The 30 Best Keto-Friendly Restaurants

1. Jimmy John’s

Jimmy John’s is a popular sandwich shop offering a variety of sub sandwiches and wraps, plus chips, pickles, and cookies.

You can make any one of their subs an “Unwich,” replacing the bread with a lettuce wrap to shave off most of the carbs and a significant number of calories. According to the Jimmy John’s website, all of their Unwiches contain 10 grams of net carbs or less.

2. Chipotle

Chipotle offers a build-your-own Tex Mex experience featuring fresh, high quality ingredients. You can make salads, bowls, tacos, or burritos featuring a variety of meats, veggies, and other toppings.

To keep your meal keto, choose a bowl or salad and load it up with low carb ingredients like meat, veggies, cheese, guacamole, and salsa. Alternatively, order a Keto Salad Bowl — which contains either chicken or steak with lettuce, salsa, cheese, and guac.

3. Wendy’s

Wendy’s is a nationwide fast food restaurant offering burgers, chicken, salads, and chili.

Although this chain doesn’t have a dedicated keto menu, you can modify any of their burgers or salads to be keto-friendly.

Ask to modify your order along these lines:

• Burgers: no bun, ketchup, onions, or barbecue sauce
• Salads: with grilled chicken and a creamy salad dressing like ranch — and be sure to skip the croutons

If you get a burger, you can also choose a side salad instead of fries.

4. El Pollo Loco

El Pollo Loco is a Tex Mex fast food restaurant specializing in flame-grilled chicken tacos, burritos, salads, and burrito bowls.

The Pollo Fit Menu features three keto-friendly menu items:

• the Double Chicken Avocado Salad
• the Double Protein Avocado Pollo Fit Bowl
• the World’s First Keto Burrito

5. Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A is a popular chicken restaurant known for its chicken sandwiches, nuggets, strips, and waffle fries. It also offers wraps and salads featuring fried or grilled chicken.

Chick-fil-A offers a surprising selection of keto items, including grilled nuggets, which you can make a combo with a Side Salad or a Kale Crunch Side. With a few modifications — like choosing grilled chicken and asking for no corn — its Cobb Salad is keto-friendly as well.

6. In-N-Out

In N Out is a popular West Coast chain offering burgers, fries, and milkshakes.

The company’s “Not So Secret Menu” includes an easy way to make any burger keto-friendly by ordering it “Protein Style” — meaning it comes wrapped in lettuce instead of on a bun.

7. Popeye’s

Popeye’s is a Louisiana-based fried chicken spot that makes fried chicken, seafood, and sides with a Cajun twist.

Although most menu items aren’t keto-friendly, it’s possible to make a low carb meal of their Blackened Tenders (which aren’t breaded) and green beans.

8. Slim Chickens

Slim Chickens is a fast food chicken restaurant featuring chicken strips, wings, sandwiches, and a variety of Southern-style sides like coleslaw and fried mushrooms.

The vast majority of its menu items are high in carbs, but its side salads, grilled chicken strips, and chicken wings are low carb.

9. Qdoba

Qdoba is a fast food chain that, much like Chipotle, offers Mexican-style burritos, bowls, tacos, and salads with a variety of fresh ingredients.

Its Smoked Brisket Keto Bowl is a great option, but you can also make your own keto-friendly bowl or salad using any available meats, cheese, salsas, and veggies. Plus, Qdoba offers low carb Mexican Cauliflower Mash as a substitute for rice.

10. Noodles & Company

Noodles & Company serves a variety of pasta and noodle dishes from around the world, from homestyle macaroni and cheese to shrimp scampi to udon noodles.

The company offers zucchini noodles, too, so several of its dishes can be customized for keto. In fact, the nutrition calculator on its website allows you to filter by dietary preference, including keto, to show you exactly which menu items are keto-friendly and how to order them.

11. Olive Garden

Olive Garden is a popular Italian American chain.

While its dishes are often carb-heavy, you can always ask to replace the pasta with a large portion of broccoli beneath the sauce and protein.

