The lowest-carb chips you can find are pork rinds and cheese crisps, both of which contain 0 to 1 gram of carbohydrates per serving. Beyond those, several commercial and homemade options keep you under 5 grams of net carbs, which is the general threshold for a snack to fit comfortably into a low-carb or keto diet.
Zero-Carb Options: Pork Rinds and Cheese Crisps
Pork rinds are the closest thing to a traditional chip with virtually no carbohydrates. A six-piece serving (about 14 grams) has 0 grams of carbs, 9 grams of protein, and 5 grams of fat. That protein count is surprisingly high for a crunchy snack, and the texture genuinely mimics a chip. Plain versions are your safest bet. Flavored varieties sometimes add small amounts of sugar or starch in the seasoning, so check the label if you’re strict about tracking.
Parmesan crisps are the other near-zero option. A serving contains about 1 gram of carbohydrates alongside 10 grams of protein and 7 grams of fat. You can buy them pre-made or bake small mounds of shredded parmesan at home until they’re golden and crispy. Other hard cheeses like cheddar and asiago work too, though parmesan tends to crisp up the best. These pair well with dips where you’d normally use crackers or tortilla chips.
High-Protein Chip Alternatives
Quest’s tortilla-style protein chips are one of the more popular packaged options. A single bag (32 grams) has 5 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, and 18 grams of protein. That ratio of roughly 4 net carbs to 18 grams of protein is hard to beat in a shelf-stable snack. Several other brands make similar baked protein chips from whey or milk protein isolates, and most land in the 3 to 5 gram net carb range per serving.
The texture of protein chips is different from regular tortilla chips. They’re lighter, crunchier, and slightly dry. They work best with a salsa or guacamole rather than eaten plain.
Watch Out for “Healthy” Chips That Aren’t Low-Carb
Not every chip marketed as a better-for-you option is actually low in carbs. Nut-based crackers are a good example. Blue Diamond’s Nut-Thins with flax seeds sound like they’d be low-carb because they’re made with almonds, but a 13-cracker serving has 22 grams of total carbohydrates and only 2 grams of fiber, leaving you with 20 net carbs. That’s comparable to regular chips. The rice flour in the ingredient list is the culprit. Any chip that lists rice flour, tapioca starch, or potato starch as a primary ingredient will be high in carbs regardless of what else is in it.
Veggie chips made from beets, sweet potatoes, or taro are another trap. They sound virtuous, but these are starchy root vegetables. Most veggie chip brands land between 15 and 20 grams of carbs per serving.
How to Read Labels for Hidden Carbs
Some products marketed as “keto” or “low-carb” use ingredients that spike blood sugar more than their carb counts suggest. Maltodextrin is the biggest offender. It’s a filler and thickener found in many processed snacks, and it has a glycemic index of 110, which is actually higher than table sugar. If you see it near the top of an ingredient list, that product will hit your blood sugar hard regardless of what the carb count says.
Sugar alcohols require different math. When a label lists sugar alcohols like erythritol or sorbitol, your body only partially absorbs them. The standard approach, recommended by UCSF’s diabetes education program, is to subtract half the grams of sugar alcohol from the total carbohydrate count. So a chip with 10 grams of total carbs and 6 grams of sugar alcohols would count as 7 net carbs (10 minus 3). For fiber, you subtract the full amount: total carbs minus fiber minus half of sugar alcohols gives you the most accurate net carb number.
Homemade Low-Carb Chips
Making chips at home gives you complete control over carb counts and lets you skip the fillers found in packaged products. The simplest options are sliced zucchini, radishes, or jicama baked or air-fried until crispy. All three vegetables are naturally very low in carbs, with zucchini and radishes coming in under 2 grams of net carbs per cup when raw.
Air frying is the better method if you have the equipment. Air-fried foods can contain up to 80% less fat than deep-fried versions, and the shorter cooking time preserves more heat-sensitive nutrients like vitamin C and B vitamins. Air frying also produces less acrylamide, a potentially harmful compound that forms when starchy foods hit high temperatures. A light spray of avocado oil and a generous dusting of salt is all you need.
Flaxseed crackers are another solid homemade option. Mix ground flaxseed with water, spread it thin on a baking sheet, score it into chip-sized pieces, and bake at a low temperature until crisp. Flaxseed is almost entirely fiber and fat, so the net carb count stays very low. You can add garlic powder, onion powder, or everything-bagel seasoning to the mix before baking.
Quick Comparison by Net Carbs Per Serving
- Pork rinds: 0 grams
- Parmesan crisps: 1 gram
- Homemade flaxseed crackers: 1 to 2 grams
- Quest protein chips: 4 grams
- Sliced zucchini or radish chips (air-fried): 2 to 3 grams
- Blue Diamond Nut-Thins (not low-carb): 20 grams
- Standard potato chips (for reference): 15 grams
If your goal is to stay under 5 grams of net carbs per snack, your best bets are pork rinds, cheese crisps, homemade vegetable chips, and protein-based packaged chips. Anything with rice flour, potato starch, or root vegetables as a base ingredient will put you in the same carb range as regular chips, no matter how the packaging is designed.