Just because you're on the keto diet doesn't mean you have to do without the convenience of fast food. It may not be a healthy way to eat all the time, but for when you’re in a pinch or need something quick, we'll show you how to order, keto style!
General Tips for Ordering Low Carb Fast Food
As long as you know where the carbs are hiding, you can find ways to enjoy fast food meal that will fit into your keto lifestyle. Here are a few general tips for ordering low carb in your favorite fast-food restaurant.
Avoid fried food. Yes, keto is a high-fat diet but not any old fat. When following a keto lifestyle, you should aim to use high-quality fats and avoid trans fats. Not to mention that fried foods are typically covered in bread crumbs which will increase the carb count significantly. Look for roasted, broiled, or grilled meats instead.
Pass on the bun. Eat your burger without the bread, or request lettuce leaves on the outside. If you really serious about your bread, bring your own keto buns!
Pile on the veggies. When given a choice between salad and fries - choose the salad. Fill your plate with veggies, top them with the protein of your choice, add some healthy fat, and you're done.
Dressing on the side, please. Salad dressings and sauces are usually filled with sugar and corn syrup. Ask to read the labels or for olive oil and lemon.
Check your portion size. Fast-food restaurants typically offer larger portion sizes than are advisable. Instead, share your meal with a friend or half it and save the rest for later.
Check nutritional info. Many of the larger chains have nutritional information displayed in the restaurant and online.
Related: What Are Net Carbs? (And How to Track Them on Keto)
Low Carb Options by Restaurant
Here are low carb options found in a variety of popular fast-food restaurants:
Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A is a fast-food chicken chain that is well-known in the U.S.
We suggest ordering:
8-pieces of grilled chicken nuggets. These bite-sized pieces of marinated chicken breast are grilled with a juicy backyard-smoky taste. This meal also comes with a side of coleslaw but it’s best to skip it—each serving of coleslaw has 17g carbs.
Grilled Nuggets contain: 1g carb, 25g protein, and 3g fat.
Or
A large cobb salad made of a bed of fresh mixed greens, roasted corn kernels, shredded Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese, sliced hard-boiled egg, crumbled bacon pieces, and grape tomatoes. It's served with crispy red bell peppers and charred tomato.
The salad can be topped with grilled filet chicken breast.
18g net carbs, 36g protein, and 19g fat. If you need save net carbs, skip the corn and tomatoes and you'll get shave over 10g net carbs in this salad!
Taco Bell
Taco Bell is a chain of fast-food restaurants offering inexpensive, Mexican-inspired food. While most of the menu is nachos, burritos, and tacos, it is possible to find something keto-friendly.
Keto order options:
The naked egg taco is a fried egg instead of a taco shell. You can fill them with bacon or sausage, and remove the potatoes from the filling.
Or order from the Power Bowl from the Power Menu. Just omit the rice and beans and enjoy a filling meal for around 6g net carbs.
Wendy's
In recent years, Wendy's fast-food franchises have emphasized delivering you fresh, high-quality food. The portions are generous and tasty.
Keto order options:
The Baconator is half a pound of beef, with cheese, six pieces of Applewood smoked crispy bacon. You can ask for no bun or simply remove the double cheeseburger and bacon from the bun.
A bun-less Baconator has 5g net carbs, 51g protein, and 55g fat.
Or
The Southwest avocado chicken salad. This consists of fresh lettuce, pepper jack cheese, tomatoes, avocado, Applewood smoked bacon and topped with grilled chicken breast.
6g net carbs, 42g protein, and 25g fat.
Or
A Parmesan Caesar Chicken Salad. This is made of fresh romaine lettuce, Italian cheeses, grilled chicken breast, and crunchy Parmesan crisps.
3g net carbs, 49g of protein, and 21g of fat.
Sonic Drive-In
Sonic Drive-In restaurants have a vast menu to choose from and have a couple of options for keto dieters.
Keto order options:
A bun-less double cheeseburger is what it says on the label. It's 100% pure beef with other fresh ingredients. Not fancy, but low-carb.
3g net carbs, 35g protein, and 43g fat.
Or
You can order a couple of New York hotdogs without the buns. These are made with 100% beef, with added sauerkraut and browned onions.
One hot dog has: 5g carbs, 7g protein, and 15g fat.
Related: How to Eat Chinese Food on a Keto Diet
Starbucks
Starbucks, best known for its fantastic beverages, also has tasty snacks and light breakfast and lunch items. Many drinks in Starbucks may be converted into keto-friendly beverages. Just let the staff know what you want.
