Trying to stick to a ketogenic diet when eating at chain restaurants can be tricky. Eating keto at Red Robin is, however, not that hard, as long as you customize your meals correctly.
Ordering a bunless burger without sides is one of our favorite low carb Red Robin options. For an almost carbless burger, build your own meal with grilled chicken, a gourmet patty, salmon, or turkey. Extras you can add include bacon, fried eggs, cheese, and tomato.
To make sure you get your keto order right, we’ve provided an easy guide with all the lowest carb (and even some carbless) options. Here’s how to order low carb meals at Red Robin.
Tips For Ordering Low Carb at Red Robin
It’s always best to prepare your own meals at home on a keto diet. Although chain restaurants are better than fast food restaurants at offering customizable options, they still lack in the quality department.
With that being said, we understand that everyone needs a night off from cooking once in a while. If the family wants to go out and you need a place where everyone can find something to eat, then Red Robin won’t let you down. Just use these tips to keep it low-carb.
#1. Check out the allergen menu
We recommend checking out the allergen menu at Red Robin whether or not you have a food allergy. It’s a neat tool that allows you to narrow down your food options, which is ideal because the menu at Red Robin is pretty extensive and can be overwhelming if you go in unprepared.
To use the menu, visit their website. You can select which ingredients you want to avoid and then the website will provide you with a list of foods that are safe to eat. For example, if you want to avoid milk, peanuts, gluten, wheat, and soy, then select all of these items on the menu and click “continue.”
Keep in mind that this tool won’t always provide you with a low carb option, but it’s at least a good way to avoid wheat or gluten. You can also check the nutritional information for each dish by clicking here.
This information doesn’t provide you with the ingredients, but it gives you a breakdown of the calorie profile so you know how many carbs you’re eating. Remember that if you customize a meal (for example, asking for no bun or sauce), then this will slant the calorie breakdown in your favor.
#2. Go with a burger
Because Red Robin offers so many different burgers, it would be silly not to order one. We counted 25 burger options total, and that doesn’t even include their sandwich menu.
You can double up on your meat patties and cheese slices, but make sure you hold the bun and any sauce that comes on the burger. We noticed that almost all of the burger and sandwich options are topped with sauce, so be sure to have your server hold this.
You can also add keto-friendly toppings to make it a more substantial meal, such as sauteed onions, spinach, bacon, or avocado. In place of French fries and other starchy sides, ask for a side salad with oil and vinegar dressing. Hold any croutons that come on the salad.
Red Robin offers a wedgie burger that features a lettuce bun instead of the traditional gluten-filled bun. Since you know that they offer this as an option, you can always ask to have any burger on the menu prepared on a wedge bun instead of the traditional thing.
Here are our top picks for burgers at Red Robin with a wedge burger:
- Tuscan salmon burger
- Guacamole bacon burger
- Smoke & Pepper burger (no ketchup)
- Bleu ribbon (no crispy onion straws)
- Royal Red Robin burger
#3. Try a salad
If you’re looking for a light low-carb meal that doesn’t make you feel weighed down after eating it, then look no further than a salad. Red Robin offers a few really good salad options.
We like the Avo-Cobb-O salad, which features grilled chicken, bacon, blue cheese crumbles, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes and avocado on top of a bed of greens. The salad is served with garlic toast and your choice of dressing, so hold the toast and ask for oil and vinegar.
They also have a simply grilled chicken salad that is a fool-proof way to eat low-carb as long as you choose oil and vinegar as your dressing. It comes with chicken, cheddar cheese, tomatoes and cucumbers on a bed of lettuce. Remember to hold the garlic toast so you’re not tempted to eat it.
#4. Order a healthy side dish
We like that Red Robin offers more than just French fries and mashed potatoes as side dishes. In addition to these staples, you’ll find fresh fruit, steamed broccoli, and a side salad on the menu.
We recommend going with a side salad or steamed broccoli in place of the fruit, which isn’t keto-friendly as it contains oranges and other high-carb fruits.
There aren’t many entrees on the menu that you can eat because the majority of them are breaded, but you can go with the salmon and ask for steamed broccoli and a side salad in place of the coleslaw.
#5. Check out the healthy eating tips page
Red Robin has a page on its website dedicated to making healthy choices. The tips are similar to the ones we provide here, but you can see them for yourself here.
Their tips include knowing how to order your bun, switching out your toppings and sides, choosing healthy protein and watching out for sauces.
