Legumes are often not good for keto diets but there are exceptions. Find out whether black-eyed peas are keto-friendly and other options.
100 grams of boiled black-eyed peas contain around 14.3 grams of net carbohydrates which means total carbs minus fiber.
This amount of carbohydrates in combination with reasonable amounts of other foods will often be enough to kick you out of ketosis.
In turn, it is fair to say that black-eyed peas are typically not keto-friendly.
Even if you could eat small amounts while staying in ketosis, it may not be worth using so many of your daily carbs on such a small amount of food.
In any case, you have a few legumes that are slightly more helpful for staying in ketosis than black-eyed peas.
Carbs in black-eyed peas
Knowing how many carbs there are in black-eyed peas is important for figuring out whether they are keto-friendly and in what amounts.
100 grams of boiled black-eyed peas contain the following amounts of carbs (1):
- Total carbs: 20.8 grams
- Of which fiber: 6.5 grams
- Net carbs: 14.3 grams
The 14.3 grams of net carbohydrates in 100 grams of black-eyed peas will often be too much to stay in ketosis.
In turn, you can definitely say that black-eyed peas are generally not keto-friendly.
One cup of boiled black-eyed peas is about 171 grams and contains the following amounts of carbs:
- Total carbs: 35.6 grams
- Of which fiber: 11.1 grams
- Net carbs: 24.5 grams
If you eat bigger portions of black-eyed peas you will also consume more carbohydrates. This would make it even less likely that you stay in ketosis while eating this legume.
On the flip side, you could theoretically take this the other way too, and make your portions of black-eyed peas small enough to be keto-friendly in your situation.
Other nutrition details of black-eyed peas
There are foods that are slightly higher in carbs that are still worth considering on keto due to their high amounts of nutrients.
By looking at the fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals in black-eyed peas you can get an idea about whether this applies to this legume too.
100 grams of boiled black-eyed peas contain the following nutrients (1):
- Calories: 116
- Protein: 7.7 grams
- Carbs: 20.8 grams
- Part of the carbs that is fiber: 6.5 grams
- Fat: 0.5 grams
- Folate: 52% of the DV (Daily Value)
- Manganese: 24% of the DV
- Phosphorus: 16% of the DV
- Iron: 14% of the DV
- Magnesium: 13% of the DV
And some other vitamins and minerals in smaller amounts.
Black-eyed peas do contain a lot of fiber and nice amounts of valuable vitamins and minerals.
There are more nutritious foods that are still low-carb too but you could consider adding very small portions of black-eyed peas to your keto diet.
Why small amounts of black-eyed peas can be keto
As briefly mentioned, being somewhat higher in carbs does not mean you can never eat a food like black-eyed peas on keto. The keto basics can help you understand why this is and how to avoid overdoing it.
The main principle behind ketogenic diets is getting and staying in ketosis. This is a state where you mainly burn fat as fuel (2).
To get into this state, ketogenic diets require you to keep your carbohydrate consumption low enough. Exactly how low this needs to be for you depends on a variety of details like weight, genes, and muscle mass.
Luckily, there are still some general keto recommendations. These are not perfect for everyone but help you estimate how many grams of black-eyed peas are keto in your situation.
A typical recommendation for people who want to stay in ketosis is to get 55%-60% of their macronutrients from fat, 30%-35% from protein, and 5%-10% from carbohydrates.
If you do the calculations, you will likely conclude that you can eat about 20g – 50g of carbohydrates a day.
Even though fiber is a category of carbs, you typically don’t include this nutrient in the amounts above. Your body deals with fiber in more keto-friendly ways.
How to avoid eating too many black-eyed peas on keto
As the guidelines above imply, you will have to keep your portions of black-eyed peas small enough to stay in ketosis.
Preparing a big pot of your favorite black-eyed peas recipe and mindlessly eating it will typically not be a good idea on keto
Instead, you can follow some of the following tips to keep your black-eyed peas portions more keto-friendly:
- Estimate in advance how many grams of black-eyed peas would align with your keto goals
- Weigh out this many black-eyed peas and put the rest somewhere else
- Don’t eat unlimited portions while doing other things
- Choose black-eyed peas recipes with a lot of keto-friendly ingredients
It is possible that your first estimations about how many black-eyed peas you can eat on keto were suboptimal. In that case, you may need to make your portions smaller over time.
Substitutes for black-eyed peas on keto
While most legumes besides soybeans are still not that keto-friendly, there are a few options that are lower in carbs than black-eyed peas.
If you like these other legumes in terms of taste, texture, and nutrients too, you could choose them instead of black-eyed peas for your ketogenic diet.
The numbers next to the substitutes are the amounts of net carbohydrates per 100 grams (3, 4, 5, 6):
- Soybeans: 3.9 grams of net carbs
- Mung beans: 11.6 grams of net carbs
- Lima beans: 13.9 grams of net carbs
- Great northern beans: 14.1 grams of net carbs
As you can expect, it is still easy to overdo it with most of these legumes on ketogenic diets.
You likely still need to implement some of the black-eyed peas portion control tips above.
Why do you want to stay in ketosis?
By now you should understand that black-eyed peas will often kick you out of ketosis. Even if you eat relatively small portions.
Whether this is a problem depends on your reasons for staying in ketosis.
More specifically, there are individuals who need/want to stay in ketosis every minute of the day. If you are in this category, you likely want to stay away from black-eyed peas.
On the other hand, even if they raise your carbohydrate intake too much to stay in ketosis, black-eyed peas can be good for weight loss and health.
A ketogenic diet has its benefits but you should be able to achieve these other goals without it.
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FAQ
- Total carbs: 20.8 grams
- Of which fiber: 6.5 grams
- Net carbs: 14.3 grams
Are black-eyed peas good on a low-carb diet?
100 grams of black-eyed peas contain around 14.3 grams of net carbohydrates. In turn, it is reasonable to say that black-eyed peas are not good on a low-carb diet.
Are black-eyed peas high in carbs?
Boiled black-eyed peas contain around 20.8 grams of carbohydrates (including 6.5 grams of fiber) per 100 grams. While there are worse foods, you can say that black-eyed peas are somewhat higher in carbs.
