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With so many success stories floating around about low-carb diets, it’s no wonder you’ve taken the leap and decided to try keto.
One of the hardest parts about switching to a new diet, especially one like keto, is working out what you’re allowed to eat and what you’re not.
For bread, pizza, and the like, you have the Keto Breads Cookbook to help you bake without worrying about getting kicked out of ketosis.
If you love to sauce up your food, though, you’re probably wondering, “What sauces can I have on keto diet?”
We introduce you to our five of the best sauce-y options for staying in ketosis and recipes for how to make them at home.
Table of Contents
What Sauces Can I Have on Keto Diet?
As you probably already know by now, a low-carb diet involves cutting out a lot more than just potatoes, bread, and pasta.
Sugar is also a carbohydrate, albeit a soluble one, so following the keto diet also means cutting out sugary foods and drinks.
Unfortunately, sugar is found in so many foods these days, including pretty much all processed foods and the nation’s number one sauce, ketchup.
But fear not since there are still loads of options out there for you when it comes to saucing up all your favorite foods.
Our Top Five Keto-Friendly Sauces
Our keto-friendly sauce list does include one reduced sugar option, but don’t let that put you off.
Oftentimes, the sugars added to foods are completely unnecessary, which is proven when you find reduced sugar options that are just as tasty.
We’ve included simple recipes with each sauce to help you stay in ketosis without checking every single label in the supermarket.
1. Reduced Sugar Ketchup
As expected, our number one keto-friendly sauce is reduced sugar ketchup.
Ok, so you certainly won’t be dipping fries in it, but ketchup goes so well with so many foods, from eggs and bacon to sausages and burgers.
And yes, keto-friendly burger buns do exist!
You may be surprised at just how many low sugar ketchup options there are on the market these days.
It’s one of the trickier ones to make, purely because it has the most ingredients.
If you don’t want to make your own ketchup and are trying to decide which one to buy, be sure to look for a brand that offers less than one gram of carbs per serving.
The Recipe
A tasty, classic sauce that most people just can’t live without and with this recipe, you don’t have to.
Our keto ketchup has just one gram of net carbs per serving.
Ingredients
Here are the items you need to prepare for your keto-friendly ketchup:
- 1 cup tomato puree
- ½ cup of water
- ¼ cup vinegar (we like apple cider vinegar best)
- ¼ cup powdered erythritol
- ¾ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp paprika
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- ⅛ tsp ground allspice (optional)
- ⅛ tsp mustard powder (optional)
Method
- Add all of the ingredients to a small saucepan, stir and simmer for five minutes, adding more water until you have the consistency you desire.
- Add more powdered sweetener or salt, depending on your taste.
- Cool the mixture and store for up to one month in the fridge, in a sealed container.
Top Tips to Achieve Better Results
If you blend this sauce on high speed for at least 30 seconds, it will achieve a similar consistency to store-bought ketchup.
You can also substitute the onion and garlic powders with the real deal by cooking them in a small amount of oil before adding the rest of the ingredients. If you do substitute, you must also blend.
2. Hollandaise Sauce
For starters, it’s not as famous or popular as some other sauces out there, but we picked this one next because it works well with veggies.
Hollandaise is a rich and creamy sauce that works really well on most things actually.
Imagine a nice fillet of salmon accompanied with a big pile of your favorite keto-friendly veggies, smothered in hollandaise sauce.
It’s also great at breakfast with eggs, spinach and keto-friendly muffins.
The Recipe
This recipe for hollandaise sauce is also just one gram of net carbs per serving.
Ingredients
You can make hollandaise sauce yourself with just three ingredients:
- 10oz butter
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- Salt and pepper to taste)
Method
- Once you’ve separated your eggs, whisk them up and melt the butter in a jug or another container you have that is good for pouring.
- The trick to making a good hollandaise sauce is all in the slow pour. Thus, pour the melted butter, ever so slowly, into the egg yolks while continuously whisking.
- If you’ve done it right, the mixture will emulsify into a beautifully rich and creamy sauce.
- Add the lemon juice and then some salt and pepper to taste.
Bonus Tip on How to Maximize the Unused Egg White
You can keep your egg whites in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two days, or in the freezer for up to three months.
You can also smear fresh egg white on your face as a great skin-firming face mask or save them up in the freezer to make a meringue for the kids.
3. Buffalo Hot Sauce
Tabasco, hot buffalo, sriracha, you can take your pick out of the many hot sauces out there with the green light on keto.
Most of these sauces have zero carbs so you can carry on putting them on literally everything you eat.
We think hot sauce pairs well with just about any type of meat and we’re also big fans of hot buffalo cauliflower bites.
