Carnivore Diet Snacks: What to Pack When It's All Meat

Carnivore diet snacks are foods made only from animal products that need no cooking: dried beef such as biltong, meat sticks, hard-boiled eggs, pork rinds, tinned fish and, if you eat dairy, hard cheese. The work is in the label, because most packaged meat snacks add sugar, soy or starch.

The diet is simple. The snack aisle is not.

• What counts as a carnivore diet snack?
• Carnivore diet snacks you can buy
• How to read a meat snack label
• Where biltong fits
• Questions people ask

What counts as a carnivore diet snack?

A carnivore diet snack is any ready-to-eat food where every ingredient comes from an animal, plus salt. People draw the line in different places. Some allow spices, vinegar and coffee. Some eat beef, salt and water and nothing else. Decide which one you are before you shop, because it changes which bags pass.

Carnivore diet snacks you can buy

• Biltong. Whole-muscle beef cured in vinegar and salt, then air-dried. It is never cooked and traditional recipes use no sugar. What biltong is.
• Droëwors and meat sticks. Dried beef sausage. Check the casing, the binder and the sweetener. Our guide to sugar-free meat sticks shows what the label hides.
• Beef jerky. Fine when it is only beef and salt. Most is marinated in sugar and soy sauce, so read it first. See zero sugar beef jerky.
• Hard-boiled eggs. Cheap, filling, and they need a cooler.
• Pork rinds. Pork skin and salt. Flavored versions often add sugar and maltodextrin.
• Tinned fish. Sardines or mackerel in water or their own oil. Skip the ones packed in seed oil if you avoid it.
• Hard cheese. Only if dairy is on your list.

How to read a meat snack label

Turn the bag over and read the ingredient list before the front panel. On a carnivore diet these are the lines that usually disqualify a snack:

• Sugar under another name: dextrose, brown sugar, honey, corn syrup solids, cane juice, maltodextrin.
• Soy and wheat: soy sauce, hydrolyzed soy protein, teriyaki.
• Fillers and binders: starch, rice flour, pea protein.
• Seed oils: common in flavored pork rinds and tinned fish.

A short list is the best sign. If you need a chemistry degree, put it back.

Where biltong fits in carnivore diet snacks

Biltong is beef first and almost only beef. The Classic from Billi Tong's lists beef, salt, pepper, coriander, Worcestershire sauce and white vinegar, and it contains fish (anchovies) from the Worcestershire sauce. If you allow spices and vinegar, that fits. If you eat beef and salt only, the spices and the sauce are outside your rules, and you should know that before you buy. Full ingredients and the nutrition panel are on the bag.

More on this in biltong on the carnivore diet and is biltong keto?

Carnivore diet snacks: questions people ask

What snacks can you eat on the carnivore diet?
You can eat any ready-to-eat animal food: biltong, plain jerky, meat sticks without sugar or fillers, hard-boiled eggs, pork rinds, tinned fish and hard cheese if you include dairy.

Is beef jerky a carnivore snack?
Beef jerky is a carnivore snack only when the ingredients are beef and salt. Most jerky is marinated in sugar and soy sauce, which puts it outside the diet.

Is biltong allowed on the carnivore diet?
Biltong is allowed by people who accept spices and vinegar, because the rest is beef and salt. Strict beef-and-salt eaters exclude it because of the coriander, pepper and any sauce in the cure.

See The Classic, our air-dried beef biltong · Biltong vs jerky · High-protein beef snacks