Diving into the keto lifestyle might feel like waving goodbye to your beloved McDonald's favorites. But think again! With a few clever adjustments to how you order and knowing which items to avoid, indulging in keto McDonald's delights becomes a breeze.
This guide is your golden ticket to seamlessly blending fast food pleasures into your keto journey. From breakfast to dinner, we're unpacking all the low-carb gems McDonald's has on the menu, including essential carb counts to keep you on track. Get ready to redefine your fast food experience!
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The Basics of Ordering Keto at McDonald’s
To make the ordering process as painless and simple as possible, we’ve broken it down into a few easy-to-follow steps that will allow you to enjoy a fast food meal without worrying about deviating from your keto journey.
- Choosing the protein source
Start by choosing your preferred protein source – eggs or burger (beef is currently the only grilled meat on the menu without breadcrumbs); cheese is also okay and keto-friendly.
2. Avoid (Most) Sauces
Although most of the available sauces and condiments contain added sugars and high-carb ingredients, if you can’t resist adding a little extra flavor to your meal, we have found a few choices that are actually compatible with a low-carb diet.
3. Keto drinks
Opt for a simple black coffee or hot tea for breakfast or an unsweetened iced tea or diet soda for lunch and dinner.
Keto Breakfast Options on the McDonald’s Menu
Discovering keto-approved breakfast offerings at McDonald’s is easier than you might think. By asking for some simple modifications, you can enjoy delicious, guilt-free options for the day's most important meal.
1. Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit (4g net carbs, 15g fat, 12g protein)
If you ask for no biscuit, it contains an egg, American cheese, and smoked bacon.
2. Egg McMuffin (3g net carbs, 12g fat, 12g protein)
Without the English muffin, you’ll end up with an egg, American cheese, and Canadian bacon.
3. Sausage McMuffin (1g net carbs, 24g of fat, 9g protein)
Ask for no muffin; you can add extra sausage and cheese to make this simple combination of a sausage patty and American cheese more fulfilling.
4. Sausage McMuffin with Egg (2g net carbs, 30g fat, 15g protein)
Skip the English muffin and enjoy a combination of egg, sausage, and American cheese.
5. Sausage Biscuit with Egg (2g carbs, 24g fat, 12g protein)
Without the biscuit, it contains an egg and a sausage patty; add some cheese slices to enrich this very low-carb meal.
6. Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddles (4g net carbs, 15g fat, 12g protein)
Order it without the griddle cakes. You will get an egg, American cheese, and smoked bacon.
7. Sausage, Egg & Cheese McGriddles (3g net carbs, 27g fat, 14g protein)
Same as with Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddles, skip on the griddle cakes, but feel free to order extra slices of cheese, sausage, or eggs.
8. Big Breakfast (3g net carbs, 29g fat, 20g protein)
Even without the biscuit, hash browns, and hotcake syrup, this makes for one of the more filling keto options on the McDonald’s breakfast menu. It consists of scrambled eggs and a sausage patty; you can add bacon and cheese.
9. Sausage Burrito (2g net carbs, 13g fat, 9g protein)
Order it without the flour tortilla; you’ll get a scrambled egg, sausage, and vegetable mix, together with American cheese (1g net carbs per slice).
Keto Breakfast Drinks
Starting the day without a rousing shot of caffeine can be challenging for many. For the occasions when McDonald’s is your chosen breakfast spot, we’ve ensured that you know which of their coffees will energize you in a keto-friendly way.
While their menu offers a considerable array of coffee drinks that can be customized to be sugar-free, they are still surprisingly high in carbohydrates. The culprit here is whole milk, which contains 12g of carbs per 8oz glass. Unfortunately, as of the time this article was written, McDonald’s does not offer dairy-free alternatives to its milk products in the United States.
Our recommendation is to stick with plain black coffee, of which there are two varieties:
1. Americano (1g net carbs, 0g fat, 0g protein)
Simple espresso coffee made with hot water.
