Can You Eat Pesto On The Atkins Diet?
Short answer
Most pesto sauces contain relatively small amounts of carbohydrates, some as low as 2%, and can therefore be eaten guilt-free on most carbohydrate-controlled diets, including the Atkins diet.
Long answer
As one of the most famous low-carbohydrate diets in the world, people often ask us if pesto is Atkins-friendly. Before we answer that question, here's a quick snapshot of the three Atkins diets:
Atkins 20®
Atkins describes this as the "induction phase," where dieters are allowed 20g of carbohydrates per day, 15g of which should come from low-carb "foundation vegetables" such as cucumber, spinach, and cauliflower.
Atkins 40®
This version of the diet is geared towards people who want to lose weight but also want a little more flexibility in their diet. This group is allowed 40g of carbohydrates a day, 15g of which should come from vegetables.
Atkins 100®
This is designed to appeal to people who want to retain their weight or lose weight gradually. It allows 100g of carbohydrates daily, 15g of which should come from vegetables.
Let's start by getting a broad understanding of the nutritional content of pesto by looking under the bonnet of one of the UK's bestselling sauces, Sacla's Classic Basil Pesto.
Nutritional information
| Fat | 33g |
| of which saturates | 5g |
| Carbohydrates | 6.9g |
| of which sugars | 3.4g |
| Fibre | 2.4g |
| Protein | 4.4g |
| Salt | 3.0g |
Atkins dieters will be pleased that carbohydrates make up less than 7% of this pesto. That means if you follow our recommended serving size of 50g of pesto per person, you'll consume just 3.45g of carbohydrates, leaving you with 16.55g for the rest of the day.
Even better is that basil makes up 46% of the sauce, meaning that many of those carbs come from the "foundational vegetables" the diet stipulates.
Even better is that basil makes up 46% of the sauce, meaning that many of those carbs are coming from the "foundational vegetables" that the diet stipulates.
Things get significantly better than this, though. Shop around, and you'll be able to find pestos with far fewer carbohydrates than Sacla's. Casalinga's basil pesto, for example, contains just 1.8% carbohydrates, so you'll be consuming just 0.9g of carbohydrates per standard 50g serving. That gives you over 19g of carbohydrates left to play with that day, even on the strictest Atkins 20® diet.
The table below shows the amount of carbohydrates in many of the most popular basil pestos in the UK.
| Sauce | Carbs |
| Casalinga Basil Pesto | 1.8% |
| Garofalo Basil Pesto | 2.1% |
| Filippo Berio Classic Pesto | 3.5% |
| Ocado Green Pesto | 4.0% |
| De Cecco Basil Pesto | 4.0% |
| Mr. Organic Pesto | 5.6% |
| Belazu Basil Pesto | 6.6% |
| Sacla Classic Basil Pesto | 6.9% |
| M&S Green Pesto | 7.2% |
| Jamie Oliver Green Pesto | 7.6% |
| Barilla Basil Pesto | 9.8% |
| Daylesford Basil Pesto | 12.2% |
Where the carbohydrates come from
While every recipe is different, the chart below shows the carbohydrate content of the seven key ingredients contained in classic basil pesto in order of ingredient quantity. As you can see, the nuts, cheese, and garlic provide most of the carbohydrates. That's useful because if you choose to make pesto yourself, you could cut back on these and save even more carbs.
| Ingredient | Carbs |
| Olive oil | 0% |
| Basil | 2.7% |
| Parmigiano Reggiano | 4.1% |
| Pine nuts | 13% |
| Pecorino Romano | 3.5% |
| Garlic | 18.6% |
| Salt | 0% |
Pasta, the elephant in the room
There can be no escaping from the fact that pesto is closely associated with pasta, and that's a problem because most dried pasta is very high in calories and carbohydrates. For that reason, many dieters give both pasta and pesto a miss on the Atkins 20® diets and only choose to introduce them once they progress to the less strict 40® and 100® diets.
But what about low-carb pasta? Well, that is an option, and their quality has improved over the years, but if you read reviews of them, you'll find words like "rubbery," "cardboard," and "synthetic" crop up time and again.
We've tried dozens of low-carb pasta made from all things, like cauliflower, chickpeas, and isolated soy protein (whatever that is). We didn't enjoy any of them.
Most low-carb pasta still contains around 6% carbohydrates, so some people go further and hunt down konjac noodles. This awful creation contains less than 1% carbohydrate, few calories, and practically no nutrition. They serve a purpose for people on a low-carb, keto-style diet, but not even closing your eyes, holding your nose, and uttering a mantra that you're having an enjoyable meal will make up for the fact that they are, quite simply, gross.