Embarking on a keto diet requires plenty of preparation and often a total pantry overhaul. Stock up on these essential pantry items so that you can enjoy the keto diet to the fullest.
I’ve been the keto diet for a long time now and it’s a lifelong commitment for me. For over 10 years now, I’ve been eating low carb and gluten-free. And for about 5 of those years, I’ve been fully keto.
In the past decade, I’ve learned a thing or two about a successful keto lifestyle, and I want to pass these tips on to you.
This list of keto pantry staples is quite comprehensive. It includes all the basics, plus an advanced supply list for those of you who love to bake. And you can tailor it to suit your tastes, needs, and additional dietary restrictions.
Ready to conquer the keto lifestyle?
Table of Contents
Preparation is the key to keto diet success
I simply cannot stress this point enough: be prepared.
We live in a gluten and sugar-filled world, and it’s hard to resist temptation when it’s in your face all the time. You are far more likely to slip and get off track if you don’t have a good array of tasty low carb foods around to keep you satisfied.
So making sure to have your pantry well-stocked with keto-friendly snacks is absolutely crucial. And having the ingredients on hand for easy keto dinners and keto breakfasts makes it easier to stay on track.
If you love baking, as I do, it’s important stock up on baking ingredients too. But how do you know what ingredients will work best? What are the basics you should spend your money on?
I’ve done enough experimenting with a huge array of low carb and gluten-free ingredients and I want you to benefit from my experience. My keto baking pantry list has everything you need.
Keep it simple
As with any big lifestyle change, it’s best to start with the basics.
There are so many “keto” products and pre-packaged foods on the market nowadays. It’s a hot keyword and every brand and company is trying to capitalize on the trend. But many of them really aren’t that keto friendly at all.
While it may be tempting to load up on these items, I don’t recommend it. You are much better off sticking with real, whole foods as the building blocks of your healthy diet.
Healthy Fats and Oils
You certainly don’t need all of these in your pantry at once, but having a few options on hand goes a long way for keto cooking and baking.
- Butter: I always have at least two pounds of butter in my fridge. I love it for savory recipes like my keto mushroom soup, and for baking treats like keto sugar cookies.
- Coconut Oil
- Ghee is also good option for dairy-free keto recipes. I adore the brown butter ghee from Tin Star Foods.
- Avocado Oil
- Olive Oil
- Mayonnaise (preferably made with avocado oil, not canola oil or soybean oil)
Rich Proteins
Protein helps fill us up and keep us satisfied. I stock up on ground beef or chicken thighs whenever I see a sale. If you purchase pre-made burgers or sausage, remember to check the label for hidden sources of carbs.
- Eggs: Good for easy meals and for baking! Try my Sheet Pan Frittata for an easy breakfast or dinner.
- Beef: Steak is great, but ground beef is much less expensive. See my favorite keto ground beef recipes.
- Lamb
- Pork
- Poultry: Easy Chicken Broccoli Casserole is a fan favorite!
- Fish
- Bone broth: Sip it plain or make some warm and comforting keto soup.
Fruits and Veggies
Not all fruits and veggies are keto-friendly, so make sure you have a good array of the lower carb options to choose from. These are the ones I keep in my fridge most often:
- Fresh berries
- Avocado
- Lemon and lime
- Tomatoes
- Broccoli
- Brussels Sprouts
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Cucumbers
- Green Beans
- Mushrooms
- Radish
- Zucchini
- Asparagus
- Bell Peppers
- Leafy greens
Nuts & Seeds
Most nuts and seeds have a high fat content and plenty of fiber, making them a great keto snack. And nut and seed butters are useful for cooking and baking.
