For seafood enthusiasts adhering to a ketogenic diet, Red Lobster presents a surprisingly accommodating landscape. This guide navigates the Red Lobster menu, highlighting keto-friendly options, offering ordering tips, and providing insights on what to avoid to maintain ketosis.
Navigating the Red Lobster Menu on a Keto Diet
Red Lobster's menu, rich in fresh fish and seafood, can be readily adapted for a keto lifestyle. The key is to focus on protein-rich dishes and healthy fats while avoiding carbohydrates.
The Good News: Keto-Friendly Options Abound
Many items on the Red Lobster menu are naturally low in carbs, making them ideal for a keto diet. Shellfish and fish preparations often involve boiling, baking, grilling, or steaming, frequently accompanied by butter-based sauces. Diners can also find various dinner arrangements featuring seafood and steaks like sirloin, NY strip, and filet mignon, which are inherently low in carbohydrates.
The Not-So-Good News: Carb-Heavy Culprits to Avoid
To successfully navigate Red Lobster on a keto diet, it's crucial to avoid certain categories of dishes:
- The Usual Suspects: Rice, potatoes, pasta, and bread are off-limits due to their high carbohydrate content.
- Fried and Breaded Entrees: Deep-fried and breaded items like fish and chips, popcorn shrimp, and breaded shrimp are high in carbs.
- Sweet and Sugary Items: Any dishes with sweet sauces or syrups should be avoided.
- Cheddar Bay Biscuits: The famed Cheddar Bay Biscuits are unfortunately high in carbs and unsuitable for a keto diet.
Keto-Friendly Appetizers at Red Lobster
While many appetizers at Red Lobster are carb-heavy, some keto-friendly options can kickstart your meal:
Read also: Guiding You to Healthier Meals at Red Lobster
- Shrimp Cocktail with Seafood Sauce: This classic appetizer is a safe bet, but be mindful of the sugar content in the seafood sauce and use it sparingly.
- Escargot Stuffed Mushrooms: These mushrooms, prepared with white wine sauce and cheese, offer a flavorful and keto-compliant start to your meal.
- Bacon-Wrapped Sea Scallops: Combining the savory goodness of scallops and bacon, this appetizer is perfect for those watching their carbs.
- Crab Queso (with Keto-Friendly Dippers): Red Lobster's crab queso can be a suitable appetizer if you swap the tortilla chips for low-carb dippers like carrot and celery sticks or broccoli.
- Mussels (without the Bread): Depending on your carb limits, the mussels appetizer can be a good choice, but be sure to skip the artisan bread served with it.
Keto-Friendly Main Courses at Red Lobster
For many of the suggested keto-friendly meals, you’ll need to ensure you’ve swapped out any potato, pasta or rice side dishes for low carb ones like steamed or sauteed vegetables and salads.
- Surf and Turf (Maine Lobster): Order with a vegetable side dish instead of potatoes.
- Grilled Lobster, Shrimp, and Salmon: Substitute the potato and rice sides for vegetables.
- Ultimate Feast: Swap the potato for a vegetable side dish and exchange breaded shrimp with a dish without breading like garlic shrimp or scallops.
- Lobster Lover’s Dream: Simply substitute a vegetable side dish for the potato.
- Salmon New Orleans with Shrimp: Order with a vegetable side dish instead of potato.
- Shrimp Scampi: A great choice, as long as it's served with vegetable sides and no pasta, rice, or potatoes.
- Endless Shrimp: Choose shrimp preparations without breading or pasta.
- Crab Legs: Steamed snow or Bairdi crab legs are excellent choices, but remember to choose sides without pasta, potato, or rice.
- Crab and Sirloin Oscar: Crab-topped sirloin steak makes for a fabulous entree.
- Shrimp and Tilapia: Enjoy shrimp and tilapia with low-carb vegetable side dishes.
- Tilapia and Scallops: With the right sides, this is a great entree.
Keto-Friendly Side Dishes at Red Lobster
Your best options for keto friendly side dishes are steamed vegetables and sauteed and seasoned dishes like garlic green beans, seasoned broccoli and Brussel sprouts (plain).
