While this site is primarily dedicated to recipes you can make at home, there are a few go-tos I have for when I either don’t have time, just want a quick snack, or am traveling and need something more portable that doesn’t require refrigeration.

Almost all specialized keto-friendly snacks are going to be stupidly expensive, but some of them are good enough that it’s worth it if you can afford it.

Shakes/Smoothies

I don’t know why people think smoothies are a quick breakfast. While the actual making of the smoothie doesn’t take long, the cleanup always seems like it takes forever. I don’t do smoothies often, but they can be a nice change every now and then.

The only keto smoothie mix I’ve tried that I can stand is Keto Chow Raspberry Cheesecake and Salted Caramel.

Protein Bars

Quest Bars – I don’t count these as sweet treats (below), even though they do tend to be sweet, because they’re really usually meal replacements, not quick snacks. I almost always have a Quest bar in my purse to spare the universe from my hangry if I can’t eat for a long time.

I’ve tried a few variety packs, and my favorite flavors (in order) are birthday cake (4g net carbs), but cookie dough, cookies and cream, and cinnamon roll are all pretty good.

Pro-tip: cut them into pieces and heat them in the microwave for 15 seconds to curb a sweet craving.

Sweet Treats

Most keto sweets that try to simulate regular cakes/cookies/etc are made with coconut or almond flower, so the texture isn’t exactly the same as what you’d expect from a non-keto food, but some are better than others. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth (more like a bread-tooth), so this list isn’t that long, but I love everything here:

Rebel Creamery – None of their ice creams are more than 7 net carbs PER PINT (much lower than the coveted Halo Top brand), and I have yet to be able to eat an entire pint in one serving, which makes them an ideal sweet snack. They’re expensive to ship ($16 shipping because they have to include dry ice) so I usually try let my friends know when I’m placing an order so we can all split the shipping costs. They’ve just come out with some new flavors as well which I’m excited to try. (Salted caramel?? YES PLEASE.) You do have to let them sit out for a half-hour before eating, but once you do they’re quite creamy.

High-Key Snacks Mini Keto Cookies – These are shockingly good for 9 net carbs per serving, but it’s pretty hard to only eat half the bag, so these should be reserved for a kinda-cheat-day if you don’t have a lot of willpower, or find someone to split the bag with you. The cookies are very small, but surprisingly moist for keto cookies.

Shrewd Food Protein Crisps: Sweet Variety Pack – I found these in a larger variety pack I had tried, and these two flavors, Strawberries & Cream and Cookies & Cream were the shining stars of the bunch. The other savory flavors in the pack were less interesting and probably not worth it.

Better Than Good Salted Caramel Protein Puffs – These were really tasty. Just sweet enough to hit the right spots, but not so sweet to be overwhelming. The ranch flavor by the same company is just okay, IMHO.

ChocZero Keto Bark – ChocZero’s chocolate comes in a variety of flavors and combinations: dark chocolate (1g net carb), dark chocolate with almonds (3g net carbs), dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt (2g net carbs), milk chocolate (1g net carb on a smaller portion size) and milk chocolate with hazelnuts (3g net carbs). I had seen ones with mint before, but I can’t seem to find them anymore. 🙁 All of these are great for a low-carb chocolate fix.

Notty Chocolate Bark – I’m hesitant to list this one only because both the peppermint and the fluffernutter flavors are so freaking good, it’s hard not to eat the whole bag in one sitting. If you like coffee, the cold brew flavor is good too, but the peppermint and fluffernutter are my favorite. I haven’t tried lemonberry (I don’t like lemon that much) or the salted almond (I don’t like almonds that much either) but based on the other flavors, I’d bet they’re great too. Caveat: I have never actually had a fluffernutter sandwich, so I cannot promise you they taste like actual fluffernutters, all I can tell you is that it’s delicious.

