Keto vegetables – the all-time and the worst

  1. Above footing
  2. Below footing
  3. Veggies on keto
  4. Top ten
  5. Crudités
  6. Peas & beans
  7. Recipes
  8. Similar guides

What vegetables can you have on a keto diet? There's a simple rule:

  • Above-ground vegetables are mostly lower in carbs and are usually the all-time keto options.
  • Beneath-ground vegetables — also known every bit root vegetables — contain more than carbs and aren't a great choice, especially potatoes and sugariness potatoes.

Read on for more than details, and when there are exceptions to this rule.

Higher up ground

Carb counts are provided as cyberspace carbs per 100-gram (3½-ounce) serving.1 two The options to the left are solid keto vegetables. The options at the pinnacle are solid keto vegetables.

Carbs list

Keto vegetables growing above ground

Keto vegetables above

Beneath footing

Keto vegetables below ground

vegetables_below_ground_mobile

Carb counts represent net carbs for a standard serving size of 100 grams for each vegetable (3½ ounces, well-nigh the weight of an average tomato). For instance, 100 grams of asparagus contain 2 grams of net carbs while 100 grams of broccoli contain four grams of net carbs.

Note that while the below-basis vegetables range from 6 to 19 grams of net carbs per 100 grams, the higher up-ground vegetables are all under 5 grams of net carbs per 100 gram serving. Quite a deviation!

Carbs listing

A word about onions: while they grow beneath ground and are higher carb, they can be added to foods as a seasoning because y'all mostly won't swallow too many at once.

Be careful of caramelized or sautéed onions, every bit these are easier to consume in larger amounts. Light-green onions, or scallions, can exist used to top salads or other dishes in modest amounts.

Vegetables on keto

All foods are made upwardly of macronutrients – carbs, protein, and fat. While meat and about dairy mainly provide protein or fat, vegetables comprise mostly carbs.

On a strict ketogenic diet, with fewer than 5% of calories from carbs, information technology's important to know which veggies are the lowest in carbs, particularly if your goal is to consume fewer than 20 grams of carbs per twenty-four hour period.

Vegetables with less than five grams of cyberspace carbs may be eaten relatively freely. It's hard to overeat spinach, zucchini, lettuce, cucumbers, cabbage, asparagus and kale on a keto nutrition. These are considered keto vegetables.

Be more careful with slightly higher-carb vegetables like bell peppers (especially red and yellow ones), brussels sprouts and greenish beans to stay under 20 grams of carbs a day. The carbs can add up. For instance, a medium-size pepper has 4-7 grams of carbs.

While tomatoes are technically a fruit, they can work on a keto diet. But again, their carbs are a bit college. When combined with other foods, yous may exceed 20 grams of net carbs a 24-hour interval if you lot consume too many tomatoes.

If y'all are doing a more moderate or liberal low-carb diet that allows more than 20 grams of carbs a twenty-four hour period, you can eat every bit many above-ground vegetables as you desire.

Other helpful guidelines

Here are two more general rules that tin assist you cull lower-carb and keto vegetables:

  • In general, keto-friendly veggies are those with leaves — all types of lettuce, spinach and other greens are good ketogenic options.
  • Green vegetables tend to be lower in carbs than veggies with a lot of color. For case, greenish cabbage is lower in carbs than purple cabbage. Green bell peppers are also somewhat lower in carbs than red or yellow peppers.

Medication with warfarin and vegetable intake: Warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven) is a medication that is sometimes used to treat or prevent blood clots, and it can be affected by changes in your intake of sure vegetables.

Vegetables and fat

You can use keto vegetables equally a vehicle for fat by seasoning cooked vegetables with butter. Ameliorate nonetheless, sauté or roast them in lard, coconut oil, avocado oil, or ghee.3 If y'all eat dairy, you can brand a foam sauce with heavy cream, cheese, and/or foam cheese.

Another fantabulous way to add together fat to vegetables is past dipping them in salad dressings or other dipping sauces, or simply adding olive oil to your salad.

If you want to lose weight, try non to go overboard with fat. For best results, you may want to let your body burn backlog body fat instead of extra added dietary fat. In this case, merely eat enough fat to forestall hunger.

