Keto Oreos (Also Vegan-Friendly): How to Make It and Why?

If you anything like me and lost your first tooth scraping the icing of these awesomely addictive cookies, you probably miss them once in a while. But what if I tell you that there’s an absolutely legit version of keto Oreos (that, of course, works for vegans too) and maybe even more than one? So if you won’t like the first of my favorite recipes, you can always try another one? 

Well, you’ve come to the right place, read on, and you’ll learn a lot about these crunchy cookies with the perfect texture that some refer to as “better than original.”

And I always will shed some light on actual Oreos too. I did have a lot of fun while researching the topic, and I can’t wait to share it. 

Are you interested in a particular question about keto Oreos? Then use the table of contents below to jump to the most relevant section. And you can always go back by clicking on the arrow in the right bottom corner of the page. Also, please note that some of the links in this article may be affiliate links. For more details, check the Disclosure section at the bottom of the page. 

What are Oreos, and why do we love them so much?

Let’s start with macros. One Oreo cookie contains 53 calories, including 8.3g of carbs (0.3 g comes from fiber), 2.3g – from fat and 0.3g from protein. 

But have you ever known someone who was able to stop at one pop? 

If you google Oreo for some health risks and benefits, you most likely will end up with tons of articles covering very controversial research from 2013. It claimed that Oreos were as addictive as cocaine. The study can’t be accessed at this time – the page that articles are referring to doesn’t seem to exist anymore.

However, there was a great analysis of that paper published by the Guardian. The journalist was actually trying to read the paper and make some sense out of it. You may read the whole article – it’s long but very entertaining. But not to cut you loose turns out that the researchers didn’t really compare cocaine to Oreos.

Instead, they measured rats’ reactions to giving them either an Oreo or a rice cake on one side of a maze. And then observed changes in animals’ preferences on where to spend their time.

And compared it to another measurement: the behavior of rats injected with a dose of cocaine or morphine on one side and with a neutral saline solution on the other.

So you can’t really say that Oreo is as addictive as cocaine using this data. But we all love sticky soundbites and sensational clickbaits. 

Regardless of what Google and authoritative media had to offer on the subject of Oreo’s sins, I have more data for you. 

So, let’s have a look at these cookies and the list of ingredients in particular (click for the photo of the box). 

Some of the components are unbleached wheat flour, “palm and or canola oil,” sugar, cocoa, high fructose corn syrup, “baking soda and or calcium phosphate,” salt, soy lecithin, chocolate, and artificial flavor. 

I don’t know how you personally feel about it, but my sweet tooth went sour when I read all this.

Any carbohydrate-containing food, including wheat flour, has a tremendous effect on your blood sugar. In essence, it spikes right after you consume it, then crashes and burns, leaving you hungry shortly after your meal.

Also, unbleached wheat can often contain various kinds of pesticides, and I am not sure if we need those in our bodies.

Let’s talk about canola oil. Even though it’s generally considered to be safe, 90% of canola crops grown in the United States are genetically modified. 

To source that sweet lecithin from the soy manufacturers are using chemicals like acetone and hexane (are you still craving for oreo?)

High-fructose corn syrup is an artificial sugar made from corn syrup. And this ingredient alone is one of the major reasons behind the troubling statistics on obesity and diabetes rates in the United States. And in a nutshell, it’s just empty calories that won’t do you any good. 

Can you eat Oreos on keto?

While 8g of net carbs per cookie might not seem like something that will kick you out of ketosis right away. However, even if cut down on carbs from other sources, does it make sense to eat that treat, given the nutritional value and ingredients? Whether you are on keto or not. 

The good news is that after a while of keto, many processed and junk food will taste absolutely disgusting. So you actually might want to take a tiny bite if you still crave it. I am pretty sure you will find the taste chemical, artificial, and sweet to the point that it doesn’t make any sense.

What happened to sugar-free Oreo?

Once upon a time, Nabisco, the manufacturer, launched sugar-free Oreo cookies. However, those surprisingly disappeared. And even thorough googling doesn’t help to establish what has really happened there. 

Even if you look for it on such a huge marketplace like Amazon, the store of everything, listing comes out. Not sure how long it will be there, so I also took the screenshot that you can access here. And it’s definitely not the product we were looking for. 

However, there’s data on ingredients and nutritional value of that supposedly more keto-friendly treat. It has 45 calories and 7g of carbs per cookie (not that much of an improvement if you ask me). It doesn’t use sugar indeed. But it contains acesulfame potassium and sucralose instead. 

I don’t know where you stand with artificial sweeteners. Still, the more I read about it, the more I’m scared that I’ve ever touched some of those (and sucralose in particular).

Not to be too wordy, but apart from the fact that these sweeteners forever messed out our sense of food, there are various health concerns around it.

Besides cancer consumption of diet drinks, for instance, associated with a 67% increased risk for type 2 diabetes and a 36% greater risk for metabolic syndrome. Ironically, those were created to prevent these conditions, not the other way around. 

Long story short, sugar-free Oreos don’t seem to be around much anymore, and you shouldn’t miss them. 

How to make keto Oreos? 

Now we know that Oreos are made of wheat flour. And foxy keto people, along with vegans and other health-conscious individuals, came up with a bunch of substitutes.

E.g., using ingredients like almond flour and xanthan gum for the texture. Making the cream filling using good keto-friendly sweeteners VS sugar can get a bit tricky, but it’s totally doable. 

So here are two recipes of perfect keto Oreos (also vegan friendly!) for you. 

Best vegan keto Oreos 

Keto Oreos with coconut flour

Thanks for the graphics: Canva.com

Disclosure: At vegketodiet.com I only mention the products that I researched and considered worthy. But it’s important to note that we are a participant of several affiliate programs, including but not limited to VigLink and Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, this website earns from qualifying purchases. Also please note that I am not a doctor. As such readers are strongly recommended to make decisions that might affect their health by doing their own research. At vegketodiet.com I only document and describe thoughts, researches and ideas that proved to be working for me.