Simply going on the low carb keto diet doesn’t make your sweet tooth disappear.
However, this eating pattern restricts your daily carb intake to 20–50 grams to put you in ketosis, a metabolic state in which your body burns fat instead of carbs for energy. This means that most sugary sweets are off-limits.
All the same, keto-friendly treats are increasingly common. Healthline evaluated the candies below based on the following criteria:
- Net carbs. Each item contains minimal net carbs (total carbs minus fiber and sugar alcohols), making it easy to fit a serving into your diet. This number estimates how many carbs your body ends up breaking down.
- Ingredient quality. The highest-ranked choices are free of artificial sweeteners and unnecessary additives like artificial flavors.
- Availability. All products are available online, but some are also sold at grocery or convenience stores — even in rural areas.
Here are the 8 best keto candies.
SmartSweets Gummy Bears
SmartSweets Gummy Bears are a keto-friendly alternative to a childhood favorite. Though each bag is relatively high in net carbs, you can divide it into as many portions as you see fit.
The candy is made with high quality ingredients, colored with fruit juice, and sweetened with stevia and allulose, a type of natural sweetener that your body doesn’t absorb.
SmartSweets also offers Sweet Fish, Peach Rings, Sour Blast Buddies, and Sour Gummy Bears.
- Net carbs: 18 grams in each 1.8-ounce (50-gram) bag
- Price: $$
ChocZero White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
If you’ve been missing white chocolate on keto, these peanut butter cups from ChocZero may be a great fit.
Made from high quality South American cocoa butter, they’re free of sugar alcohols, artificial sweeteners, soy, and palm oil.
Best of all, they contain only 1 gram of net carbs per piece.
ChocZero offers a large assortment of other keto-friendly chocolate candies as well.
- Net carbs: 1 gram in each 14-gram piece
- Price: $$
