Imagine you’re getting that fast food itch, but you are on the keto diet. You think you’re screwed, and don’t have any options. But that’s not true at all!
In this article, we’ll take a look at what dishes or what meals you can choose when you’re on the keto diet and looking for some fast food. We’ll take a look at which restaurants have a good keto offer or have something that is keto-friendly on their menu.
Fast food restaurants that serve keto food
So let’s take a look at the list of fast food restaurants that supply some kind of keto dish. Actually, most of them have either something to offer that’s completely keto or you can customize a certain dish to make it keto-approved. Restaurants that offer some keto options include, but are not limited to:
- Chipotle
- In-N-Out Burger
- KFC
- Burger King
- Subway
- Taco Bell
- Wendy’s.
And of course, don’t forget McDonald’s.
Some of these will require a custom order to make the fast food keto-friendly.
Starbucks could be included in this list, as it offers quite a lot of food besides their coffee menu. Even though not a lot of people think of Starbucks as a fast food chain.
Rules for eating keto at a fast food restaurant
The rules that apply for eating keto at all of these fast food restaurants are, well, the basic rules of keto, so we go for a low-carb approach.
This immediately poses quite a problem. A lot of the fast food includes bread, burger buns and the like. In other cases, at KFC for example, most meals are fried, which also adds a lot of carbs to the food. And then there’s sauces and condiments like ketchup, which has actually quite a lot of sugar in it, which in turn means it has a high carb content.
As you’ll see throughout the article, we’ll be ditching bread, sauces and fried stuff ingredients. But still, besides these things, most of the fast food restaurants we’ve mentioned here have something tasty to offer for anyone following the keto diet.
Keto Fast Food Restaurants
Let’s take a look at each individual restaurant and list out some options, starting with Subway.
1. Subway
For Subway, of course, their main ingredient is bread – the sub – which we obviously cannot eat when we’re on the the keto diet. Luckily, they have a nice solution to this, which is basically making a sub into a salad. You can ask for any sub they offer to be turned into a salad, which they’ll dress nicely and is perfectly safe to eat on keto.
Some exceptions apply, namely the meatballs and the sweet onion teriyaki, as well as anything that includes a very sugary dressing. Besides those limitations, you should be able to turn every of your favorite subs into a salad and enjoy it while still adhering to the keto diet.
2. Taco Bell
Next up is Taco Bell. You’ll have an easier time at Taco Bell eating keto because they have a highly customizable menu. Even though two of their main ingredients, which are rice and beans, are not too keto-friendly, they’re easy to replace with extra lettuce and guacamole. This results in a nicely fat- and protein packed meal.
In other words, either you customize one of their dishes and swap out the rice and beans, or you just put together a custom bowl yourself. Whatever you desire, as long as it’s not high in carbs.
Notice we are only mentioning the bowls here because obviously you can’t eat something that includes a taco or tortilla.
3. Wendy’s
Next, we have Wendy’s. They have some good-to-go salads available on their menu. But for those of you who don’t really like salads (we don’t blame you) there’s also the option of just picking out a nice burger.
Take their iconic Baconator, for example, and just remove the bun. You’re now good to go! You’ve got a satisfying low carb meal. Obviously, without the bun you’ll need a fork and a knife to eat it… or a lot of napkins.
4. KFC
Let’s take a look at KFC next. As we said that in the intro, anything fried is definitely a no-go while looking for some keto fast food. Which kind of limits your choices at KFC altogether.
However, they have another variant of their chicken, which is the grilled chicken. With grilled chicken, you’re good to go. Still, just chicken by itself is not much of a meal. You can add a side of green beans, which unfortunately is the only keto-friendly side they offer.
Even though it doesn’t sound that awesome, with some grilled chicken and the greens beans you’ll have a nicely rounded fast food meal that is keto-approved.
5. Burger King
Next up on this list of fast food restaurants is Burger King. As the name clearly implies, the focus here is on burgers. But as you now know, you’ll have to ditch the bun to make a burger keto approved.
So basically, just pick your favorite Whopper variation or another burger. Remove the bun and the ketchup, just like we mentioned above for Wendy’s. You’ll end up with some very nice keto fast food , lots of protein, lots of fat and still tasty nonetheless.
6. In-N-Out
Same goes for In-N-Out Burger, but they have a nicer way of ordering some keto fast food, because it’s featured on the “secret menu”. You can order any burger and just order it “protein style”. This will swap out the buns for a crispy lettuce wrap. Meaning you basically turn a burger into a keto friendly fast food meal.
If you don’t like the idea of a lettuce wrap instead of buns, you can order a Flying Dutchman, which means you get just two patties with two slices of cheese in between. Very tasty. But you’ll probably need a fork and a knife to eat this without making a mess.
7. Chipotle
Then there’s Chipotle. Just like with Taco Bell, they have bowls available. Swapping out your rice and beans is the way to go here. You can add some guacamole and some greens to replace the rice. Add some nice cheese and you will be good to go.
Together with Taco Bell, we think Chipotle is one of the more keto friendly fast food restaurants on this list!
Also, make sure you don’t think the corn salsa. It’s quite high in carbs.
8. McDonald’s
Finally, this list would not be complete without McDonald’s. Just like the other burger places, you know what to adjust, so you can take (almost) anything off their menu. It just means you have to ditch the bun and the ketchup or any other sauces because the McDonald’s sauces are all pretty high in sugar, meaning more carbs.
You could pick a grilled chicken sandwich with no bun, no ketchup. Or maybe a quarter pounder with no bun and no ketchup. Also, if you’re looking for some breakfast, the Egg McMuffin can be eaten with no bread. You can read more about that here.
Conclusion
We went over quite a few of the most popular fast food restaurants. There’s more, obviously, but if you apply the rules we’ve lined out at the start of the article, you can find a keto friendly dish in almost any fast food restaurant, really.
So, next time your friends want to go out for some burgers or you have the craving for some tasty fast food, don’t worry. You can just stick to you keto diet, even though it might mean that you have to skip out on the bun or some some sauces.
If you have any favorites on this list or maybe some other restaurants that we didn’t mention, make sure to let us know in the comments!