With chickpeas a popular legume used in dips, curries and Mediterranean style salads, you may be curious to understand whether you’re still able to consume them as part of a balanced keto diet.
Are chickpeas keto? Chickpeas are carb dense making them difficult to include in your keto diet. In terms of carbs, they have 13-14g of carbs and 5-6g of fiber per half cup or 100g serving. This equates to 8 grams of net carbs (total carbs less fiber) and accounts for close to a third of the typical 25-30g net carb guidelines for a keto diet.
To use chickpeas as part of your keto diet, will cost you a significant amount of your daily carb allotment for not much food volume, making them a less desirable option. Having said that, if you are low in your overall daily carb intake and you have the ability to include more carb, chickpeas may be a nutritious option for you to consider.
How Many Carbs Do Chickpeas Have?
More often than not, chickpeas are purchased in a can and then drained. For every 100g of drained, canned chickpeas you can expect the average nutritional composition to include 113 calories, 13-14g of carbs, 6 g of fiber, 2g of fat and 6-7 grams of protein.
Keto diets require you to keep your net carbs around 25-30g per day. To get the net carbs, you subtract the fiber from the total carbs. So for 100g of drained, canned chickpeas the net carbs would be roughly 8g. For visual context, 100g of chickpeas equates to half a cup or half a cupped hand, which is not much food.
When using raw chickpeas as opposed to cooked chickpeas, the nutritional composition changes. This is just like the nutritional values of raw meat or chicken being different from cooked meat or chicken. For chickpeas, a 100g raw serving is approximately 63g of carbs and 12g of fiber, putting the net carbs around 51g and well over any keto daily carb limits.
Generally speaking, chickpeas are high in carb so, if you are going to use them, carefully consider how to incorporate in them as part of your keto diet.
How To Eat Chickpeas On The Keto Diet
With chickpeas being high in carb, they have the ability to compromise your daily carb limits, so how you use them is critical to ensure the success of your keto diet. Key considerations include:
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Whether you are using raw or cooked chickpeas
Raw and canned chickpeas have different carb values, so if you’re going to eat chickpeas, be mindful of whether you’re eating them canned or dry and best use them sparing and within your carb limits. Failing to do so will result in your carbs quickly adding and when consumed in excess impact your ability to achieve a state of ketosis, which is where you body is relying on fat as a source of energy instead of carbs.
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The amount of chickpeas you are using in a serving
Half a handful of chickpeas amounts to 8g of net carbs, and when considering a daily net carb limit of 25-30g, using chickpeas will quickly eat into you daily carb allocation. Keep your use of chickpeas to smaller amount of 50-75g or less so you’re able to easily manage the carb intake in the context of your full day.
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Other sources of carbs that make up your daily limit.
Where your daily nutritional intake is light on carbs, using a modest amount of chickpeas may be an efficient way to consume a nutritious carb sources without eating into your daily carb totals. Similarly if you are wanting to have a half a cup to a cup of chickpeas as a part of a meal, you’re able to do so providing you limit your carb intake to below 10g of net carbs for the day.
Keto Recipes With Chickpeas
Where you are looking to utilize more chickpeas as part of your keto diet, here are some keto friendly chickpea recipes for you try:
- These roasted harissa chickpeas by Farm to Jar, a good way to satisfy cravings providing you with great texture and crunch.
- This eggplant and spicy chickpea salad, it feels hearty, without being too carb dense, its a great compliment to most proteins and has a customizable flavor profile.
Other Healthy Benefits of Chickpeas If You’re On Keto
As well as being able to elevate some your meals and provide you with a modest hit of carbs, there are also other benefits to including chickpeas in your diet while on keto. These include:
- A high fiber content to promote good digestion;
- Provide you with a excellent source of iron; and
- Give your body essential nutrients to help bone health.
There are benefits to having chickpeas in your keto diet, but it is not always going to be possible, because of they quickly eat away at your carb totals for the day.
Keto Alternatives For Chickpeas
When considering whether or not to incorporate chickpeas into your keto, it will ultimately come down how many grams of carbs you have available to eat. With chickpeas being more carb dense they aren’t always going to be a great option while trying to maintain a low carb intake. So some alternatives to consider instead of chickpeas are:
- Green beans. These contain only 7 grams of carbs with 2.7 grams of fiber per cup of chopped, which is about 4.3 net carbs per cup.
- Edamame beans: These contain 15 gram of carbs with 8 grams of fiber per cup, which equates to 7.3 net carbs per cup.
- Black soy beans: One cup of black soybeans contain 16 grams of carbs with 14 grams of fiber. That results in 2 grams of net carbs per cup, making this a standout alternative to the chickpea. The black soy bean also contains 6 grams of fat and 11 grams of protein. So on macros also, this options aligns well with dietary macro splits on the keto diet as it is more fats and protein than net carbs.
What About Hummus On Keto?
When I think about chickpeas, hummus is what first comes to mind. I absolutely love hummus. However, it does contain more carbs than I would typically recommend for keto dieting. On average hummus seems to contains about 3 net carbs per 2 Tbsp. That is not by any means low when considering we are only talking about a few tablespoons.
That said, as long as you keep your carbs in check you can obviously eat a small amount of hummus on a keto diet. Though I do love hummus I would say that for me it is simply not worth the carbs. Thankfully, however, there are plenty of great keto hummus recipes online that you can find.
Typically these keto hummus recipes call for keto-friendly ingredients like macadamia nuts and avocados instead of chickpeas. That said, I would recommend making your own hummus if you want to keep it as keto-friendly as possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is hummus keto?
Hummus can be part of your keto diet, but it will be high in carbs, so having it in large quantities won’t always align with your keto guidelines and goals. You could incorporate it in small amounts, of 1-2 tablespoons, which will help you manage your carb levels better.
Is chickpea pasta keto?
While chickpea pasta has less carbs that standard wheat pasta, it still isn’t ideal for a keto diet. Chickpea pasta is 60% carbs making it difficult to incorporate because even a small serve will account for a large majority of your daily carb intake, leaving not too much wiggle room for other options over the course of a day.
Are black chickpeas keto?
Black chickpeas have 47g of carbs and 13.6g of fiber per 100g raw weight compared to regular chickpeas which have 63g of carbs and 12 grams of fiber per 100g of raw weight, making the net carbs still quite high in both and therefore difficult to incorporate in a keto diet.
Are roasted chickpeas keto?
Roasted chickpeas should be treated similar to regular chickpeas out of a can with the primary difference being the oil and seasoning added to roast the. They still have a high carb content of 8 gram so net carbs per half a cup, which will make them difficult to incorporate into a keto diet.
Final Thoughts
Chickpeas have the potential to dramatically increase your overall daily carb intake and require careful consideration if you want to make them to be a regular addition to your keto diet. With that said you could fit a small amount into your diet providing you’re aware of how this plays into your daily carb totals.
If you’d like to learn more about the keto diet check out my keto diet guide where I go over the top tips you need to know in order to start your keto journey.