If you’re eating paleo, admittedly somewhere like Pizza Hut may not be your first stop. In fact, it’s fairly difficult to eat at just about any restaurant or fast food chain while staying in the true confines of the diet. But it’s not impossible!
The paleo diet draws from the main food groups of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, relying exclusively on the various types of foods that were eaten during the Paleolithic Era. This includes mainly fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, eggs, lean meats, and fish. What the diet doesn’t include? Grains, legumes, sugar, dairy, and anything processed.
The list of no-nos certainly makes it challenging to eat diet-friendly food at a fast food chain (especially one that specializes in pizza). But if you find yourself at Pizza Hut while on the paleo diet, we’ve got you covered: here are the options you can order on the menu for a paleo-friendly meal or snack.
Paleo food and drink items available on the Pizza Hut menu
Since dairy and grains are off the list, there’s no way around it…pizza is not a paleo-friendly food. With no alternative crust options like cauliflower crust or grain-free crust, and no non-dairy cheese offerings, it’s unfortunately not possible to build a paleo-approved pizza at Pizza Hut.
The pastas on the menu are no-gos as well, along with most of Pizza Hut’s sides – like the breadsticks, cheese bread, and fries (since potatoes are generally too starchy to be allowed on the diet, and fried food should also be avoided). Sadly, sweets and desserts like the cinnamon sticks, apple pie, and chocolate brownie are not paleo-friendly either, and since all of Pizza Hut’s dipping sauces and dressings contain either added sugar or dairy, it’s best to avoid those as well.
However, Pizza Hut does have one thing on the menu that can fit within a paleo diet: chicken wings. If you order Pizza Hut’s traditional bone-in wings (rather than the boneless wings, which are fried), you have a few options of seasoning: either naked, cajun-style, or lemon pepper. The one caveat is that the bone-in wings, although not breaded or fried, are coated with both rice flour and wheat flour – so if you wish to avoid those ingredients entirely, skip the wings. If you’re okay with a small amount of grains, these wings can pass as a paleo-friendly meal.
Other than the traditional wings, the list of paleo-friendly menu options is unfortunately pretty short. Some Pizza Hut locations offer salads, but they are few and far between depending on which franchise and location you go to. However, many of the chain’s pizza toppings themselves are paleo-friendly, from meats to vegetables, so we’ve included those in the paleo-approved list below (we’ve kept all of the meats on the list, but keep in mind that it’s best to avoid any that are heavily processed).
If you’re ordering Pizza Hut on the paleo diet, here’s your full list of options according to the current menu.
| Paleo Menu Items | Required Modifications |
| BLT Salad* | No croutons No cheese No dressing |
| Caesar Salad* | No croutons No cheese No dressing |
| Chicken Caesar Salad* | No croutons No cheese No dressing |
| Garden Salad* | No croutons No cheese No dressing |
| Chicken Garden Salad* | No croutons No cheese No dressing |
| Zesty Italian Salad* | No croutons No cheese No dressing |
| Traditional Wings | Naked Cajun Style Dry Rub Lemon Pepper Dry Rub |
| Paleo Pizza Toppings | |
| Bacon | *Processed meat |
| Banana Peppers | |
| Beef | |
| Grilled Chicken | |
| Green Bell Peppers | |
| Ham | *Processed meat |
| Italian Sausage | *Processed meat |
| Jalapeno Peppers | |
| Meatball | *Contains wheat |
| Mediterranean Black Olives | |
| Mushrooms | |
| Onions | |
| Pepperoni | |
| Pineapple | |
| Pork | |
| Roma Tomatoes |
The only item on Pizza Hut’s current menu that’s considered paleo-friendly is the Traditional Wings. These are bone-in chicken wings that can be ordered naked (unseasoned), or with a selection of seasonings and sauces. The cajun style dry rub and lemon pepper dry rub are both good options for a paleo-friendly order. However, these wings are coated in rice flour and wheat flour, so they are not completely grain-free.
Pizza is not suitable for a paleo diet, because both grains and dairy are to be avoided on the diet. To create a paleo-friendly pizza, you would need to have a grain-free dough and either no dairy or a dairy-free cheese alternative.
Although the chain once offered a cauliflower crust pizza on the menu, Pizza Hut no longer makes this item and does not have a cauliflower pizza crust on their current menu.
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