuce, and close with the other 2 slices.
Per sandwich (approx.): 410 kcal · 6g fat (0.9g saturated) · 0mg cholesterol · 68g carbs · 14g fibre · 12g sugar · 23g protein
Why it helps: it has the creamy texture of an egg or tuna mayo sandwich with no mayonnaise and no butter, so it comes in under 1g of saturated fat, with 14g of fibre and 23g of protein. The filling keeps for 2 days in the fridge, so make it the night before and pack the sandwich in the morning. It also works in a wholemeal pitta.
3. Sardines on wholemeal toast with tomatoes
Serves 2 · Prep 5 min · Cook 5 min
- 2 x 120g / 4oz tins sardines in olive oil, drained
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Black pepper or a pinch of chilli flakes
- 4 slices wholemeal bread
- 150g / 5oz cherry tomatoes, halved
- 40g / 1.5oz rocket (arugula)
- Tip the drained sardines into a bowl and mash roughly with the lemon juice and black pepper or chilli. The soft bones are fine to eat and add calcium.
- Toast the bread.
- Pile the sardines onto the toast and top with the tomatoes and rocket.
Per serving (approx.): 410 kcal · 13.5g fat (2g saturated) · 130mg cholesterol · 39g carbs · 6g fibre · 6g sugar · 33g protein
Why it helps: sardines are an oily fish, so most of their fat is unsaturated, including omega-3s, and a tin is one of the cheapest ways to get a portion of oily fish. Each serving has 2g of saturated fat. It also has 130mg of cholesterol, but for most people the cholesterol in food has much less effect on blood LDL than saturated fat. Drain the oil well: it is the main way to keep the fat down.
Log your lunches, then check your numbers
Save your regular lunches as recipes in Heart Tracker and log them in seconds. The app adds up saturated fat and fibre across the day and keeps your lipid panel results alongside, so you can see whether lunches like these are moving your LDL.
Download Heart Tracker FreeSandwiches, wraps and meal deals
- Skip the butter. 10g of butter adds about 5g of saturated fat to a sandwich. Most fillings don't need it; if the bread feels dry, use hummus, mashed avocado, mustard or a little yoghurt.
- Check the wrap. Bread choice makes less difference than the filling, but wraps vary. Two slices of wholemeal bread have about 0.6g of saturated fat and a large wholemeal pitta about 0.1g, while USDA's wholewheat tortilla, made with shortening, has 2.0g in a 41g wrap. UK brands vary, so check the label.
- Read the label on meal deals. Look at "saturates" per pack: under 1.5g per 100g is low and over 5g per 100g is high. Our guide to reading nutrition labels explains the traffic lights.
Lunches to limit if you have high cholesterol
None of these is off-limits, but they are where saturated fat adds up fastest, so keep them occasional. For more ideas, see our list of 100 food swaps that lower cholesterol.
| Lunch | Saturated fat | Easy swap |
|---|---|---|
| Cheddar sandwich with butter (40g cheese, 10g butter) | About 13.3g | The chickpea salad sandwich above, or hummus and salad |
| Chicken Caesar salad with regular dressing and parmesan | About 6.0g | Chicken salad with an olive oil and lemon dressing (1.7g) |
| Prawn mayonnaise sandwich (2 tbsp regular mayo) | About 4.1g | Prawns with yoghurt, lemon and a little ketchup |
Low-cholesterol lunches: quick answers
What is a good lunch for high cholesterol?
A wholemeal sandwich, soup, salad or jacket potato built around beans, lentils, fish, skinless chicken or eggs, with plenty of vegetables, and without butter, cheese or full-fat mayonnaise. Bean and vegetable soup, a chickpea salad sandwich, sardines on toast and a jacket potato with tuna all have 2g of saturated fat or less.
Are sardines good for high cholesterol?
Yes. Sardines are an oily fish, and a drained tin (about 90g) has around 0.9g of the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA and only 1.4g of saturated fat. The NHS recommends two portions of fish a week, one of them oily. A tin also has about 130mg of dietary cholesterol, which has much less effect on blood LDL than saturated fat for most people. See good fats and omega-3s.
Is soup good for lowering cholesterol?
Soups made with beans, lentils and vegetables are: they are high in fibre and very low in saturated fat. Creamy soups made with cream, butter or cheese are not. Shop-bought soups can be high in salt, so check the label: 0.3g of salt per 100g or less counts as low.
What sandwich fillings are good for high cholesterol?
Tuna, salmon, sardines, skinless chicken, egg, hummus, mashed chickpeas or beans, all with salad. Use wholemeal bread, skip the butter (10g adds about 5g of saturated fat), and swap mayonnaise for 0% fat Greek yoghurt mixed with lemon or mustard. Keep cheese, ham, salami and bacon occasional.
Is hummus good for cholesterol?
Yes, in sensible portions. Hummus is made from chickpeas, which are high in fibre, plus tahini and oil, which are mostly unsaturated fat. 50g of shop-bought hummus has about 1.3g of saturated fat, so it is a much better spread than butter or cream cheese.
Planning the rest of the day? Try our low-cholesterol breakfast ideas, easy low-cholesterol dinners, the low-cholesterol snacks list, or browse every recipe on the low-cholesterol recipes page.
Sources
- NHS: Fat, the facts
- NHS: Fish and shellfish
- NHS: How to read food labels
- USDA FoodData Central (nutrition values for ingredients)