Is Ponzu Sauce keto friendly? This is another one of those, ‘yes’ and ‘no’, answers. Technically, Ponzu is not keto friendly as it contains soybeans and wheat, however, if you are eating a dirty keto diet, you may be able to incorporate this into your macros. If you don’t want to miss out on your Ponzu, you can always make your own at home following our simple substitutions.
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What Is Ponzu Sauce?
Ponzu sauce is a flavorful and citrusy sauce commonly found in Japanese cuisine.
Ponzu is often mixed with soy sauce to create a brown sauce served with many Japanese dishes. Ponzu on its own tends to be quite tart, and doesn’t have much color to it.
Ponzu sauce is usually made by mixing rice vinegar, mirin, bonito flakes, and seaweed. Most people enjoy it as a complement to sashimi.
It is also readily available in bottled form at many grocery stores and Asian markets.
What Is The Nutritional Value Of Ponzu Sauce?
Being that there are so many interpretations of ponzu sauce, the nutritional value might vary between products or recipes. However, your typical nutritional contents of a one tablespoon serving of ponzu sauce are:
- Carbs: 2 grams
- Fiber: 0 grams
- Fat: 0 grams
- Sugar: 1.6 grams
- Calories: 11 calories
However, we now need to look at the ingredients in your standard shop bought Ponzu sauce. Most shop bought sauces will contain wheat and soybean, which are not keto friendly ingredients.
However, if you are going to make this at home following a recipe such as this one, you can substitute the sugar for erythritol and make your own keto friendly version of ponzu sauce.
How Many Net Carbs Are There In Ponzu Sauce?
In a typical serving of shop bought ponzu sauce, you will be looking at between 1 and 2 net grams of net carbs per serving.
Is Ponzu Sauce Keto Friendly?
If you are eating dirty keto and you are not particularly bothered about the quality of ingredients you may want to incorporate small amounts of ponzu into your diet.
However, if you are living a clean keto diet, you will want to stay away from shop bought ponzu and, instead, make your own.
Either way, it’s a great condiment to have with pork or seafood.
Is Ponzu Sauce Easy To Make At Home?
Ponzu sauce is fairly simple to make at home, even for those who aren’t professional chefs.
The only difficult part might be sourcing some of the ingredients used in traditional ponzu sauce.
However, if you have an Asian market nearby, it should be easy. If not, we have lined up some of the main ingredients below;
- Citrus Juice
- Zest from one lemon
What Does Ponzu Taste Like?
Ponzu has a very obvious citrus flavor, but it can also be a little bit sweet depending on what you add to it. The citrus fruit you choose to use in your ponzu sauce will also have an effect on its taste.
Ponzu is most traditionally made with yuzu fruit, but you can also use lemon, orange, or grapefruit if you prefer.
If you are trying to keep your ponzu keto friendly, you are better off staying with the lemon flavor as it is lower in carbs, and then you can add erythritol for sweetness if required.
What Are The Health Benefits Of Ponzu Sauce?
Unfortunately, ponzu sauce does not offer much in terms of nutrients, vitamins, or minerals. The only thing it really contains is sodium, which is important to any diet in the right amount.
However, ponzu sauce is very low in calories, carbs (if making at home), fat, and sugar, so it can be a healthy addition to your diet.
Discover a comprehensive guide on keto-friendly sauces and those to avoid to keep your ketogenic diet flavorsome without compromising your low-carb lifestyle.
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.
Summary: Is Ponzu Sauce Keto Friendly?
In summary, if you are eating a strict keto diet, ponzu is probably not for you. If you are eating a dirty keto diet and you are not to bothered about the small amounts of soybean and wheat in ponzu you may be able to incorporate this into your keto diet. However, you can always make your own at home and you can soon make keto friendly ponzu.
