Are Tomatoes Keto-Friendly | First thing you should know that if you are following a keto diet that only high fat and low carbs are good. High in carbs and sugar are the enemies of a keto diet. So you should avoid everything that contains high carbs. 

Fruits are generally healthy for your health, but when it comes to keto diet most of the fruit is not keto-friendly like mango, banana and many more.

Everyone treats tomatoes as a vegetable, but it is technically a fruit cause of fructose. So may this question arise in your mind many times that tomatoes are keto-friendly or not? Or we can eat tomatoes on a keto diet or not? or what is keto tomato?

First, you should take a quick trip to what is a keto diet?

A ketogenic diet is a very‌ ‌low carb and high-fat diet. In a typical ketogenic diet, you can eat up to 50 g (5-10%) carbs, 60 g protein (20%) and the rest of the fat (75%). 

This percentage is in terms of total calories (2000) from food.

This will force your body to switch to ketosis and the body will burn fat for energy instead of carbs.

The bottom line is you have to restrict carbs intake to stay in ketosis, no matter what you eat.

For more detail about ketogenic diet click here.

So lets back to move our question.

Are tomatoes keto?

Yes, tomatoes are keto-friendly (ketogenic), According to USDA Food Composition Databases, a standard tomato contains 4 g carbohydrates per 100 g [1]. There is only 3-4 medium size tomato per 100 g. So, you should eat an only 3-4 tomato in a keto diet.

But you should remember that carbs count can vary a little bit type of tomato you are eating.

If you are thinking about quitting tomatoes you should not do that cause of it contain little cubes and almost no fat. 

A ketogenic diet is a carbs restricted diet, it doesn’t mean that the ketogenic diet is zero carbs diet. 

You should consider tomatoes in your keto diet because tomatoes contain low sugar, more fiber and more than that it contains nutrients that you may be lacking on a keto diet.

Tomato ingredients

  • Water 94
  • Protein 0.88
  • Fat 0.20
  • Carbohydrates 3.9
  • Fiber 1.2
  • Total sugars 2.6

Source USDA Food Composition Databases

You can eat tomatoes with some coconut oil, peppers, and salt.

Tomatoes contain fewer carbs than green beans, broccoli, kale, cabbage, etc. now you can understand how many things you should quit if you are thinking about to quit tomatoes in a keto diet.

Types of tomatoes for a keto diet

1. Cherry tomatoes – cherry tomatoes contain carbs and nutrition similar to standard tomatoes. So cherry tomatoes are keto tomatoes.

2. Grape tomatoes – These contain lower water content and more fructose. It contains 6 g carbohydrates [2]. You can eat grape tomato as long as you are not crossing daily carb intake in your standard keto diet.

3. Kumato Tomatoes – They contain 4g of carbs per 100 g so it can be a good option for a keto diet.

4. Roma tomato –  you can Roma tomatoes on a ketogenic diet if you are eating sparingly. One thick slice of it contains almost 1 g carbs. One serving of Roma tomatoes contains 7g carbs. Roma tomatoes are not a keto-friendly tomato.

5. Campari Tomatoes – it contains 4 g of carbs count per 100 g (2 tomatoes) so keep counting if you are eating when you are on the keto diet. Campari tomato contains carbs similar to a standard tomato.

6. Beefsteak Tomatoes – you should avoid Beefsteak Tomatoes during a keto diet. One medium-size tomato can contain 5 g carbs. Beefsteak tomato contains carbs similar to Roma tomato. Avoid Beefsteak and Tomato in a keto diet.

How can you use tomato in a keto diet?
  • Low carbs roasted tomato
  • Salad  and slices
  • Sauce
  • Tomato juice

you can eat tomato as long as its water content high. Any form of tomato that contains low water content, you should avoid in a keto diet.

Source click here

Form of tomatoes you should avoid

You should avoid all forms of tomato that contain very low water content. Water content low means high in carbs, which is restricted.

1. Tomato powder

You should not eat tomato powder in a keto diet. Tomato powder contains 75% carbs. According to US Food Composition Database tomatoes, powder contains 74.6 g carbs and total 13 g protein. 

If you eat too much powder, your body will be no longer in ketosis. Or you can spoil your keto diet completely.

2. Sun-dried tomato

Sun-dried tomato contains very low or no water content. Due to this only carbs, fiber and protein content.

Sun-dried tomato contains 213 calories and these calories come from 14.1 g protein, 12.3 g fiber, and 56 g carbohydrates. [3]

So if you are eating sun-dried tomatoes in the keto diet, then keep counting on how much you have eaten.

Benefits of Tomatoes  

Tomatoes have a number of health benefits because it is the major source of antioxidants lycopene and also rich in vitamin A, C, K, etc.

1. Heart health

Tomatoes have several health benefits. They are rich in vitamins A, K, C, and potassium.

Tomatoes are good for your heart health. 

A study in men linked low blood levels of lycopene to increased heart attacks and strokes. [4]

Lycopene serum can decrease the risk of stroke and tomato are the best source of lycopene.[5

2. Skin protection

Tomato is also very beneficial for skin health.

Tomato is rich in lycopene, vitamin A and C which can protect your skin from sunburn. [6]

3. Protection against  cancer

In several studies shows that high lycopene can protect from several cancers such as prostate cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer, etc. [7]


You can eat tomatoes in the ketogenic diet but you should always count how much you have eaten. Generally, tomato contains 4 to 7 g of carbs and You can easily pass the maximum limit. 

But you should quit tomato in keto-diet because it contains nutrients which might be difficult to find while following a ketogenic diet.


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