Keto Grits
Published August 1, 2021 • Updated June 8, 2026
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I make these lupin meal grits when I want real grits texture without the carbs. Creamy, thick, loaded with sharp cheddar and jalapeños, and only 3 g net carbs per serving.
I tried every low carb grits substitute before I landed on lupin meal, and nothing else comes close. Cauliflower grits? I made them at least five times, adjusting ratios each time, and every batch tasted like cheesy cauliflower rice. Not bad on its own, but if you’re expecting grits, it’s a letdown. Lupin meal has a coarse, grainy texture that actually mimics real cornmeal. The first time I stirred a batch together I couldn’t believe how close it was.
I’ve been cooking with this ingredient for years across multiple recipes, and I know how it behaves. It thickens fast once it hits boiling liquid, so stir right away or you’ll get clumps stuck to the bottom. My ratio is 1 cup lupin meal to 2 cups water and 1 cup heavy cream. That gives you thick, creamy grits without being too dense. If you want them thinner, add a splash more water, but don’t skip the cream entirely or the texture goes chalky.
One thing I picked up from a reader: wait a full minute after pulling the pan off heat before adding the cream cheese. I used to stir it in right away and got little white clumps scattered throughout. That extra minute lets the temperature drop just enough for everything to melt smooth. Small detail, but it’s the difference between silky grits and lumpy ones.
The jalapeño and sharp cheddar combo is how I make these most often, but this recipe works as a blank canvas. I tried smoked Gouda after a reader swapped it in, and it’s genuinely better than cheddar for certain moods. More depth, a touch of smokiness that plays off the natural nuttiness. Poblano peppers or roasted hatch chiles are great if you want pepper flavor without the heat. A reader used hatch chiles and said the smokiness the lupin meal picks up from a cast iron is on another level. I believe it, because this base absorbs whatever flavors you cook it with.
For breakfast, I top a bowl with a fried egg and hot sauce, or pair it with mini frittatas for extra protein. I swap mornings between this and keto oatmeal when I want variety. These keto grits work for dinner too. I serve them alongside green beans and bacon or next to shrimp for a proper shrimp and grits situation. The batch makes enough for leftovers, and they reheat well with a splash of cream stirred in.
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Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter -
1 jalapeño, diced (optional)
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1 cup lupin meal
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2 cups water
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1 cup heavy cream
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1 teaspoon salt
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1 oz cream cheese
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2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (optional)
Step by Step Instructions
Step by Step Instructions
Sauté jalapeño
In a large skillet or saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add diced jalapeño and cook until softened (2-3 minutes).
Cook lupin meal
Add lupin meal, water, heavy cream and salt. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, continue cooking for another 5 minutes or until lupin grits have thickened and no longer liquid.
Say cheese grits
Remove from heat. Stir in cream cheese and cheese into the grits until combined.
Nutrition disclaimer
The nutrition information provided is an estimate and is for informational purposes only. I am a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.); however, this content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or other qualified health provider before making any lifestyle changes or beginning a new nutrition program.
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Get My Macros + Recipes →Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use corn extract to make these taste more like real grits?
I've seen this tip floating around and it makes sense. A drop or two of corn extract stirred in at the end would add that authentic corn taste without any extra carbs. The lupin meal already nails the texture, so the extract just fills in the flavor gap. I haven't tested it myself yet, but it's next on my list.
Where can I buy lupin meal?
I buy my lupin meal online. Kaizen is the brand I use most, and it's easy to find on Amazon. Some specialty health food stores carry it too. Make sure you're getting meal, not flour. The flour is ground too fine for grits and will give you a mushy result.
Can I freeze keto grits?
I've frozen batches and they hold up well. I portion them into individual containers before freezing so I can grab one at a time. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, then warm on the stove with a splash of water or cream. They thicken a lot as they cool, so you need that extra liquid to bring them back to the right consistency.
Can I make this recipe dairy-free?
I've made these with coconut cream in place of heavy cream and it works. Use a dairy-free cheese that actually melts (I've had the best luck with Violife cheddar shreds) and skip the cream cheese or swap it for a dairy-free version. The coconut cream adds a subtle sweetness that pairs well with the lupin meal.
How do I store and reheat leftovers?
I keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. They firm up a lot as they cool, which is normal. I reheat on the stove over medium-low heat with a splash of cream or water stirred in until they loosen back up. Microwave works too, but stovetop gives me better control over the consistency.
What can I use instead of jalapeños if I want less heat?
I've used poblano peppers when I want pepper flavor without the bite, and they work great. Diced bell peppers are another option if you want to skip spice entirely. You can also just leave the peppers out and go with plain cheddar grits, which is how my kids prefer them.
What toppings work best with these grits?
My go-to is a fried egg and hot sauce, but these can handle almost anything. I've done crumbled breakfast sausage, bacon bits, sauteed mushrooms, and a dollop of sour cream. For dinner, shrimp with garlic butter on top is the classic combo. I also like pulled pork over a bowl of these when I have leftovers from a weekend cook.
Had no idea lupin meal could do this!! So thick and creamy, it actually scratched that grits craving.
Can I find lupin meal at a regular grocery store or does it have to be online?
That smell when the jalapeño hits the butter is still catching me on batch seven, I stop what I'm doing every time without meaning to. I've learned it thickens up fast once you pull it off heat, faster than I realized the first few times, so now I keep it a little wetter than I think I want and let the cheese do the rest. Annie, the lupin meal texture in this is better than I thought it would be and that's entirely your fault because now I'm hooked. Four stars, would be five but I want three jalapeños in there and I've just been doing it myself.
Three jalapeños is going in the notes. Seven batches in, you've done the testing.
