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The ultimate Starbucks keto and low carb guide

Finding a low carb or keto option at starbucks is easy. Here are 21 drink options, and a guide on how to order your drinks and food so it meets your macros.

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There’s a starbucks on every corner. It’s probably one of the most convenient places to visit when you want a drink or a snack.

But, if you’re not paying attention to nutrition labels, you might overlook how many Starbucks drinks have high sugar and carb counts.

With the ability to customize just about any drink item, the options are endless.

From a plain hot coffee, to a low carb frappucino, we’ll explore the many customizations you can enjoy at Starbucks.

So, how do you find a low carb drink option at Starbucks that you can enjoy?

Here’s what you’ll learn:

What is low carb at Starbucks
How to find nutrition facts for drinks and foods at Starbucks
Unmodified Starbucks drinks with a low carb count
Tips for ordering a custom low carb drink from Starbucks
Keto and low carb add-ins
Keto and low carb syrups
Food you can enjoy at Starbucks with low carbs
Low carb Starbucks drink order ideas

Drinks and food on a table at starbucks

First a couple of things to address here.

What is low carb at Starbucks?

For the purposes of this blog, I’m including drinks with 10g of total carbohydrates or less.

I’m also looking at the default serving from the Starbucks App.

In most cases, this was a grande drink (16 oz), or two shots of espresso.

When I step outside of my normal Starbucks order (iced coffee, splash of heavy cream, light caramel drizzle, no classic syrup), anything more is a treat.

The American Heart Association reccomends that men should consume no more than 9 teaspoons (36 grams or 150 calories) of added sugar per day.

Woman should consume less than 6 teaspoons (25 grams or 100 calories) per day

All of the drinks listed fall below that guideline.

Additionally, not everything at Starbucks is keto or low-carb. In fact, most things are not and you should really do some digging to create your perfect keto or low carb drink.

Now, let’s jump in!

How to find nutrition facts for Starbucks drinks

Finding the nutrition facts for your Starbucks drinks is easy.

One route is to view nutrition information per drink on the Starbucks Mobile App. Each drink is listed.

Note that the nutrition facts don’t change dynamically with customizations.

This means it’s really important for you to know your base drink, and then the nutrition information for your customizations.

The other way to learn is to check your favorite carb counter apps.

starbucks drink in front of baristas

Unmodified Starbucks drinks with a low carb count

Most of Starbucks teas and plain coffees are going to be your best bet for the lowest carbohydrate count.

The great thing about Starbucks is that you can order your drink custom to fit your macros, you just have to know what you like.

Some unmodified drinks you can start with:

  • Caffe Americano – Grande (2g Carbs)
  • Blonde Roast – Grande (0g Carbs)
  • Dark Roast coffee – Grande (0g Carbs)
  • Pike Place Roast – Grande (0g Carbs)
  • Espresso shots – 2 shots (2g Carbs)
  • Espresso con Panna 2 shots (3g Carbs)
  • Chai Tea Bags (0g Carbs)
  • Earl Gray Black tea (0g Carbs)
  • Rev Up Wellness Brewed Tea (0g Carbs)
  • Emporers Cloud and Mist Green Tea (0g Carbs)
  • Jade Citrus Mint Brewed Tea (0g Carbs)
  • Peach Tranquility Herbal tea (0g Carbs)
  • Cold Brew Coffee (1g Carbs)

You probably noticed I didn’t mention any of the regular drinks like Latte’s, cappuccinos, frappuccinos or specialty drinks.

That’s because those typically take quite a bit of modification to make them low carb. But we’ll get there!

starbucks iced coffee drink on a table

Tips for ordering a custom low carb drink from Starbucks

There are some tips to ensuring that you get the lowest carb count for your drinks:

  • Order with the mobile app. It’s the easiest way to see your choices at a glance, and know all of the choice you have to make a custom low carb drink.
  • A smaller drink size will give you an overall lower carb count.
  • Make sure your drink does NOT have any classic syrup. Classic syrup is pure sugar.
  • Additionally, stay away from raw sugar, honey, or full-sugar syrups and sauces.
  • Use low carb add-ins for a tasty drink!

Keto and low carb add-ins for Starbucks drinks

  • Almond Milk – 8 oz serving (3g sugar). Starbucks says there is no added sugar in their Almond Milk products.
  • Half and Half – 2 tablespoons is roughly 1g of carbohydrates.
  • Heavy cream – 0g carbohydrates for 2 tablespoons (but much higher fat content.

Starbucks also has some spices that may enhance your drink.

