Best Low Carb Grains

If you need to follow a strict ketogenic diet to feel your best, then it’s best to avoid grains altogether. But if you can be a little more flexible with your carb intake, there might be a place for a small amount of grain in your diet.

Can you include grains on a low-carb or keto diet? It’s a funny question, right? Asking if there are keto-friendly grains is like asking which kind of steak you can eat on a vegetarian diet. The two don’t go together. Grains are high-carbohydrate foods; there’s no getting around that. But does that mean they’re totally off limits? Let’s take a look.

Grains on Keto: Yay or Nay?

Whether grains can fit in your low-carb or keto diet depends on which of those you’re following – low-carb or keto – and what your goals are.

There are no universally accepted definitions for a low-carb diet. After all, “low” is a relative term, right? Low compared to what? Some experts classify a low-carb diet as fewer than 130 grams of carbohydrate per day, or less than 26% of total calories coming from carbs. Others note that a low-carb diet calls for “substantial reduction of grains.” Still, 130 grams is pretty generous and leaves room for grain products.

A ketogenic diet is stricter than this. Again, there’s no formal definition, although we could say that a diet is ketogenic if, through following it, your body generates ketones. Most researchers classify a ketogenic diet as no more than 50 grams of carbohydrate per day, or less than 10 percent of total calories from carbs and eliminating grains. (A true ketogenic diet may also call for limiting protein.) Some people will need to keep their carb intake even lower to achieve ketosis – closer to 20 grams or fewer. Considering a slice of bread can provide around 20 grams of carbs all by itself, you’ll hit your limit pretty quickly if you include grains on a keto diet.

The amount of carbohydrate you can consume and still be happy with the results you’re getting is an individual issue. If you’re using a keto diet to prevent epileptic seizures or keep a mental health condition in remission, then you might have to stay strict keto all the time in order to feel your best.

On the other hand, if your main goal is losing weight or improving a condition related to insulin resistance, you might have some wiggle room for a small amount of grains. Not as much as on a standard (high-carb) Western diet, but you don’t have to swear them off entirely.

Best Grains for Low-Carb

The best grains for a low-carb diet are no grains, but if you’d like to experiment and see if any can work well for you, these are your best bets. The carb counts below are for a cup of each grain, cooked. 

• Amaranth: Amaranth is considered a “pseudocereal” since it’s actually a seed, not a grain. As a seed, it’s naturally gluten-free and has a higher protein content compared to some grains. (Amaranth is about 14-15% protein, which is higher than corn and wheat.) It has a better amino acid profile than most cereal grains, making it closer to a complete protein. One cup of cooked amaranth packs 46 grams of carbohydrate and 5 grams of fiber. I don’t recommend counting net carbs (subtracting the fiber), but if that works well for you, then this gives you a net carb count of 41 grams. Too high for keto, but it can fit into a low-carb diet. 

• Quinoa: Like amaranth, quinoa is a seed or pseudocereal that people commonly use as a grain. Quinoa is about 14-16% protein, and like amaranth, it’s gluten-free and closer to a complete protein compared to cereal grains. A cup of cooked quinoa packs about 40 grams of carbohydrate with 5 grams of fiber, for 35 grams net carbs.

• Buckwheat: Yet another pseudocereal, buckwheat is not a grain and is not related to wheat, despite its name. (So, similar to amaranth and quinoa, it’s gluten-free and is used as a cereal grain because of its high starch content.) A cup of cooked buckwheat will give you around 29 grams net carbs (33 grams total minus 4 grams fiber).

• Oats: A cup of cooked steel-cut oats provides around 24 grams net carbs (28 total grams minus 4 grams fiber). Of course, this is for plain oats, not a packet loaded with maple & brown sugar flavoring! Keep an eye on the carbs if you doctor up your oatmeal with a bunch of high-carb add-ins, like fruit and honey.

• Wild rice: Wild rice is an umbrella term for blends that include different types of rice, so the exact amount of carbohydrate will differ depending on the precise composition of the blend. As a general ballpark, a cup of cooked wild rice provides about 32 grams net carbs (35 total minus 3 grams fiber), which is less than white or brown rice. 

• Bulgur: Considering it’s made from wheat, bulgur is surprisingly low in carbs (relatively speaking). A cup of cooked bulgur provides about 26 grams net carbs (34 grams total carbs minus 8 grams fiber).

• Couscous: Couscous is made from wheat, making it a gluten-containing grain. A cup of cooked couscous delivers around 34 grams net carbs (36 grams total carbs minus 2 grams fiber).