According to the tips, you’ll save 130-270 calories just by holding the bun. You can also load up on low-carb veggies. A side of steamed broccoli contains 30 calories while a side salad without dressing is 20 calories.
You can also swap your protein out for a turkey burger (230 calories) or a chicken breast (130 calories).
#6. Ask to make your own burger
With so many burger options on the menu, there is no reason why you can’t come up with your own concoction!
You can use the nutritional menu as your guide. Here are some low-carb options you can pick from to assemble your own meal.
Protein options:
- Turkey patty: 2 grams carbs
- Grilled chicken patty: 0 grams carbs
- Gourmet burger patty: 0 grams carbs
- Tavern patty: 0 grams carbs
- Salmon filet: 2 grams carbs
Cheese options:
- American cheese (2 slices): 2 grams carbs
- Bleu cheese crumbles: 2 grams carbs
- Cheddar (one slice: 0 grams carbs
- Pepper jack (one slice): 0 grams carbs
- Provolone (one slice): 0 grams carbs
- Swiss (one slice): 0 grams carbs
Toppings:
- Fresh jalapenos: 0 grams carbs
- Bacon: 2 grams carbs
- Sliced turkey: 0 grams carbs
- Red onions: 3 grams carbs
- Pickle slices: 0 grams carbs
- Sauteed onions: 2 grams carbs
- Cucumber slices: 1 gram carbs
- Tomatoes: 1 gram carbs
- Fried egg: 0 grams carbs
Don’t forget to order a lettuce bun!
What To Order at Red Robin
You might not expect it, but the menu at Red Robin is pretty overwhelming. There are food options squeezed tightly all over each page of the menu and going through the entire thing takes some time.
We’ve gone over every dish on the menu and put it into one of two categories. The first is a list of foods that are safe to eat on a low-carb diet.
We’ll also show you how to order them to avoid sneaky traps. The second list contains foods that you should avoid on a low-carb diet because they are too hard to custom order or there are better options available.
Here’s what to order at Red Robin to keep it low-carb:
Appetizers
- Classic wedge salad (hold the ranch dressing and onion straws)
- Guacamole and salsa (this comes with tortilla chips, but you could ask for veggie sticks instead)
Beef Burgers
For all burgers, hold the bun and any sauce that comes on it; ask for a side salad in place of fries or onion rings:
- Black and bleu (hold the creamy cheese sauce)
- Citrus harissa salmon (hold the crispy tempura lemon wheels)
- Smoke and pepper (hold the smoke and pepper ketchup)
- The Madlove burger (hold the jalapeño relish and candied bacon; ask for regular bacon instead)
- The master cheese (hold the bistro sauce)
- The Southern charm burger (hold the brown sugar glaze, candied bacon and honey BBQ sauce; ask for regular bacon instead; you may want to ask them to hold the mayo too)
- A.1. peppercorn (hold the A1 sauce and onion straws)
- Bacon cheeseburger (no mayo)
- Banzai (hold the teriyaki glaze and mayo; if you’re strict keto, then hold the pineapple)
- Bleu ribbon (hold the steak sauce, mayo and onion straws)
- Burnin’ love burger (hold the Fried jalapeño coins and chipotle mayo)
- Grilled turkey (hold the chipotle mayo)
- Guacamole bacon (no mayo)
- Prime chop house (hold the steak sauce, bistro sauce, and crispy onion straws)
- Red Robin gourmet cheeseburger (skip the Red’s pickle relish and mayo)
- Royal Red Robin burger (no mayo)
- Sauteed ‘shroom
- The Wedge burger
- Whiskey river BBQ (skip the Bourbon-infused Whiskey River® BBQ Sauce, crispy onion straws, and mayo)
- Fiery ghost tavern double (order this without the Fiery Ghost Pepper Sauce and fried jalapeño coins)
- Haystack tavern double (skip the mayo and onion straws)
- Pig out tavern double (skip the brown sugar glaze and mayo)
- Red’s tavern double (skip the Red’s Secret Tavern Sauce)
- Smoky jack tavern double (skip the mayo and bourbon-infused Whiskey River BBQ Sauce)
- Taco tavern double (skip the tortilla strips)
Here’s a word of caution about restaurant mayonnaise: it usually contains sugar and vegetable oil. While restaurant mayonnaise won’t rack up your carb intake too much, you might want to avoid it because of the non-keto friendly ingredients. Make your own mayo at home instead using our recipe here.
