This Low-Carb Trail Mix is a fabulous portable snack that’s super easy to make. It is made with lower carb nuts, toasted coconut and unsweetened dark chocolate and dried fruit. Eat it by the handful or on top of smoothie bowls, oatmeal or ice-cream!
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Why you will love this recipe
- This trail mix is easy to make, healthy and delicious.
- Only 4.8 grams net carbs per serving (compared to about 16 grams in packaged trail mix).
- It’s a great, healthier alternative to most packaged trail mixes that tend to be high in carbs and sugar.
- Highly customizable! See Substitutions & Variations below for fun options on how to make it your own.
- It is vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free, paleo and keto friendly.
- Make sure to also check out my paleo Chocolate Bliss Balls for another healthy snack idea.
Ingredient notes
- Peanuts: I usually use unsalted dry roasted peanuts that you can get at any grocery store.
- Raw Pecans: these are a great low-carb option with only 4g net carbs in 100 grams of nuts.
- Unsweetened Coconut Chips: I buy them at Trader Joe’s. I like them raw but toasting them brings the flavor to a whole new level!
- No Sugar Chocolate Chips: I like Lily’s Semi-Sweet Style Chocolate Chips sweetened with Stevia or Lily’s Dark Chocolate Baking Chips.
- Dried Blueberries or Cranberries: look for no sugar added dried fruit. I buy unsweetened dried blueberries on Amazon and love using them in this mix for a tart, fruity flavor and lots of antioxidants.
How to make low-carb trail mix
Step 1: Toast the coconut chips. Place the chips on an empty skillet and toast for 8-9 minutes on medium-low heat until golden. Set aside to cool.
Step 2: Break coconut and pecans into smaller pieces. This step is optional but I like when all ingredients in my trail mix are evenly sized.
Step 3: Mix, mix, mix! Place all nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit and coconut chips in a bowl and mix with a spoon.
Step 4: Enjoy right away or store for later.
How to store it
You can store this low-carb trail mix in a jar or airtight container for a month at room temperature or up to 6 months in the fridge. You can also keep it in the freezer for longer, if desired.
Serving suggestions
Serve this trail mix on its own whenever snack attack strikes! My hot tip is to pour about ¼ cup in a little bowl and put away the rest right away. Otherwise, it is SO EASY to overeat nuts and nut mixes and ruin lunch or dinner, if you have it as a snack in-between meals.
This trail mix is also great as an addition to other things. Try it:
- on top of yogurt with some fresh fruit
- as an oatmeal topping
- on top of a smoothie bowl
- on top of ice-cream to make your dessert more nutritious
Substitutions and variations
This trail mix is highly customizable. You can mix and match nuts, fruits and seeds as you like. The only thing to keep in mind is that if you want it to be low-carb, try to pick ingredients that are not high in carbs, such as raisins or cashews.
- If you don’t want to toast the coconut, you can absolutely leave it raw and it will also be delicious.
- For an easy shortcut, use Dang Keto Toasted Coconut Chips instead of toasting them yourself
- Swap peanuts and pecans for other lower carbs nuts, such as macadamia nuts, walnuts or hazelnuts. See my visual guide below to see which nuts are low and which are high in carbs.
- Add seeds, such as pepitas or sunflower seeds.
- If you want the mix to be vegan, be sure to use vegan chocolate chips. I really like Lily’s dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips. Enjoy Life is another great brand.
- For dried fruit, I opted for unsweetened blueberries but unsweetened cranberries are also fine. Avoid raisins, apricots, figs and dates – they are VERY high in sugar.
- You can also skip dried fruit all together and it will lower the total net carbs substantially.
Which nuts are low in carbs
Here’s an infographic I created that shows net carbs in popular types of nuts (per 100 grams, or 3.5 ounces).
The best low-carb nut options are pecans, Brazil nuts and macadamia nuts. Pistachios and cashews are highest in carbs. Net carbs are carbs that your body uses for energy and they are calculated by subtracting fiber from total carbs.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, especially if you use unsweetened dried blueberries or if you skip dried fruit all together.
This mix has 4.8 net carbs per serving (¼ cup). Net carbs are calculated by subtracting fiber from total carbs.
If you eat it in moderation, then yes! As you may know from experience (I certainly do!), it is EXTREMELY easy to overeat nut and trail mixes, especially if you eat them straight from the bag or jar. My solution is to measure out a quarter cut of trail mix into a small bowl and put the rest away immediately. ¼ cup is a perfect amount that will give your body a great deal of healthy fats, protein and minerals without too many calories.
My two go-to places to buy nuts at a good price are Trader Joe’s, Costco or Sam’s Club. The last two offer nuts in bulk but you can’t beat the price! I usually buy large bags of nuts and store them in the freezer to keep them fresh.
More healthy snacks
- Blue Spirulina Smoothie Bowl
- Flaxseed Pudding
- Biscoff Overnight Oats
- Chocolate Cherry Nice Cream
- Vanilla Coconut Smoothie Bowl
- Chocolate Bliss Balls
- Oat Milk Chia Pudding
If you try my Low-Carb Trail Mix recipe, be sure to leave me a comment and give this recipe a rating. I would love to hear from you and see how it turned out for you! You can also share and tag me on Instagram!
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Recipe
Low-Carb Trail Mix
Ingredients
- ½ cup dry roasted peanuts
- ½ cup pecan halves
- ½ cup unsweetened coconut chips
- ⅓ cup no sugar added chocolate chips I used Lily’s
- ¼ cup unsweetened dried blueberries or cranberries
Instructions
- Toast the coconut. Place the coconut chips in a dry skillet and toast for 8-9 minutes on medium-low heat, shaking the skillet every minute or so until evenly toasted. Be careful not to burn the coconut!
- Once the coconut cools, transfer to a bowl and break into smaller pieces or leave them whole. Do the same with pecan halves so all pieces are more or less uniform size.
- Add peanuts, chocolate chips and dried fruit (blueberries or cranberries) and mix until combined.
- Transfer to a jar or an airtight container and store at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
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Meet the Author
Hi, I'm Agnieszka. I'm a mom of three and recipe developer, writer and photographer behind Wholly Tasteful. I love creating comforting, delicious, family-friendly recipes that you can feel good about.
Andrea says
the perfect snack! love that it's low carb too. so good!
Alexandra says
This makes such a great snack, and is perfect to take hiking!
Jerika says
What I love about this Low-Carb Trail Mix is it's portable when you go hiking or if you're busy something with work on the laptop and you need something to eat for energy. This is perfect for me. Thanks!:)
Nora says
Such a wonderful trail mix like this is always handy! Thanks for sharing!
Kayla DiMaggio says
So delicious! I loved how easy this trail mix recipe was!
Megan says
Such an easy recipe to make and full of flavour. I love how versatile it is too that I can use up what I have in the pantry. Thanks Angieszka.
Jacqui says
This trail mix is perfect, we took it on our weekend hike through the mountains of Utah - and it travelled well and energized us. Thank you so much for sharing!
Nancy Elizabeth Patrick says
Forgive my stupidity, but how much is the serving size actually? It just says 8 servings, but not actual size.
Agnieszka says
Hi Nancy. The whole recipe makes almost 2 cups of trail mix so one serving is about 1/4 cup.