- Almonds
- Hazelnuts
- Macadamia Nuts
- Nut and seed butters
- Peanuts (not a true nut)
- Pecans
- Walnuts
- Pumpkin seeds
- Sunflower seeds
- Coconut
Dairy (and dairy-free alternatives)
- Heavy cream
- Cream cheese
- Hard and soft cheeses
- Sour cream or Greek yogurt (full fat)
- Coconut milk/cream
- Dairy-free cream cheese
- Unsweetened nut and seed milks
Keto baking essentials
In case you didn’t already know, baking is my happy place. I keep my pantry stocked at all times with keto-friendly flours and sweeteners so that I can whip up keto cookies or keto chocolate chip muffins any old time.
But while I have a huge array of flours, sweeteners, chocolate, nuts, and other baking ingredients at my disposal, the truth is you don’t need all of that to be a successful keto baker.
This list includes the absolute essentials to get you started. Even if you never buy anything more than what’s listed here, you will find yourself able to create wonderful keto desserts and baked goods. You can also see this list on my Amazon storefront!
Any good baking cupboard should always have baking powder, vanilla and other extracts, and salt. Plus plenty of butter, eggs, and cream (or dairy free alternatives) in the fridge!
Keto Flours
Keto flours take some getting used to, as they don’t behave even remotely like wheat flour.
- Almond flour – by far the most common keto flour and incredibly useful and delicious. Please read my tutorial on Baking with Almond Flour for detailed information.
- Coconut flour – also a very common keto flour but you really need to know what you’re getting into. Once you get used to it, it makes some of the best keto cupcakes! Please read Baking with Coconut Flour for more information.
- Sunflower seed flour is a great nut-free alternative to almond flour. And it’s easy to make your own. How to make sunflower seed flour.
Keto Sweeteners
The number of low carb sweeteners and sweetener blends has exploded in recent years. It’s wonderful because we have so many choices now. But all those choices can also be very confusing and overwhelming.
And they don’t all behave the same way! They all have their pros and cons.
Please read The Ultimate Guide to Keto Sweeteners for an in-depth look at how these sweeteners work and how they affect your results.
In my cupboard, I always keep:
- Swerve Sweetener – granular, powdered, and the new Swerve Brown, which is truly the best brown sugar replacement out there.
- Allulose and/or BochaSweet – these are great sweeteners for keto ice cream, keto caramel sauce, and other treats that can re-crystallize with erythritol.
Keto-friendly Chocolate
Once upon a time, there was no good sugar-free chocolate and I had to use chopped up 90% Lindt bars. Now there is a vast array of keto chocolate to choose from. I recommend you keep on hand:
- Unsweetened cocoa powder: Dutch process cocoa gives a better chocolate flavor for most recipes.
- Unsweetened chocolate – this is 100% cacao chocolate, with no sweetener whatsoever. It’s important to choose quality chocolate like Ghirardelli or Guittard. The cheaper Baker’s chocolate tends to seize more easily and will ruin some of your recipes.
- Sugar-free chocolate chips – ChocZero or Lily’s Sweets are the two best brands.
Protein Powder
You will notice that many of my keto cakes and muffins call for protein powder. There is a method to my madness, I promise.
I am not trying to add more protein to my diet, I get plenty of that as it is. But gluten is actually protein that helps conventional baked goods rise properly and hold their shape. In the absence of gluten, another dry protein can make your keto baked goods lighter, fluffier, and more like the ones you used to love.
- Unflavored grassfed whey protein
- Unflavored egg white protein (dairy free option)
Plant-based protein powders may work as well. But don’t try to replace with collagen protein as it bakes very differently and may make the recipe gummy and hard to cook through.
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Great post! Could I know where to find the recipes for the foods in the pictures (particularly your favorite almond cake?) Thanks! 🙂
Great resource for new low carbers 🙂
Carolyn — I too am a 2-1/2 year low-carber and am just now venturing into baking. I made muffins last weekend and am HOOKED — I am planning another recipe for Saturday morning and it will be my first try at coconut flour. Thank you for all your great recipes — they have given me the courage to return to something I LOVE — baking 🙂
Blessings!
Gail
Thanks, Gail! Keep at it, it’s worth it. Remember with coconut flour, it soaks up a lot of liquid and you need at least 2x the eggs to make it rise properly.
