Discover the Best Keto Fast Food Options to Stay on Track Anywhere!

Maintaining a ketogenic diet doesn't mean sacrificing convenience or social meals. With a bit of planning and smart choices, you can easily navigate the fast-food landscape while staying true to your low-carb goals. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of keto-friendly options at various fast food restaurants and fast-casual establishments, ensuring you can enjoy efficient weight loss and optimized health, even in a fast-food drive-through.

General Strategies for Keto Fast Food Success

Before diving into specific restaurants, here are some general tips to keep in mind when seeking keto fast food:

Avoid Bread: This is the golden rule. Skip the buns, tortillas, and any complimentary bread served before meals. Opt for lettuce wraps or ask for your order "protein style."
Customize Your Order: Don't be afraid to ask for modifications. Most fast food restaurants are accommodating and will allow you to order meals in a bowl or without the shell.
Choose Low-Carb Toppings and Sides: Load up on low-carb veggies like cauliflower, asparagus, or mushrooms. When it comes to dressings, stick to olive oil or oil and vinegar. Avocado is always a great addition for healthy fats.
Beware of Sauces: Many sauces are loaded with sugar. Avoid ketchup, honey mustard, teriyaki sauce, barbecue sauce, and any low-fat or fat-free dressings. Mustard, mayo, and ranch dressing are generally acceptable in moderation, provided they aren't loaded with added sugars.
Plan Ahead: Check the restaurant's menu online beforehand to identify keto-friendly options and avoid impulsive decisions.
Remember the Volume: If you’re eating low carb bunless burgers and just don’t feel full, we have a few extra tips for you. Protein and fat are very satiating, but if you are coming from a standard American diet you may be used to eating more volume. Ask for a side salad- Most fast food restaurants have side salads that you can add to your meal for extra fiber and bulk. Order steamed vegetables on the side- This is something you will see more in fast casual restaurants than fast food, but if they have the option steamed veggies are another great way to add bulk to a meal. Get the “carb-less” extras- These are low calorie dense fresh vegetables that are also low carb. These are some of our favorite ways to add extra volume without upping the carbs of your meal too much.
Stay Hydrated: Opt for sugar-free and zero-calorie beverages like plain black coffee, unsweetened iced tea, or diet soda. Avoid high-fructose corn syrup.

Keto Fast Food Restaurant Options

Burger Chains

McDonald's: While typical McDonald's fast food is high in carbs, it is possible to create a keto-friendly meal. Order burgers without the bun and skip the ketchup. Be mentally prepared to resist the temptation of french fries.
Wendy's: Wendy's affinity for bacon makes it an excellent choice for your keto fast food meal. Wendy’s also offers a lettuce wrap so you can get the satisfaction of biting into your burger while still being on a keto diet. A bunless Wendy’s Double Stack clocks in at 260 calories, 20g fat, 1g carbs and 20g protein, making it a perfectly keto friendly drive-thru option.
Burger King: Similar to Wendy's, Burger King has a lot of keto fast food burger options. Just remember to skip sauces, ketchup, and fries.
Carl's Jr./Hardee's: Carl’ s Jr or Hardees is a great keto fast food option that can easily be made low carb. Whether you want a burger, salad, or sandwich Carl’ s Jr has you covered. Carl’ s Jr also does all their food “low carb style”, which is where they press a button notifying the kitchen of your keto request.
In-N-Out Burger: A West Coast favorite. Ask for your burger "protein-style" to replace the bun with lettuce. You can order as many patties and cheese as you want. The formula is Meat x Cheese (e.g., 3x3 or 4x4).
Five Guys: Five Guys serves up bunless burgers the right way. Sometimes when you get a burger without the bun you just get a flimsy piece of wilted lettuce on top of a burger. Five Guys puts some care into the way they serve their lettuce wrapped burgers.
Shake Shack: Shake Shack is known for its top of the line burgers. Most locations are in the Northeastern United States, but there are Shake Shack’s open all around the country now. It is a pretty good option overall, if you’re in the mood for a hamburger.

Chicken Restaurants

Chick-fil-A: Chick-fil-A has quite a few low carb options if you go bunless, get grilled chicken, and skip the sauces. Their buffalo sauce has 0g net carbs. Chick Fil A offers a bunch of options using their grilled nuggets. You can order them by themselves or you can get them on a salad.
KFC: Keep your KFC order keto with grilled chicken options. Each piece of grilled KFC chicken contains 0 g of carbs. As for side dishes, green beans contain 5 g of carbs per serving, 3 g of which are fiber. Coleslaw is another low carb choice, with 14 g of carbs per serving, 4 g of which are fiber.
Popeyes Chicken: Popeyes Chicken is a bit of a one item wonder when it comes to ordering a low carb meal. They have blackened chicken tenders at most locations(but not all).
Zaxby’s: Navigating the menu at Zaxby’s can be challenging. There are a lot of different items on the menu so it’s important to have a plan going in.

