Is Keto Friendly Coffee A Good Idea On A Low Carb Diet?

Morning coffee is non-negotiable for most people, even when embarking on a new diet. Still, you may wonder if your keto friendly coffee recipe is helping or hurting your weight loss progress.

The good news is a keto coffee recipe done the right way can actually ramp up fat burning, while also bringing quite a few health benefits along for the ride. Keto dieters rejoice!

But with so many keto coffee drinks to choose from, how do you know if your favorite coffee recipes are keto approved?

Is Coffee Keto Friendly?

Whether you’re looking for your daily caffeine fix, or you simply enjoy the flavor of decaf, plain black coffee is 100% keto friendly.

While black coffee only contains 2.4 calories per cup, the magic of coffee doesn’t come from its low calorie content. Drinking coffee black is a great option for any diet since it’s rich in antioxidants, which can fight cell damage and reduce the risk of certain serious health conditions.

When you skip added sugar, plain coffee can also help keep appetite under control.

What Is Keto Coffee?

In the event your taste buds aren’t trained for black coffee without a creamy texture or added sweeteners, this is where keto friendly coffee drinks come to the rescue.

Keto-friendly options go by different names, and include many keto brands cashing in on this low carb diet trend. But do you need to buy a special kind of coffee, or use keto creamers, to get the benefits of keto coffee?

The answer is no. You can make keto friendly coffee in the comfort of your own home. But this answer may lead to you wondering what keto coffee is made of, and what does keto coffee do for you?

To answer the first question – keto coffee, also known as bulletproof coffee or BPC, is basically regular coffee with healthy fats stirred in. Some of the healthy fat options keto dieters add to keto coffee include:

Grass-Fed Butter
Grass-Fed Ghee
MCT Oil
Coconut Oil
Heavy Cream (AKA, Heavy Whipping Cream)
Coconut Milk or Coconut Cream

Mixing in any of these simple ingredients takes your coffee from antioxidant powerhouse to fat burning superstar.

How Does Keto Coffee Work?

Keto coffee is the best way to increase fat intake on a keto diet, especially if you have trouble eating enough high-fat foods to get into the metabolic state of ketosis. Keto-friendly drinks that are low in carbs, but high in healthy fats, can provide your body with the fuel it needs to switch into fat burning mode.

While far too many weight loss gurus claim you should drastically slash calories to lose weight, cutting calories too low is a great way to destroy your metabolism. That’s coming from a reformed yo-yo dieter of 20 years who finally lost weight for good by eating more food. More specifically, more fat.

Adding a tablespoon or two of healthy fats to your morning cup of coffee comes with several perks beyond a creamy treat on a low-carb diet. Some of the health benefits of keto friendly coffee include:

Reduced Appetite
Increased Fat Loss
Enhanced Brain Function
Improved Mental Focus
Boosted Energy

When Can I Drink Keto Coffee?

While many people use this high fat drink as a way to break their fast, or even as a breakfast replacement, it’s OK to drink keto coffee anytime of day.

The caveat here is to only drink a decaf version once the afternoon hits. Too much caffeine late in the day can wreak havoc on your beauty sleep, which is a weight loss no-no.

You also don’t want to drink keto coffee during your fasting window, since anything with calories or a sweet flavor breaks your fast. Since some keto experts insist it’s OK to drink bulletproof coffee while fasting, we’ll talk more about why this advice is incorrect in a minute.

How to Make Keto Coffee

Whipping up a cup of keto coffee is simple. All you have to do is grab your favorite healthy fat, pour it into hot coffee, and stir.

When adding fats like butter or ghee, allow fats that are solid at room temperature to melt prior to mixing. This is also true for coconut oil if you live in a cold climate where coconut oil is solid. (I previously lived in Chicago where my coconut oil was rock solid most of the year. I was shocked once I moved to Arizona, and found my large container of coconut oil is liquified March – December).

While a spoon works in a pinch, if you want a creamy, frothy drink, then use an immersion blender or milk frother to blend your bulletproof coffee recipe. Place the blender or frother into the coffee once the fat is mostly melted. Then mix until creamy.

How Much Keto Coffee Can I Drink?

Once you get a taste of the creamy goodness that is keto coffee, you may want to indulge in several cups of coffee. While some people need a little extra help when it comes to healthy fats, don’t overdo keto friendly coffee.

If you’ve ever Googled, “Will keto coffee make you fat?” – you’re not alone.

At the top of this blog I mentioned keto coffee helps burn fat – but only if done the right way. Chugging high fat drinks all day, every day certainly isn’t the right way.

While restricting calories to very low levels isn’t the path to long term weight loss, neither is stuffing yourself full of fat – even if it’s the healthy variety. Worse yet, when you drink calories – you don’t feel quite as full as when you take the time to chew actual food. This makes it easy to indulge in one too many keto friendly coffees.

To understand how much keto coffee you can get away with, it’s best to track your macros with a macro app and a food scale. Use macros that are personalized to you to figure out how keto coffee fits into your daily menu when combined with other keto recipes you eat that day.

Also, if you’re not following a strict keto diet, keto friendly coffee can and will make you fat! When you eat too many carbs combined with too much fat, that’s when the additional fat from keto coffee is bad for you.

