Is Relish Keto?

So, is relish keto? 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.

What is 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 most common.

So, Is Relish Keto? Let’s find out?

A Keto-Cap (aka A Keto Recap!)

If you’re new to keto and want a bit more information, check out our keto beginners guide.

As a quick summary, if you need it, the keto (also known as the ketogenic diet) is a low-carb, high-fat diet.

The whole concept of the keto diet is that your body transitions from burning glucose, in simple terms, sugars or carbohydrates, to burning fat as its primary fuel source.

For a keto diet, people will restrict their macros to eating;

• 70% of their calories from fat
• 25% from protein
• 5% from carbohydrates

Sticking to these macros for a period of time will put your body into a state of ketosis. Ketosis is when your body has transitioned from burning carbohydrates as its primary fuel source to burning fat for fuel. It is at this point that you will start to see and feel the benefits of the keto diet.

There are a lot of new terms and abbreviations that you may come across, sometimes it can feel like a new language that you need to learn. In order to help you out and keep you on the right track, we have created a keto terms and keto abbreviations guide, bookmark these to make your keto journey easier.

Some people can be put off the keto diet because of the side effects, however, these are only short-lived and the health benefits of keto far outweigh the side effects.

One of the main benefits which attract people to the keto diet is that it can cause significant reductions in insulin levels (by up to 75%) and blood sugar levels, which can be attractive to those that struggle with diabetes, amongst other health complaints.

What is the 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

How many net carbs are there 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?

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. 

Are there varieties of relish that are 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. 

Are there varieties of relish that aren’t keto?

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.

What are the health benefits of relish?

Relish can be a great source of Vitamins A and K. It’s also low in saturated fat and cholesterol. 

Are there better 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 like the one below – it does not contain any non-keto ingredients or hidden sugars.

Staying hydrated on the keto diet is really important, for more on how much water you should be drinking, check out our guide to staying hydrated on the keto diet.

If you’re planning on dehydrating yourself(!) and drinking alcohol on the keto diet, check out our ultimate guide to drinking alcohol on a keto diet. Also, you may be interested in, how to recover from a cheat day.

Summary: Is Relish Keto?

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.