• Barley: Barley is a true grain, and although it’s different from wheat, it contains a protein called hordein, which is a component of gluten. (So, steer clear of barley if you have celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity.) A cup of cooked barley provides around 38 grams net carbs (44 grams total minus 6 grams fiber).

How to Use Grains on a Low-Carb Diet

If you include grains on a low-carb diet, you’ll want to keep the total quantity in check to make sure you don’t overdo the carbs and interfere with the beneficial effects of eating this way. Don’t eat a bowl of grain by itself as a side dish. Consider using grain as the base for a heartier dish to which you can add non-starchy vegetables, healthy fats, and your protein of choice, like a rice pilaf or quinoa salad.

Better yet, when preparing a grain dish, make it with half grain and use a keto-friendly substitute for the other half. For example, if you make tabbouleh – a popular Middle Eastern dish that features bulgur – it would be just as delicious if you used half bulgur and half cauliflower rice. Do the same with a rice pilaf: use half wild rice and half cauli rice or riced hearts of palm. Make animal protein and healthy fat the main part of your meal and use the grain dish as a side, which will help to limit the total amount of carbs you eat by default.

I also recommend consuming grains in forms that are less refined. Think of whole buckwheat groats (like kasha) rather than noodles made from buckwheat flour, or a wheatberry salad as opposed to wheat that’s been pulverized into flour and made into bread or crackers. Individual biological responses to foods varies, but as a general rule, consuming grains intact rather than highly refined would be more likely to result in smaller rises in blood sugar and insulin.

Find Out How Grains Affect You

If you are nervous about introducing grains, there are two ways you can go if you’re nervous about introducing grains into your diet. 

The first way: keep it old school and just see what happens when you include your grain(s) of choice in a meal now and then. Are you able to maintain a weight you’re content with? Did health problems you got rid of suddenly return? 

The second way: use a glucometer or CGM (continuous glucose monitor) to check your blood sugar and see how you respond to grains. If you do this, I recommend including a small amount of grain as part of a larger meal, where the presence of protein, fat, and fibrous vegetables can help to moderate the effect on blood sugar and insulin. And keep in mind that it’s not a problem if your blood sugar rises a little. It doesn’t have to be a flatline all day, every day! Decide how much of a rise you’re comfortable with, and how quickly you’d like to see it come back down, and see if eating grains keeps you within those boundaries.

Also, don’t base your decision about whether to include grains in your diet solely off the numbers. Objective data (like from a CGM) is useful, but don’t ignore how you feel. If grains, or certain specific grains or grain products, induce carb cravings, cause heartburn, joint pain, or skin problems, or if grains are a trigger food for you and you have a hard time controlling the quantity of grain foods you eat, then it’s best to keep these out of your diet.

You can choose to avoid them entirely, or consider having them only on rare occasions. For example, for a holiday meal where there’s a special family dish or a dish that you have only a few times a year as part of religious or cultural traditions. Eating these high-carb foods once in a while isn’t what caused so many of us to become overweight or develop health problems. We were eating like it was a special holiday every day of the year!

But of course, if these foods are triggers for you and one serving will lead to five, and before you know it, your low-carb or keto diet is a distant memory, then don’t do it! You’ll enjoy special times just as much without grains. No one ever died from a couscous deficiency! 

Grain Substitutes

If you miss grains in your diet, take advantage of keto-friendly substitutes. Years ago, you had to be ambitious in the kitchen and make your own cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles if you wanted rice or pasta, but with keto being so popular now, these things are ubiquitous. You don’t have to go to a fancy health food store or order online. You can find these at most regular supermarkets and discount chains. You’ll have no problem finding riced cauliflower, zucchini noodles, shirataki noodles, egg white wraps, cauliflower thins, and rice or pasta substitutes made from hearts of palm.

If you like to do things yourself, you can make “carnivore” noodles using eggs (or eggs and cheese), and they’re close to zero carbs. You can also try “keto bread” made from grains and see if it works for you. (Here are some beginner tips for making homemade keto bread.)

The flavor and texture of keto-friendly grain substitutes aren’t the same as the real thing, but if you genuinely miss certain dishes, they’ll hit the spot closely enough. And including things you love is key to sticking with a low-carb or keto diet for the long term. Good luck staying with it if you feel deprived and overly restricted. These substitutes can help you enjoy the path you’ve chosen. 

Summing Up

If you need to follow a strict ketogenic diet to feel your best, then it’s best to avoid grains altogether. But if you can be a little more flexible with your carb intake, there might be a place for a small amount of grain in your diet. Don’t be afraid to experiment, but don’t kid yourself: if grain products are triggers for you and cause you to crave more and more carbs, then steer clear.