Mexican Restaurants

Chipotle: Chipotle is an easy pick as the top option for keto fast food. It’s really the only place that you can order something directly off the menu and have it be perfectly low carb. Chipotle is one of the best places to eat on keto because of its variety of menu items. You can combine different keto-friendly ingredients like sour cream, chicken, steak, and cheese to meet your preferences and keep things low-carb. Depending on your location, your local Chipotle may already have low-carb options on the menu. Stick with customizable bowls for the easiest low-carb meals.
Taco Bell: Here are the best keto fast food options at Taco Bell. Our advice to keep things low carb is to steer clear of tortillas, don’t be afraid to customize, and remember to add some healthy fats. Most fast food restaurants will allow you to get meals in a bowl or protein style for your low carb diet. When ordering keto food at Taco Bell, just ask for no shell and in a bowl instead.
El Pollo Loco: In recent years El Pollo Loco has dramatically increased the amount of keto options on their menu. They have keto tacos, keto burritos, and a cauliflower rice option for their pollo fit bowls.
Moe's: Much like Chipotle, your best option at Moe’s is customizing one of their burrito bowls. Their tortillas have 51 grams of carbohydrates on their own!

Pizza Restaurants

Blaze Pizza: Blaze Pizza made waves in 2019 when they began offering a keto friendly cauliflower crust pizza. If you’ve never been to Blaze Pizza before it’s kind of like Subway, but for pizza.
Papa John's: As with most pizza places, the pickings for keto friendly meals at Papa John’s are slim. Your only real option is the Unsauced Roasted Wings which clock in at 4g of carbs per 8 wings.
Pizza Hut: You’re going to struggle finding a low carb meal at Pizza Hut, but there is one item on the menu that is actually pretty good. Bone-In wings at Pizza Hut are keto friendly at just 1g of carbs per two wings.

Sandwich Shops

Subway: Subway is always a solid option for keto takeout. You can keto-fy almost any sandwich at Subway by making it a chopped salad. Remember to avoid toppings covered in sweet sauces like teriyaki or meatball marinara. Low carb/ keto meals are super simple at sandwich shops as long as you sub bread for lettuce. Subway is one of the best low-carb fast foods if you love salads.
Jersey Mike's: Jersey Mikes has a cult following in the keto community for their “sub in a tub”. It’s all of the fillings you would typically get in a sub sandwich served in a bowl.
Jimmy John's: Jimmy John’s is a popular fast food sandwich restaurant, known for their incredibly fast delivery. Just about any of Jimmy John’s sandwiches can be made keto, all you have to do is ask for a Jimmy John “unwich” instead. Add avocado, cheese, and bacon to any unwich to up the fat content. A Jimmy John unwich lettuce wrap is certainly the way to go when trying to find keto fast food options. If you just wanted a low carb fast food option, they do also offer bread hollowing. That’s where they take your favorite sub and scoop out all the dough so you have a bread shell.
Arby's: Arby’s is know for it’s roast beef sandwiches, but has expanded its menu in recent years to include a wide range of sandwiches and sides. You can make it work by ordering any of the sandwiches below without the bread.

