For those following a ketogenic diet, dining out can seem like a daunting task. However, with a little knowledge and planning, it's entirely possible to enjoy fast food and restaurant meals while staying within your macros. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of keto-friendly options at various fast-food chains and restaurants, along with tips for making informed choices.
Keto Fast Food: Debunking the Myths
One of the biggest misconceptions about the keto diet is that it's time-consuming and expensive. While meal prepping and cooking at home are ideal, there are plenty of quick and affordable options available when you're on the go. The key is to be mindful of your choices and customize your orders to fit your dietary needs. Enjoy efficient weight loss and optimized health, even in a fast food keto drive-through.
General Tips for Keto Dining
Before diving into specific restaurants, here are some general guidelines to keep in mind:
- Avoid bread: This includes buns, tortillas, and even complimentary bread served before meals. Opt for lettuce wraps or bunless options instead to make keto friendly fast food.
- Choose healthy fats: Add avocado, olive oil, or oil and vinegar as dressing for salads.
- Load up on low-carb veggies: Choose sides like cauliflower, asparagus, or mushrooms.
- Customize your order: Don't be afraid to ask for modifications, such as no shell in a bowl at Taco Bell.
- Be wary of sauces: Many sauces contain hidden sugars and carbs. Stick to options like buffalo sauce (which often has 0g net carbs) or ask for sauces on the side so you can control the amount you use.
Fast Food Keto Options: A Restaurant-by-Restaurant Breakdown
McDonald's
Believe it or not, it's possible to find low-carb options at McDonald's. While typical menu items are high in carbs, you can create a keto-friendly meal with a few adjustments. Be prepared to resist the temptation of french fries, as that delicious scent is the enemy of your low-carb diet! Always go in mentally prepared to say, “NO”!
Starbucks
Starbucks is not the best place for a full keto meal, but they offer several keto-friendly drink options.
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Taco Bell
Taco Bell can be a surprisingly good option for keto dieters. The key is to avoid tortillas, customize your order, and add 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.
Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A has quite a few low carb options if you go bunless, get grilled chicken, and skip the sauces. Chick-fil-A has some of the freshest keto fast food and a great low carb option for salad and chicken sandwiches on the go. Their buffalo sauce has 0g net carbs if you’re dying to dip!
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.
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.
Burger King
If charbroiled burgers from Burger King are your favorite, then it’s time to make them keto friendly! Burger King similar to Wendy’s has a lot of keto fast food burger options. Just remember to skip sauces, ketchup, and yes even that tasty order of fries.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Popeye's 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.
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.
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.
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.
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. You either have to scrape the toppings off of a pizza (which isn’t a great meal), or go with their baked plain chicken wings which are lightly breaded.
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.
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.
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.
White Castle
There are certain restaurants that just aren’t worth the effort to try and make keto friendly and White Castle is one of them. Unless you are forced to order something here, you are better off just going someplace else.
Keto-Friendly Restaurant Chains
So what if it’s date night or dinner with friends? There’s no need to eat before you go!
Chipotle
This fast food chain tops this list of keto friendly restaurants for us: the ingredients are clean and the variety is incredible. It’s practically perfect! The salad bowl is absolutely the way to go- the burrito bowl, burrito, and tacos are obviously not keto due to tortillas, rice, and beans. Chipotle - This 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.
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.
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.
CAVA
This Mediterranean-style favorite has several keto-friendly entrées, many of which are packed with veggies and healthy fat goodness. Don’t fear the Italian foods! There are keto fast food options anywhere you just have to know what to look for when you order.
Buffalo Wild Wings
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. Wingstop / Buffalo Wild Wings - 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.
KFC
Chinese takeout can still be consumed on your low carb diet. KFC is known for that crispy breading, but keep your KFC order keto with grilled chicken options. There aren’t as many keto fast food options here, but the few they have are delicious.
Chili's
Rounding out these keto friendly restaurants for your consideration is Chili’s.
Wingstop
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. The one downside to Wingstop is that they fry their wings in soybean oil, where Buffalo Wild Wings fries their wings in beef tallow. In certain markets you may also be able to order Thighstop, which is exactly what it sounds like.
In-N-Out Burger
Sadly, In N Out is a regional specialty. I can mostly be found in California, Texas and a few other Southwestern states. 3×3 or 4×4 or NxN: You can order as many patties and cheese as you want. The formula is Meat x Cheese.
Red Robin
I was very impressed with Red Robin the first time I went there while on a keto diet. Of course they are know for their burgers and endless French fries, but the showstopper here is the cobb salad.
The Cheesecake Factory
Everybody loves a fancy night out at the Cheesecake Factory. Their menu is quite extensive, which means if you try hard enough you’ll be able to find a few low carb options.
Cracker Barrel
People have strong opinions about Cracker Barrel. I come down on the side of it being sort of gimmicky and not having great food.
Red Lobster
I used to go to Red Lobster every year as a birthday treat, so I have some found memories here. When I started a keto diet I was happy to learn that Red Lobster has quite a few meals that were suitable for me.
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.
Five Guys
The best part about Five Guys is that they put some care into the way they serve their lettuce wrapped burgers. 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 serves up bunless burgers the right way.
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.
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.
Tips for Making Bunless Burgers More Filling
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.
Top Keto Fast Food Choices
- Chipotle: This 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.
- Chick Fil A: 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.
- Wendy’s: As far as your standard burger places go, Wendy’s is definitely the best keto fast food place. They make it easy to order bunless burgers that are actually filling and delicious.
- Carl’s Jr. / Hardee’s: A surprising entry on the top list is Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. While the dinner menu is pretty good, offering burgers and chicken sandwiches, the real standout here is the breakfast menu.
The Importance of Home Cooking
Though it’s possible to eat keto out and about, nothing will beat planned, prepped meals for homemade deliciousness.