13 Diet-Friendly Foods That Are Great Substitutes For Bread

Whether you're following along with the Paleo or gluten-free diets or not, grains can be a major enemy for a lot of eaters. Don't give up your favorite sandwiches just because you can't eat bread, though. Check out these tasty alternatives!

Tomatoes

Tomatoes can easily replace bread for simple summer sandwiches. Use the beefsteak style for burgers and slice up grape tomatoes for appetizers. Watch out though, they can get messy!

Spring Rolls

Spring rolls aren’t just for Asian-style meals. The thin wrappers don’t add much taste so it won’t take away from the flavor of what’s inside. Wrap your favorite sandwich up in a spring roll for a low-calorie meal — just make sure you grab the gluten-free version!

Eggplants

Cut the eggplant horizontally for “buns” or vertically to make a hoagie-style sandwich. Cook the eggplants until they are tender. They’re dense enough that they should hold everything in place.

Cucumbers

Hollow out a cucumber or slice it into smaller pieces for some tasty finger snacks. Add turkey, bacon and a mild mango salsa for a different spin on the club sandwich.

Plantains

Plantains are great alternatives to bread. Slice plantains into thick pieces for a quick bun substitute. Red meat pairs extremely well with the sweetness of the plantains.

Sweet Potatoes

You can actually make paleo-bread with sweet potatoes, but it’s easier to just slice and bake them for your sandwich. Chicken and pork taste great between the sweet potato “buns.”

Red Bell Peppers

Red bell peppers are usually stuffed for Mexican-style meals, but they can be filled with pretty much anything you want. Cut them horizontally and add a burger, lettuce and cheese during your next cookout.

Lettuce

Lettuce wraps are becoming more popular now, thanks to the current diet trends out there. Grab a leaf of lettuce, layer your ingredients of choice and simply roll it up. You now have a perfect hand-held sandwich.

Cauliflower

Cut the cauliflower in small pieces and add cheese and an egg. Then, bake them until they reach a perfect crispiness and become “crust buns.” Put a burger between them or add more cheese for an amazingly unique grilled cheese experience!

Tofu

You might not know that you can use tofu to hold your meats together! Pan-fry the tofu to get it crispy and then layer turkey, ham or anything you want between two slices and enjoy.

Skewers

Instead of trying to replace bread, just stick a skewer through your meats, cheeses and veggies for a mess-free alternative.

Portobello Mushrooms

Get a few big mushroom caps for larger sandwiches or grab the smaller ones to make some appetizers. You can bake, pan-fry or grill the mushrooms to get the texture that you want.

Apples

Craving something sweet? Core an apple and slice it horizontally for a sweet bread substitute for your PB&J. Add oats to the peanut butter for a protein-packed healthy snack.