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It’s all good on paper until day one of that ketogenic diet hits and real clashes with ideal—hard.
What, you don’t have time to prep and cook every single high-fat, low-carb, and still-nutritious meal each week?
Of course you don’t—and it shouldn’t be necessary. The truth is that snacking plays an important role in the keto diet, both in terms of providing an energy source and saving time prepping those meals your friends think are weird (ignore them).
This is why we’ve set up this list of our 8 favorite keto snack ideas with very easy-to-prepare yet delicious keto snack options.
First, we have to give it up to Primal Kitchen for their catalog of delicious dips, dressings, and more.
Best for: Both keto and non-keto people looking to replace unhealthy dips and dressings (so, pretty much all dips and dressings) with tasty, clean, and healthy keto snacks.
Having personally interviewed the founder Mark Sisson and extensively reviewed the brand, we can attest first-hand that Primal Kitchen is what they say they are: a company that makes way-better-for-you sauces, dressings, and dips that actually taste good.
They’ve swapped out the canola and soy for high-quality avocado oil in their condiments, providing a healthy keto snack with low carbs, ample high-quality fat, and no refined sugar, grains, dairy, and more.
As for what healthy keto snacks to buy that go with Primal Kitchen dressings, dips, and sauces, the list of keto snack ideas is pretty much endless: raw veggies with Primal Kitchen Ranch, chicken chips (we love Wilde Chips) with Primal Kitchen Buffalo, avocado salad with their Balsamic Vinaigrette, and much more.
Best for: Anyone looking to prep a tasty and nutritious keto-friendly meal, or one of the best keto snacks that keeps well for leftovers.
While we admit that egg muffins or frittatas are on the less convenient end of our list of the best keto snacks, we still can’t pass on the tastiness and nutritional value. And anyway, you simply mix your eggs, add all your toppings, and throw them in the oven (here’s our egg bites recipe).
Like the sacred institution of the tortilla (sob) or the hamburger bun (woe unto all keto people), eggs are the perfect protein-rich vehicle for all the keto-friendly toppings you want: cheese, ham, avocado, spinach, other veggies, and more.
Heck, you can even whip up a quick hollandaise sauce, spring for some salmon, and convert this into a fancy salmon and eggs benedict muffin if you live that life.
As long as you keep the added ingredients to keto-friendly options like ham, cheese, and so forth, you can’t really go wrong with leftover-friendly egg muffins.
Best for: Busybodies and/or granola bar fans on the keto diet looking for a clean bar that actually tastes good without the refined sugar and sketchy additives.
Another A-tier brand that we’ve personally reviewed and tested, Perfect Keto stays a head above competing keto brands with meticulously formulated snacks and supplements, lab-tested ingredients, and innovative options (keto mac and cheese!).
On the healthy keto snacks on the go side, we’re fans of their Nola Bars, which are made with real coconut, dark chocolate, MCT oil, and more. They’re sweetened with erythritol, allulose, stevia, and monk fruit, totaling two grams of sugar alcohol (zero added) and 2 grams of net carbs per bar.
Other than being just a bit on the oily side—makes sense—these bars were just as tasty as their less nutritionally discerning counterparts laden with cheap sugars and who knows what else.
As a side note, the chocolate hazelnut keto nut butter from Perfect Keto is extremely tasty as well (we like it better than straight-up almond butter), though we totally ruined the keto-ness by dipping pretzel sticks in it. Not sorry!
Best for: Sweet tooths who want to go on the keto diet but are worried the cravings will win.
From its discovery by Buddhist monks a millennia ago to its re-popularizing by the creator of Japan’s first hand sanitizer, monk fruit has taken a crazy road to get to where it is today.
Long story short, this naturally sweet (and frankly, hard to process) fruit was bonded with erythritol by Lakanto—a process that took 36 years to perfect—to create the perfect keto-friendly sweetener.
And yes, we know—that “fake sugar taste” we all know from the past couple of decades of plant-based sweeteners may be on your mind, but Lakanto sweetener is by far the closest thing we’ve tasted to real sugar.
Speaking of, you can either go with their standard sweetener to use in baking or other cooking projects, or they have all kinds of sweet snacks, from sugar-free chocolate bark and candied nuts to chocolate truffles.
Obviously, this isn’t a substitute for nutritious, fat- and protein-rich snacks and meals, but if that sweet tooth is aching and you’re on keto, Lakanto is definitely our top pick for some saccharin delight.
Best for: Keto dieters looking for a rich, delicious dish that’s easy to make and can be enhanced with more keto-friendly ingredients.
Whenever you can incorporate an already delicious dish into your diet without modifying it, take the opportunity—such is the case with Caprese salad.
Now, you can definitely enhance this Italian classic with avocado, meat, and other keto-friendly ingredients, but otherwise, the standard ingredients will provide plenty of healthy fats while complying with low-carb diets.