  • Nutmeg
  • Cinnamon
  • Sea Salt
  • Pumpkin Spice

And Cold foams can also make your drink delicious! Cold Foams are frothed cold instead of hot by blending nonfat milk until it is smooth, creating layers of creamy texture and flavor without the cream.

  • Cinnamon AlmondMilk Cold Foam
  • Cinnamon Soymilk Cold Foam
  • Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam
  • Dark cocoa Almondmilk Foam
  • Dark Coco Soymilk Foam
  • Regular Cold Foam

These are great for people looking to go dairy-free. Note that these are lightly sweetened, and will add carbs to your carb count.

For reference, a Grande cold brew with cold foam was around 7g of carbohydrates per the Starbucks website.

Keto and low carb syrup flavors at Starbucks

Starbucks currently has two sugar free syrup options in the mobile app:

  • Sugar Free Cinnamon Dulce Syrup
  • Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup

While you can get your own sugar free options at home. those two are your choices at starbucks.

If you’re looking for options you can add to your drink at home, Torani has several sugar free options.

Low carb food you can enjoy

The bacon and gruyere sous vide egg bites came in lowest on the food scale at 9g of carbs for two egg bites.

The others go up to 11g of carbs, which is still low but doesn’t qualify under the 10g or fewer guidelines I set up above.

Starbucks does have protein boxes, but they are all relatively high carb.

Although some do have a high fiber count, they may still be out of your set range.

Low carb Starbucks drink order ideas

We talked about the base coffees and espressos you can get, but what if you want a fun drink? Here are some ideas for that.

As a note, you should check your macros to be sure your nutrition counts are in line with your goals.

You can also order any of these drinks on ice.

Sadly, as of June 2021, Starbucks is discontinuing use of sugar-free cinnamon dolce! There aren’t many good swaps for it that I’ve found, but sugar-free sweetener + a dash of cinnamon is a good replacement.

Starbucks doesn’t currently have sugar-free, unflavored base sweetener, but you’re still in great hands with these drinks!

  • Low carb Chai Tea Latte: Tall Chai with Chai Tea Bags (not chai concentrate). 2 pumps sugar-free , splash of heavy cream. (~4g carbohydrates)
  • Low carb Caramel Macchiato: Tall Americano, Heavy Splash heavy cream, light caramel drizzle. foam. (~5g carbohydrates)
  • Low carb vanilla latte: Almond milk, light splash of heavy cream, 2 pumps of sugar free vanilla, foam on top. (~3g carbohydrates)
  • Pina Colada: Grande pineapple black tea. No classic sugar. Add 2 pumps sugar-free vanilla and a heavy splash of coconut milk. (~3g carbohydrates)
  • Peaches and Cream: Grande peach white tea. No Water m No classic sugar. Add 2 pumps sugar-free vanilla and a heavy splash of heavy cream. (~3g carbohydrates)
  • Pink Drink: Grande passion tea. No water, No cane sugar. Add 2 pumps sugar-free vanilla and a light splash of heavy cream. (~3g carbohydrates)
  • Cinnamon Dolce Iced coffee: Grande Iced coffee, a light splash of heavy cream, light ice, 3 pumps sugar free vanilla + a dash of cinnamon. (~3g carbohydrates) no classic.
  • Caramel Iced Coffee: Grande Iced coffee, a light splash of heavy cream, light ice, and a light drizzle of caramel sauce, No classic (~5g carbohydrates).
  • Keto Pumpkin Spice – Venti iced coffee, 2 pumps sugar-free vanilla, a splash of heavy cream, no classic, one pump pumpkin sauce. add cinnamon.

You can make most of these coffees into a frappuccino by asking them to blend it. Make sure they don’t use frappuccino base or cane sugar.

All in all, Starbucks makes it so easy to customize your drink that nearly everyone can find something they can enjoy that fits into their macro count.

I treat myself to Starbucks once a week. It’s nice to have my coffee made for me, and it takes me hours to drink it.

I love knowing that I can go, order ahead, and create my perfect drink without having to worry about blood sugar spikes, or a high carb count.

I hope this helps you too! See the step by step guide for ordering below!

Let me know what your favorite low carb option is!

low carb at starbucks graphic
About Mila

Hi! I'm Mila.

I’m a board certified health and wellness coach and a nutritionist. I’m earning my Master’s degree in Applied nutrition.

I live with  LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults, a slow-progressing form of autoimmune Type 1 diabetes) I love food, travel, and my kitchen, and teaching you about diabetes self-management.

I’m here to help you live your best life possible diabetes by showing you how to create simple, blood-sugar friendly and delicious meals and tips on diabetes self-care.

Be sure to download my FREE Diabetes Community App Glucose Guide, or reach out for FREE 1:1 diabetes health and habit coaching.

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