The ketogenic diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet used to help individuals shed fat and improve their overall health. The good news: there are totally keto alcohol drinks.
Personally, I am not a huge drinker for various reasons. Besides, not liking the taste of anything too strong, the sugary, carb-filled, and calorie-dense drinks definitely do not make me feel my best.
But if you love to relax with a drink every once in a while and are following a keto diet, there are a few drinks you can have that fit into your low carb diet.
FAQs Alcohol on keto
Does alcohol stop ketosis?
Alcohol itself will not ruin your ketosis. Alcohol is not sugar and won’t spike blood sugar. However, I would not recommend drinking A LOT of alcohol if you are focusing on living a healthy lifestyle. As with everything, moderation is key.
Does keto lower alcohol tolerance?
Yes. When you eat a high carb diet, the liver stores plenty of glycogen. The storage and release of glycogen in the liver slows down alcohol metabolism [1]
When you are on ketosis, the liver does not store much glycogen so the alcohol is metabolized MUCH faster.
What alcohol should I AVOID on keto?
Many alcoholic drinks are LOADED with carbs!! For example, cocktails typically rely on high-carb, sugary ingredients, sweeteners, or syrups to give them their sweet flavor.
Here is a list of several popular alcoholic beverages you should avoid if you are on a keto diet [2]
- Margarita – 1 cup = 13g of carbs
- Bloody Mary – 1 cup = 10g of carbs
- Whiskey sour – 3.5 ounces = 14g of carbs
- Sangria – 1 cup = 27g of carbs
- Pina colada – 4.5 ounces = 32g of carbs
- Regular beer – 12-ounce = 12g of carbs
Is wine ok on keto?
You can drink wine on keto in MODERATION.
On a keto diet, you can enjoy a glass of wine fairly regularly. I have noticed that dry wines fit better in a keto diet [3]
Sweet dessert wines, contain much more sugar you do not want.
Tip: Why so much liquor? Distilled spirits are free of carbs, so you only need to pay attention to what you mix with them.
Before you read on about12 keto alcohol drinks, make sure to take a look at this keto alcohol guideline below
12 Keto Alcohol Drinks
1. Diet Jack and Coke
Obvs, a real Coca Cola would ruin any ketosis you had and exceed your daily carbs.
According to Healthline, diet soda lends itself to numerous carb-free cocktails. To make this use 1.5 ounces of whiskey with Diet Coke, and pour over ice
Nutritional information:
- calories(per serving) : 100
- carbs (per serving) : 0 g
2. Vodka
Vodka is a hard liquor that contains 0 grams of carbs and sugars on their own, which means they can be keto-friendly in moderation.
Nutritional information:
- serving size: 44ml
- carbs (per serving): 0 g
3. Carb-free gin and tonic
Gin itself contains 0 grams of carbs.
Gin and tonics are also the perfect light summertime drink. However, tonic water is LOADED with carbs. It has 32 grams per 12-ounce can!
Make sure to swap out soda water for your tonic, and you won’t have to compromise flavor for your diet.
To make: mix one jigger of gin with soda water, add a squeeze of lemon or lime, and serve over ice.
Nutritional information
- calories: 150
- carbs (per serving): <1g
4. Sex on the Beach
Sex on the beach is a very popular sweet cocktail that is typically loaded with sugar BUT who said you couldn’t turn it into one of the best keto alcohol drinks??
If you love the original but have to avoid it for your diet, you’re in luck. You can now test out a low carb version of your fave drink.
Honestly, with the tropical fruit, cranberry, and peach flavors, this drink is petty hard to pass up.
Nutritional Information
- calories: 98
- carbs (per serving): 0g
Get the recipe: Sex on the Beach.
5. Low Carb Piña Colada
IF YOU LIKE PINA COLADA’S AND GETTING CAUGHT IN THE RAIN…. then this is for you 🎶
Okay but let’s just look at this.
You can’t possibly beat the creamy, frozen, coconutty flavors that create this low carb piña colada. It has LESS THAN 1 carb per serving!
For this recipe, you will need: rum, heavy cream, DaSani coconut-pineapple flavor enhancer, ice, and a blender.
Here’s the pineapple coconut water enhancer if you can’t find it in your store!
Nutritional info:
- calories: 294
- carbs: 0.8g
Get the recipe here: Pina Colada
6. Low Carb Strawberry Daiquiri
You’re probably thinking, “how does this fall into the keto alcohol drink category?”.
Well, this daiquiri is sugar-free, keto-friendly AND super easy to make.
The basic ingredients are ice, rum, Triple Sec. fresh strawberries, and lime.
Nutritional info:
- calories: 93
- net carbs: 4 g
Get the recipe: Low Carb Strawberry Daiquiri
7. Low Carb Dirty Shirley
Everyone probably remembers the classic Shirley Temple form when they were younger. It was one of my favorites to get when I was at a party! Gingerale, MAraschino cherries, and grenadine were an awesome combo that made me feel elite.
The grown-up version of that drink, however, is called a Dirty Shirley and luckily you can have it with all the flavor but without the carbs.
This pretty drink is the perfect choice for a casual cocktail by the pool.
Nutritional Information:
- calories: 175
Get the recipe: Low Carb Dirty Shirley
8. Spiked Root Beer Float
For those of you who haven’t had a root beer float in YEARS, this one is for you.
This version of the classic root beer float doesn’t use ice cream, but you can always add some vanilla keto ice cream if ya want.
Nutritional Information:
- calories: 170
- net carbs: 0g
Get the recipe: Spiked Root Beer Float
9. Frozen Mudslide
If you aren’t drooling yet…. then maybe something is wrong with you. JUST KIDDIN (maybe). Let’s keep reading shall we?
This is a keto-friendly and low carb remake to a mudslide drink. But this time we’re doin it adult style.
Nutritional Information:
- calories: 287
- net carbs: 1g
10. Bourbon Old Fashioned
Here is a keto-friendly bourbon old fashioned that is a delicious drink PERFECT for any time.
This drink is low in carbs and swaps the sugar for keto-approved sweeteners.
Get the recipe: Keto-Friendly Bourbon Old Fashioned
Nutritional Information:
- calories: 200g
- net carbs: 2g
11. Low-carb sea breeze
A sea breeze is a fruity, summertime drink, minus all of the sugar. Usually, it’s made with grapefruit juice, but using Diet Squirt instead eliminates the extra carbs.
This drink is definitely not the healthiest in terms of carbs, but it can still be enjoyed in small quantities.
You can even make it yourself! Here’s how!! Mix 1 jigger of vodka with 2 ounces of unsweetened cranberry juice and 4 ounces of Diet Squirt. Pour over ice.
Nutritional Information:
- calories: 110g
- carbs: 6g
12. Low-carb mojito
The traditional mojito uses syrup for sweetening, but if you opt for a diet soda like Diet Sierra Mist or Diet Sprite, you can get the sweetness without the carbs.
Let’s make one!
Mix one jigger of rum with fresh lime juice and diet lemon-lime soda, and pour onto muddle mint leaves. Then pour over ice.
Nutritional info:
- calories: 110g
- carbs: 1.5g
The Bottom Line
Even on a diet, there are plenty of keto alcoholic drinks to choose from.
Pure forms of alcohol (whiskey& rum), wine, and light beer, offer few or zero carbs per serving and can easily be paired with like carb mixers.
As a rule of thumb, women should stick to a maximum of one drink per day, and men should stick to about two or fewer.
