Eating at a fried chicken restaurant is always a gamble when you’re on a low-carb diet. KFC aka Kentucky Fried Chicken, offers lots of breaded original recipe chicken with very few other options.
For this reason, we recommend that you avoid eating here. However, if you have no other options, you can make it work by opting for baked chicken instead or removing the breading from your fried chicken. Apparently they have a buttermilk ranch dipping sauce and creamy buffalo dipping sauce that are simply divine! Make sure to stay away from sides like cornbread macaroni salad coleslaw, and of course, fries. They do serve unsweetened iced tea.
Here are the top 10 low-carb and keto-approved options you can get at KFC in order from lowest to highest. This information is based on the nutrition calculator. We will also tell you what to say when ordering.
Kentucky Grilled Chicken Breast
One piece of Kentucky grilled chicken breast contains 210 calories, 7 grams of fat, 0 grams of carbs, and 38 grams of protein.
KFC offers grilled chicken options! Take advantage! Turns out there are KFC keto options. Make sure to hold the starchy side dishes and sugary dipping sauces. You can enjoy a small amount of ranch dressing or eat them as they come to keep your carbs at 0 grams!
How to order: ask for a few pieces of grilled chicken from the World Famous Chicken menu. If you’re ordering online, then look for the grilled chicken under the ‘chicken on the bone’ section.
Kentucky Grilled Chicken Drumstick
A Kentucky grilled chicken drumstick contains 80 calories, 4 grams of fat, 0 grams of carbs, and 11 grams of protein.
Enjoy a bucket of these or order a few pieces as a snack. Ranch dipping sauce contains 2 grams of carbs per serving while the buttery spread contains 0 grams of net carbs.
How to order: ask for a bucket of Kentucky grilled chicken drumsticks or order them by the drumstick. Hold the potato salad (sub for green beans or side salad).
Kentucky Grilled Chicken Thigh
One Kentucky grilled chicken thigh contains 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 0 grams of carbs, and 17 grams of protein.
You can enjoy these with a lemon juice packet, which contains 1 gram of carbs. If you like spicy food, then try a hot sauce packet at 0 grams of carbs.
How to order: ask for a few pieces of Kentucky grilled chicken thighs with ranch dressing, buttery spread, lemon juice, or hot sauce. Opt for a side salad, Caesar side salad or small order of green beans as a side dish.
Kentucky Grilled Chicken Wing
One Kentucky grilled chicken wing contains 70 calories, 3 grams of fat, 0 grams of carbs, and 9 grams of protein. This officially constitutes a keto meal,
You can enjoy these with a low-sugar dipping sauce, such as lemon juice, butter, ranch, or hot sauce.
How to order: ask for a bucket of Kentucky grilled chicken wings. Enjoy with a small side salad or an order of green beans.
Nashville Hot Grilled Chicken Breast or Thigh
If you don’t want a plain piece of grilled chicken, then try the Nashville hot grilled chicken. One thigh contains 180 calories, 12 grams of fat, 0 grams of carbs, and 17 grams of protein.
One breast contains 260 calories, 12 grams of fat, 1 gram of carbs, and 38 grams of protein.
Per the nutrition information, the Nashville hot flavors contain wheat, soybean oil, and sugar.
However, you can stay within the limits of the keto diet by keeping your portions to one or two breasts.
How to order: ask for two or three pieces of the Nashville hot grilled chicken thighs or breasts. You will likely not need dipping sauce. If you do, stick with ranch.
Nashville Hot Grilled Drumsticks or Wings
Chicken wings and drumsticks are fattier than breasts. This makes them a good choice for a high-fat diet.
A Nashville hot grilled drumstick contains 100 calories, 6 grams of fat, 0 grams of carbs and 11 grams of fat. Each wing contains 90 calories, 6 grams of fat, 1 gram of carbs, and 9 grams of protein.
How to order: ask for a bucket of Nashville hot grilled drumsticks or wings. You can get a combination of each.
Small Caesar Salad
A small Caesar salad from KFC without any dressing or croutons contains 40 calories, 2 grams of fat, 2 grams of carbs (1 gram of net carbs), 1 gram of fiber, and 3 grams of protein.
Adding Caesar dressing to your salad will increase the net carbs to 5 grams. You can also enjoy a small house salad with ranch dressing for 2 grams of net carbs.
How to order: ask for a small side Caesar salad or a house salad as a side dish to your grilled chicken. Hold the croutons.
Green Beans
You can safely enjoy a small order of green beans from KFC on a low-carb diet.
Other side options, including biscuits, sweet corn, macaroni and cheese, potatoes, and coleslaw, are off-limits because they contain too many carbs.
One small order of green beans contains 25 calories, 0 grams of fat, 5 grams of carbs (2 grams net carbs), 3 grams of fiber, and 1 gram of protein.
How to order: ask for a side of green beans to accompany your grilled chicken.
Crispy Colonel’s Sandwich
A crispy Colonel’s sandwich from KFC features breaded chicken meat. This means you will need to remove as much of the breading from the chicken as possible.
You will also need to order this sandwich without the bun. The breaded chicken, lettuce, and pickle contains 340 calories, 14 grams of carbs, <1 gram of fiber, and 20 grams of protein.
How to order: ask for a crispy Colonel’s sandwich minus the bun. You can also ask for a grilled piece of chicken instead of breaded.
Extra Crispy Tenders
The chicken tenders at KFC are breaded. You will need to remove as much of the breading as possible if you order them.
One breaded tender contains 140 calories, 7 grams of fat, 8 grams of carbs, and 10 grams of protein. However, you can reduce these carbs by picking off the breading!
How to order: ask for a few pieces of extra crispy chicken tenders and pick the breading off.
Conclusion
It’s best to avoid eating at fast food restaurants when you are on a low-carb diet. If eating at KFC is unavoidable, then go with grilled chicken instead of fried and breaded. Choose from wings, thighs, breasts or drumsticks.
You can dip your grilled chicken in ranch, buttery sauce, or hot sauce to keep it low-carb. Enjoy with a side salad or a small order of green beans. Avoid the biscuits, corn, potatoes, and other starchy side dishes. Stick with water or unsweetened tea as your beverage.
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*Photo by mrsiraphol – depositphotos & denvit-pixabay
