So, is relish keto friendly? This is one of those frustrating, ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers. If relish is made at home, it can easily be made with keto friendly ingredients, however, store bought relish is another story. Store bought relish, even when advertised as being ‘keto’ can have a lot of hidden non-keto ingredients, so you always need to read the label.
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What Is In Relish?
Relish is used as either a condiment or an additive to another food.
It’s a cooked and usually pickled product. It contains chopped vegetables, fruits, and/or herbs.
It’s most common to find a relish that is made from pickled cucumbers seasoned with spices and sugar. It can be sweet, sour, or spicy.
Sweet and dill relish are the most common.
So, is relish keto friendly? Let’s find out?
Nutritional Value Of Relish
This breakdown looks at relish per 1 serving:
Sweet pickle relish
- Calories: 20
- Carbs: 5.3 g
- Protein: 0.1 g
- Sugar: 4.4 g
- Fiber: 0.2 g
- Fat: 0.1 g
Dill pickle relish
- Calories: 0
- Carbs: 1
- Protein: 0
- Sugar: 0
- Fiber: 0
- Fat: 0
Net Carbs In Relish
Keto requires dieters to keep track of their net carbs.
This formula will help you quickly calculate the net carbs in any food.
- Carbs – Fiber = Net Carbs
| Sweet pickle relish | Dill pickle relish | |
| Calories | 20 | 0 |
| Carbs | 5.3 | 1 |
| Protein | 0.1 | 0 |
| Sugar | 4.4 | 0 |
| Fiber | 0.2 | 0 |
| Fat | 0.1 | 0 |
| Formula | C (5.3) – F (0.2) | C (1) – F (0) |
| Total Net Carbs | 5.1 | 1 |
Is Relish Keto Friendly?
Both sweet and dill pickle relish have carbs, so relish isn’t carb-free. However, sweet pickle relish has a significant amount of net carbs in comparison to dill pickle relish.
For keto diets, dill pickle relish would be the better option.
Both options could be viable on keto if you were to plan out your foods carefully. If you don’t have enough net-carb allowance for sweet pickle relish, you could opt for dill pickle relish.
Varieties That Are Not Keto
You could certainly make your own relish at home if you wanted a keto-friendly version. Be mindful of your ingredients, and find something you like.
You can also pick up sugar-free relish varieties at most grocery stores, which are likely to have fewer net-carbs than their regular counterparts.
This would depend on how many net carbs are appropriate (or inappropriate) for your diet. Some keto dieters keep their net carbs below 30. Therefore, the sweet relish we listed above would have been more than 15% of the total net carb allowance.
However, we advocate a traditional keto diet of remaining under 20 grams of net carbs per day.
Health Benefits Of Relish
Relish can be a great source of Vitamins A and K. It’s also low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
Keto Alternatives To Relish
If you’re looking for a better alternative to relish, you could try finding dill pickles without any added sugar. They can be chopped up and used as you would normally use your relish. Or you could try a pickle salsa – it does not contain any non-keto ingredients or hidden sugars.
Not sure which condiments fit the bill for your ketogenic diet? Let our Keto Friendly Sauces Guide help you make the right choices.
Summary: Is Relish Keto Friendly?
Relish can be keto, especially if you are making it at home. If you are buying shop bought there are options available to you, you will just need to carefully look at the ingredients label to make sure that they do not contain any hidden sugars or non-keto ingredients.