Carolyn, what sweetner did you use for the cranberries? I would think it would need to be liquid?
No, I used granulated Swerve. I tossed it with the berries and oil, and baked them at 200F and they’re wonderful! I just wanted to leave it open to whatever people’s preferences were.
Thank you so much! A new reader and a newbie to the world of low carb. We share a similar story…gestational diabetes with baby number three and now prediabetic despite losing 30 lbs post baby and regular exercise. Feeling a bit overwhelmed so its comforting to know I’m not alone in this. Great post!
You are definitely not alone! Ask any questions, I will always try to answer.
Thanks so much for this recipe Carolyn! I’ve been eyeing your cranberry/orange ricotta muffins in the low carb w/ friends cookbook and couldn’t find any unsweetened cranberries! This will be perfect! I have a quick question about that recipe which calls for soy flour…I really want to make the muffins but I’m trying to stay away from soy and was wondering what you would recommend subing for it? More almond flour or would coconut flour work?
I no longer use soy flour either. Just replace it with almond flour, I think it will work just fine. Maybe add a bit of protein powder to help them rise.
You can also sub whey protein powder for soy flour. Per the Low Carb Comfort Food Cookbook by Mary and Michale Eades and Urula Solom, you can sub 1/3 cup whey protein for every 1/4 cup soy protein. Whey is a little higher in carbs, but not significant for the levels used in most recipes.
A while back I grabbed some dried cranberries in the bulk section of my grocery store. I made these awesome almond flour cookies and used cranberries in place of chocolate chips. They were deliciously but very sweet. Then I realized the cranberries were sweetened. I have been looking for unsweetened dried cranberries ever since and it feels impossible. Now I know how to make some:)
I did the same thing with cherries once. Cherries are so sweet as it is, I thought there wouldn’t be any reason for them to have added sugar. But I can’t find any without!
I had a hard time finding cherries too, but I found these. They are wonderful, I use them in my homemade granola (grain and sugar free of course.)
http://www.amazon.com/Kleins-Naturals-Dried-Cherries-5-Ounce/dp/B000IEFVUW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1381866793&sr=8-2&keywords=klein%27s+cherries
Carolyn, I was going to ask about no-sugar dried cherries. I’ll check the blog see if I can find them 🙂 – I just made the cranberries! Love them. Is it a sin if I eat them all? At once? I guess I should figure out the carb count before I begin snarf…er…snacking on them. Delicious!
oooooooooooops, I forgot to say: Thank you!
I have never made dried cherries. I think they are so juicy, it would take a long time to get them to dry without a dehydrator. I bought some from Amazon though. Let me see if I can find that link…
Genius, again, Carolyn!
Genius!! Does this mean I can eat the entire batch? 😛
Carolyn – you never cease to amaze me – what a great detective you would make. Great resource for low-carb baking this holiday season!
What a great staple to make at home!
I don’t even eat low carb and I love this post–these are great resources for eating healthier, period. Because even for a carb lover like me, I do make a conscious effort to eat less of them. I totally want to make my own dried cranberries now too!
Thanks for the recipe…can’t wait to try it!
An awesome resource! We only buy the unsweetened dried cranberries at Whole Foods. Great to have this recipe too
I have never understood why dried cranberries are only available with a bazillion grams of sugar, love this!!
Thanks, Lauren!!!
Can you put these in a dehydrater?
Yes, as it turns out, you can! I didn’t have a dehydrator when I first made these but now I do.
How long would you leave them in the dehydrator?
Thanks!
Depends a lot on your dehydrator. Mine takes about 12 hours.
Thanks for writing this post! I’m gearing up to go gluten-free for a month to see if it’ll help with some issues I’ve having. At the same time, my husband will be doing the law-carb thing. Can’t wait to see what happens! And those cranberries look great. The unsweetened ones don’t exist over here in Germany. 🙁
Have just bought some fresh in EDEKA and have them in the oven to dry. Will see if it works.