Orthodox Fasting Tips for Great Lent
Fasting is a central part of Orthodox Christian life, offering both spiritual and physical discipline as we draw closer to God. However, preparing meals during fasting seasons like Great Lent can sometimes feel challenging, especially when cooking for family members who may not be fasting. To help make this time more manageable and less overwhelming, I’ve gathered some of our favorite fast-friendly recipes, along with practical tips, useful kitchen tools, and guidance on how to modify meals for non-fasting loved ones. Whether you’re new to fasting or looking for fresh meal ideas, I hope this resource will support you on your journey.
Scroll down to find some of our favorite fast-friendly recipes, and to see some helpful tips, equipment, and modified fasting for non-fasting family members
General Fasting Rule
Orthodox Christians generally follow the same fast, as prescribed by the Church. We fast from meat, dairy, fish with backbones, wine and oil. On Saturdays and Sundays are Wine and Oil Days which means on these days the fast is relaxed to permit wine and oil. Of course, fasting is a spiritual discipline that should be practiced with the oversight and direction of your spiritual father. You should consult your Priest if you have any specific questions about the fasting discipline as it applies to you, and your children.
Check out these blogposts to learn more about fasting:
Who do we fast? Christian fasting is the most effective weapon we can have next to prayer. The two together can do wonders for our spiritual strength. Fasting is an essential Christian practice. One day, His disciples asked Jesus why they could not heal a boy by expelling a demon from within him. They asked, "Why could we not cast it out?" The Lord's reply was, "This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."
Fasting makes us realize that we are dependent on God. We are reminded that without God, we can do nothing. Naturally so, we will feel the affects of fasting in our weakness (literally), but also you will find an increase in passions rising to the surface. Do not be alarmed. This is how we fight the passions, by starving them and relying on God. It also has the potential to increase our spiritual strength, true obedience to God, and total patience with our fellow man. It assists us to take control of our appetites that involve the physical senses. We fast from food to help us build up our self control “muscles” so to speak - so that ultimately we can resist the temptation to sin and live according to God’s will.
Favorite Go-To Fasting Meals:
This will have to be it’s own blogpost but for I have to mention some of my favorite fasting recipes here:
Breakfast Smoothie: 1/2 banana, handful of spinach, 2 TBSP peanut butter, 3/4 cup frozen mixed berries, 3/4 cup coconut water, 1 TBSP of the following: hemp hearts, flaxseeds, and chia seeds.
Grain bowls: This is the simplest way for me to eat a nourishing fasting meal with little prep. The formula is simple:
Base grain (brown rice, quinoa, cousous, millet, bulgar)
Protein (shrimp, tofu, tempeh, scallops, lentils)
Veggies (steamed carrots, broccoli, green beans, asparagus)
Beans
Fermented food (kimchi, sauerkraut)
Hummus or avocado
Greens and hot sauce optional
Chickpea and Sweet Potato Hash: This is said to be a breakfast dish, but we eat this for dinner! Pair with some quinoa and its a complete meal! Recipe HERE. I usually separate these into individual portions, and then put them glass containers for leftovers.
The Best Lentil Soup: This is a favorite in our house! We eat it with sourdough bread. Kids love it too! Recipe HERE.
Here is my Orthodox fasting ideas cheat sheet:
Simplify Fasting
When we talk about fasting, for those of us who are newer to fasting (as I was), it can often feel very daunting, maybe even overwhelming. But my hope is to help us reframe that way of thinking a little bit. Our goal with fasting is not to become a vegan chef. Our goal is to follow the general rule, and to simplify our lives and eating so that we have more time (and resources) to pray, attend services, help the poor and be attentive to our spiritual lives. So with that in mind, we can’t spend all day in the kitchen preparing luscious fast-friendly food. With some intention, we can still eat nourishing foods, while also trying to cut out the overwhelm a bit.
Here are some tips to simplifying your fasting meals:
Standardize breakfast and lunch - (i.e. same breakfast every day, leftovers for lunch, etc) - this eliminates the need for too much variety, will reduce the mental energy of planning, and will simplify your pantry. We make the same smoothie every morning for breakfast during the fast.
Find 5 - 7 recipes everyone LOVES and cook them on repeat. I find that cooking new recipes all the time exhausts me. Nothing is better than cooking a meal you know everyone likes and that you have made countless times before. You wont have to keep reinventing the wheel, trying new recipes and shopping for new ingredients.
Double or triple your recipes to save for later - your future self with thank you! Freeze or store in the fridge for easy grab and go meals. I store meals portioned out into individual glass containers so they are ready to go!
Cook rice or quinoa in a rice cooker and have on hand for easy meals. This life hack has been a game changer for us the past few years. Always having a grain on hand makes for easy grain bowls: our go to is veggies, beans, kimchi, and some protein (lentils, shrimp, tofu) on top of a bed of quinoa or rice.
