Are you following a low-carb diet and wondering if there are any options at Jack In The Box? Well, you’re in luck! Keto at Jack In The Box is possible, as long as you order carefully.
While we don’t recommend eating fast food often on a keto diet (or any diet for that matter), Jack In The Box does offer easy-to-customize keto options. Our favorite low carb Jack In The Box meals are a bunless Extreme Sausage Sandwich and bunless beef or grilled chicken burgers.
Like every fast food chain, there are plenty of foods on the menu that you’ll need to avoid. We’re here to help you make a smart low-carb choice. Just follow these tips and suggestions.
Tips For Ordering Low Carb at Jack In The Box
Jack In The Box is much better than other fast food chain restaurants at providing decent opportunities to turn your food into a low-carb meal. It’s a much better place to eat than say a pizza restaurant or a fried chicken place.
They have salads, sandwiches, burgers, and even breakfast.
If you accidentally leave a meal at home, then Jack In The Box can be a good stand-in, but we don’t recommend making a habit out of eating fast food. We recommend looking at the menu before you go so that you can make an educated choice.
Lowest Carb Meals
Here are our top choices for lowest carb meals at Jack In The Box according to the nutrition information:
- Chicken club salad with grilled chicken (7 grams net carbs)
- Grilled chicken salad (8 grams net carbs)
- Bacon, egg and cheese biscuit (hold the biscuit)
- Bacon and egg chicken sandwich (if available; hold the bun and sauce)
You can find all of the nutritional information on the Jack In The Box website, which is a good way to track your macronutrients if you need to stay under 20 grams for the day.
We also like that Jack In The Box lists all the ingredients in their food. You can take a look at their menu on their website.
Here are some tips to help you keep it low-carb at Jack in the Box.
#1. Get a breakfast sandwich and hold the bun
Jack In The Box offers breakfast anytime of the day. Breakfast sandwiches are a good way to eat low-carb because they often feature meat, cheese, and eggs. You just have to remember to ask them to hold the bread or toss it as soon as it comes. Breakfast sandwiches are also less likely to have sauce on them like a regular sandwich or burger would.
You can check out the breakfast menu at Jack In The Box here. Stay away from the hashbrowns, pancakes, and burritos, which are hard to eat the insides only out of. Stick with a croissant, sandwich, or biscuit instead because it’s easier to toss the bread. It doesn’t look like Jack In The Box offers freshly brewed coffee, but you can get unsweetened iced tea to meet your caffeine needs.
#2. Order a side salad with your bunless burger
Jack In The Box offers a nice selection of burgers and salads. Pair them together and you have a great low-carb meal. Choose from one of their many burgers and ask to hold the bun and any sauce that comes on it.
Then, ask for a side salad made without any dressing instead of fries or onion rings. You can ask if they have oil and vinegar as a dressing option, but most fast food places don’t. So, you’ll likely have to eat your salad plain. Be sure to hold the croutons, too.
If you don’t like eating your salad plain, then be sure to consult the nutrition guide to determine how many carbs are in your dressing of choice. Here is a list of the salad dressings at Jack in the Box and how many carbs are in one serving:
- Creamy southwest dressing: 3 grams carbs
- Low fat balsamic vinaigrette dressing: 3 grams carbs
- Ranch dressing: 5 grams carbs
By the way, the gourmet seasoned croutons contain 9 grams of carbs and the spicy corn sticks contain 8 grams of carbs. So you can subtract these from your salad if you want to know the net carbs of your meal.
#3. Avoid the combo meals
Lots of fast food restaurants offer different types of meals on their menu. It’s a good way to get a lot of food for not a lot of money.
Unfortunately, you can’t eat any of the stuff that comes with a meal, such as fries, onion rings, tacos, and a drink. You could always eat the insides only out of a taco. But Jack In The Box offers lots of other low-carb options so you shouldn’t need to resort to this.
We recommend sticking with a single burger, sandwich or salad, and don’t try to make a combo meal out of it. If you choose to order a meal, make sure you hold the bun and sauce on your burger as well as any sauce that comes on the taco. If given a choice, then pick a hard shell taco over a soft shell as these are easier to eat the insides only out of. Also, hold the fries and choose an unsweetened iced tea as your beverage of choice.