Just batter and fry up small bite-size pieces of cauliflower and toss them in our favorite buffalo sauce.
The Recipe
You can turn just about any hot sauce into a buffalo sauce with just two or three extra ingredients.
Ingredients
For this recipe, you need to prepare the following:
- 1 cup of your favorite, traditional hot sauce
- ¾ cup butter
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder (optional)
Method
- Melt the butter over low heat on the stove or on the lowest setting in the microwave.
- Add your favorite hot sauce, garlic powder (and onion powder if you’re using it), and whisk it all together.
Tip on How to Get the Perfect Spiciness
For a hotter sauce, just add some cayenne pepper. This sauce is so simple to make, so it’s really easy to make adjustments based on your personal tastes.
Thus, start with smaller amounts and work your way up.
4. Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise is another absolutely classic sauce that many people would struggle to live without.
Smother it on fish, burgers, or salads, or pair it with some keto-friendly bread to make yourself a top-notch deli sandwich.
It is also another simple sauce to make at home, but if you are buying it in store, make sure you check the labels first.
Always go for the full-fat version since it’s less likely to have added sugar.
If you want a healthier option, look for mayo made with olive oil or avocado oil for more monounsaturated fats.
The Recipe
Our keto mayo recipe has close to zero carbs in it, so smother it on everything to your heart’s content.
Ingredients
For this simple keto-friendly mayo recipe, you would need:
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp mustard
- 1 cup light-tasting olive oil (or avocado oil)
- 1 lemon (juice of)
- ¼ tbsn salt
Method
- Whisk the egg yolk and mustard together and keep whisking while slowly (really slowly!) adding the cup of oil.
- Mix in the lemon juice and salt and that’s it, homemade mayonnaise!
If you prefer, you can also make this in the blender to save yourself some tough whisking work.
Either way, you need to add the oil extremely slowly in order for it to emulsify properly.
Tip on How to Make the Most of the Mayo
One of the best things about mayonnaise is that you add all sorts of different flavors to it to suit the dish you’re preparing or enjoy it as a dip.
Our keto-friendly favorites include chives, horseradish, mustard, sriracha sauce, paprika, cumin, and fresh herbs.
Garlic and onion powder are great too, but keep an eye on the amounts you use since they contain some carbs.
5. Sour Cream
We picked sour cream because it’s versatile and, like most of America, we really like Mexican food.
Sour cream is good with spiced meats, eggs, and veggies, plus it works really well in soup.
If you’re craving a Mexican dish, then we highly recommend sizzling steak or chicken fajitas.
Tasty, spicy meat, and peppers topped with sour cream, salsa, and guacamole.
Just remember to go easy on the onions or eliminate them to make the dish even more keto-friendly.
Also, swap the tortillas out for home-made keto pita breads or lettuce leaves so that you have something to wrap it all up in.
The Recipe
This keto-friendly recipe has less than half a gram of carbs per serving.
Ingredients
If you’ve forgotten to pick up sour cream at the store, learn how to make it at home with just three ingredients!
- 1 cup heavy or whipped cream
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 tsp lemon juice
Method
- Mix all three ingredients together and stir well.
- Cover the jar and let it stand and set at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Stir the mixture again before serving.
This sour cream will last for around two weeks in a sealed container in the fridge, so you might want to make larger batches of it.
Other Ways to Prepare
If you don’t have any lemon juice on hand either, you can substitute it for white vinegar.
Like mayonnaise, you can also add tons of different flavors to sour cream for your dipping platter pleasure.
Keto Breads
As you can see, most of the keto-friendly sauces we’ve shared above aren’t just great for vegetables and meats.
You can also use them to add flavor to your sandwiches or simply spread them on loaves of bread.
The Keto Breads is a collection of recipes not just for people following a keto diet plan, but also for those who have specific dietary needs.
The author, Kelly Herring, dedicated ten years to formulate a recipe for healthy bread.
Thus, you’re assured that you’ll be making and eating authentic bread without worrying about your weight loss diet plans, blood sugar level, and overall health.
Plus, it comes with a 60-month money-back guarantee!
Interested in learning more about the Keto Breads cookbook? Check out our full review here.
Keto Sauce Success
One of the easiest ways of making sure that your sauce is keto-friendly is to make it yourself.
All the recipes above have less than one gram of carbs per serving, so you’ll never be wondering what sauces can I have on keto diet again.
Mayonnaise and sour cream are particularly versatile since you can mix them with other low-carb ingredients to create different flavors.
You can also use the suggested sauces above to pair with low-carb bread, pizza crust, and more that you prepared using the recipes from Keto Breads.
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