Best Ketogenic Protein Powders

Perfect Keto Protein powder is a mixture of 10 grams of collagen peptides and 5 grams of MCT oil powder. The collagen peptides are derived from grass-fed American cattle. It ships in a 12-ounce, 20-serving plastic jar, with a price point that’s a bit higher than average.

This protein powder contains 10 grams of protein and 4 grams of fat, which is one of the most keto-friendly macros we’ve seen. The 1 gram of carbs is almost all dietary fiber, so the carb content is negligible. While this is perfectly fine for keto, there’s not enough protein for it to be a good post-workout shake. Perfect Keto is mostly for joint, hair, and skin health.

Perfect Keto is available in four flavors: chocolate, vanilla, salted caramel, and unflavored. All flavors dissolve easily and have a pleasant taste. That said, it’s sweetened with stevia, so you won’t find it as palatable if you’re not a fan of stevia.

Pros

• High fat-to-protein ratio
• Supports joint health
• Grass-fed
• Contains MCT oil
• Dissolves easily
• Available in 4 flavors

Cons

• On the pricier side
• Sweetened with stevia

Specifications: 80 calories, 10 grams of protein, 4 grams of fat, 1 gram of carbs, 10,000 mg of collagen.

Key Information For Choosing a Ketogenic Protein Powder

If you’re new to the keto lifestyle, you probably have some questions about ketogenic protein powder. This is understandable. The keto diet has a lot of unique requirements, and a lot of foods that are otherwise healthy are strictly forbidden.

Here’s a quick FAQ on keto-friendly protein powders.

What is the Best Protein Powder for the Keto Diet?

There’s no single “best” protein powder for the keto diet. Which one is best for you is going to depend on your exact needs.

For example, different protein powders contain different quantities of protein. If you’re a bodybuilder, you’re going to want as much protein as possible. If you’re working out for general health, you’re probably going to want a little bit less protein.

The reason for this is that the ketogenic diet requires you to get a minimum of 60 percent of your calories from fat. Again, that’s a minimum. A lot of calorie macros have you eating 75 percent fat or even more.

Even people who take no protein at all can have trouble getting that much fat. For example, if you have a chicken breast for dinner, you’d better have a lot of cheese with it, and put plenty of MCT oil and heavy cream in your coffee.

This is less of a problem for a bodybuilder, who’s going to burn a lot of calories. If you’re bulking up, you can just load up on more fat to balance out your protein calories. However, if you’re working out for general health, it can be a challenge to eat enough fat.

If you have too much protein, your liver will actually start converting protein into glucose instead of breaking down fat. This can knock you out of ketosis, which defeats the purpose of using a keto-friendly powder.

Is Whey Protein OK For the Keto Diet?

Whey protein is generally considered the healthiest form of protein. To begin with, it’s the best for promoting muscle growth and recovery. That’s why the vast majority of gym protein powders are whey proteins.

In addition, whey protein contains a number of peptides that aren’t found in other proteins. These peptides support immune function, as well as liver and cardiovascular health. There’s also some evidence that they can mitigate your risk of cancer.

However, unprocessed whey protein is high in lactose, which is a sugar. For this reason, you don’t want to buy just any whey protein if you’re on the keto diet. Even 6 to 8 grams of carbs will knock most people out of ketosis.

Instead, most keto whey protein powders use whey protein isolate, which is a highly concentrated form of whey protein. This compound contains only trace amounts of lactose. In many cases, the amount is so low that it’s effectively zero, making these powders 100 percent keto-friendly.

Be careful. While we were doing our research, we found several “keto-friendly” protein powders with 6 or more grams of carbs. Remember, claims like “keto-friendly” aren’t regulated by the FDA, and supplement companies are notorious for making exaggerated our outright false claims. Always read the ingredients to make sure you know what you’re getting.

What Are the Benefits of Keto Protein Powder?

Keto protein powder’s benefits depend on what type of powder you’re taking. To begin with, all protein powders are going to help you build lean muscle. That’s just a given, and it’s the primary reason most people take protein supplements to begin with.

However, the benefits go much further than that. We’ve already discussed the benefits of whey protein in particular. What about other popular keto protein sources?

Casein Protein

Casein protein is a good choice if you’re trying to limit your overall calorie intake. The reason for this is that your body digests it more slowly than other forms of protein, so you’ll feel fuller for longer.

Collagen Protein

Collagen protein is generally derived from cartilage and other connective tissues. Collagen is an important nutrient for joint health, as well as healthy hair and nails. Since natural collagen production slows down as you age, collagen protein is particularly healthy for older people.

Bone Broth Protein

Bone broth protein contains collagen, so it has all the benefits as collagen protein. However, it also has a few additional benefits. In particular, it’s high in glucosamine and chondroitin, which are other essential nutrients for joint health.

Pea and Other Plant-Based Proteins

These proteins aren’t ideal for building muscle, since they don’t contain all the amino acids you need for muscle building. That said, they do provide some nutrients that you won’t get from other forms of protein. One type of plant-based protein you should avoid is soy; it can lead to an overabundance of estrogen, which can cause mood issues and sexual dysfunction in both males and females.

What’s the Best Time to Take Protein Powder?

It depends on what you’re trying to achieve.

For most people, who are taking protein powder for muscle growth, the best time to drink your shake is during the “anabolic window”, which lasts until about 60 minutes after your workout. During this time, your muscles aren’t yet repairing themselves. When you take protein during this period, it will absorb just as your muscles are beginning to repair damaged fibers, which is how you get “shredded”.

If you’re drinking your protein shake as an appetite suppressant, the answer is simple: take it in place of a meal. Most people do this for breakfast or lunch, since dinner is a difficult meal to skip.

How Does Protein Powder Affect Ketosis?

We’ve already discussed the importance of maintaining a proper fat to protein ratio while you’re on your keto diet. So the answer here is fairly straightforward.

Ideally, protein power should have no effect whatsoever on ketosis. If it does, you’re either taking too much, or you’re not eating enough fat. The solution is simple. If your protein powder is knocking you out of ketosis, you have two possible solutions: take less protein, or eat more fat.

The best thing to do is use some ketone test strips to test your ketone levels in the first week of your protein supplement regimen. If you see a steep drop, you have a problem. If not, you’re doing just fine.

Bottom Line

As you can see, the health benefits of protein powder vary widely depending on your metabolism, your diet, your activity level, and what kind of protein you’re ingesting. There’s no one-size-fits-all, “best” ketogenic protein powder, because everyone is different.

The number one thing you need to be concerned about is staying in ketosis. We’ve already beat this horse to death, so we won’t belabor the point beyond saying make sure to eat enough fat.

Beyond that, different people have different needs. Bodybuilders will probably prefer whey protein because it’s the best for building muscle. It’s also a well-established supplement that’s used by plenty of people who aren’t on the keto diet, so you can get lots of good advice from the rest of the bodybuilding community without having to explain that you’re on a casein protein supplement.

People who want hunger suppression will do best with casein protein. It’s like throwing a big, fat log on a campfire – lots of energy that gets released slowly over a period of time.

Collagen and bone broth protein are the best for people who are suffering from joint issues. This is especially true for the elderly.

Finally, pea protein is ideal if you’re concerned about not getting enough plant-based nutrients in your diet. Just be aware that it’s poor at building muscle mass.

We hope our reviews were helpful. We did our best to choose a variety of products, so most people will find something here that works. Even if you didn’t, we hope our FAQ was helpful and informative.