Did you know there are a ton of hidden carbs at Starbucks?! Not to fear, we’re going to shed some light on them!
Y’all know how much Faith and I love our Starbucks tea and coffee, but what happens if you’re hungry and you want to get something to eat to? In today’s post we’re going to go over what not to eat at Starbucks if you want to follow a low carb or keto diet.
We’re covering some foods that you might think are keto friendly, but really aren’t! Either because they’re high in carbohydrates or the portion size may be a little misleading.
And if you missed it, check out one of our most popular posts, Keto Starbucks Drinks – Our 5 favorite drinks to order!
Beef Jerky
The Country Archer brand of beef jerky has 6 grams of carbs per 1-ounce serving. And I haven’t met anyone that can just eat an ounce of beef jerky!
So to me this isn’t a good option because there are 6 grams of carbs and only 70 calories per serving. I’d probably eat all three servings and end up eating 18 grams of carbs and only 210kcals and still be hungry.
Organic Coconut Cookies
At first glance I was super intrigued by these Emmy’s Organics Dark Cacao Coconut Cookies. They say only 8 grams of carbs (6 grams net carbs) per serving, but a serving is only one cookie!
These cookies are small but are more calorie dense than others, so you may be able to get away with only eating one or two cookies.
Personally I LOVE chocolate and coconut and this combination is dangerous for me. Again, I’d probably end up eating all three in a sitting. One cookie has 100kcals, 8g fat, 8g total carbs, 2g fiber, and 1g protein.
Peppercorn Cashews
Some people just starting a keto diet think cashews are a good low carb nut option, but actually they aren’t. Cashews are not even a nut! They’re a legume.
For one package of these peppercorn cashews you’ll be getting 240kcals, 20g fat, 13g total carbs, 2g fiber and 7g protein.
In terms of the carb:calorie ratio, these are a better option than the beef jerky. However, there are better low carb food options at Starbucks out there.
Splenda
Splena, oh Splenda! They advertise you as a no calorie sweetener, but when you flip over to the ingredient label, the first two ingredients are in fact sugar. And we all know that sugar contains calories.
A better option than Splenda is the Whole Earth stevia, monk fruit, and erythritol blend sweetener. Or better yet, no sweetener at all!
Starbucks Sous Vide Egg Bites
Since the inception of these guys, I whole heartedly believe that the sous vide industry has taken off. Both Faith I and bought one and it was to make these Starbucks Sous Vide Egg Bites, but make them low carb.
Yeah, these sous vide egg bites from Starbucks are not really that low carb. They are in fact packed full of hidden carbs. Did you know that these egg bites contain potato starch and rice starch?
Pictured in the top right corner are the Bacon and Gruyere Sous Vide Egg Bites which have 310kcals, 22g fat, 9g carbs, and 19g protein.
Pictured in the bottom left are the Egg White and Red Pepper Sous Vide Egg Bites and they come in at 170kcals, 7g fat, 13g total carbs, 1g fiber, and 13g protein. For a calorie to carb ratio these are even worse than the beef jerky!
If you are going to get the egg bites, which are still lower carb than some items, I would stay away from the egg white variation and stick with the whole egg options for a higher fat content.
Starbucks Drinks With Surprisingly High Carbs (Per Grande size)
All Starbucks Nutrition information for these drinks was obtained from the Starbucks website. You can find the full Starbucks nutrition here.
- Iced Espresso Classics – Vanilla Latte – 21g carbs
- Nitro Cold Brew with Cascara Cold Foam – 18g carbs
- Pink Drink – 27g carbs
- Bottled Teavana Peach Green Tea – 23g (14.5oz bottle)
Lemon Crunch Parfait
This lemon crunch parfait clearly displays a 14g of protein on its top label, to some they may think this is a healthier option. But once you turn to the nutrition label on the back, you’ll see what it’s actually about.
This lemon crunch parfait contains 330kcals, 12g fat, 14g protein, and a whopping 42g of total carbs with only 1g of fiber. I’d steer clear of this if you are trying to follow a low carb diet!
Starbucks Egg and Cheese Protein Box
With a long list of ingredients, it’s easy to see how this egg and cheese protein box with apples and grapes makes our no-no list. Even the peanut butter is a honey peanut butter spread!
If want want to make this egg and cheese protein box lower carb, I’d just eat the egg and cheese out of it and share the rest with a friend.
Otherwise, if you eat the entire box, you’d be consuming 470kcals, 25g fat, 40g carbs, 5g fiber, and 23g protein.
Starbucks 20g Protein Box – Cheese and Fruit
This cheese and fruit box is surprisingly lower in carbs than the egg and cheese box! Like the other box, you can easily make this a lower carb option by simply omitting the fruit.
The cheese and fruit box comes in at 450kcals, 27g fat, 34g carbs, 4g fiber, and 20g protein.
Perfect Bar – Peanut Butter
This bar claims to have 20+ Super Foods and to be USDA organic, but it’s unfortunately higher in carbs.
The Peanut Butter Perfect Bar comes in at 330kcals, 18g fat, 26g total carbs, 4g fiber, and 17g protein.
RXBAR – Mixed Berry
This RXBAR touts 12g of protein on the front of the label and no BS, but let’s see how the carbs stack up!
The RXBAR has 210kcals, 7g fat, 25g total carbs, 5g fiber, and 12g protein.
There you have it folks! This was a roundup of the foods that have hidden carbs at Starbucks.
Note that we didn’t go through every single item at Starbucks because it was super busy when we visited. And we did notice that each Starbucks location doesn’t contain all the same foods.
But these are some of the main foods that we would avoid at Starbucks. Especially if you are trying to follow a low carb or ketogenic diet.
Check out this post to see the best keto foods to order at Starubcks!
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