Olive Garden’s salad with no croutons is also keto-friendly, as are a few other dishes.

12. BurgerFi

BurgerFi offers burgers and fries, but it’s a bit more upscale than your everyday fast food experience. The company uses high quality grass fed, corn finished beef and makes its own sauces in house.

You can order any BurgerFi burger “green style,” which replaces the bun with a lettuce bun — significantly shaving down on the carb count.

However, the company doesn’t provide nutrition information for green style burgers on its website.

13. BD’s Mongolian Grill

BD’s Mongolian Grill is a chain of Asian restaurants based on the Mongolian BBQ concept in which you choose the ingredients you want and the cooks prepare a custom stir-fry for you. This process makes it super easy to skip the carbs.

BD’s offers a variety of meats, seafood, and veggies for your stir-fry. Just skip the noodles, rice, corn, beans, meatballs, and brown sugar pork.

14. The Cheesecake Factory

While the Cheesecake Factory is known for its massive selection of cheesecakes, it also boasts a huge menu of breakfast, lunch, and dinner selections.

The best keto choices at the Cheesecake Factory require some customization, such as a Glamburger with no bun or a build-your-own omelet with all keto-friendly fillings like cheese, bacon, mushrooms, and spinach.

However, you can also order its SkinnyLicious Grilled Salmon entrée as is.

15. Buffalo Wild Wings

Buffalo Wild Wings is a casual sports bar chain that serves up wings, burgers, appetizers, sandwiches, and wraps.

The best keto option is the traditional wings, which are carb-free when plain. The dry seasonings contain just 1 carb each for a 6-piece wing order.

16. BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse

BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse is a sit-down restaurant with an attached bar that serves pizzas, burgers, salads, and other classic American entrées. Its menu features a variety of veggies and proteins, making it easy to customize a keto-friendly meal.

For example, its Tri-Tip Wedge salad features lettuce, sliced sirloin, BBQ sauce, bacon, blue cheese, onions, tomatoes, blue cheese dressing, and chimichurri sauce. Remove the BBQ sauce, tomatoes, and onions, and it’s perfectly keto-friendly.

BJ’s only provides calorie information on its website. As is, the Tri-Tip Wedge contains 1,300 calories, so it’s perfect for sharing — or saving half for leftovers (15).

17. Joe’s Crab Shack

Joe’s Crab Shack is a casual seafood restaurant specializing in shrimp and crab.

As long as you avoid fried items, you can enjoy nearly any of this chain’s seafood options. For instance, Joe’s Classic Steampot comes with Dungeness crab, sweet snow crab, shrimp, and smoked sausage. Skip the corn and potatoes to make it keto-friendly.

Additionally, Joe’s offers more traditional options like broiled fish, steaks, grilled chicken, and side salads. However, the company doesn’t provide nutrition info on its website.

18. On the Border

On the Border is a popular Tex Mex restaurant offering a variety of Mexican-style entrées.

Its fajitas are a solid option for people on keto. You can choose from several meats and meat combinations — just skip the tortillas, beans, and rice, and instead eat the fajita mix and salad as the entrée itself.

19. Chili’s

Chili’s is a casual restaurant offering a mix of Tex Mex and American appetizers and entrées. Several of its menu items are keto-friendly with few modifications needed.

You can choose bunless burgers, steak, grilled chicken, grilled fish, entrée salads made with grilled meat and no croutons, or fajitas with no tortillas or sides.

For a simple order with no modifications necessary, see the dish in the box below.

20. Outback Steakhouse

Outback Steakhouse is an Australian-themed steakhouse with franchises across the United States.

It’s very easy to go keto at Outback if you stick to a grilled entrée with non-starchy sides. Just make sure that no sugary glazes or sauces come with your dish.

Outback also offers entrée salads that can be made keto-friendly with some modifications.

21. LongHorn Steakhouse

LongHorn Steakhouse is another well-known U.S. steakhouse chain.

It offers several keto options like steaks, grilled salmon, pork chops, and salads. Make sure your entrée doesn’t have any sugary glazes, barbecue sauce, or breading.