Chicken and Turkey Burgers
For all sandwiches, hold the bun and any sauce that comes on it; ask for a side salad in place of fries or onion rings:
- Bruschetta chicken
- California chicken (hold the mayo)
- Simply grilled chicken
- Teriyaki chicken (hold the teriyaki and mayo; also skip the grilled pineapple only if you’re strict keto)
- Whiskey River BBQ chicken (skip the crispy onion straws, mayo and Whiskey River BBQ Sauce)
Entrees
- Ensenada chicken platter (hold the salsa-ranch dressing and ask for broccoli or a side salad instead of tortilla strips)
- Sear-ious salmon (hold the coleslaw and ask for double broccoli instead)
Wraps and Sandwiches
For all wraps and sandwiches, hold the bread and ask for a side salad in place of fries or onion rings:
- BLTA croissant (skip the mayo)
- Caesar’s chicken wrap (skip the caesar dressing)
- Whiskey River BBQ chicken wrap (skip the ranch, tortilla strips and Whiskey River® BBQ Sauce)
Soups and Salads
For all salads, hold the house dressing and croutons; ask for oil and vinegar instead; also hold the garlic toast:
- Avo-Cobb-O
- Bottomless house salad
- Bottomless side Caesar salad (hold the croutons)
- Mighty Caesar (skip the croutons)
- Simply grilled chicken
- Southwest salad (skip the black beans, fried jalapeño coins, roasted corn, and tortilla strips; or just order a grilled chicken salad instead)
Sides and Subs
- Freckled fruit salad (avoid if you’re strict keto)
- Steamed broccoli
Foods To Avoid at Red Robin
The following foods just aren’t worth your time trying to be customized into a low-carb meal. Some of them can’t be customized if you tried! We recommend avoiding the following foods at Red Robin and sticking with one of the low-carb options above.
Appetizers:
- Chilli Chilli cheese fries
- Creamy artichoke and spinach dip
- Fried pickle nickels
- Guac, salsa, and chips
- NachO.M.G.
- Pretzel bites
- The O-Ring shorty
- Towering onion rings
- VooDoo fries
- Wings (note: wings are OK to order if they are NOT breaded; hold the sauce and side dishes, including dips)
Gourmet burgers
- Chilli chilli cheeseburger (order a regular burger minus the bun and sauce instead!)
- Keep it simple (this burger would be OK if you could get all beef; hold the fries and choose fruit instead or a side salad if you’re keto)
- Veggie burger
Red’s Tavern Menu
- Cowboy ranch tavern double (you could order this without the bun, mayo, ranch and bourbon-infused Whiskey River® BBQ Sauce, or you could just order a regular cheeseburger without the bun)
- Four cheese melt (this is just a glorified grilled cheese sandwich)
- Pub mac and cheese entree
Other Fun On A Bun
- Crispy arctic cod (this would be OK to get if you can order the cod grilled and not battered)
- Crispy chicken (order a grilled chicken sandwich instead; hold the bun and mayo)
Entrees:
- Arctic cod fish and chips
- Clucks and fries
- Clucks and shrimp
- Shrimp and cod duo
- Shrimp and slaw
Soups and Salads:
- Chicken tortilla soup
- Clamdigger’s clam chowder
- Crispy chicken tender salad (ask for grilled chicken instead as well as oil and vinegar dressing)
- French onion soup
- Red’s chili chili
- Soup and salad combo (stick with a salad instead and hold the soup)
- Souper sandwich combo (stick with a sandwich minus the bun and sauce; no soup)
Sides and Subs:
- Black beans
- Coleslaw
- Cup of chilli chilli
- Cup of soup
- Garlic herbed fries
- Mac and cheese
- Onion rings
- Steak fries
- Sweet potato fries
- Yukon fries
Others:
- Bottomless beverages (except for unsweetened iced tea and coffee)
- All shakes and smoothies
- All desserts
Conclusion
If you haven’t been there in years, you’ll be pleased to know that Red Robin offers over 25 different burger options on their menu, which are easy to customize into a low-carb dish. They also offer several different chicken sandwiches, wraps, and salads that are good low-carb meals if you customize them properly.
We like that Red Robin offers steamed broccoli as an alternative to French fries or onion rings. You can also get a fresh fruit cup, but this should be avoided if you’re strict keto. However, keep in mind that although Red Robin has a lot of low-carb options, it’s always best to eat at home using organic meats, sugar and nitrate free bacon, and grass-fed beef. This allows you to control what and how much you eat. Plus, you’ll be able to add more low-carb veggies to your meal.
If you prefer to cook your own meals at home, don’t forget to check our ketogenic food list and meal plans for more meal ideas!
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