Are Peanuts Keto Friendly? Complete guide to whether you can eat peanuts on a low carb diet. With net carbs, benefits and the best easy recipe ideas.
Are Peanuts Keto Friendly?
If you’re wondering are peanuts keto friendly, then this blog post will answer that question.
And the answer is – Yes! Peanuts can be enjoyed as they are, roasted, salted or as peanut butter. They contain high amounts of fat and protein but are one of the more carb heavier nuts out there.
The Peanut (Arachis hypogaea.) also known as monkey nuts (and may other names) is a type of legume native to Peru in South America. Today it is grown all over the world with the top four largest producers of peanuts by country and in order being; China, India, Nigeria and the US.
In 2021 over 18 million metric tons of peanuts were produced alone, making the peanut the biggest selling nut in the world.
Are Peanuts Keto-Friendly?
Some keto dieters have given peanuts a bad reputation and put people off their consumption for people on low-carb diet. The real question is, does the the carb content in peanuts throw you out of a state of ketosis?
While the overall carb intake of peanuts is relatively high, the all important net carb count is quite reasonable and has some really important health benefits.
So you can definitely enjoy peanuts while keeping within your daily carb intake to achieve your weight loss goals as long as you exercise portion control.
How Many Carbs In Peanuts?
To make it easy for you I have included three typical peanut measurements to help you with your decision.
The nutritional content for a small serving or one-ounce serving (28g) of peanuts is as follows:
- Calories 166
- Total fat 14g (saturated 2.2g)
- Total grams of carbs 6g
- Dietary fiber 2.4g
- Grams of net carbs (total carbs – fiber) 3.6g
- Sugars 1.4g
- Grams of protein 6.9g
A 42 grams of peanuts portion (one and a half ounce) is considered to a be a typical serving of peanuts. This gives you:
- Calories 246.4
- Total fat 21g (saturated 3.2g)
- Total grams of carbs 9g
- Dietary fiber 3.5g
- Grams of net carbs (total carbs – fiber) 5.5g
- Sugars 2.1g
- Grams of protein 6.9g
Typically the net carb amount of a ketogenic diet is around 25-50g. Meaning a small to typical g serving of peanuts can give you the net carb consumption of about 3.6-5.5g of net carbs or 7-22% of your net daily carbs.
Thanks to peanuts high-fat content a typical handful of peanuts or 42 grams (1.5 ounces) of peanuts can give you around 21 grams of fat and 6.9 grams of protein.
This moderate protein to high protein content combined with its fat intake really helps peanuts fill you up. In fact this study and this paper indicates peanuts improve satiety, or a feeling of fullness.
If you prefer grams the nutritional value per 100g is as follows:
- Calories 587
- Total fat 50g (saturated 7.7g)
- Total grams of carbs 21g
- fiber content 8.4g
- G net carbs (total carbs – fiber) 12.6g
- Sugars 4.9g
- Grams of protein 24g
Health Benefits
Peanuts are full of amazing health benefits. From essential nutrients to important macronutrients, we will explore some of them in detail below.
As most of us are aware vitamins and minerals are important for health. One of the best nuts for containing essential vitamins and minerals are peanuts.
Peanuts contain the following vitamins and minerals (micronutrients):
- Vitamin E A, D , K and some of the B vitamins
- Magnesium, Calcium Potassium, zinc, selenium, copper
Potassium dense foods have shown to help reduce risk of blood pressure and stroke. While it’s suggested potassium rich foods such as peanuts can play an important role in how the brain and nerves function.
Peanuts also contain copper which, plays a role in the production of key proteins. For example copper is important for healthy skin by maintaining the important skin protein collagen which keeps the skin supple and smooth. Copper is also important for haemoglobin, a protein in our blood that carries the oxygen around our body, and last time I checked that’s pretty important.
Selenium is an antioxidant found in peanut that plays a role in helping break down food within the body. Selenium is believed to delay or prevent the onset of cancer, reduces chronic inflammation and also has anti-aging effects.
The vitamin A in peanuts is associated with vision and keeping the eyes in good health. The type of vitamin B found within peanuts help with the body’s way of breaking down carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Important for any keto enthusiast.
Vitamin D is associated with improved bone health and the vitamin K in peanuts is good for helping blood clotting as well as links suggesting vitamin K could help improve bone density, so complementing vitamin D.
In addition, peanuts are a good source of co-enzyme Q10 and contains all the 20 amino acids.
The co-enzyme Q10 amount in peanuts can help compliment vitamin A as it has been shown to be good for your eyes. Plus having good amounts of co-enzyme Q10 in your diet has been found to improve heart health and reduce the potential risks of cardiovascular disease.
The amount of protein in nuts can help contribute to building muscle and maintain essential metabolic functions for the body.
Peanuts are rich in a good amount of healthy fats. Fats in peanuts like oleic acid and other monounsaturated fatty acids have shown to have beneficial effects and lower risk in type 2 diabetes mellitus suggesting improved blood sugar levels and also potentially helping prevent weight gain.
Finally, peanuts are also high in phenols, having found to be protecting against heart disease, type two diabetes mellites and cancer. There has even been some links with peanut consumption in reducing gallstone occurrences in both men and women as well.
Keto Peanut Recipe Ideas
Here are some easy recipe ideas to keep you within your daily carb limit.
Mousse – a creamy keto peanut butter mousse only needs 3 ingredients – heavy cream, peanut butter and stevia.
The ingredients are simply whisked together and make a great way to include plenty of keto lifestyle friendly good fats in your diet.
Smoothie – blend peanut butter into a smoothie, along with almond milk, coconut milk, fresh or frozen berries and stevia or your keto sweetener of choice. Choose from a keto chocolate smoothie or a keto raspberry smoothie that you can infuse with creamy peanut butter.
Fudge – this decadent chocolate peanut butter fudge is a great choice for a healthy snack to help you satisfy your sweet cravings.
Cookies – make a batch of keto no bake peanut butter cookies that blend together low carb, high protein ingredients to create the perfect bite sized treat.
Trail Mix – mix peanuts together with other keto nuts and seeds to make a homemade trail mix.
Choose from low carb nuts and seeds including macadamia nuts, Brazil nuts, pine nuts, raw almonds, pecan nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.
More Ketogenic Diet Inspiration
Disclaimer – this post is meant for informational post only and should not be construed as medical advice. Please consult with your health professional before making any dietary changes.
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