2. Premium Roast Coffee (1g net carbs, 0g fat, 0g protein)
Made with roasted Arabica beans.
You can personalize and enrich both options by adding some keto-friendly coffee cream (1g net carbs per packet).
McDonald’s Keto-Friendly Lunch and Dinner
Now we come to the portion of its menu McDonald’s is probably best known for: burgers and chicken sandwiches. While all of their chicken items include breading of some kind and would thus compromise your keto goals, there’s no need to worry.
Despite these limitations, McDonald’s offers a plethora of lunch and dinner options that can easily be customized into delicious, keto-friendly meals. Additionally, these options come with the added benefit of fitting in with a tight budget.
For easier navigation, we’ve divided these menu options into two subcategories: regular and deluxe (for when you’re craving a little extra fast food tastiness).
Keto Beef Options
McDonald’s Basic Keto Burger Orders
- Quarter Pounder with Cheese (3g net carbs, 24g fat, 24g protein)
Order it without the quarter pounder bun and ketchup, and enjoy this protein-rich combination of beef patty and American cheese, complete with onions and pickle slices. Mustard will enhance the flavor without adding the extra carbs.
- McDouble (3g net carbs, 18g fat, 17g protein)
Same as with the Quarter Pounder, order it without the bun and ketchup.
- Quarter Pounder with Cheese Bacon (4g net carbs, 33g fat, 30g protein)
Without the bun and ketchup, it has all the ingredients of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, plus some tasty smoked bacon.
- Cheeseburger (2g net carbs, 11g fat, 10g protein)
Enjoy this McDonald’s classic without the bun and ketchup.
- Hamburger (1g net carbs, 7g fat, 7g protein)
Order it plain – no bun, no ketchup.
McDonald’s Deluxe Keto Burger Orders
- Big Mac (3g net carbs, 18g fat, 18g protein)
Order it without the bun and Big Mac sauce. It contains a beef patty, lettuce, American cheese, pickles, and onion. If you don’t want to enjoy it without its namesake sauce, it will bring the carbs count up to 6g.
- Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese (4g net carbs, 40g fat, 42g protein)
Request it without the bun and ketchup.
- Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe (5g net carbs, 35g fat, 24g protein)
If you order it without the bun and ketchup, you will get a beef patty, American cheese, a Roma tomato, lettuce, pickle slices, and onions, supplemented with mayonnaise and mustard.
- Double Cheeseburger (4g net carbs, 22g fat, 20g protein)
Same as with the regular option, opt out of the bun and ketchup.
Sauces and Dressings
Even though most of your orders from McDonald’s menu will have to undergo some personalization, that doesn’t mean you have to completely give up on sauces and condiments that make those orders extra enjoyable. Read on to learn which ones are to be avoided and which are either low on carbs or completely carb-free, thus making them a perfect addition to your McDonald’s keto meal.
Tangy Barbeque Sauce, Honey Mustard Sauce, Sweet ‘N Sour Sauce, honey, and ketchup are too high in sugar to be part of a ketogenic diet. Instead, opt for some of the following alternatives:
Spice up your order guilt-free with this surprisingly keto-friendly sauce.
Low on carbs and creamy dipping sauce.
Keto Drink Options at McDonald’s
No meal would be complete without a refreshing beverage to pair it up with. While soft and other sugary drinks are strictly incompatible with a keto lifestyle, luckily you’ll still have some delicious options to pick from the McDonald’s drinks menu.
Non-Keto McDonald’s Menu Items to Avoid
If you would like to know which items are straight-up off-limits and would immediately kick you out of ketosis, read on. Like every fast food chain, McDonald’s menu has many options that no modification could make keto-friendly.
The main offenders include the following:
Hopefully, this list narrows things down enough for you to be able to focus on personalizing a keto-friendly meal that best suits your needs. For more inspiration on eating out and sticking to low-carb goals, check out our Keto Fast Food guide and discover other keto-friendly goodies on the go!
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