Whether you are brand new to a ketogenic diet or a pro, you are likely spending some valuable time in your kitchen. Even though the Keto diet has become popular recently, there are not many options available in-store.
In a nutshell, the ketogenic diet is a high-fat, moderate-protein, low-carb diet. This means you limit your carb consumption, so your body reaches a state of ketosis.
At ketosis, you’ll begin to burn your stored body fats as an energy source. This leads to a quicker weight loss.
Meaning, you can still have a slice of cheese, meat, and healthy fats found in nuts, seeds, and avocados. But it can be tricky to incorporate keto-friendly foods and keep track of your meal plans.
If you aren’t used to preparing most meals at home, then the Keto diet can be overwhelming and quite discouraging to newbies. As you spend more time in the kitchen, you may discover that there will be some kitchen tools that will make your life easier.
That said, we have created a list of the kitchen must-haves that you can use when cooking excellent keto meals:
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Keto Cookbook
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Food Scale
Sure, you don’t have to measure all your food to be successful—but the more accurate you are, the better your results will be.
Even if you aren’t a die-hard food tracker, it would be best to practice weighing out your portions. This is to get an idea of what an actual serving looks like.
You would want to use your kitchen scales pretty much every day to measure our ingredients when following a recipe. They are also great for keeping an eye on your macros if you want to be more precise with the amounts of each food we are eating.
Ensure yours lets you tare, so you can use the same bowl and continue to add various ingredients easily. It is also excellent if they can shift between grams and ounces so you can use them for recipes from the US or Australia/UK.
Measuring Cups and Spoons
Excellent for keto baking or anytime you need to measure ingredients for a recipe. It is most suitable to measure dry ingredients in measuring cups rather than measuring jugs.
On that note, things like flour and sugar aren’t measured by weight, so it’s essential to have all the necessary tools.
Again, perfect for keto baking or following recipes and also for tracking your food consumption. You can use it daily, mainly when you’re making your coffee, so you know how much cream should be adding.
Measuring Jugs
Better if you purchase a set of 3 of these; a 4 cup jug, a 2 cup jug, and a 1 cup jug, and we would use most of them daily. Excellent for measuring liquids or heating things in the microwave, as they are heat-proof.
Plastic Containers
You’ll certainly love having a range of sizes of these containers available for any meal prep and also for your packed lunches for work. They can go in the freezer and the oven (without the lids), so they are very versatile.
When making an additional cheesy cauliflower baked in a pyrex dish, for instance, it would be best to pop the lid on and put it in the freezer before baking it. Then at night, when you have less time or can’t be bothered cooking, you can grab it out of the freezer, take the lid off, and pop it straight in the oven.
But it still recommended storing and heating your food in a glass over plastic due to the potential chemical exposure.
Glass Jars
You’ll love having glass jars to store on your pantry items, such as nuts and baking ingredients like nut flours. It will keep your pantry tidy, your ingredients fresh, and everything is easy to see and access.
You would also use glass jars to store your homemade condiments and salad dressings in the fridge. It is advisable to keep everything in a glass over plastic due to the potential chemical exposure.
Glass jars are excellent for stocking your ketogenic diet staples. Some examples are homemade mayo, bone broth, chia pudding, nut milk, and cold brew coffee.
Silicone Muffin Molds
These muffin molds are excellent for keto baking, as quite often, things can stick to traditional muffin pans or paper cases. You can use them for baking your breakfast muffins and pecan cheesecake muffins, and they always come out perfectly.
They are also great for making individual cheesecakes, like the white chocolate ones. You can also use the smaller silicon molds to make fat bombs, collagen cups, and chocolate treats.
We recommend you get a regular “muffin” size mold as well as mini muffin liners. The regular ones are great for making egg cups and keto-friendly cupcakes, while the small ones make excellent molds for fat bombs.
If you are starting on keto, fat bombs are lifesavers. They help you pass through cravings and keep you on track. It is still enjoyable from time to time, and these silicone molds make it super easy to use.
Silicone Baking Mats
These silicone baking mats are incredibly excellent when it comes to things like cheese crisps and fathead pizzas. They are also conveniently handy for baking your favorite keto cookies and low carb pretzels.
Whoopie Pie Pan
Having a whoopie pie pan may seem like a massive waste of space until you realize what a great tool it is! You can create a cloud bread, burger buns, and the all-time favorite Keto McGriddles!
Burger Press
A burger press is ideal if you’re meticulous about your burger patties being uniform in size. You can also use this if you don’t like holding and molding raw meat.
Burgers are your go-to quick meal. You would want to make a bunch ahead of time and keep them in the freezer until it’s ready to eat.
Spiralizer
We all know noodles are life, but sadly, traditional pasta is a no-no on a keto diet. Luckily spiralized veggies satisfy the void nicely and hold up with most sauces.
Most commonly, spiralizers are used with zucchini, but you can also try it with broccoli stalks and baby eggplant!
Excellent for making zoodles or zughetti at home. It’s good that there are various blades so you can make different thicknesses and shapes of noodles.
You aren’t limited to spiralizing zucchini, either. It is time to get artistic. You can even spiralize capsicums (bell peppers), cucumber, turnips, onions, and cabbage.
You’ll love zoodles combined with beef stroganoff, chorizo chili, basil pesto, or creamy mushroom sauce. In summer, this delicious salad is an excellent side for your family BBQ.
Grater
Grating your cheese is an excellent choice as you can choose the best quality cheese available to grate.
Also, you don’t need to worry about any starch additives that can be found in grated cheese every time you purchase it from the supermarket.
