Unlock Delicious Keto-Friendly Chinese Food: Low-Carb Options You Must Try!

Navigating the world of Chinese cuisine while adhering to a ketogenic diet can seem daunting. Many traditional Chinese-American dishes are loaded with carbs from rice, noodles, sugary sauces, and battered, fried proteins. However, with careful selection and some modifications, it is possible to enjoy Chinese food while staying on track with your low-carb, high-fat keto diet. This article provides a comprehensive guide to keto-friendly Chinese food options, offering tips for dining out, cooking at home, and making informed choices to maintain ketosis.

Understanding the Keto Diet and Chinese Food

The keto diet typically restricts carb intake to no more than 50 grams of total carbs or 25 grams of net carbs (total carbs minus fiber) per day. Many Chinese dishes, while loaded with vegetables, are often prepared with noodles, rice, starchy and sugary sauces, or battered and fried meats, making them difficult to fit into a keto lifestyle. The key is to identify dishes that are naturally low in carbs or can be easily modified to reduce their carb content.

General Tips for Ordering Keto Chinese Food

Before heading to a Chinese restaurant, it helps to check out their menu in advance. Here are some simple tips to help you order keto-friendly Chinese food:

Choose a Dish Centered Around Meat: Many Chinese meals make good options for keto dieters since they’re low in carbs and high in fats and protein. Good options include beef stir-fried with broccoli, pork belly, roast duck, roast chicken, Mongolian beef, stir-fried shrimp, BBQ pork, and fried or boiled eggs. Note that some of these dishes may contain added sugars and syrups that will increase their net carbs. You can remove the sauces yourself, ask for them on the side, or avoid meats with sauces to begin with.
Opt for Steamed Dishes: Steamed foods can be a good alternative when ordering at a Chinese restaurant. Steamed Asian broccoli or mustard are good choices. Ask for steamed versions of some dishes and then add soy sauce.
Swap Starchy Carbohydrates for Non-Starchy Options: Have rice, corn, taro, noodles, or steamed buns (bao) swapped for non-starchy vegetables, such as bok choy, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, cabbage, or snow peas. Not only are these veggies low in carbs, but they lend a satisfying crunch to your meal and boost satiety due to their fiber content.
Be Mindful of Drinks: Stay away from traditional bubble teas (also called pearl milk tea or boba milk tea), iced tea sweetened with syrup, and fruit juices. Plain water or sparking water is always the best choice to hydrate without interfering with ketosis. Most Chinese restaurants offer green tea or black tea, which have zero carbs.
Practice Portion Control: Be mindful of how much you eat. This is especially true when you’re also eating with friends and family. Portion control can reduce the number of carbs you consume in a meal, which for keto dieters can be helpful if you’re unsure of the ingredients or suspect hidden carbs. Moreover, it helps to lower the number of calories you consume.

Keto-Friendly Chinese Food Options

Here are 15 keto-friendly Chinese foods, along with some helpful tips on how to reduce the carbs in Chinese food:

