Need Daniel Fast recipes? Here’s a Daniel Fast food list, meal plan download, and all you need to know about this Bible-based 21 day fast.

Daniel fast recipes

Looking for Daniel Fast recipes, but not sure where to start? The Daniel Fast is a short-term partial fast with the goal of improving spiritual health. It’s followed by people all over the world, meant as a sort of cleanse, not a long-term diet practice. If you’re looking for recipes to start this fast, they can be hard to find! Here’s everything you need to know about the Daniel Fast: what it is, Daniel Fast foods, and all the recipes you need—including a meal plan spreadsheet!

What is the Daniel Fast?

The Daniel Fast is a Biblical-based partial fast that’s often performed for 21 days (though 10 day and 40 day fasts are also common). The goal of the fast is not to be healthier or to lose weight, but draw closer to God. It’s meant as a cleansing to enhance spiritual health through simplifying your diet.

Daniel Fast recipes are essentially a whole food plant based diet (WFPB) with no bread or sweeteners. There are two passages (Daniel 1:12 and Daniel 10:12-13) that define the diet as:

  • Eating only fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds
  • Avoiding “choice foods” such as meat, dairy and sugars
  • Drinking only water

Important: There don’t have to be strict parameters for the Daniel Fast, there are some gray areas (see below). Once you set on the rules for your own fast, stick to them.

Daniel Fast foods list

What can you eat on the Daniel Fast? Great question. The short definition above leaves a fair amount of questions. Here’s a few more specifics (here’s an exhaustive list):

What you can eat on the Daniel Fast

  • Vegetables (fresh, frozen, canned, or dried): All vegetables (including potatoes and squashes, as long as they are not fried)
  • Fruits (fresh, frozen, canned or dried): All fruits
  • Whole grains and legumes: All whole grains including brown rice, quinoa, corn, wild rice, bulgur wheat, farro, millet, oats, quinoa, popcorn, and all legumes including beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas. Also includes whole grain pasta and whole grain tortillas.
  • Healthy liquid oils: including olive, canola, corn, grapeseed, peanut, sunflower, safflower
  • Nuts & seeds: including nut butters with no added sugars

What to avoid on the Daniel Fast

  • Animal & dairy products including any meat, seafood, eggs, milk, and cheese
  • Processed foods of any kind, including crackers, chips, fries, fast food, anything with additives or preservatives, white flour, and white rice
  • Leavened bread meaning anything including yeast, like sandwich bread, artisan bread,
  • Sweeteners including sugar, stevia, maple syrup and honey
  • Drinks including coffee, tea, sweetened beverages, soda, and alcohol

Other questions to consider

There is some gray area in the Daniel Fast. Pasta or tortillas could be considered “processed” so you may opt to avoid from eating them, but they’re also minimally processed and many people allow whole grain versions of them.

  • Do you want to include pasta and tortillas? These are plant based foods, but are minimally “processed”.
  • Do you want to include coffee and juices? These are plant based, but the typical definition of the Daniel Fast only includes water for drinking.
  • Do you want to refrain from eating at restaurants to simplify your diet? Making only homemade food for the 21 day fast could be a practice you may want to consider (and might be easier in the long run!).

Daniel Fast recipes

But here’s the big question: what does all this look like in practice? It certainly doesn’t need to be a big plate of carrots and celery. Daniel Fast recipes can be delicious and nourishing (though of course, the goal isn’t to be decadent!). Below are our favorite Daniel Fast recipes.

*Bonus: Meal plan download! To create a meal plan, click this Daniel Fast Recipes Spreadsheet.

Important: If you’re not used to cooking on the regular, this will involve a lot more cooking and planning than you’re used to! A key to making a meal plan work is leveraging leftovers and planning ahead. See the “10 Day Fast” tab in the spreadsheet above for examples!

Side dish recipes

Want to accessorize some of the Daniel Fast recipes above? Here are some side dish ideas:

More Daniel Fast breakfast recipes

Need a few more ideas for breakfast? Here are some more Daniel Fast approved breakfast recipes:

Whole food plant based eating

The Daniel Fast is very similar to a whole foods plant based diet. This way of eating can be a sustainable and healthy way of eating (including getting plenty of protein). Here are a few of our resources if you’re interested in eating this way in the long-term:

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon
Healthy Chili Recipe

40 Daniel Fast Recipes (Chili & More!)


  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 25 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 55 minutes
  • Yield: 8 1x

Description

This healthy chili recipe is full of Daniel Fast approved ingredients and big flavor, featuring a trio of beans, quinoa, and lots of hearty spices.


Ingredients

Scale
  • ¾ cup dry quinoa
  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 2 large carrots
  • 2 celery stalks
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • 2 15-ounce cans beans (black beans or kidney beans, or 1 of each)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce)
  • 2 28-ounce cans tomatoes (we used crushed Muir Glen-brand tomatoes)
  • 1 ½ cup frozen corn
  • 4 ounces chopped green chiles
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons each garlic powder and paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • Kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper
  • To garnish: Vegan Sour Cream, roasted salted pepitas, hot sauce

Instructions

  1. Place ¾ cup quinoa in a saucepan with 1 ½ cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to very low. Cover the pot, and simmer where the water is just bubbling for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the water has been completely absorbed. (Check by pulling back the quinoa with a fork to see if water remains.) Turn off the heat and let sit covered to steam for 5 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, chop the onionMince the garlic. Peel and chop the carrots. Chop the celery. Dice the green pepper. Drain and rinse the beans.
  3. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil, then saute the onion for 5 minutes. Add in garlic, carrot, celery, and green pepper, and saute about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the soy sauce and adobo sauce and cook 30 seconds more.
  4. Add the black beans, kidney beans, Muir Glen tomatoes, 2 cups of the cooked quinoa (reserve remainder for future use), corn, and green chiles. Add enough water to obtain a liquid consistency, about 3 cups. Season with the chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, and ground cumin and bay leaf. Simmer chili on low for 30 minutes.
  5. When ready to serve, stir in the white wine vinegar and several pinches of kosher salt. Taste, and add additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve with hot sauce and other chili fixings of your choice (lime, cilantro, and so forth).
  • Category: Main Dish
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: Daniel Fast, Daniel Fast Recipes

About the authors

Sonja & Alex

Meet Sonja and Alex Overhiser: Husband and wife. Expert home cooks. Authors of recipes you'll want to make again and again.

Leave a Comment

Recipe rating

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

7 Comments

  1. Great recipes to try, thank you so much for your your huge help, much appreciated, God bless keep us in your prayers to complete the 21 days fast

  2. I’ve been surfing the net for Daniel Fast recipes and this is one of the BEST blogs with the greatest recipes that aren’t boring. THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!