Pozole can be a tasty dish that combines a variety of ingredients that are considered to be healthy. Find out if it is also keto-friendly.
This dish is a stew that typically combines ingredients like pork, spices, hominy, salt, and potentially lettuce, chile peppers, garlic, onion, etc. depending on what recipe you use.
Something important to note is that your exact recipe will influence a lot how keto-friendly pozole is. More specifically, the amount of hominy you use.
One example pozole recipe contains around 4.7 grams of net carbs per 100 grams.
The other foods in your diet, your body, and your other lifestyle habits still play big roles. However, you can consider pozole to be somewhat keto-friendly. Especially if you keep the amount of hominy in it low.
Another option is replacing the hominy with more keto-friendly substitutes.
How many carbs are there in pozole?
As mentioned, your exact choice of pozole recipe will influence the amount of carbs in it.
In one example, 100 grams of pozole contain the following amounts of carbs (1):
- Total carbs: 5.1 grams
- Of which fiber: 0.4 grams
- Net carbs: 4.7 grams
It ultimately depends on things like your portion size and the rest of your diet but it is often possible to fit this amount of carbs in a ketogenic diet.
The example pozole recipe uses about 13 grams of hominy per 100 grams. This is often the ingredient highest in carbs.
One cup of the example pozole is about 238 grams and contains the following amounts of carbs:
- Total carbs: 12.2 grams
- Of which fiber: 1 gram
- Net carbs: 11.2 grams
Since this amount of pozole is bigger, it will obviously be more challenging to fit into a ketogenic diet.
Can you eat pozole on keto?
To better understand why some people can eat pozole on keto in some cases but not in others, it can be helpful to quickly go over the fundamentals of this popular diet.
Following a ketogenic diet means reducing your carbohydrate intake enough. Up to a point where you mainly start using fat as fuel (2).
Exactly how many carbohydrates and grams of other nutrients someone needs to eat to get to this point varies from person to person.
As an example, people with a lot of muscle who exercise a lot tend to be able to eat more carbohydrates before getting kicked out of ketosis.
Some rough general macronutrient ratio guidelines include getting 55%-60% of your macronutrients from fat, 30%-35% from protein, and 5%-10% from carbohydrates.
This typically comes down to eating around 20g – 50g of carbohydrates per day.
These grams of carbohydrates do not include fiber. This nutrient does not get processed and absorbed the same way as other carbohydrates. It can even make some of the other foods you eat “more keto-friendly”.
So you can eat a certain portion of pozole of keto if the amount of carbohydrates in it does not kick you out of ketosis.
Whether this will be the case depends on details like the rest of your diet, your body, and your lifestyle habits.
Is pozole without hominy keto-friendly?
Because hominy tends to be the ingredient that is the highest in carbs, pozole without it tends to be more keto-friendly.
At the same time, the keto fundamentals still apply.
Any food that contains carbohydrates, even if it is just a little, can kick you out of ketosis in combination with certain others foods.
There are other potential pozole ingredients that contain a decent amount of carbs too.
Keto hominy substitutes
Hominy is a type of processed corn. People familiar with the ketogenic diet will know it is typically better to stay away from these types of foods on low-carb diets.
While the hominy substitutes below will definitely not have the same texture and taste effect, you could still consider using them in pozole instead.
- Cauliflower
- Radishes
- Turnip
- Celery
Keep in mind that the same keto rules still apply. It is possible to overdo it with the food examples above too.
Other pozole nutrition facts
The amounts of carbohydrates in foods are definitely one of the most important nutrition facts on a ketogenic diet. At the same time, the other nutrients in pozole still matter too.
100 grams of the example pozole contain the following nutrients (2):
- Calories: 90
- Protein: 7.5 grams
- Carbs: 5.1 grams
- Part of the carbs that is fiber: 0.4 grams
- Fat: 4.1 grams
- Niacin: 12% of the DV (Daily Value)
- Selenium: 12% of the DV
- Sodium: 10% of the DV
- Riboflavin: 8% of the DV
- Thiamin: 8% of the DV
And some other vitamins and minerals in smaller amounts.
The amounts of vitamins and minerals are nice but there are also foods with more of these nutrients. Eating pozole on keto is not a must (but can still be acceptable).
Is pozole still considered healthy when it is not keto?
In combination with some diets and lifestyle habits, even a small amount of pozole could kick you out of ketosis. Depending on your goals with keto, this could be bad or not enough to matter.
Some people really want/need to stay in strict ketosis every hour of the day. These individuals definitely want to be careful about their carbohydrate intake.
On the flip side, even if it kicks you out of ketosis, pozole can still help you lose weight and is generally considered to be healthy if you use whole-food ingredients.
One thing to note is that pozole can sometimes contain a good amount of salt. Sodium is an essential nutrient but at the same time, there is also a way to overdo it.
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