Following a low-carb diet can help you maintain a healthy weight, reduce hunger and cravings, and regulate blood sugar levels. Although some foods high in sugar or starch might be limited in your diet, many traditional recipes can be modified to fit into your low-carb lifestyle. Although bisques often start with a roue that uses flour, you can thicken your bisque without adding refined carbs.
Traditional Seafood Bisques
Bisques are a type of thick, cream-based soup that can contain a variety of different types of meats and vegetables. They often start with a base of flour and butter used to thicken the soup; cream and half-n-half may also be used. A traditional seafood bisque can use flour, butter, cream, half-n-half and sherry, a type of sweet wine. Just 4 oz. of sherry contains more than 15 g of carbs, including 10 g of sugar. Other ingredients are lower in carbs -- fish, shrimp, shallots and stock make up a large percentage of the bisque.
Low-Carb Soup Thickeners
Part of the joy of a seafood bisque is the thick creaminess of the soup. That creaminess comes from a roue -- a combination of flour and butter that thickens the entire dish. You can simply use less flour than a traditional recipe calls for -- substituting 2 tbsp. for a 1/2 cup -- or you can omit the flour entirely and have a thinner bisque. Xanthum gum might also be used as a thickening agent, simply sprinkle it in toward the end of the cooking process until your bisque has reached the desired consistency. Alternatively, you can remove a small portion of the soup, puree it and add it back into the pot, which will add thickness without flour or xanthum gum.
Dairy and Saturated Fat
Although most low-carb diets allow low-fat dairy in limited amounts, seafood bisque can call for butter, cream, heavy cream and/or half-n-half. One cup of half-n-half has about 10 g of carbs. That's not too many carbs divided among an entire pot of soup, but the fat content in that cup of cream might be as much as 30 g, with 18 g of saturated fat. Many low-carb diets suggest limiting saturated fat to 7 percent of your caloric intake. Each fat gram has 9 calories -- so 18g of saturated fat contains 162 calories -- or 10 percent of a 1,600-calorie diet. Adding butter increases your saturated fat intake. Consider substituting nonfat Greek yogurt for creaminess instead of half-n-half, and you'll cut both fat and carbs.
Stock
Once you've chosen a low-carb way to thicken your soup and added a creamy consistency without too much saturated fat, the other ingredients are naturally low in carbs or carb-free. Cod, salmon, clams, crab, shrimp, shallots, celery and chicken or fish stock provide the bulk of the flavor and texture without adding any sugar or starch. Although some recipes might call for white potatoes, you can easily omit them and use more celery and shallots. You can also cut down on how many carbs you eat by using portion control -- have your bisque as an appetizer, instead of a main course.
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