This Turkish Menemen with White Beans is a PCOS-friendly recipe with 428 calories, 27.1g protein, and 30.5g carbs per serving. Ready in 20 minutes. High in fiber (7.6g), which supports insulin sensitivity.
Nutrition per Serving
Menemen is the Turkish answer to scrambled eggs. The eggs cook gently into tomatoes and green peppers until soft and juicy. Here white beans go in too, which adds fibre and makes it a full meal without bread. Each serving has about 428 calories, 27g of protein and 8g of fibre. It is dairy free and takes 20 minutes.
Grocery list:
- Eggs
- Ripe tomatoes
- Long green peppers or green bell peppers
- Onion
- Canned white beans
- Fresh parsley
- Aleppo pepper or paprika
- Olive oil
Nutrition notes: Figures are per serving of half the pan, worked from USDA FoodData Central values for every weighed ingredient. Canned beans vary in salt, so rinse them if you watch sodium.
Keeps: Best eaten fresh. The tomato and pepper base keeps 2 days in the fridge, so you can cook it ahead and add eggs in the morning.
Ingredients
Instructions
-
Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and green peppers and cook for 5 minutes, until soft.Add the tomatoes and Aleppo pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, until the tomatoes break down into a loose sauce.Stir in the beans and warm them through for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.Pour in the eggs. Stir slowly with a spatula over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Take the pan off the heat while the eggs are still soft and a little runny.Scatter with parsley and serve from the pan.
Why this works for PCOS
A Turkish breakfast table often comes with white bread for dipping. This version swaps the bread for beans. Beans give you slow carbs with fibre and protein attached, so the meal is gentler on blood sugar than bread and eggs.
Each serving has 27g of protein, 8g of fibre and 30g of carbs. That balance helps you stay full through the morning.
The ingredients doing the work
- Eggs: three per serving, the main source of protein.
- White beans: fibre and extra protein in a soft texture that blends right in.
- Tomatoes and green peppers: the classic menemen base, full of flavour and low in calories.
Make it your own
Some families add onion and some say that is not real menemen. Leave it out if you like. For more heat, add a sliced green chilli with the peppers.
How this fits a PCOS week
PCOS Meal Planner plans your week around food you like to cook, keeps out the foods you avoid, and gives you one shopping list.
Why this Turkish Menemen with White Beans works for PCOS
With 27.1g of protein per serving (about 25% of calories), this Turkish Menemen with White Beans sits at the top end of the 25-35g per-meal range that the 2023 International PCOS Guideline recommends for managing insulin resistance and supporting lean mass. Higher-protein meals also blunt the glucose response when carbohydrates are included, which matters for women with PCOS because chronic insulin elevation drives androgen excess and irregular cycles.
The 30.5g of carbohydrates here come paired with 7.6g of fibre, which slows glucose absorption and produces a flatter post-meal blood sugar curve. Fibre is one of the most under-rated tools for PCOS: it feeds gut bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids linked to improved insulin sensitivity, and it modestly lowers circulating androgens by binding bile acids in the gut.
Fat makes up about 47% of calories in this dish. Dietary fat plays a load-bearing role in PCOS because sex hormones are synthesised from cholesterol, and very-low-fat eating can suppress hormone production over time. The 2023 PCOS guideline does not specify a strict fat target, but most clinicians recommend at least 25-35% of calories from a mix of monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and saturated sources.
Eating a substantial breakfast like this Turkish Menemen with White Beans is one of the highest-leverage moves you can make for PCOS. In the Jakubowicz et al. 2013 trial published in Clinical Science, women with PCOS who front-loaded calories to breakfast reduced fasting insulin by 56% and increased ovulation rates 50%, with no change in total calories. Front-loading works because insulin sensitivity is highest in the morning and lowest at night.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, this Turkish Menemen with White Beans recipe is designed to be PCOS-friendly. At 428 calories per serving with 27.1g of protein, it supports balanced blood sugar and hormonal health. It also provides 7.6g of fiber, which helps with insulin sensitivity.
This recipe takes about 20 minutes total. Prep time is 5 minutes and cook time is 15 minutes. It makes 2 servings, so you can meal prep for multiple days.
Per serving: 428 calories, 27.1g protein (25%), 30.5g carbs, 22.5g fat. Plus 7.6g fiber. PCOS meal plans typically aim for 30% protein, 35% fat, 35% carbs to support insulin sensitivity.
Yes, this recipe works well as a PCOS-friendly Breakfast. At 428 calories, it fits within typical PCOS meal plan targets for Breakfast. Pair it with other PCOS-friendly foods throughout the day for balanced nutrition.
This recipe can be part of a structured PCOS meal plan. It makes 2 servings, making it great for meal prep. For a complete weekly plan tailored to your PCOS type, take our free 60-second quiz at pcosmealplanner.com/pcos-quiz to get a personalized 7-day meal plan.
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