Keto-friendly sides include Brussels sprouts, asparagus, and broccoli.

22. Texas Roadhouse

Texas Roadhouse is a Texas-themed chain with traditional steakhouse fare.

To stay keto at Texas Roadhouse, stick to steak, chicken, salmon, bunless burgers, and salads. Its keto-friendly sides include sautéed mushrooms, house salads, and green beans.

23. Colton’s Steakhouse

Colton’s Steakhouse is a chain steakhouse operating in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States. Like most steakhouses, it offers steaks, chicken, burgers, ribs, and appetizers.

My favorite dish at Colton’s — Colton’s Loaded Chicken — is very keto-friendly. This grilled chicken breast is topped with sautéed mushrooms, bacon, green onions, and cheese.

You can get a side of house or Caesar salad with no croutons, steamed vegetables, green beans, grilled asparagus, or sautéed mushrooms to keep the carbs low.

Colton’s Loaded Chicken with no sides or extra dipping sauce is 620 calories, but other nutrition information isn’t available (21).

24. Saltgrass Steakhouse

Saltgrass Steakhouse is a high end steakhouse with locations in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States. It offers a wide variety of steaks, seafood, salads, and other traditional steakhouse meals.

As is the case with most steakhouses, it’s easy to stay keto here. In fact, you can order the Bacon Wrap Filet & Grilled Shrimp for an extremely low carb and protein-rich entrée, then add asparagus or broccoli as a side — plus a salad without croutons.

Unfortunately, nutrition information isn’t available on its website.

25. IHOP

IHOP is a popular diner with locations all across the United States. It serves pancakes, crepes, and other breakfast foods alongside a small lunch and dinner menu.

Although known for its pancakes, IHOP makes excellent low carb omelets that are ideal for keto.

26. Denny’s

Denny’s is another nationwide diner chain. It offers burgers, sandwiches, traditional American entrées, and a large menu of breakfast foods.

Keto options are available, but you’ll have to make modifications. Try an All-American Slam (scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage) with no hash browns or bread, or a FitFare Wild Alaska Salmon with an extra serving of broccoli instead of mashed potatoes.

Nutrition information for these modified meals isn’t available on the Denny’s website.

27. Blaze Pizza

Blaze Pizza is a popular chain offering custom pizzas with high end ingredients and unique flavors.

Its Keto Pizza comes on a gluten-free, keto-friendly crust with spicy red sauce, mozzarella, bacon, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach. Alternatively, you can choose any sauces, cheeses, or toppings you want on the keto crust.

28. Marco’s Pizza

Marco’s Pizza is a nationwide pizza delivery chain that offers a wide selection of specialty pizzas, subs, and salads.

It also offers Pizza Bowls, which feature all of the sauce, cheese, and toppings you like on your pizza — but without the crust.

29. Texas de Brazil

Texas de Brazil is a popular Brazilian steakhouse. Brazilian steakhouses offer a unique dining experience in which you can enjoy a salad bar, several side dishes, and unlimited amounts of meat carved right at your table.

Some of the keto-friendly items on the Texas de Brazil menu include herb-marinated pork loin, filet mignon, chicken breast wrapped in bacon, and a variety of cheeses and vegetables.

Many of its meats, cheeses, and salad dressings contain 0 carbs, so it should be easy to stay keto at Texas de Brazil (25).

30. Golden Corral

Golden Corral is a traditional buffet offering stations with several rotating menu items.

As such, this chain features numerous keto-friendly options, including salad, sirloin steak, roasted turkey, baked fish, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage.

If you’d like to plan your meal before dining, Golden Corral offers an easy-to-use nutrition information page on its website (26).

Eating keto doesn’t mean you’re doomed to cook all your meals at home — it just means you’ll need to do a little more planning when dining out.

These 30 restaurants offer great keto-friendly options that make it easier to enjoy a dinner out without overdoing it on carbs.

Additionally, you can take advantage of a few tips for keto-friendly fast food.