Keto order options for drinks:
A grande iced coffee with heavy cream.
0 g of carbs, 0 g of protein, and 0 g of fat.
Keto order options for food:
The Egg bites are delicious but surprisingly high in net carbs. We suggest sharing with a friend as a quick snack or avoiding them all together. Stick to their package almonds or string cheese if you need something to hold you over.
Each pair of egg bites has:
Ham, Cheddar & Peppers Sous Vide Egg Bites: 11g net carbs, 17g protein, and 16g fat
Bacon & Gruyère Sous Vide Egg Bites: 9g net carbs, 19g protein, and 20g fat
Egg White & Roasted Red Pepper Sous Vide Egg Bites: 11g net carbs, 12g protein, and 8g fat
Subway
Subway offers fresh, made-to-order sandwiches, salads, and beverages. At first glance, it would appear that they don't have much to offer the keto dieter, but their salads are delicious.
Keto order options:
The Oven-Roasted Chicken Salad consists of crisp greens and any other veggies of your choice and topped with warm, sliced chicken breast.
Add any dressing you'd like for an 0-3g net carbs, just not the Sweet Onion Sauce, as it's packed with 16g sugar!
Or
The Steak and Cheese Protein Bowl is a large salad of shredded lettuce, red onions, tomatoes, and green peppers, all topped with shaved steak and Monterey cheddar cheese. This comes topped with guacamole and Chipotle Southwest sauce. Skip the Chipotle sauce if you want to shave off an extra carb.
13g net carbs, 36g protein, and 19g fat.
No sugar added, low carb keto baking mixes and snacks are right this way! Shop now!
KFC
KFC chicken is classic fried chicken, and if you can find it without the breading, it is much more keto-friendly.
Keto order options:
Two Kentucky Grilled Chicken breast pieces that have been marinated and grilled, leaving it as juicy and tasty as its classic counterparts.
0g of carbs, 38g of protein, and 7g of fat (in each breast).
Pei Wei Asian
Pei Wei Asian offers authentic, Asian-inspired dishes that are fresh and fast. The food is made in-house by expert chefs with house-chopped veggies, whole cuts of white meat chicken and flank steak. If you skip the rice, this is an excellent restaurant for protein and veggies.
Keto order option:
A Polynesian poke bowl with crab salad and raw tuna. This poke bowl (deconstructed sushi) consists of a bed of greens, fresh avocado, pickled ginger, cucumber, chili sauce ,crispy shallots, and is topped with raw tuna and crab salad. The website doesn’t offer an ingredient by ingredient nutritional breakdown but we suspect that taking out the crispy shallots, and chili sauce will bring down the carbs significantly.
20g net carbs, 24g protein, and 33g fat (with sambal sauce and shallots).
They even have cauliflower fried rice!
Chipotle
Chipotle Mexican Grill is a fast-food chain that specializes in burritos and tacos. They offer fresh ingredients with whole foods.
Keto order options:
A half chicken and half steak salad bowl. Add a bed of super-greens lettuce blend, chicken, steak, cheese, guacamole and top, with fresh tomato salsa.
6g net carbs, 34.5g protein, and 36.5g fat.
They also have a variety of other proteins and creative ways to build a delicious low-carb meal. Like their keto lifestyle bowl or their new cilantro-lime cauliflower rice with just 4g net carbs.
Related: Is Chipotle Keto Friendly?
Five Guys
Five Guys restaurants are classic American burger places.
Keto order options:
A juicy, delicious cheeseburger wrapped in lettuce.
0g net carbs, 18g protein, and 17g of fat.
You can even order a burger bowl with low carb toppings like mayo, pickles, mushrooms and more. Just avoid the BBQ sauce which has 15g carbs.
In-N-Out
In-N-Out Burger have been around since 1948, serving juicy hamburgers with fresh ingredients. Today it maintains the classic drive-thru style.
Keto order options:
The animal style burger. This is your favorite burger wrapped in lettuce with tomato, a mustard cooked beef patty, with a pickle and grilled onions.
8g net carbs, 13g protein, and 17g fat
Or
The protein style burger. This is your favorite burger wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun.
Final thoughts
Finding the high-fat, low-carb meals on the go used to be challenging in fast food restaurants. Fortunately, more restaurants realize that keto is here to stay and are offering better alternatives or are adapting classic offerings.
Want to try other easy and delicious keto foods? Explore our keto baking mixes and snacks—Shop now!
