A keto diet can become tuff for many reasons. Keto snacks can provide huge help, especially as days go by and sticking to your diet becomes harder and harder.
In this article, we’ll explore everything you need to know about keto snacks: why you need them, what advantages they can provide, and what are the 10 best keto snacks available.
Keto Diet – Recap
To understand the importance of keto snacks, and the importance of picking the right keto snack, we need to take a step back and recap what a keto diet is.
The aim of a keto diet is to get your body into ketosis, a status in which it produces ketones out of fat cells and uses them as a source of energy.
In simple terms, during ketosis your body burns fat to use it as a source of energy; that’s where the loss of weight comes from.
How do you get into ketosis? By avoiding every carbs and sugar, and by eating food rich in proteins and – possibly – fat.
Keto diet – The Challenges
The main challenge of a keto diet is the challenge that is common to all diets: it can become hard to stick to it, especially if you come from particularly bad and unhealthy eating habits.
During a keto diet, you may find yourself renouncing many foods that you like, and you also, simply put, find yourself eating less than usual.
There will be moments of the day in which you’re hungry, but you can’t eat what you want. It’s during those moments that the right snacks can give a great hand.
But the challenges of the keto diet aren’t over, because during a keto you can’t just eat something healthy or hypocaloric: it needs to also be low in carbs and sugar, and possibly rich in proteins and fats.
If you don’t have the right keto snack at hand, as days go by, you’ll end up eating the wrong snack… and, during a keto diet, this has consequences.
A wrong snack can bring you out of ketosis, and ketosis is the whole point of a keto diet.
It’s not that easy to get into it, so once you are in ketosis it’s a great shame to come out of it for a wrong snack.
For all these reasons, keto snacks are precious during a keto diet.
Make sure to pick the right one, and have it with you so that you can trick yourself into not going to the wrong food or drink.
Keto Snacks – What To Look For
Before going through a list of the 10 best keto snacks, let’s try to understand what keto snacks look like so that you may be able to also prepare your own snacks without making mistakes.
The general rule is that your snacks during a keto diet must have very few carbs and zero sugar.
This is the priority. If you also manage to obtain a snack rich in proteins it’s even better.
Finally, the absolute best is having a snack with zero carbs and sugar, many proteins (possibly vegetables), and many fats.
We usually think that fats are bad during a weight loss diet, but this is not the case for a keto diet. Why?
Because, as we’ve explained above, fats are used as a source of energy during ketosis.
You don’t need to worry about the possibility of storing extra fat because it’ll be all burned to provide energy for both your body and brain.
Main Ingredients
- Vegetables
You can eat many vegetables during a keto diet so, when you get hungry during the day, you can go for them.
You should, however, avoid tubers – like potatoes – because they have a high amount of carbs, but any green vegetable would be okay. You can prepare a smoothie with them so that it also becomes fun.
- Nuts
Nuts are the perfect keto snacks: they are very poor in carbs while also being rich in proteins and sometimes even fats.
Those proteins and fats will come from a vegetable source, so they’d be the best ones for your diet and overall health.
- Avocado
The Keto diet is a peculiar one: while fruits are always recommended in any nutritional regimen, during a keto diet you must pay attention to fruit too.
Fruits are rich in sugar and you must avoid it during your keto diet. However, there are some fruits that are considered keto-friendly: the best for your keto diet is avocado.
- Nut butter
Nut butter is the opposite of fruit: it is not recommended in any weight loss, but it’s okay during a keto diet.
The reason why it’s not generally recommended for weight loss is that it has a high percentage of fats, but as we’ve mentioned, fats are okay during a keto diet.
- Dark chocolate
Dark chocolate is considered keto-friendly but reads the label carefully. Make sure it doesn’t contain any sugar. If you have doubts, search for keto chocolate and you can’t go wrong.
- Eggs and meat
Eggs and meat are the most common keto food and you are completely safe with them. It’s hard to have them as a snack, though.
However, if you have time and capabilities, you can prepare some omelet, or bacon sticks and have them as a snack.
10 Best Keto Snacks
Let’s now finally discover what are the 10 best keto snacks. Our list comprises some ready-to-eat snacks that you can buy in any grocery store, but also some simple recipes that you can prepare in your kitchen.
1. Keto Peanut Butter
As we’ve mentioned, peanut butter is ideal during a keto diet. You’ll find some “keto peanut butter” but the truth is that any peanut butter is ideal for keto.
To make 100% sure you’re not ruining your keto diet with peanut butter, you can always check the label: make sure the butter does not have any sugar in it.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Super easy to find
- No sugar, no carbs, many fats
Cons
- It’s not ideal if you need to lose a lot of weight.
