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The Ultimate Keto Shopping List

Creating a well-formulated keto shopping list is a key to jump-starting and sustaining your keto lifestyle. With the exploding popularity of keto, there are many different perspectives on the optimal keto grocery list. There are also a ton of processed packaged foods labeled “keto” and “keto-friendly” that are best avoided due to plant toxins, industrial oils, and artificial sweeteners. 

In light of these concerns, we’ve created our shopping list as a compass to guide you towards the foods that are most nourishing for your body while helping you avoid other so-called keto-friendly foods that aren’t actually as friendly as many believe. 

We based our list on the most nutrient-dense and healthiest foods on earth. 

How to Create The Best Keto Shopping List? 

When considering what goes on your keto grocery list, you first have to consider what kind of ketogenic diet you’re shopping for. 

There are numerous variations of the keto diet. Popular types of keto include: 

• The Carnivore Diet Allows for only animal meats, eggs, and dairy. This version of keto is most closely aligned with the eating patterns humans evolved with. It is also the approach recommended by Dr. Kiltz as part of his three pillars of health and wellness. 
• Paleo Keto: Based on fresh meats, paleo keto allows for some fruits and veggies while eliminating dairy, grains, and legumes. 
• Pescatarian Keto: Based around fatty fish and seafood, while allowing for dairy, some low-carb fruits and veggies. 
• Mediterranean Keto: Based around Mediterranean staples like olive oil, fish, lamb, red wine, fresh cheese, yogurt, and low-carb veggies.
• Standard Keto: Entails choosing foods, mostly animal-based with some low carb fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds, that contribute to keto macro percentages that call for 70-80% calories from fat, 15-30% from protein, and 0-10% from carbs. 
• Lazy keto: if you don’t track macros but avoid nearly all carbs, you could call your diet “lazy” keto. You still aim for a grocery list of whole foods like keto meats, eggs, full-fat dairy, and some low-carb veggies for those not practicing a carnivore diet. 
• Vegetarian Keto: High in eggs and dairy fats, supplemented with low-carb veggies. 
• Vegan Keto: Not recommended since its nearly impossible to get enough nutrients from any version of a vegan diet. High in fats and proteins from nuts, avocado, coconut, and olives. Supplemented with low-carb fruits and veggies. 

Carnivore Keto Shopping List

The carnivore keto diet is inspired by research revealing that for most of the 2 million years of human evolution, our caveman ancestors ate mostly meat [3].

Recent research from Harvard suggests that “Contrary to common expectations, adults consuming a carnivore diet experienced few adverse effects and instead reported health benefits and high satisfaction” [4].

The many benefits of a carnivore keto diet can be attributed to:

• Avoiding processed foods loaded with sugars and irritating additives
• Removing legumes, grains, starches, and vegetables that expose you to lectins, phytohormones, phytoalexins, oxalate, glycoalkaloids, and other harmful plant defense mechanisms
• Reducing excess fiber that ferments in the gut causes excess heat, inflammation, constipation, diverticulitis, and IBS 
• Reducing inflammatory polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) found in seed oils
• Consuming more monounsaturated and saturated fats from animal foods 
• Exclusively consuming the healthiest food in the world, including fatty cuts of steak,  nutrient-dense superfoods like beef liver, salmon roe, and organ meats

These links will help you dive deeper into carnivore diet meal plans and a complete carnivore diet food list

It’s important to note that fatty ruminant meats like ribeye steak are the foundation of carnivore keto. A carnivore keto shopping list could essentially consist of only ribeye, salt, and water, which is all you actually need to thrive. In fact, there’s a paired-down carnivore diet called the lion diet that follows these guidelines. 

Worried about vitamin C, don’t be–click here to learn how fresh meat provides more than adequate vitamin C intake. 

Dr. Kiltz’s own BEBBIS Plan expands slightly on the carnivore diet. It allows for significant wiggle room/cheat days with french fries fried in duck fat (tallow or lard) dipped in homemade blue cheese butter, mayo, or sour cream. There’s even Dr. Kiltz’s Keto Ice Cream for dessert. For many people, these additions make the diet more enjoyable and therefore sustainable. 

