Keto Snacks: 20 Low-Carb Snacks to Buy and Make

Good keto snacks are built from protein and fat, not carbs. That means cheese, nuts, jerky, hard-boiled eggs, and olives, foods that keep you full without spiking blood sugar. Reach for string cheese (1g net carbs), a small handful of macadamia nuts (5.2g), beef jerky (3g), a couple of eggs (0.4g), or a bowl of olives (3g). What you skip matters just as much: chips, crackers, pretzels, and candy are all off the table because they are mostly starch and sugar. Below are 20 concrete ideas split between what you can buy off a shelf and what you can make in a few minutes, so there is something for you whether you are standing in a gas station or standing in your kitchen. Not sure a snack fits? Drop it into the Is My Meal Keto? checker or look up any item in the food database.

Grab-and-go store-bought snacks

These need no prep and travel well, the ones to keep in your bag, desk drawer, or car. Check labels, since added sugar hides in a lot of "snack" packaging, but the picks below are reliably low-carb.

• Pork rinds (0g net carbs), the zero-carb answer to chips, all crunch and no starch.
• Babybel cheese (0g), individually wrapped rounds that survive a warm bag.
• String cheese (1g), cheap, portioned, and sold almost everywhere.
• Pepperoni (0.5g), a handful of slices is salty, filling, and keto by default.
• Beef jerky (3g), pick an unsweetened brand; teriyaki and honey styles carry hidden sugar.
• Cheese crisps (3g), baked cheese in a bag, the closest thing to a keto potato chip.
• Olives (3g), single-serve pouches make a briny, fatty snack you can stash anywhere.
• A pre-mixed keto chocolate bar (2g) for when you want something sweet without the sugar.

No-cook snacks

Zero heat, straight from the fridge or pantry. These come together in the time it takes to open a container, which is exactly what you want when a craving hits.

• Two hard-boiled eggs (0.4g) with salt, batch a half-dozen and keep them ready. See classic keto deviled eggs when you want them dressed up.
• Cheese and deli meat roll-ups, a slice of cheese wrapped in ham or turkey, done in seconds.
• Half an avocado (1.8g) scooped from the shell with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lime.
• Celery sticks with a spoon of natural almond butter (1.5g), the unsweetened jar, not the honey-roasted one. See celery (1.4g) for the numbers.
• Veggie sticks with quick guacamole for a fresh, fatty dip.
• A small handful of pecans (4g) or almonds (9g), good, but calorie-dense, so measure a portion rather than eating from the bag.

Make-ahead snacks

A little effort on the weekend means grab-and-go all week, which is the single best way to stop reaching for something carby when you are hungry. These keep for days and travel well.

• Baked cheese crisps, piles of shredded cheese baked until crisp; cheaper than the store version.
• Crispy pepperoni chips, pepperoni crisped in the oven, great for scooping dips.
• Keto trail mix, build your own from macadamias, pecans, and seeds, and portion it into bags.
• Spiced roasted nuts, a savory batch that lasts a couple of weeks in a jar.
• Crispy zucchini chips, thin-sliced and baked when you want a vegetable-based crunch.
• Keto granola bars, a portable bar made from nuts and seeds instead of oats.

Sweet keto snacks

Craving dessert? These lean on fat and low-sugar chocolate instead of grains and sugar, so they satisfy without the crash.

• Chocolate fat bombs, a rich, two-bite hit of fat that kills a sugar craving fast.
• Cinnamon roll fat bombs, the flavor of a pastry with none of the flour.
• A square or two of dark chocolate 90% (4g), the higher the cocoa, the lower the sugar.
• A keto chocolate bar (2g) sweetened with erythritol or stevia rather than sugar.

A word on portions

Nuts deserve a caution of their own. Macadamia nuts, pecans, and almonds are all keto-friendly, but they are calorie-dense, it is genuinely easy to eat 500 calories of nuts without noticing. Measure a small handful into a bowl rather than snacking from the bag, and lean on the lower-carb picks. For the full ranking, see keto nuts and seeds ranked.

Cheese is the other snack workhorse, and it is worth knowing which ones are lowest in carbs, the best keto cheeses guide breaks them down. And if snacks are eating into your morning, the same protein-and-fat logic drives our keto breakfast ideas.

The pattern is simple: anchor snacks on protein and fat, keep low-carb options within reach, and treat chips, crackers, and candy as things you have swapped out rather than things you are missing. Once you have a few go-to snacks in the fridge and the pantry, staying in ketosis between meals stops taking any willpower at all.

Not sure whether a snack fits your day? Run it through the Is My Meal Keto? checker, then browse the full recipe collection for more make-at-home ideas. You can also plan a day around your snacks in the Keto Day Builder or scan the food lists to stock up.