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KETO-friendly Restaurants

Keto-friendly Restaurants and Fast Food Guide

Best Keto-friendly Restaurant and Fast Food guide! This post includes all the best ketogenic and low-carb fast food options at the most popular restaurants, tips for ordering keto-friendly fast food, best options to get, and what to avoid on the menu.

Keto-friendly Restaurant and fast food options.

Finding Keto-friendly restaurants can sometimes be a bit of a challenge.

And, with so many options to choose from, it’s easy to become overwhelmed!

Here, you’ll find some of the best items to choose from for popular food chains.

So, when you are out-and-about, head to one of these restaurants that serves-up Keto-friendly fare.


General Rules for Keto-friendly Restaurants

Beverage choices

  • At any restaurant, it’s best to drink water, unsweetened tea, and any diet drinks (like Diet Coke).

Entrees

Generally speaking, these are some of the lowest carb options you can choose at restaurants:

  • Meat – cuts of beef, pork, chicken, turkey, etc. Avoid anything battered and deep-fried.
  • Sandwiches with no bun – Order your favorite sandwich without the bread. Also, be mindful of condiments and toppings that could have high carb counts.
  • Lettuce-wrapped burgers – Burgers are great for Keto! Load them up with healthy fats from bacon and avocado.
  • Chicken wings – Choose a low carb sauce (like buffalo or ranch) and make sure they aren’t breaded.
  • Burrito bowls – Get all of your favorite meats, vegetables, and toppings. Just avoid the tortilla chips, beans, and rice.

Side Dish

When choosing sides, these are the most Keto-friendly options:

  • Caesar salad – order without croutons.
  • Side salad – choose a creamy dressing like ranch, caesar, or bleu cheese.
  • Steamed veggies – broccoli, cauliflower, and zucchini are good options.
  • Steamed green beans – add melted lemon butter or bacon.
  • Sauteed mushrooms – these make a great side dish or appetizer.

Keto-friendly Restaurant Options Green

Keto-friendly Restaurant Options Pink

Keto-friendly Restaurant Options PDF printables


General Points to Keep in Mind

  • For the most part, at any of these restaurants, you’ll want to avoid the bread on the sandwiches or wraps and the sugary beverages like sweet tea.
  • Choose low carb sauces with minimal amounts of sugar.
  • Avoid entrée sized salads, such as a cobb salad with grilled chicken, as they contain nearly 30 grams of carbs. The salads can be modified to remove the higher carb ingredients, but the nutritional information is unknown.

woman's hand holding Keto coffee in mug

When you NEED a Coffee on KETO

Some days, you need a caffeinated pick-me-up in the drive thru!

There are several restaurants with affordable Keto coffee options so I’ll list a couple here.

Dunkin’ Donuts

Sweeteners

Dunkin Donuts’ typical sweetener offerings include Splenda and table sugar.

Unfortunately, sugar has way too many carbs for a ketogenic diet.

Splenda, on the other hand, has maltodextrin and doesn’t mix well into iced coffee.

Most days, I typically end up bringing my own stevia or monkfruit drops.


Creamer

If you’re avoiding dairy and still want a lower carb coffee with cream, I recommend using coconut milk or Nutpods.

You can always pour a little into a container and bring it with you!


Almond Milk

Small – add 10 calories and 2 carbs.

Medium – add 20 claories and 5g carbs.

Large – add 30 calories, 1g fat and 6g carbs.


Cream

Small – add 60 calories, 6g fat, 1g carbs and 1g protein.

Medium – add 85 calories, 9g fat, 2g carbs and 2g protein.

Large – add 110 calories, 11g fat, 3g carbs and 3g protein.


Skim Milk

Small – add 10 calories, 1g carbs and 2g protein.

Medium – add 20 calories, 3g carbs and 2g protein.

Large – add 30 calories, 3g carbs and 3g protein


Whole Milk

Small – add 10 calories, 1g fat, 1g carbs and 2g protein.

Medium – add 20 calories, 1.5g fat, 3g carbs and 2g protein.

Large – add 30 calories, 2g fat, 4g carbs and 3g protein.


Flavor Shots

At Dunkin Donuts, flavor shots can be added to any of their beverages.

And, they’re unsweetened and sugar-free!

Flavor shots can be added to any beverage, and you can order multiple flavors.

The following flavors are available:

  • French Vanilla
  • Hazelnut
  • Toasted Almond
  • Blueberry
  • Raspberry
  • Coconut

woman drinking coffee on couch at home

COFFEE

The black coffee at Dunkin Donuts comes with a small carb count.

This is likely to count for the amount of coffee used to brew, and not after the waste is discarded.


Hot Coffee

  • Small coffee, plain (5 calories, 0g fat, 1g carbs, 0g protein)
  • Medium coffee, plain (10 calories, 0g fat, 1g carbs, 1g protein)
  • Large coffee, plain (10 calories, 0g fat, 2g carbs, 1g protein)
  • X-Large coffee, plain (15 calories, 0g fat, 2g carbs, 1g protein)
  • Espresso shot (5 calories, 0g fat, 1g carbs, 0g protein)

Hot Americano

  • Small Americano (10 calories, 0g fat, 1g carbs, 0g protein)
  • Medium Americano (10 calories, 0g fat, 2g carbs, 0g protein)
  • Large Americano (15 calories, 0g fat, 2g carbs, 0g protein)

Hot Lattes

Ordering a small latte? Here’s the break down.

  • Skim milk (70 calories, 0g fat, 10g carbs, 6g protein)
  • Whole milk (120 calories, 6g fat, 10g carbs, 6g protein)
  • Almond milk (80 calories, 2g fat, 14g carbs, 1g fiber, 1g protein) 13g net

Iced Coffee

As long as your iced coffee has no cream or sweetener, it should be fairly low in calories.

  • Small iced coffee, plain (10 calories, 0g fat, 2g carbs, 1g protein)
  • Medium iced coffee, plain (15 calories, 0g fat, 2g carbs, 1g protein)
  • Large iced coffee, plain (20 calories, 0g fat, 3g carbs, 1g protein)

COLD BREW COFFEE

  • Small cold brew, original (10 calories, 0g fat, 2g carbs, 1g protein)
  • Medium cold brew, original (15 calories, 0g fat, 2g carbs, 1g protein)
  • Large cold brew, original (20 calories, 0g fat, 3g carbs, 1g protein)

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