The human remains Drew Barrymore's character eats during the series were made out of various items, including gummy bears, dehydrated apples, beet paste, pasta and moistened cake. They were all vegetarian items as Barrymore does not eat meat.
Drew Barrymore was considering leaving acting to focus on her business and family when she received the script for Santa Clarita Diet. When asked how she felt about the script, she said it made her really angry; she loved the script so much, she knew she'd regret not doing it and so she had to re-think her plans.
Creator Victor Fresco, who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, selected Santa Clarita as the location for the series because he liked the aspect of the carefully planned and organized community contrasting with the chaos happening to the show's characters.
Creator Victor Fresco came up with the premise for the series from wanting to make "a family show with an interesting approach that we haven't seen before". It also allowed him to explore the Narcissism concept, stating that "the undead are the ultimate narcissists. They want what they want when they want it and will do anything to just have what they want and don't care about other people's needs."