I’ve always loved going to Starbucks for my coffee fix, and that hasn’t changed since I started a keto diet. Lucky for us, that are many great keto friendly Starbucks drink options that are healthy, low carb, and sugar free!
The abundance of keto drinks you can get at Starbucks has been a lifesaver whenever I’m traveling or on the road — there’s always a good chance there’s a Starbucks or similar coffee shop nearby where I can order my usual low carb drinks.
In this guide, I list some examples of keto Starbucks drinks as well as how to customize and order your favorite drink to make it keto friendly. Note that most people on a strict keto diet try to stay below 20g net carbs a day (net carbs is calculated as total carbs minus fiber) so a reasonable keto drink should be under 5g net carbs.
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Examples of keto drinks at starbucks
There are many different low carb drinks that you can get at Starbucks with the right substitutions. Here are some examples to get you started with ideas, but check out the next section below to see how you can customize your favorite drink to make it keto friendly.
Some possible Starbucks keto drinks:
- Frappuccino with sugar free cinnamon dolce syrup and almond milk
- Latte with sugar free vanilla syrup and almond milk
- Americano with heavy cream and sugar free vanilla syrup
- Mocha with skinny mocha sauce and almond milk
- Flat white with almond milk
- Brewed coffee with heavy whipping cream
- Iced coffee unsweetened with almond milk or heavy cream
- Iced passion tango tea unsweetened with coconut milk
- London fog tea latte unsweetened with almond milk
- Chai tea latte with heavy whipping cream and sugar free cinnamon dolce syrup
There are a ton of options and the examples above only scrape the surface of what you can order. Keep reading to learn how to customize your favorite drink to make it lower in carbs and keto friendly.
How to order a keto drink at starbucks
You can order any of the drinks I mentioned in the previous section, or you can build your own custom drink by following these steps:
(1) Pick a type of drink
The first step is to decide which type of drink you want. Here are your usual options at Starbucks:
- Espresso drinks, including lattes, mochas, macchiatos, cappuccinos, and americanos
- Brewed coffee
- Iced coffee and cold brew
- Frappuccino blended beverages
- Iced teas and hot teas, including tea lattes
Coffee by itself has little to no carbs. It’s the added cream and sweeteners that are responsible for the majority of carbohydrates in a coffee drink. So don’t worry too much when picking from the list above — just pick your favorite!
Whichever option you choose, you can also ask for a decaf version at Starbucks, even for frappuccinos.
(2) Pick a drink size
The next step is to select the size of the drink. Starbucks offers these drink sizes:
- Short (8 fl. oz.)
- Tall (12 fl. oz.)
- Grande (16 fl. oz.)
- Venti Hot (20 fl. oz.)
- Venti Cold (24 fl. oz.)
The larger your drink, the more carbs it will generally have, so I suggest picking one of the smaller sizes — not a Venti.
(3) Substitute with a keto friendly milk
Whole milk (11.7g net carbs per cup) and skim milk (12.2g net carbs per cup) are not recommended on a keto diet because they have a lot of carbs. Instead, use either of these:
- almond milk (1.5g net carbs per cup)
- heavy whipping cream (6.5g net carbs per cup)
I recommend almond milk because it has very few carbs, although heavy cream is a good option if you only plan to add 1 or 2 tablespoons to your coffee. People are often surprised to hear that heavy cream has carbs, and you can learn more about it here.
I don’t recommend half-and-half, which has 11.5g net carbs per cup — that’s more than heavy whipping cream. I also don’t recommend coconut milk or soy milk, as almond milk has significantly fewer carbs in comparison.
(4) Substitute with a keto friendly syrup
This usually means substituting with a sugar free or “skinny” syrup. Here are your options at Starbucks:
- Sugar free vanilla syrup
- Sugar free cinnamon dolce syrup
- Skinny mocha sauce
I’ve asked for these sugar free syrups at different Starbucks locations across the US and they were always available. Note that these sugar free syrups are made with sucralose. Not my favorite keto sweetener (that would be erythritol), but that’s all they offer.
(5) Add keto friendly toppings
Here are some low carb toppings that you can add to your drink:
- whipped cream (1g net carbs)
- mocha drizzle (1g net carbs)
- protein and fiber powder (0g net carbs)
And that’s it! One handy way to remember your favorite drink is to use the Starbucks app. Download it and under the “Order” section, you can add customized keto drinks to your Favorites section, which is very convenient for remembering what to order.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I find nutrition info for Starbucks drinks?