Keto Wise Fat Bombs Crispy Caramel – These are SO good, probably my favorite low-carb sweet treat. I *have* read a few reviews that mentioned that it did spike their glucose levels, so I’d still eat them sparingly until you know how your body reacts, but man they’re delicious. Oh, one more word of warning – it uses a sweetener that can cause some… uhhh… digestive distress – which isn’t terribly uncommon in the keto-world – but you should try these out in the safety of your own home first to see if you’re one of the lucky ones that gets the hershey-squirts from these.

Salty Crunchy Treats

Quest Tortilla-Style Protein Chips – These are really quite good. The texture isn’t exactly what you’d expect from standard tortilla chips or Doritos, but they scratch the itch well enough.

Genius Gourmet Spicy Nacho Snack Chips – These are my current favorite “Dorito-style” snack chip. They have a better texture than the Quest chips mentioned above, and the portion size is about right. Added bonus, you’ll end up with Dorito dust all over your fingers just like the real thing.

Moon Cheese – This stuff is so good. Crunchy and satisfying. I tried the variety pack, and although the pepperjack was my favorite, I wouldn’t kick gouda out of bed at all, both are delicious.

Whisps Cheese Crisps – These work great as a chip-replacement, with 1-2g net carbs per serving. They’re cheese that’s been baked into a crispy “chip”, and they come in a variety of flavors, tho asiago & pepper jack remains my favorite.

Just the Cheese Bars – The grilled cheese flavor is pretty great. They’re salty, crunchy, and so cheesy. They can be a little messy, so not always the perfect on-the-go snack, but they’re really good and quite filling.

Lowrey’s Bacon Curls Microwave Pork Rinds (Chicharrones) – Microwave pork rinds are basically the popcorn of keto. They’re tasty, salty, and crispy. It’s VERY IMPORTANT that you get the timing right when you microwave them though. For our microwave, it’s three minutes exactly to a perfect bag of perfectly popped pork rinds. Any more or less and its a disaster. Be prepared to sacrifice a bag or two until you figure out the correct timing.

4505 Chili and Salt Chicharrones – While I don’t know that you’d call these meaty, per se, they are made of animals, so… This is a giant bag of chicharrones (aka pork rinds) with a very light chili and salt flavor. You can definitely find cheaper cheeches at your local grocery though, so if you don’t care that much about the added flavoring, you might skip this one. (They have a jalapeño flavor that’s pretty good too, though neither of them are blow-your-nuts-off spicy.)

Flock Chicken Skin Crisps – These sound gross (and smell terrible), but my husband really likes them. They’re basically chicharrones but with chicken instead of pork skin. If you can get past the smell, they do have a satisfying crunch, more like actual chips (or crisps) than your standard chicharrones.

Meaty Treats

Stryve Spicy Peri Peri Beef Biltong is a household favorite. (I’m not much of a beefy jerky person myself, but my husband goes through a bag of this stuff a week.) It has no added sugars, unlike a lot of beefy jerky. (Seriously, always check the nutritional ingredients – some jerky has a ton of added sugar, especially the teriyaki type flavors.)

Bready Treats

Decent low-carb bread is hard to come by. Because they typically use coconut or almond flour, the texture is almost always a little “off”, but I’ve tried and tested a bunch to give you my final contenders.

SoLo Carb Rye Bread – This stuff is THE BOMB. It’s a little higher in carbs than its less-yummy counterparts, but it’s the first low-carb bread that really tastes like bread. The rye flavor is very mild, which means it can work in places where rye might not normally work. It’s still 3g net carbs per (small) slice, but that means you can have an actual for really real yummy sandwich (I usually do roast beef with cheese and a little dijon mustard) and stay within your macros. They’re only sold in packs of three from Amazon, but they freeze well, so I usually throw two loaves in the freezer and work through them that way. This bread also works great as a sauce-mop for the delicious sauce generated by the Butter Chicken or Smothered Pork Chops.