- Garlic Green Beans: A flavorful and easy side that pairs well with any Red Lobster main course.
- Roasted Asparagus: Simple to prepare, yet exquisite in flavor, roasted asparagus is a wonderful side to serve with seafood dinners as well as steakhouse favorites.
- Seasoned Broccoli: A classic standby and a popular side dish.
- Brussel Sprouts: Opt for the plain version, without the sweet sauce or fried onions.
- House Salad: The house style salad is perfect but you’ll need to check the content of the dressings. Your best bet for salad dressing is oil and vinegar styles (vinaigrette) or ones lower in carbs, like Caesar, Ranch or Blue Cheese.
Salad Dressings (Lowest to Highest Carbs)
You may need to be selective with salad dressings.
- Red Lobster Caesar Dressing: 0g Carbs.
- Red Lobster Ranch Dressing: 2g Carbs.
- Red Lobster Blue Cheese Dressing: 2g Carbs.
- Red Lobster Thousand Island Dressing: 8g Carbs.
- Red Lobster Honey Mustard Dressing: 9g Carbs.
Keto-Friendly Beverages at Red Lobster
- Water with Lemon: The simplest and most refreshing low-carb option.
- Coffee or Tea (Unsweetened): Enjoy coffee or tea without sugar, perhaps with a little cream.
- Diet Soda: Choose diet sodas for a zero-carb alternative.
- Avoid Alcoholic Drinks: Most alcoholic drinks at Red Lobster are high in carbs.
Keto-Friendly Desserts at Red Lobster
Unfortunately, there aren’t any low carb desserts at Red Lobster that are known of. The Vanilla Bean Cheesecake could be a lower carb option when compared to the other desserts like Chocolate Brownie Overboard or Chocolate Cake.
Red Lobster Keto Meal Ideas
- Surf & Turf: Maine Lobster Tail paired with a 6 oz., 7 oz., or 12 oz. sirloin steak. Be sure to swap out the traditional sides for keto-friendly options.
- Create Your Own Combination: Opt for wood-grilled scallops and sirloin for a customizable keto-friendly meal.
- Salmon New Orleans: Enjoy this flavorful dish, ensuring you choose low-carb sides like asparagus.
Additional Tips for Keto Dining at Red Lobster
- Customize Your Order: Don't hesitate to ask for modifications to your meal, such as swapping sides or omitting croutons from salads.
- Be Mindful of Sauces and Condiments: Many sauces and condiments can be high in carbs, so use them sparingly or opt for keto-friendly alternatives like butter or oil and vinegar.
- Check Nutritional Information: Red Lobster provides a calorie and nutrition tool online to help you track your macros and check for allergens.
- Load Up on Healthy Fats: Add extra butter or ask for a side of avocado to increase your fat intake.
- Don't Be Afraid to Ask: If you're unsure about the carb content of a particular dish, don't hesitate to ask your server for more information.
Keto Red Lobster Copycat Recipes
For those who enjoy cooking at home, there are numerous low-carb copycat recipes inspired by Red Lobster favorites:
Read also: Healthy Options at Red Lobster
- Low Carb Cheddar Bay Biscuits: Enjoy a keto-friendly version of the famous biscuits with only 2g of net carbs per biscuit.
- Crab Stuffed Mushrooms: A lower-carb alternative to the restaurant version, without the bread stuffing topping.
- Red Lobster Crab Queso: A flavorful dip that can be enjoyed with vegetable dippers or low-carb chips.
- Lobster Artichoke Dip: A delicious appetizer when served with low-carb dippers.
- Salmon New Orleans and Shrimp: A powerhouse of salmon and spiced shrimp in a Cajun butter sauce.
- Shrimp Scampi: Large, delectable shrimp in a butter garlic sauce.
- Garlic Green Beans: Easy, flavorful, and perfect with any Red Lobster main course.
- Roasted Asparagus: An elegant and easy side dish that's full of flavor.
- Seasoned Broccoli: A classic standby and a popular side dish.
- Brussel Sprouts: Savory, crisp, and slightly caramelized bites.
Read also: Easy Keto Bisque