Are Donuts Keto?

Donuts (or doughnuts) may not be considered a healthy food, but they’re most certainly a delicious treat. These little circular goodies are soft, doughy, and sweet, but are they keto-friendly? As a keto dieter, you put effort into achieving your goals and keeping your carb count low, and you deserve a treat. But you don’t want to hinder ketosis and your metabolic progress, either. Let’s look at delectable donuts, what they’re made of, and whether donuts can ever be keto.

What Are Donuts?

Donuts are a dessert or snack food made from leavened fried or baked dough. The dough or batter is usually formed from a grain-based flour like wheat or barley.

Donuts are made in different ways, but the most common ingredients are flour, milk, shortening agent, sugar, salt, eggs, yeast, and flavors. After kneading and preparing the dough, bakers and manufacturers bake donuts or fry them in oil before adding the toppings or glaze. Some might add natural or artificial flavors and other ingredients.

Donuts most often come in a circular shape, but they also have other shapes, such as flattened spheres, twists, sticks, and balls. The ring donut (the type with a hole in the middle) and the filled donut are most popular. The filled donut is filled with jelly, custard, cream, or chocolate. Donuts are topped with powdered sugar, sprinkles, maple or sugary glaze, chocolate, icing, or other toppings. ^[1]

Unfortunately, traditional donuts aren’t suitable for a keto diet because the carb count is too high, largely because of the grain-based flour. Flours are too high in carbs to be consumed on a keto diet, and that’s before you add all the sugary toppings.

For example, two assorted donuts (100 grams) from the Maple Donuts brand have a surprising 54 grams of net carbs, which is well over the daily allowance for keto dieters. ^[2] Consuming this many carbs in one sitting in the form of a sugary treat will most certainly raise your blood sugar and impede ketosis. A 100-gram serving of cake donuts from Archer Farms has a hefty 36 grams of net carbs, which is still too high for one sitting. This is likely due primarily to the wheat flour, sugar, and dextrose (a type of sugar) it contains. ^[3]

Grocery stores, restaurants, and donut shops usually sell classic carb-heavy donuts. One simple original glazed donut from the popular Krispy Kreme donut shop has 21 grams of net carbs due to the enriched wheat flour and sugar. ^[4] One chocolate iced custard-filled donut from Krispy Kreme has just over 36 grams of net carbs, and many people find themselves scarfing another and another! ^[5] Again, the high carb count comes from enriched wheat flour, added sugar, and high fructose corn syrup.

Unfortunately, few keto or low-carb donut options are available (Elite Sweets makes a keto protein donut, but it does contain allulose). However, you’re not completely out of luck if you want to stay keto, have your donut, and eat it too. Head to your keto kitchen and bake a delicious low-carb, craving-crushing donut recipe that you can be proud of using keto-compliant ingredients like almond flour and keto sweeteners like monk fruit.

Keto-Friendly Donut Recipes

Delight your taste buds with these keto donut recipes from Ketogenic.com:

Steph Green

Steph Green is a content writer specializing in and passionate about healthcare, wellness, and nutrition. Steph has worked with marketing agencies, written medical books for doctors like ‘Untangling the Web of Dysfunction,’ and her poetry book ‘Words that Might Mean Something.’ In 2016, after four years of struggling with her own health problems and painful autoimmune disease, Steph developed a life-changing and extensive knowledge of keto, nutrition, and natural medicine. She continues on her healing journey and enjoys helping others along the way.