For most drinks, Starbucks’ website only provides nutrition information for the standard version and not for the myriad of substitutions you can make. Check out Starbucks’ nutrition search — you can select your beverage and pull up a table with nutrition information. There are options at the top to select size and milk substitutions.
Remember that you should be looking at net carbs not total carbs. To calculate net carbs, take the total carbs and subtract fiber. For example, a short caffe latte with almond milk has 5g total carbs and 1g fiber so it has 4g net carbs.
How can I make some keto drinks at home?
Great idea! Save your money (and carbs) and make your own at home. Here are two of my favorite homemade low carb drinks:
- London Fog Drink – uses almond milk and a low carb sweetener
- Low Carb Hot Chocolate – uses almond milk, heavy whipping cream, and cocoa powder
What’s the healthiest thing to get at Starbucks?
The healthiest drink that’s lowest in carbs would be brewed coffee or unsweetened tea with a dash of heavy whipping cream or almond milk. Americano and flat white drinks are also very low carb.
Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions and what your favorite Starbucks drinks are!
So the almond milk at Starbucks is actually NOT unsweetened. Sugar is the second ingredient, according to the Starbucks website: https://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/kids-drinks-and-other/milk#size=17&milk=2121965
Looking at it’s nutrient list, it’s about .5 net carbs/oz (or 4 net carbs/cup).
Still a better option than regular milk or any other non-dairy milk at Starbucks.
Thanks for pointing that out, Liz. I wish they would provide an option for unsweetened plain almond milk.
I meant to say i stay under 20g carbs a day and have my drink double blended for that frappe texture. Thank you.
Ive been doing keto for about a month now and have been craving starbucks. So after an article i read stating this drink is 2g carbs i was super excited. I ordered a venti unsweetened iced coffee, 2 sugar free vanilla pumps, 2 sugar free cinnamon dolce pumps and i skipped the milk and added heavy cream instead. I stay under about 20g carbs today and because i was skeptical i checked my ketones and was surprised to still be in ketosis. So is the 2 carbs accurate for this drink?
Hi Sarah! That sounds pretty accurate to me. From your description, I think the only thing with carbs in your drink is the heavy cream, where 1 tablespoon has 0.4 g carbs.
You need to be very careful when ordering some of their drinks. I had been ordering sugar free frappes only to find out later that they use a base for the frappes that are loaded with sugar.
Good point! These days I’ve been making my own coffee drinks just so I know 100% of what’s going into them.
I love my chia tea latte. How would I order this for the keto diet?
Ask for unsweetened almond milk instead of regular milk. Also ask if they add any kind of sweetener; if they do, tell them to skip it (and use a packet of your favorite sweetener to use) or tell them to replace with a sugar free version. Everything else in the drink is already keto friendly — like black tea, cinnamon, cloves, spices.
The Chai tea latte at Starbucks comes from a pre-sugared mix. So there’s no way to get a true low-carb Chai latte from Starbucks. The best option is to order a plain “Chai tea steamed with almond milk” and add Splenda or another sweetener. But it definitely doesn’t taste the same to me.
Could I do a mocha frappeccino with almond milk, skinny mocha syrup, espresso and ice, with no whip? Any idea what net carbs would be or how I should order it?
Hi Andrea, you would order it exactly how you just described it. The only things that count towards net carbs would be almond milk (about 1g net carbs per cup used) and possibly their skinny mocha syrup. The amount of almond milk used would be dependent upon the size of the drink you order.
What about adding dates as sweetener to your drink or smoothie
Hi Mariam! Avoid adding dates to sweeten your drink. Dates have a lot of sugar so they’re not any better. I suggest using one of the sugar free syrups mentioned in this article, like vanilla or cinnamon dolce.
Just starting a keto diet, and this is so helpful to me!!
That’s so wonderful to hear, Kathy! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
my favorite is a ff caramel macchiato what would you recommend for this one?
Starbucks doesn’t have a sugar free caramel syrup, but you could try ordering a macchiato where you ask for almond milk (instead of whole milk) and either sugar free vanilla syrup or cinnamon dolce syrup (instead of caramel syrup).