When you’re on the keto diet and you’re trying to add more flavor to your meals, you may want to add ranch, so it’s important to know whether or not ranch will hold you back from achieving your desired results.
Is It Okay To Eat Ranch On The Keto Diet? Ranch dressing is okay to include on the keto diet because most brands of ranch dressing have less than 2 grams of carbs per 30-gram serving. The carbs in ranch dressing are low enough that it would be difficult to consume enough of it to kick you out of ketosis.
That said, there are certain brands of ranch dressing that are better than others, so it’s important to know what ingredients to look for when choosing your ranch dressing.
After reading this article you’ll learn:
- If ranch dressing is keto-friendly
- Which brands of ranch are the best for the keto diet
- How to include ranch while on keto
Is Ranch Dressing Keto-Friendly?
Ranch dressing is keto-friendly because it only has 2 grams of carbs per serving, which is low considering most people on the keto diet have a daily carb allotment of 25 grams of net carbs per day to stay in ketosis.
The 2 grams of carbs in ranch dressing do come from sugar, but the sugar won’t affect your progress as long you’re staying within your daily carb allotment (generally 25 grams).
It would be unusual to consume enough ranch dressing that it would put you over your daily carb limit, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible, so it’s still important to be mindful of your serving sizes.
Most brands of ranch will be similar in their carb content per serving (2 tbsp), which you can see here:
- Hidden Valley Ranch: 2g of Net Carbs
- Kraft Classic Ranch: 2g of Net Carbs
- Newman’s Own Ranch: 2g of Net Carbs
Although the amount of carbs is similar across different brands of ranch dressing, certain brands may be better for you based on the ingredients that they contain.
The 3 Best Keto-Friendly Ranch Dressings
Although traditional ranch dressing won’t kick you out of ketosis, it’s still important to choose a ranch dressing that has higher quality ingredients for your overall health. The determining factor of whether a ranch dressing is healthy or not is the quality of the fat source that is used when making a ranch dressing.
Most popular brands of ranch dressing on the market are made with vegetable oils, which have been the cause of confusion for a while now. It was hypothesized that high intakes of vegetable oils caused inflammation in the body, but there is no research at this time that has proven this to be true.
However, there is research that states that unsaturated fats like avocado oil and or olive oil are anti-inflammatory and help to reduce the risk of chronic diseases.
Although there is now evidence suggesting that vegetable oil is bad for you, I still prefer products that I know have incredible health benefits.
With that in mind, here are the top 3 keto-friendly ranch dressings on the market:
1. Sir Kensington’s Avocado Oil Ranch Dressing
The best keto-friendly ranch dressing on the market is Sir Kensington’s Avocado Oil Ranch Dressing because it’s made with avocado oil and has zero grams of carbs per serving (2 tbsp).
It’s important to note that although the label says it has 0 grams of carbs, technically the brand is allowed to put 0 grams on the label as long as it has less than 1 gram of carb per serving. So it would have around 0.1 to 0.9 grams of carbs per serving, but this is still incredibly low.
2. Primal Kitchen Ranch Dressing
Primal Kitchen ranch dressing is my favorite ranch dressing by far because it’s made with avocado oil and it tastes absolutely amazing.
Despite having avocado as a key ingredient, I don’t find that it tastes like avocado at all, so those who don’t like the taste of avocado shouldn’t have an issue with the taste of this ranch dressing.
The Primal Kitchen Ranch has 3g of carbs per 2 tbsp which is one gram higher than the traditional ranch dressings discussed above, but I would gladly consume 1 extra gram of carb for a higher quality product.
3. Walden Farms Ranch Dressing
Another keto-friendly ranch dressing is Walden Farm’s Ranch Dressing which is fat-free and only has 1 gram of net carb per serving (2 tbsp).
This ranch dressing is in third place because it does contain sugar alcohols to replace the sugar but some people find that sugar alcohols bother their digestive system. Where to buy Modafinil online http://curtspharmacy.com/modafinil
The main benefit of this product being fat-free is that you won’t waste as many calories on a condiment so you’ll have more to spread throughout the day. However, a potential downside is that because it doesn’t contain a healthier oil, it’s no longer a source of healthy fat.
How To Eat Ranch On The Keto Diet
Including ranch on the keto diet is one way to make your meals more appealing, which is important when your food options are more limited because you’re trying to reduce your carb intake.
The 3 most popular ways to use ranch on the keto diet are a:
- Dip: Great for dipping keto-friendly vegetables like cucumber, broccoli, and cauliflower.
- Salad Dressing: The fats from a salad dressing can help you better absorb nutrients from vegetables.
- Sauce: For drizzling over any meal for some extra razzle-dazzle.
The Best Keto-Friendly Ranch Recipes
The best keto-friendly recipes that incorporate ranch dressing are:
- Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole (4.4g of net carbs per serving)
- Buffalo Ranch Chicken Dip (2g of net carbs per serving)
- Keto Chipotle Ranch Dressing & Dip (1g of net carbs per serving)
Final Thoughts
Ranch is low enough in carbs that it’s unlikely that you would consume enough of it to kick you out of ketosis and halt your progress; however, most of the top brands of ranch dressing do use pretty low-quality ingredients, so it’s best to shop for one that has a healthier fat source.