Learn more in our guides on how much fat you should eat, and our take on the best and worst fats and sauces

Top 10 keto vegetables


Here are 10 fantastic keto vegetables that are tasty and provide plenty of nutrients merely simply a few carbs.four Hither'southward our ranking in order of popularity and usefulness in keto cooking.5 Carb counts are provided as net carbs per 100-gram (3½-ounce) serving.

  1. Cauliflower – three one thousand. Balmy flavor then versatile. Use it every bit base of staples like cauliflower rice and cauliflower mash. Have a expect at our top 18 cauliflower recipes
  2. Avocado – 2 m. Technically a fruit, but loaded with nutrients and salubrious fat. 6 Great sliced, mashed as guacamole, or fifty-fifty broiled. Here are some great avocado recipes
  3. Broccoli – 4 g. Swap it for pasta, rice or potatoes. It can be steamed, fried in butter, drizzled in cheese sauce, roasted with salary, baked au gratin and more than. Check out these recipes
  4. Cabbage – 3 grand. Delicious when sautéed in butter or used in our pop Asian cabbage stir fry. Run across more of our top cabbage recipes
  5. Zucchini – iii g. Miss potatoes? Try our zucchini chips or zucchini chips. Zucchini can also be spiralized to brand keto pasta, like in this keto carbonara. More recipes
  6. Spinach – 1 g. Extremely low in carbs, it can be used raw in salads, baked into chips, sautéed, or creamed. Check out our popular keto frittata with fresh spinach or many other spinach recipes
  7. Asparagus – 2 g. Filling, highly nutritious, and very low carb, asparagus was made for a high-fat sauce such as hollandaise or béarnaise. Acme recipes
  8. Kale – 3 g. Although slightly college carb than spinach, kale is a flavorful veggie. Enjoy information technology raw in salads, broil into chips, sauté in lard, or use as a base of operations instead of pasta. Recipes
  9. Green beans – iv g. Green beans tin can exist roasted, steamed, or stewed, but may taste fifty-fifty meliorate cooked in bacon fatty or butter. Recipes
  10. Brussels sprouts – 5 g. Baby cabbages are excellent roasted until crispy or served in a flossy sauce. Recipes

Keto crudités

Keto vegetable sticks

Keto Veggies and dip

Numbers are digestible carbs per 100 grams (iii½ ounces).

Veggie sticks, or crudités, with a loftier-fat dipping sauce are good keto choices for snacks and pre-dinner appetizers. Exist careful with carrots, though — their carbs do add together upwardly.

Dip: Dipping keto vegetables in a savory dip, cream cheese, or herbed sour foam is a not bad fashion to eat higher fatty, should you want to. Top recipes:

Legumes, corn and quinoa

Peas, beans, corn, lentils, quinoa keto visual guide peas and beans

Although they all grow above ground, legumes like peas, beans and lentils are all fairly high in carbs, as are grains like corn and quinoa. So they aren't good keto options.7 If you are keeping below the recommended 20 grams of carbs a day on keto, avoid eating them.8

Grains and sugar

Carbohydrates in grains and sugar

Yes, wheat grows to a higher place ground. But it's a grain, not a vegetable. Anything made from grains or grain flour – like breads, cereals, pastas, broiled goods – contains carbs that are quickly digested into glucose and will raise blood carbohydrate.9 Avoid refined and whole grains on keto.
Read more in our evidence-based guide on whole grains.

Most sugar comes from plants, too — either saccharide pikestaff, beets, or corn. These should not exist eaten on keto. High-fructose corn syrup, which is added to sodas and many processed foods, might exist even worse than regular sugar.10

Like white table saccharide, fructose is very loftier carb and not keto-friendly at all. The same goes for "natural" sugars like beloved or maple syrup.
Acquire more than about keto sweeteners

Keto vegetable recipes

Top cauliflower recipes

Cauliflower may be the most popular keto vegetable of all. Here are our top cauliflower recipes:

Top cabbage recipes

Cabbage is another very versatile keto vegetable. Here are our top cabbage recipes:

Food for thought

A ketogenic diet and fewer vegetables

 

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