Ruminant Meats are the Key to Your Keto Shopping List

Ruminant meats provide an abundance of healthy fats, complete proteins and are loaded with essential B vitamins, zinc, selenium, and numerous nutrients found only in meat: 

• Carnitine: improves male fertility, reduces anemia, supports mitochondrial function, and cardiac ischemia  [1]  [2] [3] [4]
• Carnosine: Heart and muscle protective. Prevents glycation, protects against telomere damage to prevent aging [6][7][8][9] 
• Creatine: Associated with improved cognition and protection against Alzheimer’s.Boost athletic performance and heart health.[10] [11]  [12] [13]
• Taurine: Antioxidant that reduces glycation and oxidative stress and may reduce depression.
• Zinc: The zinc found in beef is 400% more bioavailable than you get in grains. Improves sperm count and mobility in men while supporting a healthy immune system [14] [15] 
• Heme Iron: Found only in beef and other red meats, vital to healthy immune function, cognition, and energy metabolism [16]

Put Grass-fed and Pasture Raised Meats on Your Grocery List

Though conventional ruminant meats provide a solid and affordable foundation for most keto dieters, grass-fed and pastured steak on keto offer significantly higher levels of Vitamin A and Vitamin E. Together, these nutrients are critical to energy production and combating lipid peroxidation. 

Go a step further and extend the benefits of eating meat to the environment by choosing regeneratively farmed meat that actually sequesters carbon. 

Add an Organ Meat Supplement

High-quality beef organ meat supplements from desiccated grass-fed organs can provide an incredible abundance of bioavailable nutrients that you get on a nose-to-tail diet. Supplements also save your the hassle of sourcing and cooking fresh organ meats. 

Choose the Fattiest Cuts of Beef 

Since keto is a low-carb, high-fat, moderate-protein diet, it’s helpful to add the fattiest cuts of steak to your grocery list. 

This list ranks some popular cuts of steak based on their fat to protein ratio. Remember that you can always add a couple of tablespoons of healthy keto fats to any meat to boost your fat intake. 

Nutrition Info per 4 oz. 

Standard Keto Shopping List

A standard keto shopping list includes all of the meats, seafood, and dairy as a keto carnivore grocery list, with the addition of low-carb fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds. 

As noted above, these additions can be detrimental due to the presence of plant toxins, antinutrients, PUFAs, and excess fiber. So even though they make the shopping list, if you choose to consume then, do so in moderation. 

Healthy Fats on a Standard Keto Shopping List

Keto calls for at least 70% of your calories from fat. For many people coming from a low-fat paradigm, this can feel like a challenge. 

Most people need to augment their meals with healthy keto fats. 

8 of the healthiest fats on your keto shopping list are: 

1. Tallow
2. Lard
3. Coconut Oil
4. Ghee
5. Butter
6. Creme Fraiche
7. Avocado Oil
8. Olive Oil

Tallow

Tallow flies under the radar of most keto shoppers. It contains anti-inflammatory conjugated linoleic acid and provides vitamins A, D, E, K, and B1.

Ghee

Ghee–a clarified butter–provides vitamins K, A, and E. One of the major benefits of ghee is that it is lactose-and casein-free for people with allergies, and it has a very high smoke point when used for cooking. 

A warning about avocado oil

A recent study testing 22 brands of domestic and imported olive oil found that 82% were adulterated and rancid.  Some brands were 100% soybean oil! Another reason why it’s best to stick with whole animal fats–vegetable oils are highly processed industrial products subject to various ethical problems [1].

If you’re still deprogramming yourself from the cult of low-fat dieting, numerous recent high-quality studies are confirming the health benefits of fat: 

• Eating more fat and fewer carbs reduces the risk of heart disease.[17] [18]
• Saturated fat in whole foods is essential and does not contribute to heart disease [19]
• Cholesterol in food does not raise cholesterol in your blood [20] 
• Fiber is unnecessary, and high-fiber diets can be harmful [21] [22] [23]

Low Carb Fruits and Veggies on Keto Shopping List

Nuts and Seeds on Your Grocery List

Keto nuts and seeds are high in fat, protein, vitamins, and some minerals, but they have their drawbacks. 

They are very high in abrasive fiber, can expose you to high concentrations of antinutrients, and are very high in inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. 

Humans evolved on an Omega-6 to 3 ratio around 1:1. When eating a standard American diet, loaded with seed and vegetable oils, the ratio is closer to 1:16. This imbalance of omega-6’s can contribute to chronic inflammation, cancer, and heart disease. 

Condiments and Sauces

Most store-bought and restaurant condiments and sauces are loaded with inflammatory vegetable oils and sugars. 

However, it is possible to find or make keto options for many of the most popular condiments, including:

• Keto mayonnaise
• Keto ketchup
• Keto BBQ sauce
• Keto Ranch Dressing
• Keto Aioli
• Keto Mustard
• Coconut Aminos (as soy sauce substitute)

Check out our guide to recipes and store-bought keto sauces and condiments here. 

The Ultimate Keto Shopping List: The Takeaway

A keto shopping list calls for high-fat, low-carb, and moderate-protein foods.

At the top of an ultimate keto grocery list are ruminant meats from cows, bison, and lamb. Support these keto all-stars with, whole-food animal fats, pork, fatty fish, and seafood. Many keto dieters stop there, while others add in moderate amounts of nuts, seeds, low-carb veggies, and fruits.