Ultimate Keto Food Swap: High Carbs for Low Carbs

Yes, going keto does mean giving up the sugar-loaded treats and carb-heavy dishes, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t mouthwatering replacements available for you to devour instead. You may be surprised at how many low-carb alternatives exist for your favorite carbalicious dishes. Let’s discuss the ultimate keto food swaps to keep you in ketosis and on the road to achieving your goals.

Keto Pasta Alternatives

Grains aren’t usually keto-friendly, especially refined and processed grains like pasta and rice. As you picture the rolling hills of Italy and remember the captivating taste of herb and tomato-coated pasta with savory meatballs, you may wonder how long you can truly stay keto! For some people, if pasta is wrong on keto, they don’t want to be right.

Fortunately, there are many keto pasta alternatives out there, and many are also gluten-free, like eggplant lasagna and palmini noodles! Spaghetti squash has a familiar starchy feel that makes it a good alternative for pasta. These keto food swaps are also typically richer in nutrients than pasta as well as being lower in carbs! For example, eggplant is an excellent source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals like manganese. ^[1]

Before you settle down with a bowl of carb-loaded spaghetti, enjoy the many keto pasta alternatives with a similar flavor and texture to your beloved traditional grain-based pasta:

If you have a spiralizer, you can easily spiralize veggies into noodle-like strips. You can also use tofu noodles, onion noodles, sprouts like beansprouts or alfalfa sprouts, or whole cabbage leaves to substitute lasagna sheets.

Enjoy a keto pasta recipe from our recipe creators here at Ketogenic.com:

Mashed Potato Swaps

Not just a Thanksgiving favorite, mashed potatoes seem to show up at some of your most memorable hearty childhood meals. Even sweet potatoes aren’t on the keto menu, but you can swap out traditional mashed potatoes for mashed cauliflower or mashed turnips. Add coconut cream or traditional dairy milk or cream to achieve a similar taste and texture to those melt-in-your-mouth buttery mashed ‘taters you’re longing for.

Keto Cereal

Cereal is an incredibly popular breakfast on a standard American diet, but most cereals aren’t anywhere near keto-friendly. Today, you can find keto-approved packaged cereals on the market, or you can make your own with almond flour, pork rinds, nuts, coconut flakes, and other flavorful ingredients. To keep it simple, you could even switch out your typical carb-loaded cereal for a bowl of nuts and berries with your choice of milk. Try this keto cereal made with almonds, cashews, coconut, and pork rinds! Or you might like this healthy and filling keto porridge made with coconut, cinnamon, chia seeds, flaxseeds, and almond milk.

Healthier Pizza Swaps

Whether you’re a Hawaiian, a supreme, or an Italian-style pizza fan, you might be missing pizza on your ketogenic diet. Of course, traditional pizza isn’t on the keto menu, but there are plenty of delicious alternatives using coconut flour, keto fathead dough, or a cauliflower crust. Keep it low carb with these keto food swaps for traditional pizza:

Keto-Friendly Rice

Rice isn’t usually on the keto dinner table unless it’s cauliflower rice, broccoli, or konjac rice. However, with a blender and some cauliflower and the right recipe, you’d be surprised what you can conjure up. Konjac rice is a low-carb fiber-rich option that you can cook with your favorite seasonings. Enjoy this chicken broccoli casserole with cheesy rice or this butternut squash risotto with cauliflower rice.

Low-Carb Fries

Fries are starchy, carby, and a preferred side dish on the standard American diet. Traditional fries, or even sweet potato fries, aren’t keto-compliant, but you can swap those out for other versions like rutabaga or jicama fries. With a little creativity and the right recipe and seasonings, you’d be surprised by how tasty keto fries can be, and they won’t kick you out of ketosis or spike your blood sugar! Even green beans or sliced okra make an irresistible salty replacement that won’t have all the carbs or any unhealthy additives. Try a Ketogenic.com recipe:

Keto Chips Food Swaps

You don’t have to miss out on the salty and crunchy experience of chips just because you’re keto. Reach for the pork rinds as a low-carb solution, or get cheesy with cheesy parmesan crisps or jalapeno cheese crisps. These homemade cheez-its might just do the trick! Some veggies can also be transformed into delicious chips, like zucchini chips or even kale chips! Dip your chips in this spinach artichoke dip or this creamy queso dip.

Alternatives to Traditional Cakes

If you’re like us, it’s not only on birthdays that you daydream about eating a sweet, fluffy cake, maybe topped with some frosting or ice cream and berries. While cake should never be a staple of any diet, it’s an enjoyable sweet treat, and you don’t have to say goodbye to cake or ice cream just because you’re keto. We’d like to introduce you to keto cakes made with compliant ingredients like coconut and almond flour and keto sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit. Check out some of these tempting craving-crushing cake recipes from Ketogenic.com:

Don’t forget the ice cream or the cream cheese frosting.

Bread, Wrap, and Taco Shell Swaps

Grain-based bread, wraps, tortillas, and taco shells aren’t keto-approved, but you can choose from a range of satiating alternatives like nut-based bread or bread made with ingredients like psyllium husk and flaxseed meal. Choose a keto bread instead, like one of the following:

You can still have keto sandwiches like a delicious Rueben, a tuna melt, or a grilled cheese and stay on track to meet your health and fitness goals. Use lettuce wraps for wraps and portobello mushroom caps as burger buns! Make your own keto tortillas using coconut flour and egg whites, or try these tasty, easy almond flour crepes. You can even make keto taquitos in your air fryer!

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.