There’s no need to banish bread from your life if you follow a carb-controlled diet or are trying to limit carby foods to peel off pounds. Try one of these best low-carb bread options to enjoy everything you love about bread (PB&J, avocado toast, or grilled cheese, anyone?) —minus some of the carbs and calories.
Bread aisles are overflowing with “gluten-free,” “grain-free,” and “keto” slices, buns, bagels, pitas, and pockets. However, many are pumped with fat, calories, and lots of suspect ingredients. The result is often a bread alternative that lacks the taste and texture of a regular loaf. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to find a lower-carb bread that isn’t made with protein or wheat isolates, nut flours, or loads of fat and added sugars.
When it comes to worrying about carbs and weight loss, it’s important to remember that bread alone isn’t what contributes to weight gain. Your weight woes stem from eating more calories than you burn—not carbohydrates, per se. If your goal is to reduce the carbs in your diet to manage blood sugar or other reasons, the best low-carb breads are great options to enjoy instead of a traditional slice. Then, for more help finding food options with fewer carbohydrates, check out these 16 Low-Carb Fast-Food Orders, According to Dietitians.
How to buy the best low-carb bread
Here are 7 best low-carb breads you can find at your local supermarket or natural foods store.
This bread is packed with nutritional all-stars, including wheat, barley, millet, spelt, legumes, and beans. Together, they bake up into a delicious and wholesome high-fiber, high-protein loaf.
The 7 best low-carb bread brands you can buy:
One of the easiest ways to enjoy bread while keeping carbs in check is to look for thin-sliced options. This bread is a great option because the first ingredient is organic whole wheat, and it is made with five different seeds.
This organic bread is made with whole wheat flour, wheat gluten, and wheat bran. What’s more, the bread maker uses a solar-powered bakery for environmental benefits.
If you want healthy, low-carb bread, look for the European breads in your supermarket. This German whole-grain bread is dense and filling, thanks to the whole grain rye, walnut, and soy protein. It has more than twice as much protein and significantly fewer carbohydrates than a traditional US-baked breads.
This bread keeps carbs and calories lower than most because the main ingredients are resistant starch and wheat gluten. We liked that it’s made with seeds to increase the protein and fiber for a filling slice.
Choosing a traditional Nordic-style crispbread that is a staple in Sweden and Finland is a great alternative to bread. Crispbreads are like a cross between bread and a cracker. WASA is a Swedish style crispbread and the carbs and calories in a slice is about half of what you’ll find in a slice of regular wheat bread. I enjoy healthy open-faced sandwiches with crispbreads all the time.
This is the Finnish cousin to WASA crispbreads. These crispbreads have just five ingredients—whole grain rye, flour, water, salt, and yeast—making them one of the more naturally delicious and wholesome low-carb bread alternatives.
