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Yes, you can do carnivore without much beef. Chicken and pork work fine as your main meats, as long as you pick the fattier cuts and add eggs. The catch is that lean chicken breast alone tends to leave people hungry an hour later. Fix the fat and most of that problem goes away.
Here's the protocol: build your week on skin-on chicken thighs, drumsticks, wings, pork shoulder, pork belly, and country-style ribs. Add a dozen or two eggs. Keep a pound or two of ground beef in the mix if you can. That's it. Below is exactly what to buy, how to cook it, and how to stop feeling hungry.
Pick Your Lane First
If you're brand new, our default first week is still ground beef and eggs. It's cheap and simple. This post is a different lane: a mixed plan built mostly on chicken and pork, with eggs and a little beef. It's for you if beef prices are pushing you out, or you just don't enjoy eating it every day. Pick this lane and stick with it for a few weeks before you judge it.
The Cuts That Carry Enough Fat
The target we use is roughly equal grams of fat and protein. That ratio is where many people find meals actually hold them until the next one. Here's how the common cuts stack up:
- Chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on. The workhorse. Cheap, forgiving, hard to overcook. Keep the skin on. It's most of the fat.
- Drumsticks. Often the cheapest meat in the store. A bit leaner than thighs, so eat the skin.
- Wings. Higher fat, easy to portion, and great in an air fryer.
- Pork shoulder (Boston butt). One roast feeds you for days. Good fat marbling, shreds easily.
- Country-style ribs. Cut from the shoulder end, so they're meaty and fatty. Braise them low and slow.
- Pork belly. Mostly fat, only a little protein. Treat it as your fat source, not your main protein. Two or three ounces on the side is plenty.
Skip or limit: skinless chicken breast and pork tenderloin. They're fine food, just very lean, and often the reason people quit this approach saying "I'm starving."
How to Fix Lean-Meat Hunger
Hungry two hours after a chicken dinner? Don't eat more chicken. Add fat. Here's the order to try:
- Keep the skin. Every time.
- Cook in the drippings. Pour the fat from your roasting pan into a jar. Fry your eggs in it the next morning.
- Add eggs to the meal. Two eggs add about 12 g protein and 10 g fat.
- Add butter. A pat on hot chicken thighs goes a long way.
- Pair lean with fatty. If you do cook breast, serve it with a few slices of pork belly.
One rule for weight loss: if your progress stalls, trim the added fat first. Cut back on the butter and the drippings, never the meat. Protein stays put.
How Much to Eat at Each Meal
Aim for 30 to 40 g of protein per meal. That works out to roughly:
- 2 to 3 bone-in chicken thighs
- 3 to 4 drumsticks
- 5 to 6 oz cooked pork shoulder
- 2 to 3 country-style ribs, depending on size
- A 5 oz ground beef patty plus 2 eggs
For the day, we use 0.8 to 1.0 g of protein per pound of your goal body weight. Goal weight of 140 lb? That's about 112 to 140 g a day, or three meals of roughly 40 g. Want your own numbers? The free macro calculator works it out in a couple of minutes.
Easy Cooking Methods
Cooking for one or two? Batch cook twice a week and reheat. Four methods cover everything:
- Sheet pan. Salt the thighs or drumsticks and roast skin-side up at 425°F for 40 to 45 minutes, until the skin is crisp.
- Slow cooker. Pork shoulder or country-style ribs, salt, half a cup of water. Low for 8 to 10 hours. Shred and keep the juices.
- Air fryer. Wings at 380°F for about 25 minutes, flipping once. We covered the gear side in our air fryer guide.
- Skillet. Slice pork belly and pan-fry until crisp. Use the rendered fat for eggs.
A Simple Week
A template, not a script. Swap days freely.
- Sunday: Roast a tray of thighs. Start the pork shoulder in the slow cooker.
- Monday: Eggs in chicken drippings. Thighs for lunch. Pork shoulder for dinner.
- Tuesday: Eggs and pork belly. Leftover thighs. Ground beef patties.
- Wednesday: Roast drumsticks. Eggs with shredded pork. Drumsticks for dinner.
- Thursday: Eggs. Drumsticks. Country-style ribs in the slow cooker.
- Friday: Eggs and belly. Leftover ribs. Air fryer wings.
- Saturday: Use up what's left. Ground beef patties with eggs.
The Mixed Shopping List (One Person, One Week)
Prices are rough US grocery figures. Yours will vary by region and sales.
- Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, 5 lb at about $2.00/lb: $10.00
- Drumsticks, 3 lb at about $1.50/lb: $4.50
- Bone-in pork shoulder, 4 lb at about $2.25/lb: $9.00
- Country-style ribs or pork belly, 1.5 lb at about $4.00/lb: $6.00
- Ground beef 80/20, 2 lb at about $5.00/lb: $10.00
- Eggs, 2 dozen at about $3.50 each: $7.00
- Butter, 1 lb at $5.00, about half used this week: $2.50
- Salt: you already have it
Total: about $49 for the week, or $7 a day. The math doesn't lie. That sits inside the $5 to $10 a day range most solo carnivore eaters land in. After bones and cooking losses, that list gives you roughly 1,000 g of protein. Enough for a 120 to 140 g daily target.
Cooking for two? Double it. That's about $98 for the week, still $7 per person per day. If you want to push the cost even lower, the ground beef budget strategy is the cheapest version we know. Swap some chicken for extra ground beef when it's on sale.
The Bottom Line
You don't need steak every night. Pick the fatty cuts, keep the skin, cook in the drippings, and lean on eggs. Many people find chicken and pork just as satisfying as beef once the fat is right. Run it for three or four weeks, watch your hunger and your tape measure, and adjust from there.
On meds or diagnosed with something? You need medical supervision. Don't make diet changes alone.
I'm not a doctor. I've coached people for years, so I know what works in practice. But I'm not your doctor. If you have health issues or take meds, check with someone qualified. Everything here is based on what works in practice and what research supports. Your mileage may vary.