Ha, that's all the validation I needed. Already planning batch eight with smoked jalapeños to see if it holds up.
Serve this under a fried egg. Made my first bowl plain, dropped one on top as a total afterthought, and now I can't eat it any other way. Lupin meal was a complete mystery to me going in, and I spent more time reading the comments than actually cooking, but 3 grams of net carbs was convincing enough. Sharp cheddar, cream cheese, and somehow it all tastes like the kind of thing that should cost fourteen dollars on a weekend brunch menu.
I eat mine with a fried egg almost every time and never thought to put that in the post. Hot sauce too. The fourteen dollar thing is not an exaggeration.
Something finally clicked on batch four. The lupin meal has a faint earthiness that threw me off the first few runs. Salt harder than feels right and go the full two cups of sharp cheddar, that's it. Four stars not five, because the texture is its own thing and you can feel it, but once you stop comparing it to stone-ground you'll stop caring.
Diane, the stop-comparing advice is what I should put at the top of the post. Lupin meal is doing its own thing. And the salt push past what feels right is real, I go heavier than feels safe the first time and it needs all of it.
off heat before the cheese goes in. learned that fast.
I add the cream cheese while the heat is still on, then kill it before the cheddar goes in. Sharp cheddar breaks so fast.
Thick and pulling from the spoon the way real grits do, and I actually set the bowl down for a second just to register it. Wrote grits off year one of keto. This is the one.
That pull is the whole thing. Lupin meal was the only thing I tested that actually nailed it, everything else went gluey or thin. Try it with shrimp and garlic butter on top sometime, Lorraine.
Six batches in and the move nobody's talking about is doubling the cream cheese. I went to 2 oz on batch three just to see what would happen, and the texture jumped from good-but-dense to silky in a way the 1 oz version never quite hit. The lupin meal has more body to it than regular grits, and the extra cream cheese closes that gap. I've also been cracking a fried egg on top right before serving so it's a full breakfast, and honestly the yolk cutting into the cheddar layer is as good as you'd think. The 3g net carbs means I can do this two mornings in a row and not think twice. Batch seven is Saturday.
2 oz is going in the recipe notes. Lupin meal has more texture to smooth out than regular grits, and the extra cream cheese closes that gap. Egg on top is what I do too.
browned the lupin meal dry first. nuttier.
Dry-toasting first, I've done that with coconut flour but never thought to try it here. The nuttiness probably cuts through all that cream and cheddar the same way the jalapeño does.
I almost didn't make this because I had no idea what lupin meal was, and every low-carb grits recipe I've tried before has been a sad, gluey mess. This one is not that. The texture is thick and creamy in a way I wasn't prepared for, and I kept eating past the point where I was full just to make sure I wasn't imagining it. Skipped the jalapeño the first time. That was a mistake I'm correcting this weekend.
The jalapeño is not optional for me. It cuts through all that cream and cheddar. You'll understand this weekend.
My wife grew up in Georgia and is picky about her grits. She had one bite of these and just looked at me like I had some explaining to do. The jalapeño and sharp cheddar come through just right.
Georgia grits standards are no joke. Took a few batches to get the jalapeño and cheddar ratio where I wanted it. That look from her says it worked.
Skipped the jalapeño because heat isn't my thing and crumbled two strips of cooked bacon in at the end instead. Did not expect the bacon fat to basically fuse with the cream cheese and cheddar the way it did, but the whole thing got SO much richer and smokier. One thing I wish someone had told me: keep whisking the lupin meal constantly when it first goes in with the water and cream. I didn't on my first try and ended up with clumps before I figured out what was happening. Second time came out smooth and thick the way it looks in the photos. This is going into the weekend breakfast rotation for sure. Docking one star for the clumping, but that was 100% on me.
Bacon fat into cream cheese and cheddar is basically three layers of smokiness hitting at once. Makes sense it gets richer. And yeah, that whisking tip should probably be louder in the recipe notes - lupin meal clumps the second you stop moving it.
Brought these to a neighborhood cookout and watched my neighbor (who grew up in Georgia and makes grits from scratch) eat two bowls without asking a single question. That silence was louder than any compliment. She finally said the jalapeño hit was 'exactly right' and I kind of blacked out from excitement. Lupin meal textures out way closer to real grits than I expected when I first made them, and she confirmed it without even knowing she was eating something different.
Two bowls, no questions, from someone who grew up making them from scratch. And 'exactly right' on the jalapeño from a Georgian. Yeah, I'll take that.
Tried this with chicken broth instead of water and it changed everything. The lupin meal absorbs the broth and picks up this savory, almost porridge-like depth that plain water just can't give you. I also skipped the jalapeño and rendered some pancetta down in the pan first, then built the butter and lupin meal into the leftover fat. The result was richer than anything I expected from a breakfast side. Four stars because I'm still dialing in the broth-to-cream ratio (went a little heavy on broth the first time and it took way longer to thicken), but once I landed on 1.5 cups broth and 1 cup cream, it locked in completely. The sharp cheddar at the end pulls the whole thing together in a way I keep thinking about two days later. This is going on the Sunday rotation.
Pancetta fat as the base is a good call. I've done bacon drippings before but never pancetta specifically. Saving that 1.5/1 ratio.
I make a double batch Sunday nights and portion it for the week. One thing I figured out the hard way: they thicken up a lot in the fridge, so when reheating on the stovetop, add a splash of heavy cream and stir low and slow or they get gluey. Two to three tablespoons usually does it. Also worth keeping the jalapeño in even if you're on the fence - by day two they mellow out completely and you'd never know they were there.
Low and slow is what saves them. I've rushed it before and yeah, instant clumps. Two tablespoons is my number too.