If you’re on the keto diet, you are certainly not alone; it’s estimated that nearly 13 million people follow the ketogenic diet every year in America. Whether it’s for weight loss or overall health improvement and whether it’s temporary or long-term, more and more Americans are on the hunt for keto-friendly food when they go out to eat – including at their favorite fast food chains like McDonald’s.
The ketogenic diet is all about limiting the amount of carbohydrates you consume, focusing instead on a moderate protein, high fat diet. While the exact amount can differ across the board, most people need to stick to 50 grams or less of net carbs per day (that includes sugar, too) to keep their body in a state of ketosis, where they’re burning fat instead of carbs.
Obviously at a fast food joint like McDonald’s, the menu is bound to be full of carbs – from the salty sandwiches like Big Macs and McChickens to the sugary sweets like McFlurrys and Apple Pie. So what are your choices if you’re cruising through McDonald’s drive-thru on a keto diet? Here’s every low-carb, low-sugar order at America’s most popular fast food chain.
Keto items available on the McDonald’s menu
On the keto diet, any food that’s high in carbs is extremely limited – so that means grains and starches like bread, cereal, rice, and pasta, most fruit and some vegetables, beans and legumes, unhealthy processed fats, and sugary foods like baked goods and sweets, sodas, and candy are all off limits. As you can imagine, this definitely limits your choices at McDonald’s.
That said, because things like eggs, meat, and some dairy are all keto-approved, there are a good amount of items on the menu that you can play around with if you make the necessary modifications. The big things to avoid – carbs and sugars – are pretty much rampant throughout the menu, so the name of the game is to customize your order as much as possible to remove the problematic ingredients. But keep in mind that you can also add keto-friendly ingredients like cheese, bacon, and mayo.
Since McDonald’s doesn’t offer lettuce-wrapped sandwiches, that’ll largely mean choosing meals with non-breaded proteins and removing the bread, whether it’s a bun, a biscuit, or a muffin. Unfortunately fan favorites like McDonald’s fries, shakes, and chicken nuggets are keto no-gos, and even the ketchup has lots of sugar.
As for McDonald’s beverages, when it comes to coffee or milk-based drinks the options are unfortunately slim. McDonald’s uses whole milk, which comes with natural carbs and sugar and should be avoided on keto; because they don’t offer any other dairy or plant-based milk options, you aren’t able to modify most of the beverages.
Assuming that someone on the keto diet is sticking to under 50 grams of net carbs per day, we’ve gathered a full list of everything at McDonald’s that falls under 18 grams of total carbs (theoretically allotting for one meal or so). Here are the McDonald’s menu items you can modify to be low-carb and low-sugar, making for keto-friendly meals.
Breakfast Items | Required Modifications |
Egg McMuffin | Remove english muffin |
Sausage McMuffin | Remove english muffin |
Sausage McMuffin with Egg | Remove english muffin |
Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit | Remove biscuit |
Sausage Biscuit with Egg | Remove biscuit |
Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddle | Remove griddle cake |
Sausage, Egg & Cheese McGriddle | Remove griddle cake |
Big Breakfast | No hash brown, no biscuit |
Lunch + Dinner Items | Required Modifications |
Hamburger | No bun, no ketchup |
Cheeseburger | No bun, no ketchup |
Double Cheeseburger | No bun, no ketchup |
McDouble | No bun, no ketchup |
Big Mac | No bun, no Big Mac sauce |
Quarter Pounder with Cheese | No bun, no ketchup |
Quarter Pounder with Cheese Bacon | No bun, no ketchup |
Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese | No bun, no ketchup |
Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe | No bun, no ketchup |
Sauces + Condiments | Required Modifications |
Mayonnaise | |
Mustard | |
Creamy Ranch | |
Spicy Buffalo | |
Beverages | Required Modifications |
Premium Roast Coffee | |
Iced Coffee | No cream, no liquid sugar |
Americano | |
Hot Tea | |
Unsweetened Iced Tea | |
Diet Coke | |
Coke Zero |
No, all of McDonald’s burgers are served on buns, and they don’t currently offer lettuce wrapped or protein-style menu options. However, you can order most of their burgers without the bun and ketchup to make them keto-friendly.
McDonald’s fries are not keto-friendly; one order of small fries is 31 grams of carbs, which is well over the acceptable limit for a snack on a keto diet.
Without the bun, a Big Mac is around 6 grams to 7 grams of net carbs, depending on whether you also remove the Big Mac Sauce.
Unfortunately McDonald’s chicken nuggets are not keto-friendly, because they are breaded. This goes for all of McDonald’s current chicken menu items.
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