You can also use it to grate zucchini to make into fritters or muffins and use a grater to make cauliflower rice.
Butter Dish
A surely must-have for any butter lover! Life is so much easier if you have a room temperature butter already prepared, rather than cold out of the fridge.
If you are on keto, you are likely eating a LOT of butter – I mean a lot. A butter dish safely stores butter on the counter at room temp, so it’s always soft and spreadable, exactly how butter was made to be.
Depending on what the climate is like where you live, it may not be a choice to have the butter out on your counter year-round. You would want to store your butter in a butter dish in the fridge in summer, so it is easier to locate and less messy than in the foil wrapper.
Food Processor and Blender
If you cook in your kitchen at all, then you’ll need a food processor and blender. You can use them to make cauliflower rice, pancakes, homemade mayo, and of course, protein shakes.
Save time—and counter space—by spending on a powerful gadget that will do everything from fresh salsa and tomato sauce to whipping up smoothies and soups.
Hand Blender
You’ll love the stick blender as it is so versatile. You can use it to level up your bulletproof coffee, and it is much less cleaning up than using a blender.
The bowl attachment is convenient as it is a mini food processor without taking up all the regular food processor’s cupboard space.
You can regularly use the stick blender to make homemade mayo and hollandaise sauce or blend up a soup to make it smooth and creamy. You can also use it with the bowl attachment to chop vegetables or nuts and make basil pesto and your smoky romesco sauce.
It is also useful for making healthy soups, sauces, and elixirs without cleaning your Vitamix.
Milk Frother
Bulletproof coffee is a staple on many keto diets.
Starting your day with a healthy dose of fat (and caffeine, of course) is an excellent way to set yourself up for a productive and focused day if you ask me.
Using a frother transforms your favorite fatty coffee into a latte-like experience without the hefty price tag!
Instant Pot
If there is only one thing I could keep in any of my kitchen appliances, it would be a close call between my instant pot and my dishwasher. This thing can certainly do it all! Hard-boiled eggs, baked goods, bone broth, soups, roasts, CHEESECAKES, and the list would go on.
Slow Cooker
Another one that should be on your wishlist.
So versatile – it is a slow cooker and a pressure cooker all in one. You can also use it to steam or saute and as a warmer and sterilizer.
When trying to hold on to a particular diet, meal prep is the king. Stick to the classic and pull out the slow cooker for Sunday afternoon cooking sessions.
You can use your slow cooker to make bone broth and in winter to make stews and braises. You would want to use it at least once a week for bone broth and then for other meals on top of that.
It is so easy to throw all the ingredients in and switch it on in the morning and come home to dinner ready!
Opt for a larger slow cooker so you can get a more considerable amount of bone broth for your 24-hour time investment. When you have cooked a small portion of meat in the large slow cooker, please place it in a small heat-proof dish inside the slow cooker bowl so that it won’t dry out.
Cast Iron kit
An excellent skillet for most meat cuts because of how well it holds heat, plus it can seamlessly go from stovetop to oven.
We use heavy-based stainless steel frying pans and saucepans in our house. It is advisable to use skillets and pans with metal handles to quickly go into the oven or under the grill (broiler).
You can season your stainless steel skillets to make them non-stick if you prefer.
The use of cast iron skillets is also prevalent within the ketogenic community. You do need to be cautious while making sure that you season your cast iron pans before use and cleaning them properly. It is also perfect for making your skillet eggs.
Many people are scared of cooking with cast iron – but once you get the hang of it, you will never go back. It’s the most reliable way to sear a steak, it cooks a mean burger, and you can even bake in them!
PRO TIP: Never clean your cast iron with soap! After it has cooled, discard any excess grease or debris, then scrub it with a steel wool pad.
You can also opt to spatter about 2 tbsp of course salt into the pan and scrub with a towel. Once clean, completely dry and wipe the inside with a little oil.
Casserole Pots
You’ll adore the enamel-lined cast iron casserole pots. And although they are expensive, they will certainly last for a lifetime if you look after them.
Most moms are still using the ones they received as a wedding present. Also, they are just so pretty, and you’ll love to have them out on display in your kitchen.
Casserole pots are perfect for cooking your oven-baked meatballs, chorizo chili, and beef stroganoff.
Bacon Grease Saver
This item should definitely be on your wish list. We used to save any leftover bacon grease from baking our bacon in a small pyrex container.
But having a bacon grease saver with the strainer would be fantastic.
Leftover bacon grease is ideal for use in your cooking for added flavor. More so, when frying up some greens, cabbage, or Brussel sprouts. Also, try frying your eggs with leftover bacon grease.
Grease Splatter Screen
This could be one of your favorite kitchen purchases since you started following a ketogenic diet. This prevents the grease from your skillet from splattering all over your cooktop. Just like your grandma used to own!
Ice-cream Maker
There’s no low carb ice cream you can buy at the supermarket compared to a homemade version. You’ll love this machine as there is no need to store the bowl in a freezer, and it is super easy to use.
You can make your custard mixture with heavy cream or coconut milk and cool it in the fridge. Then pop it into the ice-cream machine for a super sensual treat.
This is ideal as you can use the sweeteners you prefer, and you know exactly what ingredients you are going to use. After all, ice cream usually includes heavy cream, eggs, vanilla, and sukrin sweetener.
Vacuum Sealer
Use to divide up your meat into parts or give your produce extra-long lives in the fridge.
You can accumulate these keto kitchen must-haves over time. So, you don’t have to rush out and buy all these things. What’s important is that you have an idea of things you may want to add as you progress with your ketogenic diet.