8 PCOS Friendly Starbucks Drinks (from a dietitian)

Do PCOS friendly Starbucks drinks even exist? Yes, absolutely! Ordering at Starbucks with PCOS in mind doesn’t mean you have to skip your favorite drinks. With a few simple swaps, you can still enjoy the delicious Starbucks drinks that you love. 

As a registered dietitian who specializes in PCOS, I’m always looking for creative and healthy ways to enjoy my favorite foods and drinks. In this blog post, we’ll dive into what’s considered a healthy Starbucks drink then I’m going to give you my 8 favorite PCOS friendly Starbucks drink options.

What’s a Healthy Starbucks Drink? 

Over the past couple decades, Starbucks has evolved into more than just your average coffee shop. In addition to your traditional coffee, Starbucks offers lattes, macchiatos, herbal teas, refresher drinks, and even food options. However, when you look at the nutrition info, some of these drink options look more like a dessert in disguise. Between the cream, syrups, and flavorings, the calories and added sugars can add up quickly – something that’s especially important to consider if you have PCOS.

The 2021 NHANES data found that 40% of adults aged 18 to 44 years old in the United States were insulin resistant (1). If you have PCOS, the chances are even higher that you’re insulin resistant since up to 80% of those with PCOS have insulin resistance (2). In a nutshell, insulin resistance means that your body struggles to regulate the hormone insulin and your blood sugar levels. Unfortunately, this also increases the risk of developing chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver, high cholesterol, or gestational diabetes during pregnancy.

Click here to learn more about insulin resistance and what it means for your body.

To help manage insulin sensitivity and your PCOS symptoms, blood sugar control is key, and making smart choices at Starbucks can help. Limiting added sugars, choosing unsweetened or low-carb milk options, and prioritizing protein-rich add-ins are great ways to keep your drink PCOS-friendly. Some minor changes like swapping sugary syrups for cinnamon or sugar-free vanilla, or opting for fewer pumps of syrup can all make a difference in keeping hormones balanced while still enjoying your favorite drinks!

Let’s talk about a few different Starbucks orders that can help.

8 PCOS Friendly Starbucks Drinks 

Whether you’re looking for a low-sugar latte, a dairy-free option, or a refreshing iced drink, these PCOS-friendly Starbucks drinks will keep you feeling great without sacrificing flavor. 

Vanilla Sweet Cream Nitro Cold Brew

This is my favorite PCOS friendly Starbucks drink. It’s straight off the Starbucks menu and requires zero customization to get a tasty drink. In a grande, you get 70 calories, 5 grams of fat, 4 grams of carbohydrate, and 4 grams of added sugar. Since it’s a nitro cold brew, there is 265 mg of caffeine in it – which may be something to be aware of if you’re cautious of your caffeine intake. 

How to order: grande vanilla sweet cream nitro cold brew

Read more about PCOS, coffee and caffeine here: Is Coffee Bad for PCOS?

Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew

A traditional vanilla sweet cream cold brew is made with your traditional cold brew coffee, rather than the nitro cold brew. It’s lower in caffeine than the nitro cold brew, with 185 mg of caffeine per 16 oz. Ordering a vanilla sweet cream cold brew off the menu typically comes with 2 pumps of regular vanilla syrup – adding 14 grams of added sugar to your drink. 

To make this drink a bit more PCOS-friendly, you could order it with just 1 pump of vanilla syrup or with sugar-free vanilla syrup instead. 

How to order: grande vanilla sweet cream cold brew with only 1 pump vanilla syrup OR grande vanilla sweet cream cold brew with sugar-free vanilla syrup. Optional if dairy-free: ask for it made with soy milk or almond milk.

Caramel Macchiato

Caramel macchiatos were my go-to Starbucks drink in college…mostly because it was delicious and I didn’t know how to order anything else. An iced caramel macchiato really crams some calories into a small amount though, with a 16oz grande having 250 calories and 34 grams of sugar (aka 8 ½ teaspoons of sugar!).

A couple swaps can make this drink a bit more PCOS friendly though. If you tolerate dairy, I’d probably just leave it as is since the milk will actually give you some protein and fat to mitigate the added sugar. If you’re dairy-free, I’d recommend opting for soy milk or almond milk instead. 

Additionally, opt for sugar-free vanilla syrup or half regular vanilla syrup pumps and a light caramel drizzle to lighten up the added sugars in this Starbucks drink. 

How to order: grande iced caramel macchiato made with sugar-free vanilla syrup and light caramel drizzle. Optional if dairy-free: ask for it made with soy milk or almond milk. 

White Chocolate Mocha

With 4 pumps of white chocolate mocha sauce, plus vanilla syrup and whipped cream, a grande iced white chocolate mocha gives you about 390 calories, 20 grams of fat, and 42 grams of sugar (aka 10 ½ teaspoons of sugar!). 

To lighten up this drink choice, opt for 1 pump of the white chocolate mocha sauce, sugar-free vanilla syrup, and either light whipped cream or skip the whipped cream entirely. 

How to Order: grande iced white chocolate mocha with sugar free vanilla syrup, just 1 pump white chocolate mocha sauce, and light whipped cream.

Caffe Latte

A traditional caffe latte contains just 2% milk and espresso. Since there’s milk in here, there’s automatically going to be some naturally occurring sugar: 11 grams in a grande to be precise. If you enjoy this drink as is, I’d just order it like this straight from the menu – there’s going to be some fat and 8 grams of protein in here to mitigate the blood sugar response. 

If you want a little sweetness added, opt for a pump of sugar-free vanilla syrup.

How to Order: grande iced caffe latte. Optional: with a pump of sugar-free vanilla syrup. If dairy-free, opt for soy milk or almond milk.  