What About Keto Friendly Coffee Creamer?

One thing to consider when adding creamer to your coffee is the ingredients. Most creamers found at the grocery store are filled with non-keto friendly ingredients, like hydrogenated vegetable oil and soybean oil. Of course, you always want to check the nutrition facts in addition to the ingredients.

Let’s use one of the most popular coffee creamers, Coffee Mate, as an example. Check out the ingredient label and nutrition facts to answer the question: is Coffee Mate keto friendly?

Hopefully you were able to answer that question with a resounding NO after finding corn syrup solids, hydrogenated vegetable oil, and soybean oil listed as the first 3 ingredients. Even though the nutrition label only shows 10 calories and 1 gram of carbohydrate per serving, all of the ingredients listed are a great way to increase inflammation. That’s the very thing you want to avoid on a ketogenic diet.

While it’s best to use heavy cream (or full fat coconut milk if you don’t drink dairy milk) in place of a low carb coffee creamer, you can make your own keto coffee creamer recipe at home if a keto-friendly creamer is a must. Alternatively, some people use unsweetened almond milk or a splash of whole milk in place of store bought coffee creamers.

Is Keto Friendly Coffee Syrup OK?

While many praise the deliciousness of sugar-free syrups in keto coffee recipes, it’s not an addition I recommend. When you look at the label for most sugar-free sweetener syrups, you’ll find a lot of chemicals and other junk that won’t help your weight loss efforts.

Torani, which is a popular brand that comes in several different flavors, uses two artificial sweeteners that aren’t great for a keto diet: Acesulfame Potassium and Sucralose. Not only can these sweeteners keep some dieters out of ketosis, but they’ve also been linked to several long term health side effects.

A better way to add flavor to keto coffee is with more natural keto friendly sweeteners like cocoa powder, cinnamon, or vanilla extract. Small amounts of these add-ins are low in total grams of carbs, while adding extra flavor to your drink.

Can I Drink Keto Coffee While Intermittent Fasting?

If you’ve ever wondered does keto bulletproof coffee break a fast, the answer is yes … even when so many other experts say no.

While a simple recipe with a tablespoon or two of fat won’t raise your blood sugar level as high as a meal, the fact is any amount of food with calories, or even non-caloric food with a sweet taste, leads to an insulin spike. When your insulin spikes, you just broke your fast – even if it’s a smaller spike.

For some people, having a BPC during their “fasting window” is no big deal. Their bodies are able to deal with this small bump. Then they can slip right back into fat burning mode.

For others, this can be a HUGE deal. In fact, there are many people whose fat loss completely stalls because they have a keto coffee for breakfast, and then don’t eat a meal until later in the day.

Keto Friendly Coffee FAQ:

Can keto coffee make you lose weight?

You won’t lose weight by drinking high fat coffee by itself. For some people, adding keto coffee into a properly formulated ketogenic diet can help with improved weight loss.

Can keto coffee make you sick?

If you drink too much fat, especially when your bile is not properly flowing, this can lead to nausea or loose stools. Following a ketogenic diet is not recommended if your digestion needs improvement. Take the free Keto Digestion Course to learn more.

Does keto coffee cause diarrhea?

Adding too much fat into keto coffee can lead to diarrhea, especially if you have impaired bile flow.

Can keto coffee cause constipation?

Since coffee is a stimulant, it’s more likely to lead to a bowel movement (aka, keto coffee can make you poop). However, drinking coffee in large amounts can cause dehydration, which may lead to constipation.

Can I order keto friendly coffee at Starbucks?

My favorite keto friendly Starbucks coffee drink is a cold brew coffee with heavy cream. Be sure to always check the nutrition label for your favorite keto Starbucks drink ahead of time since many of the drinks contain added sugar.

If you order a keto friendly iced coffee from Starbucks, it’s a good idea to ask them to hold the sweetener.

Can keto coffee be decaf?

While there are some benefits to drinking caffeine when weight loss is your goal, you can also use decaf for your keto friendly coffee drink.

Can I use coffee as a keto meal replacement shake recipe?

Yes! And I commonly do. Since many protein powders contain junk ingredients, I create my own keto meal replacement shake recipe at home with a bulletproof coffee recipe.

My favorite recipe includes: 8 ounces hot water, 1 scoop ground coffee, 2-4 scoops of Great Lakes Collagen, 1/2 ounce heavy cream, 1 tablespoon butter.

To make, add the collagen and butter into your coffee cup. Then pour hot coffee on top, and mix with a frother. Finally, stir in the heavy cream with the milk frother. I also add a dash of sea salt.

The Keto Coffee Wrap Up

Keto coffee is a great way to add more healthy fats to your high-fat diet. The best coffee to use at home is a mold-free brand, like Kicking Horse or Bulletproof. When you make healthy keto coffee at home, you can control the quality of ingredients used, while ensuring you get the amount of fat that’s right for you.

Of course, adding keto coffee the right way is only one aspect of reaching your weight loss goals with a keto diet. If you want to learn everything I did to finally kick yo-yo diets to the curb, check out the Keto Quick Start Course.

This is the same course that’s helped hundreds of women finally lose weight with a ketogenic diet. You’ll save time, money, and frustration that comes with so much random keto diet advice everywhere you turn.