High Protein Low Carb Snacks: Ten Options in Grams

A high protein low carb snack has at least 10 g of protein, no more than 8 g of carbs and under 200 kcal. Ten snacks clear that line in USDA records, from a can of tuna to two hard-boiled eggs. One 107 g can of light tuna gives 20.3 g of protein and almost no carbs for 96 kcal. Those three limits are mine. Change them if your day looks different.

What makes a snack high protein and low carb?

Snacks have no official definition, so I chose three limits and tested each against a daily number. Ten grams of protein is roughly a tenth of a day’s goal. The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines put that goal at 1.2–1.6 g per kilogram of body weight, or 84–112 g for a 70 kg adult. Eight grams of carbs keeps two snacks under 16 g. That leaves most of a 130 g day for meals, if you follow the low carbohydrate line from a 2021 BMJ review. And 200 kcal keeps a snack a snack.

The line is for people who already eat this way. Carbs in a snack are fine, and nothing here says you need a low carb one. It’s a way to pick one. Setting up a whole day around it is a different job, covered in high protein low carb diet.

Which snacks clear the line?

Fish, dairy, eggs, lean meat and tofu. The table gives ten snacks, such as sardines, in a realistic portion, sorted by protein per 100 kcal. I picked the gram weights for the turkey, the parmesan and the mozzarella. The rest come from the records.

Snack (state)	Portion	Protein	Carbs	Fiber	Energy	Protein per 100 kcal
Tuna, light, canned in water, drained	1 can (107 g)	20.3 g	0.1 g	0.0 g	96 kcal	21.1 g
Shrimp, cooked	3 oz (85 g)	20.4 g	0.2 g	0.0 g	84 kcal	24.2 g
Greek yogurt, plain, nonfat	1 container (156 g)	16.1 g	5.7 g	0.0 g	95 kcal	16.9 g
Turkey breast, sliced, prepackaged	7 slices (112 g)	16.6 g	2.5 g	0.0 g	119 kcal	14.0 g
Cottage cheese, 2% fat	half a cup (110 g)	12.1 g	4.7 g	0.0 g	92 kcal	13.1 g
Tofu, firm, raw	100 g	17.3 g	2.8 g	2.3 g	144 kcal	12.0 g
Sardines, canned in oil, drained	1 can (92 g)	22.7 g	0.0 g	0.0 g	191 kcal	11.8 g
Parmesan, hard	28 g	10.0 g	0.9 g	0.0 g	110 kcal	9.1 g
Egg, hard-boiled	2 large (100 g)	12.6 g	1.1 g	0.0 g	155 kcal	8.1 g
Mozzarella, low moisture, part-skim	57 g	13.5 g	2.5 g	0.0 g	170 kcal	8.0 g

Shrimp and tuna lead on protein for the calories, while hard cheese and eggs bring the most energy for their protein. Greek yogurt and cottage cheese sit close to the carb limit, at 5.7 g and 4.7 g. Keep them plain. They’re already near the limit. Sardines are the heaviest snack at 191 kcal, but they also have the most protein of the ten, 22.7 g. Seventeen foods ranked per 100 g are in high protein low carb foods.

Tuna and canned fish travel well. Yogurt and cottage cheese need a fridge. Pick the one you’ll have on hand at 4 p.m. Vegetarians are covered: yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs and tofu all clear the line, and high protein vegetarian meals builds full plates from foods like them.

What about nuts, seeds and jerky?

At a normal portion each of them misses the line, on protein or on carbs. The table also asks a second question: how much do you need for 10 g of protein, and what comes along with it?

Snack	Normal portion	Protein	Carbs	Weight for 10 g of protein	Carbs at that weight	Energy at that weight
Edamame, frozen, prepared	100 g	11.9 g	8.9 g	84 g	7.5 g	102 kcal
Beef jerky, chopped and formed	28 g (1 oz)	9.3 g	3.1 g	30 g	3.3 g	123 kcal
Cheddar	30 g	7.0 g	0.7 g	43 g	1.0 g	175 kcal
Hemp seeds, hulled	30 g	9.5 g	2.6 g	32 g	2.7 g	175 kcal
Pumpkin seeds, raw	28 g	8.4 g	5.2 g	33 g	6.2 g	172 kcal
Almonds	28 g (1 oz)	5.9 g	6.0 g	47 g	10.2 g	274 kcal

Edamame fails on carbs, at 8.9 g, though 5.2 g of that is fiber. Close. Jerky fails on protein, at 9.3 g in an ounce. Hemp seeds are the nut-and-seed winner: 32 g gives 10 g of protein, 2.7 g of carbs and 175 kcal. Almonds are the weakest at 47 g, which brings 10.2 g of carbs and 274 kcal.

So nuts and seeds can reach 10 g, but you pay in calories. A small handful works as a topping for yogurt. It isn’t a snack of its own.

Jerky needs a second look. The USDA record is a generic one, and it lists 11.0 g of carbs per 100 g, which is 3.1 g in an ounce. Products aren’t generic, though. The Dietary Guidelines advise meat with no or limited added sugars, refined carbohydrates or chemical additives. Read the label of the pack you buy.

How do I combine foods into a better snack?

Pair one protein food with one small extra. The table sums four combos, each built from USDA records such as parmesan and hemp seeds.

Snack	What goes in	Protein	Carbs	Energy
Cottage cheese with pumpkin seeds	100 g cottage cheese, 15 g pumpkin seeds	15.5 g	7.1 g	161 kcal
Greek yogurt with hemp seeds	150 g yogurt, 15 g hemp seeds	20.2 g	6.8 g	174 kcal
Tuna on cucumber	1 can of tuna, 100 g cucumber, a teaspoon of olive oil	21.0 g	3.7 g	151 kcal
Eggs with parmesan	2 hard-boiled eggs, 10 g parmesan	16.2 g	1.4 g	194 kcal

All four clear it. The cottage cheese and seeds snack has 7.1 g of carbs, the most of the four. The eggs with parmesan have 1.4 g, the least. Tuna on cucumber is my pick for a desk drawer. One can, a few cucumber slices, a minute.

Who should be careful with these snacks?

If you have kidney problems, check your protein with a doctor before eating many of these. Pregnancy, breastfeeding and anyone under 18 are outside this guide. If you take medicine that lowers blood sugar, check with your doctor before cutting carbs, since what you need from that medicine can change. Parmesan and packaged turkey carry 1,175 and 898 mg of sodium per 100 g in their USDA records. Check the label if salt matters to you.

For everyone else, pick two snacks from the first table this week. Weigh them once. Then write down the protein and the carbs from the record, so the next choice takes seconds. When a snack won’t hold you, high protein low carb meals has six plates with 30 g of protein or more.

To split your own day into protein, fat and carbs, use the macro calculator. It sets protein from your weight in the 1.2–1.6 g/kg range and leaves the rest of the calories to fat and carbs.

Calsa scans the barcode of packaged snacks such as jerky or cheese sticks and shows their carbs and fiber next to the protein.