Matcha Latte

Matcha is a powdered type of green tea that’s incredibly nutritious. It has powerful anti-inflammatory properties and can lower insulin levels as well – great for those with PCOS! 

Starbucks recently changed their matcha to an unsweetened matcha powder, which is great news. When ordering a regular matcha latte at Starbucks though, it automatically comes with classic syrup, which will add some sugar. To decrease the sugar, opt for no classic syrup and you can optionally add sugar-free syrup.

How to Order: grande matcha latte, no classic. Optional: with a pump of sugar-free vanilla syrup.

Read more about the Health Benefits of Matcha for PCOS here.

Honey Citrus Mint Tea

A blend of green tea and various herbs such as spearmint, lemongrass, chamomile, and licorice. Green tea and spearmint tea may be particularly beneficial for PCOS for their anti-inflammatory and anti-androgen properties. This means that they can help to lower testosterone levels. 

Ordering the honey citrus mint tea off the menu as is from Starbucks will come with 30 grams of sugar though since they add lemonade and a honey syrup to it. To lighten it up and make it a more PCOS-friendly Starbucks drink, opt for light lemonade or skip the lemonade entirely. 

How to Order: grande honey citrus mint tea without lemonade and 1 pump of honey blend.

Iced Teas

There are many unsweetened teas available on the Starbucks menu as well. Iced black tea, iced green tea, or iced passion tango tea are all unsweetened tea options to choose. I’d recommend opting for them without lemonade to decrease added sugar. 

Other brewed tea options at Starbucks that do not contain added sugar are great options to order as is off the Starbucks menu. Read more about the 5 Best Herbal Teas for PCOS here.

Tips for Including PCOS Friendly Starbucks Drinks

Now that I’ve outlined some drinks that are better choices at Starbucks if you have PCOS, let’s talk about how to include them in your day and some things to keep in mind.

When To Drink PCOS Friendly Starbucks Drinks

Even if you’re choosing a more PCOS friendly drink from Starbucks, I’d still recommend drinking it around the same time as a meal or snack. This is for a few reasons. 

First, we don’t want you skipping out on food in favor of a caffeine boost. Sometimes when we’re feeling sluggish and in need of a pick-me-up, it’s actually our blood sugar dropping a bit too low. The best solution to improve energy: eat a meal that includes protein, fiber, and healthy fats. Pairing your coffee order with a meal or balanced snack ensures that you’re actually giving your body some energy. 

Second, some of the drinks outlined above may still have some added sugar in them, which can cause a blood sugar spike. You can mitigate this by incorporating other nutrients that slow down the blood sugar rise, such as protein, fiber, and healthy fats. 

Read more about healthy meals and snacks for PCOS here: A Dietitian’s 7-Day PCOS Diet Plan PDF. 

Sugar vs Sugar Alternatives 

Another thing to consider is whether you’re going to incorporate real sugar or if you want to go with a sugar alternative or artificial sweetener. This topic could honestly be its own blog post (and I should probably get on that), but let me give a brief overview of some things that may help guide your own decision. 

You’ve probably heard that added sugar isn’t great for PCOS. While this is true, it’s also really difficult to completely avoid added sugars forever. In my opinion, it’s more important to be cognizant of added sugars, intentionally choose how you want to incorporate them, and limit them as often as possible. 

That said, maybe your Starbucks drinks are somewhere that you prefer the taste of real sugar and would rather just try to decrease the amount of sugar in your drink rather than substitute it for a sugar alternative you don’t love. If this is the case, then simply pair it with a meal to help mitigate the blood sugar response. 

Another option is to opt for sugar-free syrups instead of the traditional syrups that have added sugars. This is an easy way to skip the added sugar and that may seem like a no brainer for some people. 

The con to sugar-free syrups is that they contain artificial sweeteners. Starbucks sugar-free syrups contain sucralose. Artificial sweeteners are calorie-free, sugar-free, and do not impact your blood sugar levels. The catch is that there’s research emerging that these sweeteners may negatively impact your gut microbiome. So what does that mean? Maybe nothing if you’re someone who only consumes artificial sweeteners occasionally. If you’re someone who consumes a large amount of artificial sweeteners regularly (think diet sodas, sugar-free drinks and foods, etc), this may be something to be more cautious about.  

Dairy Milk vs Non-Dairy Milk

The final thing you’ll want to consider is what type of milk you’re using in your PCOS friendly Starbucks drink. There’s a lot of myths out there about dairy being off-limits for those with PCOS. The reality is that the research really isn’t super clear yet. 

If you can tolerate traditional dairy milk, you can absolutely choose that one. Starbucks usually defaults to 2% milk, which will provide you with some fat and 8 grams of protein per 8 ounces that can help mitigate the added sugars that may be in your drink. You can also opt for nonfat milk if you need to be particularly mindful of saturated fat content. Nonfat milk has the same amount of protein and carbs, but less fat compared to 2% or whole milk.  

If you don’t tolerate dairy milk, you’ll obviously be looking at using a non-dairy milk alternative. Starbucks has many options including almond milk, coconut milk, oat milk, and soy milk. Out of these options, I’d probably recommend opting for either soy milk or almond milk. Similar to regular dairy milk, soy milk will give you 7 grams of plant-based protein per 8 ounces. While almond milk doesn’t contain protein like regular milk or soy milk, it’s typically very low in calories without any added sugars. 

Oat milk is often higher in carbohydrates and calories than other milk options since it’s made from oats. This may be a fine choice to use in your drinks, but just be aware that it can increase the carbohydrate content of your drink.

Read more about The Best Milk for PCOS: Do You Need To Go Dairy-Free?

To learn more about eating well for PCOS, grab your copy of The PCOS Playbook. Use code PCOS20 for a discount! 

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