Egg Foo Young: This Chinese omelet is filled with veggies like cabbage, bean sprouts, and onions. You can also add meats like beef, pork, chicken, or shrimp. They’re typically low in carbs because they contain only eggs, vegetables, and meat fillings, as well as the oil used to fry them.
Boiled or Steamed Seafood: Chinese buffets often feature boiled or steamed shrimp, crawfish, or crab legs. These seafood options are completely free of carbs while being rich in protein. Paired with steamed or stir-fried vegetables, they can help you stay keto at a Chinese buffet.
Egg Drop Soup (with caution): If you’re looking for keto options to make at home, egg drop soup is an easy choice. It can be as simple as combining eggs, broth, and a keto-friendly thickener like xanthan gum. On the other hand, many egg drop soups served at Chinese restaurants are premade or thickened with cornstarch and likely too high in carbs for people on the keto diet. Feel free to add chopped scallions to your egg drop soup, but avoid the high carb fried wonton strips. Ask if the restaurant uses a keto-friendly thickener like xanthan gum. Some use cornstarch, which is higher in carbs.
Moo Shu Pork: This stir-fried dish features sliced pork, scrambled eggs, and vegetables - typically cabbage and mushrooms - in a light sauce. It’s often served with rice, which you can easily steer clear of or replace if you’re on keto. It’s an ideal meal to make at home, where you can control the carb count by making the sauce from scratch. Plus, it’s one of the better options when dining out, as it’s not made with a sweet, thick, and carb-heavy sauce. If you’re counting your carbs strictly, ask for the sauce on the side.
Beef and Broccoli: This is a classic Chinese takeout dish made by stir-frying beef and broccoli in a light sauce. Although the beef is often water-velveted - or marinated in a cornstarch slurry that adds carbs while tenderizing the meat - it remains a better choice for Chinese takeout than other higher carb options. What’s more, some Chinese restaurants velvet their meats using baking soda rather than cornstarch, which doesn’t add any carbs. You can also make beef and broccoli at home using baking soda velveting. The sauce tends to have less sugar than its thicker counterparts, but you can still ask for light sauce or get the sauce on the side. Make sure the sauce is soy-based and not a sweet alternative like hoisin.
Pork Belly: If you want to try cooking traditional Chinese food, pick up pork belly at your local butcher shop. This cut is used to make bacon and high in fat, allowing it to develop a satisfying crisp exterior when cooked. Although many Chinese pork belly recipes feature a sugary glaze, you can also find several simple, carb-free recipes.
Stir-Fried Mushrooms: At most Chinese buffets, you’re likely to find a stir-fried mushroom dish featuring whole or halved mushrooms in a savory brown sauce. Mushrooms are low in both calories and carbs, making them a perfect addition to a keto meal. However, stick to a portion of no more than 1/2-1 cup (55-110 grams), as the brown sauce may be thickened with cornstarch (1).
Sautéed Green Beans: Another common find at Chinese buffets is sautéed whole green beans. Depending on the restaurant, these may be served with sauce or simply sautéed in oil with some garlic. Along with keto-friendly proteins like boiled shrimp or baked fish, loading up on sautéed green beans is an easy way to stay keto at a Chinese buffet.
Chicken and Broccoli: Similarly to beef and broccoli, chicken and broccoli is made from stir-fried broccoli and water-velveted chicken pieces. In some restaurants, the dish may include additional veggies like carrots and onions. Although chicken and broccoli from a restaurant may contain carbs in the sauce or from the velveting, it’s often a better choice than dishes that feature breaded meats or sugary sauces. Plus, made at home, you can modify chicken and broccoli to be essentially free of carbs except for those from the broccoli. This dish is a lighter alternative to beef with broccoli but just as satisfying. Just make sure to ask for it without carrots or to eat around the carrots - they’re pretty high in carbs. This dish is super easy to make at home! Just slice up some chicken and throw it into a skillet. Add steamed broccoli and a low carb brown sauce. Voila!
Steamed Greens: In traditional Chinese cooking, steaming is a common cooking method. Popular examples include steamed dumplings and steamed greens. Try steaming greens like bok choy or Chinese broccoli - available at most Asian markets - with oil, salt, and pepper for a simple, low carb addition to your Chinese meal.
Hot and Sour Soup (with caution): Like egg drop soup, hot and sour soup starts with a base of broth and egg. It can also feature bamboo shoots, various mushrooms, tofu, vinegar, and spices. As the name suggests, it’s both spicy and sour. Restaurant versions are likely thickened with carb-containing cornstarch, but you can avoid this by making the dish at home. Before ordering, make sure the restaurant uses a keto-friendly thickener.
Kung Pao Shrimp: This is a stir-fry made with shrimp, peanuts, bell peppers, and chilies in a spicy sauce. The recipe can vary significantly between restaurants. Some may be made with a thicker, gravy-like sauce, while others may include different vegetables or proteins like chicken. Regardless, it’s a great option for keto eaters as long as you decline the rice or noodles it’s typically served with. Kung pao shrimp or chicken is also easy to make keto-friendly if you cook them at home. Kung pao shrimp is the bomb 💣. It’s a sassy mix of shrimp, bell peppers, chiles, and peanuts. All these ingredients are hella flavorful and keto-friendly. It also boasts all nine essential amino acids. Woot!
Chop Suey: This dish is similar to moo shu pork in that it features stir-fried meat, eggs, and vegetables in a light sauce. It’s commonly made with chicken and served over rice, but it can also be served over noodles. When ordering at a restaurant, ask for no rice or noodles, plus extra veggies if this is an option. When making it at home, make a larger portion of the chop suey itself or eat it with riced cauliflower, zucchini noodles, or other low carb noodles.
Baked Salmon: This is a staple on Chinese buffet lines. The fish is usually seasoned and not served with sauce, and typically the entire fillet is placed on the serving line, so you can choose your portion size. Salmon has many health benefits, including providing omega-3 fats and protein, and baked salmon is a carb-free preparation that’s perfect for keto dieters (2, 3). Baked salmon packs a powerful punch of protein and is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids and B vitamins. It’s usually seasoned with traditional Chinese spices. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top and you’re in for a real treat. Before ordering, double-check that the restaurant doesn’t glaze the fish with a sugary sauce.
DIY Stir-Fry: The easiest way to cook keto-friendly Chinese food at home is to simply stir-fry meats and low carb veggies in oil. Tasty suggestions include shrimp, chicken, beef, or pork with zucchini, summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, mushrooms, or bean sprouts. Add flavor to your homemade stir-fry with low carb ingredients, such as soy sauce, grated ginger, crushed garlic, fresh chili, crushed peanuts, red pepper flakes, and sesame oil. Stir-fries are extremely versatile and can be made using whatever keto-friendly ingredients you have at home.

