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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I saw that you have used a dehydrator to make your dried cranberries. And that it took 12 hours. What temperature are you setting your dehydrator for?
There is just a berry setting I use, I am not sure of the exact temp.
Can I do this to thawed frozen cranberries, as fresh ones are out of season right now?
The frozen ones should be fine. Let them drain really well.
Hey Carolyn, do you have any suggestions for a sugar free semi-sweet chocolate chip? I recently discovered that my boyfriend does not like dark chocolate (gasp!) Ironically, discovered while making your Mexican hot chocolate…and now having trouble finding a chip alternative – so far as I can tell, Lily’s has a dark chip and milk chocolate bars, but not chips…my only thought at the moment is to chop the bars.
Also, I’ve recently been loving Ripple (have not tried other brands, but they are out there) milk alternative in recipes -I’ve subbed for almond milk in a few of yours. The carb count is great and it also works great in coffee (does not curdle like some alternatives)…it’s made from yellow pea protein! I think Boathouse also makes one, but I’ve not tried it. By us, I’ve seen Ripple at Target and Whole Foods so far.
Lily’s are the only chips I know of and really equate to semi sweet in my mind (dark chocolate is often higher cacao) but if those are too dark for him, chopping the milk chocolate is your best alternative.
Could we subsitute other berries and receive the same result? My son loves dried fruit but its just way too high in carbs. It would be nice to have some dried berries as an occasional snack or mix in.
You can definitely dry other berries but they all take a different amount of time because of different moisture contents.
Can i ask what sweetener you use for these? And is it a liquid or granulated?
Thank you in advance.
Beth
I use powdered Swerve.
Thank you ve ry much.
Wow, what a treat! The cranberries came out delightfully chewy and addicting. It took forever in my oven, maybe it runs cool. I bumped the heat to 250degrees for a couple hours, then back to 200. It took about five plus hours. Think I’ll invest in a dehydrator..
You are so right about having low carb ingredients at hand to keep on track. Now I have these lovely cranberries! Thank you!
Hi!
I’m counting my carbs very strictly to get through a stall – is the serving size 1 cup for 5.5 total carbs? If that’s not right, what is the serving size for total carbs?
Thanks!
Sorry, that’s a little confusing with my new recipe plug in. It makes 8 servings so that 2 tbsp per serving.
SO excited and happy about how great these turned out! I can eat dried cranberries again!! I used my kitchen shears to snip them in half. These were perfect. So much better than store bought and sugar free to boot. I can’t stop picking at them hahaha! Thanks so much for this recipe!
Just made your updated cranberry recipe and they turned out so much better than the first version. Thank you so much.
I love cranberries and wondered if it would work to leave them whole instead of slicing?
No, it does not. Because they won’t dry out properly that way.
Thank you, I was trying to save a step. I looked back at the comments and saw the tip about slicing between lids.
Thank you so much for your recipes(:
I live in Alaska and we have high bush cranberries. I was wondering if you left the seeds in when they dried?
I don’t do anything to the seeds at all. So yep still in there.
Time & temp in a dehydrator? I’d like to make these for a sprout slaw recipe!
Hi again Carolyn…just opened your recipe for the yummy looking cranberry chocolate granola bars using your sugar free dried cranberries and was wondering if the prepared cranberries could be dried in a dehydrator instead of the oven?
Yes, they can. I now have one and do it that way frequently.
Awesome. I can’t wait to try this today….Those bars look so yummy…..and BTW….I just love your blender cranberry/nut muffins. I ALWAYS have them in the freezer to grab for a quick bite with my nighttime tea. I think the bit of extra protein at night helps me sleep a lot better.
I love them too!
I know this isn’t the point of your blog but I have a question that you may have some insight about. Not only am I diabetic but I also have some kidney issues. Therefore I should have a low carb diet plus as little salt as possible. I have looked at a lot of recipes, most of which ask for adding salt. I think there is a chemical reason for adding salt in some recipes but I’m not sure. I don’t have the knowledge or experience to just leave it out but am unsure when I can do that and how much. I use very little in the foods I eat and don’t normally add it at the table. My palate is used to that taste but am wondering if I must add some occasionally to make the chemistry in the foods work correctly. Thank you for your cooking wisdom.
In a few recipes, such as meringues, salt is critical to the outcome. In most other recipes, salt is more to bring out flavour. For baked goods, I’d say you can easily leave out the salt.
Would the cranberries work with liquid Splenda do you think? I can not get past the cooling effect if swerve. When you say toss them in sweetener and oil do you mean mix the oils and sweetener tiger first?
Been WAITING for the cranberries to show up in the stores! Finally today they did!
Liquid sucralose should work. Just toss the berries in a bowl with the oil and sweetener and you should be good to go.
Thank you! Bought a 3 pound bag at Sams today!
A year later and I bought a dehydrator just for my cranberries. Last year they were gone within a day of drying them. In the last three days I’ve cut in half and dehydrated 22 pounds of cranbeies and I’m just getting started!
One more question. It might have been asked – I’m going to dehydrate tons this year. What’s the best way to store them for long term? Can they be frozen after dehydration?
barb, can you pass on a little more on the dehyrating? I’d love to give it a try – we’re big fans of apple slices with ceylon cinnamon 🙂 I see you cut the berries in half so no boil? And which sweetener did you go with – I have some stevia glycerite that I can’t find a use for..?
As for your question on storing, I saw this pdf and wonder if you need to bother freezing? http://www.greenfieldworld.com/catalog/Excalibur2012.pdf
I’ve been making dried cranberries for several years now, following the boil ’em and bake ’em method. But when you mentioned on Facebook(?) that you just cut them in half and tossed them with oil and sweetener, I tried that and wow! They come out nicely separated and are so much easier to oven-dry evenly without having to constantly be removing done ones from around the edges. Thanks for all your great ideas and experiments!
And when fresh cranberries aren’t available, you can find dried cranberries with no added sugars, juices, or oils at http://www.honestlycranberry.com #truetarttaste @honestlycran
Well, I have to say…this is a little spammy of you. Might have been nice if you asked me if you could link to your site from my blog. Maybe an intro would have helped. I like to help companies that produce low carb goodies but again, this comes across as very spammy.