2. Keto Macadamia
Macadamia is a nut and nuts are ideal during a keto. Macadamia, in particular, has a very good taste and it’s crunchy: it’s ideal to have a spoon or fist of them when you get hungry during the day but it’s not lunchtime yet.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Macadamia is extremely poor in carbs
- The good and crunchy tasteMacadamia is extremely poor in carbs
- The good and crunchy taste
Cons
- Not easy to bring with you
3. Avocado
Avocado is the number one fruit for your keto: it doesn’t contain carbs and it’s rich in proteins and fat. It doesn’t have many calories so you can eat as many avocados as you want.
Furthermore, it’s a very versatile fruit: you can have it for breakfast, as a snack, alone, or with some keto bread.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- A high percentage of proteins and fat
- Very versatile
- Easy to find
Cons
- Not the best option if you need a snack to put in your bag or backpack
4. Fiery Keto Hot Puffs
Keto hot puffs are spicy puffs that you can have as though they were chips in front of the computer, the TV, and even on the go.
If you have those habits (like eating in front of the TV) products like this can help trick your brain and help you stick to your diet.
You can’t go wrong with them because they are specially made for people on the keto diet so they have the right amounts of macronutrients to ensure you don’t get out of ketosis.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Ready-to-eat spicy puffs
- They come in convenient bags that you can put into your bag or backpack.
Cons
- If you don’t enjoy spicy food you won’t like these puffs
5. Dark chocolate
Dark chocolate is okay for your keto diet but you must be careful: check the label and make sure that the chocolate is actually dark, that is, that it doesn’t contain any sugar.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- The best choice for chocolate lovers
- It’s tasteful
Cons
- Not the safest choice because many dark chocolates contain sugar
6. Beacon slices
Beacon slices as a snack aren’t the healthiest choice but since the keto diet usually lasts for short periods even beacon slices are allowed as a snack.
What matters during a keto is ketosis, not calories: beacon may have a lot of calories, but it’s free of carbs and sugar. Plus, it’s tasteful!
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Beacon tastes good
- You can easily cook it
Cons
- Many calories and not the healthiest choice
7. Almonds
Almonds and nuts in general are the absolute best keto snack. You can buy a bag of them and always have them at your disposal. They also taste good so it’s a win in every aspect.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Easy to find
- 100% keto-friendly
Cons
- Not the easiest to carry around (but it’s not impossible!)
8. Vegetable sticks
Vegetables are great for a keto diet. You can cut sticks of your favorite vegetables and have them as snacks.
They are not the richest in taste, but you can eat as many of them as you want.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Perfect for keto
- Rich in fibers that make you feel full
- Easy to prepare
Cons
- Not the richest in taste
9. Pork Rinds
Meat is ideal during a keto but sometimes it’s hard to have it as a snack. Pork rings are the perfect solution. They have 0 net carbs and their taste is extremely satisfying.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- You can either buy them or make your own
- They taste good
- They are perfect during a keto diet
Cons
- They are not the healthiest choice
10. Eggs
You can’t cook eggs while you are at work. But if you are at home and you are hungry and you don’t want to cheat on your diet, you can cook a quick egg and have it.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Easy to cook
- Perfect for the keto diet
Cons
- Not a portable snack
Keto snacks: FAQ
How many keto snacks can I have during the day?
The keto diet is not a matter of calories, it is all about what you eat and not how much.
For this reason, as long as your snacks are 100% keto-friendly, you can have as many as you want.
However, if your goal is weight loss, and if you want to lose a lot of weight in a short time, then you should also limit your calories.
In this case, try to limit your snacks: just have them when you get so hungry that you’re risking cheating on your diet. Use your snack as a way of remaining disciplined.
Is it better to buy a keto snack or cook my own?
You should always consider the time at your disposal and your level of knowledge and expertise.
The food you prepare in your own kitchen is always preferable: it’s more healthy and, if you like cooking, it’s a way of improving your mood, relaxing, and finding peace.
But during a keto diet, you must be aware of what macronutrients each of your ingredients contains.
If you have this kind of knowledge and patience you can prepare your keto snacks, meals, and drink.
On the other hand, the ready-to-eat keto snacks are an easier choice: you grab and eat them and you are 100% sure that they are keto-friendly. This is also a more expensive choice, however.
So, in conclusion, there is not an absolute best option between ready-to-eat keto snacks and the ones you prepare in your kitchen.
You should always evaluate many aspects: your budget, your time, your capabilities, and then decide what’s best for you.
Where can I buy keto snacks?
The Keto diet is so popular that you can find not only keto snacks but keto products in almost any grocery store.
Sticking to snacks, since they are dry long-lasting food, you can also order them online. Bonus tip: if you buy them in bulk you can save a lot of money!
Amit Gupta is the creator of Keto-Reviews.com.
After spending half a decade learning about every type of keto diet, pill, snack, and more, Amit has dedicated his time to helping others make informed decisions about their keto diets. Amit has also worked for a keto diet company, giving him unique and invaluable insights into this growing industry. When he’s not busy reviewing keto products or helping people with their keto journeys, Amit enjoys reading and playing sports.