Is Dona Marie mole keto friendly? Unfortunately, no Dona Marie mole is not keto, it is high in carbs and contains non-keto ingredients. But never fear! We aim to never let you down, so we’ve added our top tips on making mole at home, so you never have to miss out on your favorite Mexican treats, read on to find out more.
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What Is Dona Maria Mole?
Dona Maria has been a prominent Mexican brand known for its savory and delicious mole sauces for over 60 years. Making mole from scratch can be a very time consuming endeavor, so Dona Maria’s sauces allow you to get that slow-cooked flavor without spending hours in the kitchen.
What Is The Nutritional Value of Dona Maria Mole?
Dona Maria Mole comes in four different flavors; Dona Maria Mole, Dona Maria Mole Pipian, Dona Maria Mole Verde, and Dona Maria Mole Adobo.
Looking at one of the lowest carb options, one serving of the Mole Verde sauce has the following nutritional value:
- Carbs: 8 grams
- Sugar: Less than 1 gram
- Sodium: 470 milligrams
- Fat: 12 grams
- Calories: 150 calories
How Many Net Carbs Are There In Dona Maria Mole?
Each variety of Dona Maria mole sauces are somewhat high in net carbs.
The original Dona Maria Mole contains 10 grams of net carbs per serving, and their Mole Adobo contains 9 net carbs per serving. Their Mole Verde and Mole Pipian have fewer net carbs, each having 5 net carbs per serving.
Is Dona Maria Mole Keto Friendly?
Dona Maria Mole, in any flavor, would not be considered keto-friendly as they contain a high amount of net carbs per serving.
With their serving sizes being small at between 1 and 1.5 tablespoons, you would run very close or over your max carbs for the day eating the sauce.
Also, it contains a number of ingredients, such as wheat flour which are not keto friendly.
A Keto-Cap (aka A Keto Recap!)
If you’re new to keto and want a bit more information, check out our keto beginners guide.
As a quick summary, if you need it, the keto (also known as the ketogenic diet) is a low-carb, high-fat diet.
The whole concept of the keto diet is that your body transitions from burning glucose, in simple terms, sugars or carbohydrates, to burning fat as its primary fuel source.
For a keto diet, people will restrict their macros to eating;
- 70% of their calories from fat
- 25% from protein
- 5% from carbohydrates
Sticking to these macros for a period of time will put your body into a state of ketosis.
Ketosis is when your body has transitioned from burning carbohydrates as its primary fuel source to burning fat for fuel.
It is at this point that you will start to see and feel the benefits of the keto diet.
There are a lot of new terms and abbreviations that you may come across, and sometimes it can feel like a new language that you need to learn.
In order to help you out and keep you on the right track, we have created a keto terms and keto abbreviations guide, bookmark these to make your keto journey easier.
Some people can be put off the keto diet because of the side effects, however, these are only short-lived and the health benefits of keto far outweigh the side effects.
One of the main benefits which attract people to the keto diet is that it can cause significant reductions in insulin levels (by up to 75%) and blood sugar levels, which can be attractive to those that struggle with diabetes, amongst other health complaints.
What Kinds Of Meals Is Mole Sauce Used For?
Mole sauce is used to enrich a variety of Mexican dishes, such as enchiladas, burritos, and tacos. Mole sauce also adds richness to any type of meat.
While many Mexican dishes are not keto friendly in their original form, you can also make some tweaks and swaps to enjoy a more keto friendly version of those dishes.
For example, use keto friendly tortillas or make your own homemade tortillas.
What Are The Best Keto Alternatives To Dona Maria Mole? [Is Mole Keto]
If you are able to find a gluten-free mole sauce on the shelf, it will most likely contain fewer carbs than its counterpart. Most mole sauces, especially ready-made sauces, use wheat as one of the main ingredients, which boosts its carb count tremendously.
Your best bet to enjoying a delicious mole sauce that is keto friendly is to make your own. There are ample recipes available to make a delicious mole sauce that, while it may take a while to cook, is easy to store for future meals and will contain much fewer carbs.
Check out this recipe from GimmeSomeOven, if you substitute the flour for a quarter teaspoon of xanthan gum (in order to thicken the sauce, you with have your very own homemade keto friendly mole sauce that all the family will enjoy!
Is Mole Keto FAQs
Keto Top Tip
Staying hydrated on the keto diet is really important, for more on how much water you should be drinking, check out our guide to staying hydrated on the keto diet.
If you’re planning on dehydrating yourself(!) and drinking alcohol on the keto diet, check out our ultimate guide to drinking alcohol on a keto diet. Also, you may be interested in, how to recover from a cheat day.
For more top tips, check out our keto hacks article, and if you’re trying to do keto on a budget, check out this article to save pennies whilst losing the pounds.
Summary: Is Dona Maria Mole Keto?
In short, no sorry, this Mexican classic is not keto friendly. However, this does not mean that you have to miss out on your mole, all that it means is that you may have to make your own from scratch substituting in a few keto friendly ingredients. As always, you never have to go without on keto, you just need to use your imagination.
