A single medium green kiwi (about 70 grams of flesh) contains roughly 10 grams of total carbohydrates and about 8 grams of net carbs after subtracting fiber. That makes it one of the lower-carb fruits you can reach for, sitting well below a medium banana (27g total carbs) or apple (25g total carbs).
Full Carb Breakdown per Serving
Per 100 grams of peeled green kiwifruit, the numbers look like this:
- Total carbohydrates: 13.8g
- Dietary fiber: 2.1g
- Net carbs: 11.7g
Most people eat one medium kiwi at a time, which yields roughly 70 grams of edible flesh once peeled. Scale those numbers down and you get about 9.7g total carbs, 1.5g fiber, and 8.2g net carbs per fruit. If you slice up a full cup (about 180 grams), you’re looking at roughly 25g total carbs and 21g net carbs.
What Kind of Sugar Is in a Kiwi?
The sugars in kiwifruit are split almost evenly between fructose and glucose, with very little sucrose. In a one-cup serving (180g), there are about 7.8 grams of fructose, 7.4 grams of glucose, and just 0.27 grams of sucrose. This balance of simple sugars, combined with the fruit’s fiber and water content, means kiwi doesn’t hit your bloodstream the way a sugary snack does.
Kiwifruit has a glycemic index of about 52, which falls in the moderate range. For context, anything below 55 is considered low-to-moderate, meaning a single kiwi produces a relatively gentle rise in blood sugar compared to tropical fruits like pineapple or watermelon.
The Fiber Advantage
Kiwi’s fiber content is more interesting than the number alone suggests. The fruit contains roughly equal parts soluble and insoluble fiber, which is unusual. Most fruits lean heavily toward one type or the other. Soluble fiber slows sugar absorption and feeds beneficial gut bacteria, while insoluble fiber supports digestion and regularity. Getting both in a single small fruit is a genuine nutritional perk.
If you eat the skin (which is safe and surprisingly mild once you get past the fuzz), you boost the fiber content by about 50%. A skin-on green kiwi delivers around 3.5 grams of fiber versus roughly 2.1 grams without it. That extra fiber also lowers the effective net carbs, since fiber passes through your system undigested. For anyone counting carbs, eating the skin gives you more food volume and satiety for fewer net carbs per bite.
How Kiwi Fits a Low-Carb Diet
With about 8 net carbs per fruit, a single kiwi can fit into most low-carb eating plans without much trouble. On a standard low-carb diet (under 100g net carbs per day), it’s a non-issue. On a stricter keto plan targeting 20 to 50 net carbs daily, one kiwi takes up a meaningful chunk of your budget, but it’s still workable if you plan around it.
Compared to other common fruits, kiwi lands in a favorable spot. Berries like strawberries and raspberries are slightly lower in net carbs per serving, but kiwi beats out grapes, bananas, mangoes, and cherries by a wide margin. It also packs a dense nutrient profile for its size: a single fruit delivers more than your full daily vitamin C requirement, along with vitamin K, potassium, and folate.
Green vs. Gold Kiwi
Gold (or yellow) kiwifruit tends to be slightly sweeter and contains marginally more sugar than the green variety, though the difference is small. The fiber content is also a touch lower. A skin-on gold kiwi has about 3 grams of fiber compared to 3.5 grams for green. If you’re choosing between the two purely on carb count, green has a slight edge, but the gap isn’t large enough to matter for most people.