Strategies for Making or Ordering Keto-Friendly Chinese Food

Here are four strategies to make or order keto-friendly Chinese food:

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Build Your Own: Many Chinese buffets offer a build-your-own stir-fry bar. Alternatively, seek out those that offer a hibachi grill or Mongolian barbecue. You may also be able to find a standalone Mongolian barbecue restaurant, which typically offers a wider variety of meat and veggies than buffet-style restaurants. Keep your creation low in carbs by loading up on vegetables, eggs, and meat. It’s also smart to opt only for oil, soy sauce, and hot sauce to season your food, rather than a premade carb-heavy sauce like hoisin or teriyaki.
Remove the Rice and Noodles: When ordering Chinese food at a restaurant or cooking it at home, expand your options by removing the rice and noodles from classic dishes. You can replace them with a keto-friendly alternative like zucchini noodles, riced cauliflower, shredded cabbage, or extra steamed vegetables.
Avoid Thick, Sugary Sauces: As a general rule of thumb, the sweeter, thicker, and less translucent a sauce is, the higher its carb count. For example, the dark red, thick, and sweet sauce used in General Tso’s chicken is loaded with sugar and starch. Other examples include sweet and sour sauce, as well as the thick, white sauce used in coconut shrimp and coconut chicken.
Avoid Breaded and Water-Velveted Meats: Breaded and fried meats are common at Chinese buffets, especially in dishes like General Tso’s chicken, butterfly shrimp, and sweet and sour chicken. Thick breading and sugary sauces make these dishes too high in carbs to be keto-friendly. When dining out, you should also try to avoid water-velveted meats if you know they were marinated in cornstarch rather than baking soda.

Keto Chinese Food Recipes to Try at Home

Low-carb restaurant meals and takeout meals may provide convenience, but cooking at home beats them in many aspects. It’s not just a surefire way to maintain ketosis-because you have full control over the ingredients-but it also allows you to save money. Here are some recipes to try:

Keto Tofu: 224 calories, 1.9g net carbs, 17g fat, 14.1g protein
Orange Chicken: 368 calories, 13g net carbs, 11g fat, 51g protein
Keto Egg Drop Soup: 112 calories, less than 1g net carbs, 4.7g fat, 16g protein
Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli: 162 calories, 2.3g net carbs, 10.8g fat, 13.8g protein
Crispy Keto Pork Belly: 146 calories, 0g net carbs, 11.5g fat, 10.8g protein
Rosemary and Garlic Mushrooms: 135 calories, 4g net carbs, 12g fat, 4g protein

Keto Noodle Alternatives

Noodles are normally made with flour and other carb-heavy grains. Fortunately, there are many keto noodle alternatives you can use. Among the most popular are zucchini noodles or zoodles. These noodles are made by spiralizing zucchini into thin strips. If you’re preparing food at home, cook the zucchini noodles to make them soft and chewy for a bowl of ramen or leave them raw for a crispy noodle dish. Another noodle choice is shirataki noodles, which are made from konjac yams. Other veggies you can spiralize to make keto-friendly noodles include cucumber, eggplant, spaghetti squash, and kelp.

Keto Sauce Alternatives

Like salad dressings, sauces need to be tweaked for a keto diet. Chinese sauces like hoisin sauce and sweet and sour sauce are often full of hidden carbs and sugars that can kick you out of ketosis. That doesn’t mean you can’t stay saucy. Try making your own homemade sauces to avoid hidden carbs. Peanut sauce is easy to make using coconut milk, peanut butter, and curry paste - plus the silky-smooth texture makes it feel indulgent. It’s pure perfection on top of chicken and beef satay or drizzled over keto-friendly noodles. If you’re eating out, ask for all sauces to be served on the side.

Regional Chinese Cuisine

What makes choosing keto-friendly Chinese food a bit difficult is that many dishes have regional variations. Fortunately for keto-lovers, the Sichuan region of China tends to craft dishes that are lower in sugar and carbs than other areas. Looking for Sichuan specialties is a good place to start on your keto Chinese food search. Love to bring the heat? Sichuan dishes typically include a tantalizing amount of spices and Sichuan peppers.

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