Other Fast Food Restaurants

Dunkin' Donuts: Dunkin Donuts is a little weak when it comes to coffee (kind of watery), but it comes through with their low carb menu options. Over the last few years they have expanded their food menu to appeal to the keto crowd. Your go-to fast food options at Dunkin Donuts are their plain coffee drinks. Some locations may have dairy or sweetener alternatives, but don’t expect those everywhere. If you want their sandwiches, just remove the wrap or bread.
Dairy Queen: You’re not going to want to hear this…but Dairy Queen has a breakfast menu where you’ll find most of the lower carb offerings. The normal menu can be harder to navigate and of course you’ll want to stay away from the dessert menu (although I was raised on DQ Blizzard’s).
Jack in the Box: Surprisingly, Jack in the Box turns out to have a decent variety of keto friendly offerings. Jack in the Box has quite a few items that are very low in net carbs as long as you customize your order. Avoid their bread, buns, croutons, and sauces, and the menu opens up to keto dieters.
Sonic: Going to Sonic is a bit like going back in time to the era of drive in restaurants. This is the least keto friendly place on the list. For the lowest-carb meals at Sonic, go for their no-tortilla breakfast burritos and bunless sandwiches.
Culver's: There is no point in visiting Culver’s if you aren’t going to order a Butterburger. There are a few other keto takeout options on the menu that can be modified to be low carb, but nothing compares to a Butterburger.
Whataburger: Mainly located in Texas, Whataburger is know for it’s juicy burgers. It also has locations across many southern states, so use their store locator to see if one is near you.
Denny's: Best known for it’s breakfast foods, especially the combo platters known as “Grand Slams”, Denny’s offers a wide variety of foods.
IHOP: The international house of pancakes is a diner style restaurant that is most known for their breakfast foods, although they also offer dinner options. A big secret at IHOP is that they put pancake batter in their omelettes!
Waffle House: You may be surprised to learn that Waffle House is packed full of awesome keto friendly meals.
Outback Steakhouse: A steakhouse chain that is best known for it’s Bloomin’ Onion, Outback Steakhouse is a solid option.
Applebee's: There is now restaurant that defined my childhood more than Applebee’s. Half off appetizers night was almost a weekly thing for us growing up.
Texas Roadhouse: Texas Roadhouse is a steakhouse chain that serves up reasonably priced, quality steaks, chicken and seafood. Finding a keto friendly meal at Texas Roadhouse is very easy to do.

Fast Casual Restaurants

Panera Bread: Yes, it’s called Panera Bread, but no, you don’t have to carb-load. Panera bread is a fast casual restaurant perfect for keto fast food. Panera is known for its bread, but you’ll want to stick to the salad menu for the most keto-friendly options. Skip the bread and chips as your side in favor of an apple. One apple from Panera will still net you about 11 grams of carbs, but it’s the healthiest, antioxidant-rich option.
Buffalo Wild Wings/Wingstop: Not really fast food, but Wingstop and Buffalo Wild Wings are superb meal options for a keto diet. Both of them offer fried chicken wings that are not breaded. Wanna catch a game and a snack, but not sure if you can stick to your diet? Buffalo sauce on your wings is another low carb option, if you’re feeling zesty! Buffalo Wild Wings also has multiple burger/ sandwich, and keto chicken salad options. It’s hard to argue with chicken wings, and Wingstop has some of the best there is! Whenever we are feeling lazy and decide to get takeout for dinner, chicken wings are always one of the options we consider.
Chili's: Rounding out these keto friendly restaurants for your consideration is Chili’s. Chili’s, an American Tex-Mex chain, is less of a fast-food option and more of a casual sit-down spot, but we wanted to include a few of these to give you more options.
Olive Garden: While you won’t be able to dig into the never-ending pasta and breadsticks, there are a few meals at the casual Italian chain that are OK for keto.

Smoothie Shops

Smoothie King: A sneaky favorite keto takeout option of ours is ordering a keto smoothie from Smoothie King. Whenever we share this on social media people are surprised to learn that Smoothie King has something called the Keto Champ Smoothie.

Specific Keto-Friendly Fast Food Menu Items

To provide more concrete examples, here are some specific menu items you can consider at various fast food chains:

Arby’s Roast Chicken Salad: At 250 calories, 14g fat, 8g carbs, and 25g protein, you’ll stay on track while getting plenty of veggies.
Hardee’s Low Carb Breakfast Bowl: Featuring eggs, sausage, cheese, and bacon for a protein-packed start to your day at 660 calories, 52g fat, 10g carbs, and 38g protein.
Starbucks Bacon and Gruyere Sous Vide Egg Bites: A protein-rich option, at 300 calories, 20g fat, 9g carbs, and 19g protein.
Qdoba Burrito Bowl: Made with ground beef, guacamole, lettuce, fajita vegetables, and fresh salsa is a delicious and satisfying meal that provides just 13 g of carbs.
Subway Salads: The Philly (steak and cheese): 13 g of total carbs, 4 g of which are fiber, and 24 g of protein. Titan Turkey: 11 g of total carbs, 4 g of which are fiber, and 25 g of protein. Elite Chicken and Bacon Ranch: 14 g of total carbs, 5 g of which are fiber, and 30 g of protein.

The Importance of Home-Cooked Meals

While keto-friendly fast food options provide convenience, it's crucial to remember that home-cooked meals are generally the best choice for your overall health. They allow for greater control over ingredients, portion sizes, and cooking methods. Though it’s possible to eat keto out and about, nothing will beat planned, prepped meals for homemade deliciousness.

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