To stay in ketosis you need to keep your carb intake low enough. Find out whether eggplant is keto-friendly and what other options you have.
Raw eggplant, also known as aubergine, contains around 2.9 grams of net carbohydrates (total carbs minus fiber) per 100 grams.
Since this is relatively low, you can say that eggplant is typically keto-friendly.
You can eat it on its own, as a side dish, or as a part of a wide variety of recipes including keto lasagna.
One thing to keep in mind is that even small amounts of carbs are sometimes not keto-friendly in combination with certain diets.
Additionally, eggplant is not completely unique in this low number of carbs. If you don’t like its taste or nutrients, there are a variety of similar keto-friendly options too.
How many carbs there are in eggplant
The number of carbs in eggplant is important for knowing whether this food is keto-friendly in your situation and in what amounts.
100 grams of raw eggplant contain the following amounts of carbs (1):
- Total carbs: 5.9 grams
- Of which fiber: 3 grams
- Net carbs: 2.9 grams
Because 2.9 grams of net carbs per 100 grams of raw eggplant is relatively low, it is fair to say that it is generally keto-friendly.
You do still want to keep in mind that even 2.9 grams of net carbohydrates are sometimes enough to kick you out of ketosis.
One cup of raw eggplant is about 80 grams, and contains the following amounts of carbs:
- Total carbs: 4.7 grams
- Of which fiber: 2.4 grams
- Net carbs: 2.3 grams
Smaller portions of eggplant will also contain fewer grams of carbohydrates. In turn, this makes it easier to stay in ketosis while implementing eggplant into your diet.
Other nutrition information eggplant
How many carbohydrates there are in eggplant is definitely important but there are other nutrients that matter too.
The fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals in eggplant will also play a role in whether you stay in ketosis and more importantly, how good this food will be for your general health.
100 grams of raw eggplant contain the following nutrients (1):
- Calories: 25
- Protein: 1 gram
- Carbs: 5.9 grams
- Part of the carbs that is fiber: 3 grams
- Fat: 0.2 grams
- Potassium: 7% of the DV (Daily Value)
- Folate: 6% of the DV
- Vitamin C: 4% of the DV
- Vitamin K: 4% of the DV
- Vitamin B6: 4% of the DV
And some other vitamins and minerals in smaller amounts.
The extra nutrients in eggplant are welcome but besides in terms of fiber, it is not too impressive in this area.
So while eggplant can still be a keto-friendly addition to your diet, you likely also want to make sure you consume enough other nutritious foods to have a healthy ketogenic diet.
Why you can not always eat eggplant on keto
It is important to know that even keto-friendly foods like eggplant can sometimes kick you out of ketosis. To understand why this is and to avoid it, quickly going over the keto basics can be helpful.
Ketogenic diets are ways of eating where you keep your carbohydrate intake low enough to get into ketosis. Ketosis is a state where you mainly burn fat as fuel (2).
Exactly how low your carbohydrate intake needs to be to get into this state depends on details like your body weight, muscle mass, genes, and workout habits.
This fact of ketogenic diets makes things more challenging. However, there are still imperfect general guidelines that help you get an idea of how many grams of eggplant and other foods would fit in your keto diet.
A typical recommendation is consuming 55%-60% of your calories in fat, 30%-35% in protein, and 5%-10% in carbohydrates.
If you apply these ratios to your diet, you will likely find out you can consume around 20g – 50g of carbohydrates (not including fiber) a day.
With these numbers, you can make a rough prediction about how many grams of eggplants you can eat in combination with the rest of your diet before getting kicked out of ketosis.
Is fried eggplant keto-friendly?
Eggplant is a versatile plant when it comes to cooking methods. A popular way to consume more of it is fried.
This involves coating the eggplant with breadcrumbs or batter and frying it. If you are more familiar with ketogenic diets, you can already predict this will be a lot higher in carbohydrates.
More specifically, one example recipe of fried eggplant contains the following amounts of carbs per 100 grams (3):
- Total carbs: 22.3 grams
- Of which fiber: 2 grams
- Net carbs: 20.3 grams
With these amounts of carbs, it is fair to say that fried eggplant is typically not keto-friendly.
At the same time, it is worth noting that recipes can vary. If you use keto-friendly bread as coating the number of carbohydrates in fried eggplant will go down a good amount.
Substitutes for eggplant on keto
Eggplant is actually a fruit but in the kitchen, it is used similarly to vegetables. Because of this, it is fair to turn to low-carb vegetables for substitutes.
These substitutes are even lower in carbs than eggplant which makes it easier to stay in ketosis. You may also prefer them in taste, texture, or nutrients anyway.
The numbers next to these vegetables are the amounts of net carbohydrates per 100 grams (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9):
- Chicory: 0.9 grams of net carbs
- Spinach: 1.4 grams of net carbs
- Green leaf lettuce: 1.5 grams of net carbs
- Celery: 1.8 grams of net carbs
- Radishes: 1.9 grams of net carbs
- Asparagus: 2.1 grams of net carbs
While it will be easier to stay in ketosis with these eggplant substitutes, they still contain some carbs. You want to remember this when putting together your ketogenic diet plan.
Why do you want to stay in ketosis?
Eggplant is generally keto-friendly but there are situations where its small amount of carbohydrates can be too much to keep your diet ketogenic.
How much of an issue this is depends on why you want to stay in ketosis.
You may need/want to stay in strict ketosis every minute of the day. In a situation like that, you can likely still consider eggplant but you want to be careful about the rest of your diet.
On the flip side, if you just want to lose weight and get healthier, eggplant can be good. Even if it kicks you out of ketosis.
A ketogenic diet can be helpful for losing weight and getting healthier but it is typically not the only way to achieve these things.
- Total carbs: 5.9 grams
- Of which fiber: 3 grams
- Net carbs: 2.9 grams
FAQ
Are eggplants high in carbs?
100 grams of eggplant contain around 5.9 grams of carbohydrates (including 3 grams of fiber). In turn, you can say that eggplants are not that high in carbs.
How many net carbs are in an eggplant?
One whole eggplant is around 500 grams and contains about 14.4 grams of net carbs.