Steamer or Air Fryer for easy and fast cooking! My favorite tools in the kitchen are the ones that make cooking super fast and easy. I throw in seasoned veggies and shrimp, for example, into the air fryer or steamer and within 10 mins I’ve got a meal ready to go! Check out my Amazon storefront for my favorite kitchen tools!
Chop veggies in the food processor - if you can’t tell, I am all about kitchen gadgets. They are there to help us save time and energy. Recently a friend shared with me that she uses the food processor to chop her onions/veggies. Absolutely brilliant! I used this recently and it made soup prep unbelievable easy! An easy way to chop and add
Modified Fasting
The church offers us the fasting rules as a general rule. If you find that you are in need of an exception to that rule, then we can get an adjustment. I love this analogy: the Church is often described as the hospital, and our priest is the physician. So if you need an adjustment to the general fasting rule for health reasons, then you can ask your physician to adjust your prescription. This is the beauty of the Orthodox Church, we are never doing this alone, the Church is our guide and we have someone who can help us. Typically young children, those with health issues, the elderly, and nursing/pregnant mothers have a modified fast or don't fast at all- so if you fall into those categories, then speak with your physician and he will offer you modified prescription that will work for you.
That being said, in our household, we have varying degrees of fasting participation, so it can be a challenge to make sure that everyone has what they need during the fast. Now for my younger children who do not fast, one of the easiest ways I’ve found is to cook fast-friendly dinners, and for the non-fasters add chicken. I'll prepare a bunch of chicken at once and add it to their meal. This way I am not cooking separate meals for everyone. I also will add meat and dairy into their meals throughout the day, for example, I prepare eggs for breakfast, and a glass of milk for lunch. This ensures they are getting the nutrients that are necessary for their growing bodies but also allows us to eat together as a family.
One tip I picked up from a seasoned mother of 6 - she would prepare their meal ‘family style’ and include all the options on the table. Everyone would choose what they added to their plate, passing each item around the table to one another. This allowed those who were fasting to make their own choices (very good practice), and for the ones who were not fasting, to partake without feeling alienated. I loved this example!
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Reflection on Fasting
Fasting is a way of training in the spiritual life. The way I explain fasting to my children, I say: we are fasting from certain foods so that by denying ourselves, we might gain self-control. It’s like working our self control muscles, so that when we encounter temptations to sin, we may have some self control to deny that impusle to sin, and instead choose Christ. This is an example of how we can deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and following Christ - just as he has asked us to do. That’s one benefit.
I want to add, fasting is difficult. It is like entering into the arena. You’ll find that almost immediately upon fasting, the passions will rise to the surface, and we will be faced with many temptations. This is not a cause for alarm. This is precisely how it ought to be. The prescribed fast in the Orthodox Church can be a test of ones spiritual strength. Naturally, we will feel of weak, as we are not eating foods like meat, dairy, eggs that give us strength. But this weakness is purposeful. It's through our weakness we are made strong through Christ. Read this passage from St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Through fasting, we are reminded that we are completely dependent on our Lord and we need him. He is LIFE - so cling to him. What a beautiful opportunity we have ahead of us to be humble and needful of Christ's strength and mercy. If you remember that old snickers commercial? The tagline is “you aren't yourself when you're hungry, grab a snickers.” I think many of us can relate to that when we start fasting. The world knows about “Hangry”. This is a common passion of anger. This “hangry angry side” of us that starts to bubble up to the surface when we begin fasting. We blame it on the fasting, but truly this is something we ought to address. The temptation is there “oh maybe I just need some meat that'll fix my anger problems.” I'm sure many of you have felt this before when fasting. But instead of trying to grab a snickers (the temptation to satiate our passions by reaching for the forbidden fruit, so to speak) let's instead use that as an opportunity to say, “Lord Jesus Christ and of God have mercy on me, I am weak. Help me Lord! I have a lot of anger inside of me please help me!” We have an opportunity for us to gain dependence on the Lord and, in those things that are inside of us, it gives us an opportunity to work through those and offer them back to the Lord.
Meet the Author:
My name is Khouria Destinie and I'm excited you are here! “Khouria” is the title given to a Priest wife in the Antiochian Orthodox tradition. I use my little space here on the web to share resources I find that may be useful to others interested in bringing the life of the Church into their homes! Living out the Ancient Faith in a modern world takes intention. I will happily walk along side you, sharing what I am learning and finding, so together we can raise up the next generation of Christians who love God with all their hearts and minds!
A little more about me - I am an Orthodox Christian, married to my high-school sweetheart who is an Orthodox Priest. Together we have 4 children whom we homeschool. We both grew up as Evangelicals and discovered the Orthodox Church in college. After a few years, we joined the Orthodox Church and our lives have never been the same. Thank you for reading and for being here!
