Food Items: Jack in the Box Keto Friendly
If you are someone who enjoys going to Jack In The Box, you may be looking for a way to make this restaurant more keto-friendly. Unfortunately, there are a lot of options at Jack In The Box that do not meet the low carb requirements. At the same time, if you are looking for a low carb menu Jack in the Box, there are food items you might be able to order or alter that can meet your requirements. Some of the food items you may want to order at Jack In The Box include:
- Grilled Chicken Strips: One of the first food items you might want to consider is grilled chicken strips. Even though fried chicken strips are not necessarily a good choice, grilled chicken strips are more likely to be keto-friendly. Not every Jack in the Box has grilled chicken strips on the menu, but if you ask them to make grilled chicken strips for you, they may be willing to oblige. You might even be able to dip some of these grilled chicken strips and some sauces, such as ranch dressing, but you may want to stay away from others, as they have a high number of carbohydrates.
- Grilled Chicken Salad: If you are looking for something that is a bit more diverse, you may want to look at the grilled chicken salad as well. As mentioned above, grilled chicken is usually keto-friendly. If you throw all of the chicken strips on a salad, you still should be able to enjoy it. Some of the most common items that come on a grilled chicken salad include tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, and croutons. Even though you may want to stay away from the croutons, this salad should still meet your requirements otherwise. You should also think carefully about the dressing you put on the salad. Ranch dressing should be okay, but balsamic vinaigrette probably has a lot of carbohydrates.
- Sausage Items at Jack in the Box: There are a lot of menu options of Jack in the Box that have sausage. Fortunately, most breakfast meat is okay. A lot of the breakfast sandwiches at Jack In The Box serves also do not have any sauces on them. Therefore, you don’t necessarily have to worry about this. If you order sausage from Jack In The Box, you should be able to eat this and still adhere to the requirements of the keto diet. You may need to stay away from any bread that the sausage items contain, but you still should be able to eat breakfast meat.
- Grilled Chicken Club: There are plenty of items on the Jack-in-the-Box menu that have the word “club” as well. What this means is that these food items are going to contain bacon. A lot of these food items should be fine as well. For example, there might be a club salad on the menu. There might also be a club sandwich you can choose from as well. Adding bacon to all of these menu items is going to be fine. Most breakfast meat, including bacon, is keto-friendly. You need to pay close attention to the other items that come with the choices. In general, you should stay away from things that have bread on them. You should also stay away from the dressing. If you are willing to make these changes, you should be able to consume these food items while still sticking to the diet.
Think carefully about these food items. Even though a lot of options at Jack in the Box are not necessarily friendly for the keto diet, these items are probably still okay.
Ways To Make More Items Keto Friendly at Jack in the Box
If you want to expand your menu items at Jack In The Box, there are a few ways you can make some of the menu items more keto-friendly. A few key examples include:
- Ditch the Balsamic Dressing: A lot of the salad options at Jack In The Box contain balsamic vinaigrette dressing. This has a high number of carbohydrates. Here are the nutrition facts for one brand. Keep in mind that this is only for two tablespoons, and most people use far more than that on a salad. One easy switch you can make to reduce the number of carbohydrates is to switch balsamic vinaigrette dressing for ranch dressing instead.
- Cut Out the Croutons: It can be difficult to predict exactly how many carbohydrates are in croutons. It depends on how many they are and how big they are. A lot of salads come with croutons on them, so you need to ask Jack in the Box to hold the croutons if you want to make the salads more keto-friendly. Here are some nutrition facts for some croutons, but this is an easy switch you can make to stick to the keto diet.
- Avoid Ketchup: There are a lot of people who love ordering chicken and french fries at Jack In The Box. You need to pay close attention to the condiments. A lot of people are shocked by the number of carbohydrates that are in ketchup, and a lot of this has to do with the fact that ketchup contains high-fructose corn syrup. This is where a lot of the carbohydrates come from, and you can make many of the menu options at Jack In The Box more keto-friendly by staying away from ketchup.
- Hold the Bread: Finally, it should come as no surprise that you should think about holding the bread if you order a burger or a sandwich. A lot of the breakfast sandwiches at Jack In The Box are keto-friendly as long as you ask them to hold the bread. Or, you can toss the bread yourself. The breakfast sandwiches typically do not come with any sauces, so holding the bread can make a significant difference. In addition, you should do the same thing with any hamburgers you order. If the hamburgers come with any ketchup, you may want to ask them to hold the ketchup as well. These easy switches can make hamburgers and sandwiches more keto-friendly at Jack In The Box.
You do not necessarily have to stay away from Jack In The Box if you are following the keto diet. On the other hand, you may want to think about making a few of these easy switches to increase the number of options you have available at the restaurant.
Food Items with a Surprisingly High Number of Carbohydrates
There are several food items you may notice that Jack in the Box that have a surprisingly high number of carbohydrates. Even though these items might not smell or taste sweet, they may still have a high number of carbohydrates. A few examples include:
- Traditional Chicken Tenders: A lot of people would be shocked to find out how many carbohydrates are in breaded chicken tenders. Even though grilled chicken tenders are usually safe at most restaurants, including Jack in the Box, a lot of fast food restaurants bread their chicken tenders before they fry them. This is because this makes them taste a lot better. Here are some nutrition facts for traditional breaded chicken tenders. Clearly, they have a high number of carbohydrates, so try to stay away from them. Instead, you should ask them to grill the chicken tenders instead.
- Sausage Breakfast Sandwich: You may also want to take a look at the nutrition facts for a sausage breakfast sandwich. Of note, the nutrition facts for other breakfast sandwiches are going to look similar. Even though this may look like a high number of carbohydrates, remember that you can stay away from the bread and drop the number significantly. At the same time, this is a savory breakfast sandwich, not a sweet one. Therefore, some people may be surprised at the number of carbs it contains.
- The Buttery Jack Swiss and Bacon Burger: This is a burger that contains close to 50 grams of carbohydrates, a shocking number that would blow away a lot of people. Even though this is not necessarily a sweet burger, it does contain a lot of carbohydrates. Of course, there is an easy way to fix this one as well. Even though it has a high number of carbohydrates, you can fix this burger by asking them to hold the bread.
- The Sourdough Grilled Chicken Club: The sourdough grilled chicken club also has a lot of carbohydrates. Similar to the other sandwiches and burgers at Jack In The Box, you can ask them to hold the bread. You may want to take a look at any sauces that come on the chicken club as well. You should stay away from ketchup, balsamic vinaigrette, and any other condiments that have a lot of sugar. Because the chicken is grilled, you should be fine as long as you stay away from the bread. You may also want to wrap the entire sandwich in lettuce as a way to switch up your food choices.
Even though there are a lot of options on the menu that have a high number of carbohydrates, there are still choices available. Remember that as long as you stay away from grains and some condiments, you should be okay at Jack In The Box. Keep in mind that a lot of fast food restaurants, including Jack in the Box, will reflexively bread their chicken tenders before frying them. If you get your chicken grilled instead of fried, you should be able to stick to the keto diet.
Looking for other fast food keto options? Check out our article on how to eat keto at In-n-Out Burger