Speaking of, if it’s been a while since you’ve had a Caprese salad, the ingredients are fresh mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, basil, extra-virgin olive oil, black pepper, and sea salt. Here’s our favorite recipe for classic Caprese.
Though this isn’t as convenient as a grab-and-go snack, Caprese is still an easy keto snack or meal you can make in around ten minutes and provides plenty of nutritional value.
And fair enough—taste is subjective—but come on. It’s Caprese salad.
Best for: Savory snackers looking for a quick and clean protein fix, keto or otherwise.
Working since day one to revive the nutritionally harpooned meat stick category, Chomps is earning double takes from health-conscious folks who swore off those gas station preservative tubes long ago.
Chomps meat sticks are made with 100% grass-fed and grass-finished beef. They’re non-GMO project verified, keto certified, gluten-free, and completely antibiotic- and hormone-free.
Using their original beef as reference (they have 10+ flavors from jalapeno to salt and pepper), the only ingredients outside of the meat itself are the following:
Water, sea salt, encapsulated lactic acid, celery juice, black pepper, red pepper, garlic powder, coriander, beef collagen (casing).
They’re tasty, they’re quick, and they’re super clean. You’ll pay a bit extra, and they’ll probably make you thirsty, but thanks to Chomps, the meat stick has returned!
Best for: Keto folks looking for keto diet snacks or meal replacements that provide protein.
With more protein content than just about every other premium bone broth out there (16 grams per serving) and zero carbs, Dr. Kellyann’s broth makes a strong case for the best keto diet snack or meal replacement.
The ingredients are as clean as they come, featuring chicken bone broth, organic onion, organic ginger, cabbage, vegetable blends, and more.
Our two gripes center around a lack of fat content (2-3 grams depending on the variety) and the need for seasoning.
As long as you’re prioritizing fat elsewhere in your daily meal planning, Dr. Kellyann’s broth is a satisfying and very keto-friendly snack. Speaking of, you can drink it straight, serve with noodles, make it into soup, and more.
Best for: Keto dieters and/or pasta lovers looking for a filling alternative to standard wheat pasta that leaves room in the calorie budget.
Full disclaimer, you’re certainly not going to hit any of your macros with Miracle Noodle alone, but if you’re looking to cut calories or you’re too stubborn to let go of pasta on the keto diet, this plant-based pasta is amazing.
Each serving of their plain noodles—not the ready-made meals that come with sauce—provides just 10 calories and 6 grams of carbs.
We’ve tried just about every product they make at this point (we’re actually customers), from their plain fettuccine and angel hair noodles to their Pad Thai and Pho Ready Meals, and they’re all surprisingly close to the taste and texture of wheat noodles. Not a perfect clone, but very close.
Most of the product is water, and the rest is made from konjac plant fiber, imparting an extremely subtle taste that washes away with the slightest touch of sauce or even oil.
You can stop grieving—noodles are back!
Thankfully, it’s pretty simple. You just have to keep the high-quality fats coming while limiting carbohydrate intake. So, foods like fatty fish, beef jerky, avocado, egg, cheese, nuts, and chicken are ideal for keeping your body in a state of ketosis without compromising on nutrition. Depending on your weight goals and your exercise level, many keto followers like to incorporate more calorically rich sources of fat like peanut butter and cream cheese.
Also keep in mind that sauces, dressings, and dips are an excellent opportunity to incorporate more fat, but stick with clean brands like Primal Kitchen to avoid the cheap seed oils and additives. The best snacks for keto dieters are clean; you don’t have to sacrifice nutritional quality for keto.
Usually, and depending on how strict of a carb limit you’re enforcing, popcorn can definitely be a keto-friendly food. Yes, corn contains carbs, but a full cup of popcorn contains just 5-6 grams, and also has fiber to reduce the already low glucose spike associated with low- and medium-carb snacks.
Sugary toppings will of course ruin the keto-friendliness, as with all snacks for keto dieters, but you can shellac on some (real) butter!
The simplest way to accelerate ketosis is to cut carbs more dramatically (going straight to <50 grams a day), but considering this may cause more dramatic keto symptoms (fatigue, bad breath, GI symptoms, and a few more), it may or may not be the best option for you.
Ramping up physical activity will also help hasten the transition to ketosis, as your body’s glycogen stores will be depleted sooner, in turn causing the body to make the metabolic switch to burning fat sooner.
Because the long-term effects of sustained keto dieting are still poorly explored, the majority of clinicians and researchers recommend limiting each bout of ketogenesis to 3-6 months. Cyclical keto, which follows an on-and-off rhythm (keto for 2-3 months, 1 month off, etc.), may be sustained for longer periods, but it’s still important to closely monitor any symptoms you notice and report to a medical professional as necessary.
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