What To Order at Jack In The Box
There are plenty of foods that you’ll need to avoid at Jack In The Box, but we’re impressed by how many low-carb possibilities are on the menu. You’ll have to customize them to make them low-carb, but Jack In The Box has potential that other restaurants lack.
We’ve gone through the entire menu and provided a list of low-carb possibilities and how to order them here.
Burgers
For all burgers, hold the bun and any sauce that comes on them.
- BLT cheeseburger
- Sourdough Jack
- Classic buttery Jack
- Bacon and swiss buttery Jack
- Double Jack
- Ultimate cheeseburger
- Bacon ultimate cheeseburger
- Jumbo Jack cheeseburger
- Jumbo Jack hamburger
- Jr. Jumbo Jack
- Jr. bacon cheeseburger
- Spicy sriracha burger
Chicken and salads
Make sure all chicken sandwiches are grilled and not fried; hold the bun and ask for no sauce, including ketchup; hold the dressing and croutons on all salads or ask for oil and vinegar:
- Jack’s spicy chicken (only order this if you can get the chicken grilled and not fried)
- Jack’s spicy chicken with cheese (again, only order this if you can get the chicken grilled and not fried)
- Homestyle ranch chicken club (ask for grilled chicken instead of fried and hold the ranch dressing)
- Sourdough grilled chicken club
- Grilled chicken club salad
- Southwest chicken salad (hold the black beans and corn; choose grilled chicken)
- Grilled chicken salad
- Grilled chicken strips
- Chicken fajita pita (toss the pita)
- Side salad
Tacos
Order a hard shell taco and only eat the insides; be sure there is no sauce on your tacos:
- Monster taco (no taco sauce)
- Bacon ranch monster taco (no ranch dressing)
- Two tacos
Breakfast
For all breakfast sandwiches, hold the bread and any sauce that comes on the sandwich:
- Grilled sourdough swiss sandwich
- Bacon and egg chicken sandwich
- Loaded breakfast sandwich
- Supreme croissant
- Sausage croissant
- Meat lovers breakfast burrito (eat the insides of the burrito only)
- Extreme sausage sandwich
- Ultimate breakfast sandwich
- Sausage, cheese, and egg biscuit
- Bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit
- Sausage breakfast Jack
- Breakfast Jack
- Country scrambler plate (hold the potatoes)
- Bacon and egg chicken sandwich
Late night meals
For all meals, hold the fries and order an unsweetened iced tea as your beverage:
- Stacked grilled cheese burger (hold the bun and sauce on the burger; eat the insides only out of the tacos and make sure it has no taco sauce)
Foods To Avoid at Jack In The Box
You’ll need to avoid fried and breaded foods at Jack In The Box. These come mostly in the form of fried chicken, but you’ll also need to avoid the standard fast food junk, such as french fries, onion rings, and desserts.
Here is a list of foods to avoid at Jack In The Box on a keto diet:
- Crispy chicken strips
- Chicken nuggets
- Chicken sandwich (only order this if you can get it grilled and not fried; hold the bun and sauce)
- Triple cheese and bacon curly fries
- Chili cheese curly fries
- Seasoned curly fries
- French fries
- Onion rings
- Bacon cheddar potato wedges
- Egg rolls
- Stuffed jalapenos
- Nacho monster taco (we recommend staying away from nacho sauce and sticking to hard cheese only)
- Apple bites with caramel dip
- Grande sausage breakfast burrito
- Hash browns
- Mini pancakes
- Homestyle potatoes
- Sriracha curly fry burger munchie meal
- Spicy nacho chicken sandwich munchie meal
- Chick n’ tater melt munchie meal
- All shakes and desserts
- All sweetened drinks
Conclusion
It’s always best to buy high-quality meats and cheeses from the grocery store and prepare them at home with low-carb veggies. But if you’re in a pinch and need food quick, then order a bunless and sauceless burger at Jack In The Box with a side salad in place of fries as a low-carb meal.
Jack In The Box also serves breakfast all day, which means that you can enjoy a sausage, bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich whenever you want. Just be sure to toss the bun and be cautious of any sauce that comes on it. They have a good selection of salads, too.
We recommend going with a grilled chicken salad or even eating the insides out of a taco. Stick with a single meal and avoid trying to make a combo meal work. You’ll only end up throwing away a bunch of food that you can’t eat.
If you’re on a keto diet, don’t forget to check our food list and meal plans!
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