ThinSlim Zero Carb Bread – This one is a close-second to the SoLo Carb Rye mentioned above. It doesn’t stand alone as a sandwich bread as well, but is perfect for grilled cheese sandwiches and other sandwiches where you’re going to be buttering and pan-toasting the bread. (The Amazon page says 1g net carbs per slice, but the name itself and the nutrition label says 7g carbs and 7g fiber, so 0g carbs. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯))

Low-Carb Melba Toast by Carb-o-licious – I mean, it’s melba toast, so don’t get too excited – and while it’s technically low-carb, it’s not THAT low-carb (1 net carb per 4 small slices), so you still have to watch your portions. That said, they’re great with a little brie and prosciutto if you want to do fancy hors d’oeuvres for a party or romantic dinner. Satisfyingly crunchy.

Thin Slim Zero Net Carb Pizza Crust – This stuff is surprisingly good. It doesn’t have the exact same texture as a real pizza crust, but if you spread a light layer of no-added-sugar pizza/marinara sauce on it like Yo Mama, some extra garlic, lots of mozzarella and pepperoni, it comes surprisingly close (and this is coming from an Italian from NY & NJ.) Definitely more of a “thin crust” texture, so if you’re looking for whatever the hell they call that pizzacake stuff they serve in Chicago, this won’t scratch the itch, but if you’re not a sociopath and like your crusts thinner, this is the closest I’ve found. They are pricy, but it’s much faster to make one of these than the fathead crusts and/or cauliflower crusts. It bakes for about 10 minutes at 450 degrees, so it’s a fast dinner or lunch option.

Breakfast

I typically just eat eggs for breakfast – scrambled with salt, scrambled with spinach and garam masala, hard-boiled, etc – or some plain (full-fat or as close to it as I can get) greek yogurt with a small handful of blueberries and some sugar-free vanilla Torani syrup, but sometimes it’s nice to have a change.

Trader Joe’s Everything But the Bagel Seasoning – I LOVE this stuff. It’s basically just a collection of “everything bagel” toppings (sesame seeds, poppy seeds, salt, garlic and onion flakes, etc) and you certainly *could* assemble that stuff yourself and keep it handy, but for a quick and easy breakfast, sprinkling this stuff on a hard-boiled egg or two is an easy win. It comes in at 0 carbs, so it makes a perfect breakfast.

Diabetic Kitchen Cinnamon Pecan Granola Cereal – This is really good, but make sure to watch your portions (1/3 of a cup, 3g net carbs). I typically use this as a topping on my greek yogurt so I don’t end up eating the whole bag.

Drink Mixes

You can use these for cocktail mixers to liven up your “skinny bitch” (vodka + club soda), or just in your water to mix it up a little.

Crystal Light Sweet Tea – I remember growing up with Crystal Light and their drink mixes always tasted like shit, with weird aftertastes. I don’t know what happened, but that’s just not the case anymore. The sweet tea flavor is AMAZING and tastes like actual sweet tea. I probably drink 2 quarts of it a day, not even kidding. I even water it down a little to make it last longer and it’s still super sweet. For some reason they don’t seem to sell these in the loose powder containers or the single-shots for water-bottles, but I just make a pitcher every time I run out.

Ultima Pink Lemonade – “It’s got electrolytes!”. This is my favorite flavor from Ultima, although the Raspberry and Blue Raspberry flavors are both great too. I also use these in my Keto Gummy Bear recipes, which I’ll post soon.

Condiments

Heinz No Sugar Added Ketchup – Because I am New Jersey trash, I still occasionally like ketchup on my eggs. Regular ketchup has a ton of sugar added and can be up to 6g carbs for a single tablespoon! This no-extra-sugar alternative tastes just as good and costs only 1g per tablespoon.

Ingredients

Crushed pork rinds – Used as a replacement for bread crumbs when making “breaded” foods, you can certainly make these yourself by buying a buttload of bags of pork rinds, putting them in a large ziplock and crushing them with a rolling pin. (You want to make sure they’re very fine, nearly powdered.) If that’s too much of a pain, you can buy them pre-crushed.