The Best Pre-Workout Keto Snacks

What you eat before hitting the gym–or wherever you work out–helps give you needed energy to fuel your body through your workout. When you’re following a ketogenic diet, you can’t just pick up any old snack. Whether you’re trying to build muscle, sprint or jog around the neighborhood, or achieve long-term fitness goals, you’ll need easy snack ideas with suitable fat and protein.

As you well know if you’re following a keto lifestyle, protein and fat are better fuel sources for endurance than carbs. Let’s break down the best pre-workout keto snacks in terms of convenience, energy, availability, and, most importantly, nutrition.

Top Pre-Workout Keto Snacks

Here are some pre-workout keto snacks that don’t take long to prep and will keep you satisfied throughout your workout.

Nuts

Nuts are packed full of healthy fat and protein, and they’re easy to grab and go. You might be craving salty nuts or nuts sweetened with a keto sweetener. To make things easy on yourself, prepare a satisfying keto granola or trail mix so it’s ready to go.

A packet of nut butter is also a delicious choice, especially for cardio exercise. Dip celery sticks in nut butter for a hydrating, nutty crunch. Or, keep it simple. Sometimes just a handful of nuts and berries is all you need to power through.

Chips and Dips

Plenty of storebought keto-friendly chips are available on the market, like these Whisps cheese crisps. Pork rinds are also a popular keto chip alternative.

You’d be surprised how simple it is to make your own chips. Check out these interesting keto alternatives for potato chips:

Prepare a dip to snack on for a couple of days with keto chips or veggie sticks:

If you have cooked chicken left over, these keto taquitos are no hassle to whip up in the air fryer.

Eggs

One egg gives you 5.3 grams of fat and 6.3 grams of protein, making eggs the perfect keto-friendly snack. ^[1] Grab a couple of hard-boiled eggs before you hit the gym or prepare an easy-to-make tasty egg recipe in advance:

Sandwiches and Roll-Ups

A keto sandwich can be pretty convenient if you make your keto bread beforehand. Enjoy a smoked salmon and avocado sandwich or a good old-fashioned grilled cheese.

Roll-ups are also a quick choice. All you have to do is spread some cream cheese over a couple of thin slices of ham and roll them up! Add leaves of lettuce if you’d like, or get fancy with a prosciutto roll-up that uses your favorite cheese.

Greek Yogurt

Most yogurts are sugar-loaded and off-limits on keto, but you can enjoy an unsweetened full-fat Greek yogurt. If you like flavored yogurts, add a keto sweetener and some berries and nuts. Parfait anyone?

Greek yogurt, coconut yogurt, and cottage cheese all provide just the right macros for a ketogenic diet. Be sure to avoid those pesky added sugars.

Power up with Dr. Ryan Lowery’s favorite protein-packed keto yogurt recipe.

Jerky

Unless you’re a vegetarian, meat jerky is excellent keto pre-workout snack choice, as it’s filling, nutritious, and convenient. Not all jerkies are created equal, so be aware of sneaky sugars and unhealthy additives.

Keto Bars

If you’re looking for the convenience of preportioned and packaged snacks, more and more keto-friendly protein and snack bars are available to stash in your gym bag, such as Dang Keto Bars, Bulletproof Collagen Protein Bars, or Think! Keto Protein Bars. Or step into your kitchen and create your own, like these keto protein bars or coconut energy bars.

Smoothies

Smoothies are a great way to get plenty of nutrition in one simple beverage. Enjoy your favorite flavor combinations, and be sure to add fat, which slows down rises in blood sugar. No cooking is required; all you need is a blender and your favorite ingredients. Maybe you prefer berries and coconut milk, or maybe you enjoy green smoothies with fresh herbs.

Choose a satisfying smoothie recipe from Ketogenic.com:

Most fruit juices are off the keto menu due to the sugar content and lack of fiber, but you could enjoy a juice made with greens and low-carb veggies like carrots. Here are the details on ordering low-carb at Smoothie King!

Salads

Salads are one of the faster meals to make because they don’t usually involve cooking. You may not think of them as snacks, but you can split high-fat, high-protein salads into individual portions and store them in portable mason jars. Refrigerate the portions and eat them over the next two-three days, depending on the ingredients.

Enjoy one of the following nutritious keto salad recipes:

Keto Fat Bombs

Fat bombs are small, delightful balls of goodness that are a huge hit among keto dieters because of their convenience and flavor. Fat bombs are small bars or little balls containing ingredients like coconut oil, nut butter, cocoa powder, nuts, seeds, spices, and often no-carb sweeteners like stevia or monk fruit. The perfect pre-workout snack, you can store most fat bombs in your fridge for 1-2 weeks and in your freezer for up to 6 months, depending on the ingredients.

Of course, the recipe creators here at Ketogenic.com have conjured up plenty of irresistible fat bombs for your snacking pleasure:

What’s your favorite pre-workout keto snack? How do you fuel your workouts? Share your top tips with keto dieters at 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.

References

Self Nutrition Data. Egg, Whole, Cooked, Hard-Boiled, Nutrition Facts & Calories. Egg, whole, cooked, hard-boiled Nutrition Facts & Calories (self.com)