Like most American chain restaurants, TGI Friday’s offers a wide variety of dishes from wings, burgers, and pasta to chicken and steak. While it does not specifically market itself as a keto-friendly establishment, staying low carb at TGIF is not too hard, as long as you order carefully.
Our favorite keto TGI Friday’s options are grilled chicken breasts, sauceless, steak, and bunless burgers—feel free to add on a green salad or steamed broccoli too.
We always recommend that you prepare your foods at home whenever possible if you’re trying to eat a low-carb or ketogenic diet. This helps you stay away from sneaky sauces, hidden sugars, and temptations.
However, life happens, and sometimes you don’t have much of an option. If you find yourself at TGI Friday’s, here’s a full guide on what to order and what to avoid to make sure you stay in ketosis.
Tips For Ordering Low Carb at TGI Friday’s
Before you visit any casual chain restaurant or fast food places, keep in mind that the quality of food won’t be nearly as good as what you can buy at the health food store.
Also, remember that low-carb doesn’t necessarily fit ketogenic standards. For example, some fruits and vegetables are fine for a low-carb diet but they are too starchy for keto dieters. If you’re trying to stay in ketosis, then it’s all about the carb/fat/protein ratio.
Use the following tips to help keep it low-carb at TGI Friday’s.
#1. Be picky about how your food is prepared
After a quick glance over the menu, you can see that nearly every chicken, seafood, and steak dish at TRI Friday’s is either coated in some type of sauce or fried. The center-cut sirloin and the New York strip are the only two dishes that are prepared with lemon-butter instead of a sugary sauce.
You can avoid added sauces and deep-fried food at TGI Friday’s by asking for grilled meat instead of crispy, crusted, or fried, and having the cook prepare your food dry. If you need something to top your steak or burger with, then ask for an extra slice of cheese, sour cream, guacamole, or sauteed onions and mushrooms.
Note: there is a difference between cheese sauce and melted cheese. Cheese sauce may include milk and flour to help thicken it up and make it creamy, so be sure to ask for melted cheese every time.
#2. Know your sides
Most dishes at TGI Friday’s will come with your choice of sides. The nice thing about side dishes is that you can usually change them up without too much trouble.
Of all the side dishes offered at TGI Friday’s, a side house salad and broccoli are your only two low-carb options. They have two different broccoli options: lemon-butter broccoli and lemon-butter broccoli and cheese.
Both of these options would be OK, but we recommend the lemon-butter broccoli and cheese as this dish contains more fat.
#3. Go with a salad
A salad might not exactly thrill you, but it’s a good way to eat low-carb as long as you avoid the pitfalls. We like the million dollar Cobb salad at TGI Friday’s because it comes with grilled chicken, romaine and kale, chopped egg, bacon, cucumber, blue cheese, and cheddar cheese.
It’s a great blend of healthy fats from the meat, cheese, and eggs, and a good source of vitamins and fiber from the low-carb vegetables. Just be sure to order this (and all salads) with olive oil and vinegar instead of house dressing, which usually contains sugar.
#4. Go green style
TGI Friday’s allows you to order a green style burger, which is another way of saying that you want your sandwich or burger on a lettuce wrap instead of a bun.
Doing so will save you 260 calories and lots of carbs! Plus, there is no additional charge for this.
#5. Think twice about wings
TGI Friday’s used to offer grilled wings, which are not breaded and are suitable to eat on a keto diet. However, we noticed that they do not have these anymore.
You can always ask for grilled wings. Since the restaurant offered them once a few years ago, they may still be able to accommodate this request. If not, stay clear of the wings and all the sugary sauces that come with them.
What To Order at TGI Friday’s
We’ve gone over every dish on the menu and placed it on a “safe foods” list or a “do not eat” list. Keep in mind that menu items may vary depending on location. The best way to ensure that there is something on the menu for you is to call ahead and ask about a specific dish.
Here are the best foods to order at TGI Friday’s if you’re on a low-carb diet.
Burgers and sandwiches
Order all burgers and sandwiches without the sauce and bun; ask for a side house salad with oil and vinegar dressing instead of fries:
- Really good cheeseburger
- Bacon and egg club sandwich
- Cheddar bacon omelet burger
- Bacon, egg and cheese tacos (hold the flour tortillas and sauce)
- Bacon cheeseburger
- Turkey burger
- Philly cheesesteak burger (hold the eggroll skewers)
- Turkey and avocado BLT
- French dip (hold the horseradish sauce, bun, and the dipping sauce on the side)
Chicken and seafood
Pay close attention to the instructions on all of these dishes!
- Sizzling chicken and shrimp (order this without the bruschetta marinara; also hold the mashed potatoes and ask for extra veggies)
- Parmesan-crusted chicken (go for plain grilled and hold the parmesan bread crumbs; ask for double broccoli instead of potatoes)
- Sizzling chicken and cheese (hold the mashed potatoes and ask for extra veggies)
- Friday’s signature whiskey-glazed chicken (order this without the whiskey glaze; ask for double broccoli instead of mashed potatoes)
- Dragon-glaze chicken or salmon (order this without the sweet and spicy glaze; ask for double veggies in place of rice; if you’re keto, then hold the mango pico)
- Bacon wrapped shrimp (ask for double veggies and hold the rice)
- All day sizzling omelet (hold the sauce and fries)
- Simply grilled salmon (hold the rice and ask for double broccoli)
Steaks and ribs
For all steak and rib dishes, ask to hold the sauce or top your steak with butter instead; order steamed broccoli and a side house salad with oil and vinegar as your two sides in place of potatoes and rice:
- New York strip tossed with whiskey glaze (hold the whiskey glaze; get double broccoli in place of mashed potatoes)
- Friday’s big ribs whiskey-glazed half or full slab (hold the whiskey glaze and any dipping sauce that comes with it; get a side salad or steamed veggies in place of fries and coleslaw)
- BBQ ribs half or full slab (hold the BBQ sauce and dipping sauce; get a side salad or steamed veggies in place of fries and coleslaw)
- New York strip (get double broccoli in place of potatoes)
- Center cut sirloin (get double broccoli in place of potatoes)
- Filet mignon (hold the mashed potatoes)
Salads
For all salads, hold the croutons and ask for oil and vinegar in place of house dressing:
- Side house salad or side Caesar salad (hold the croutons)
- Strawberry fields salad with grilled chicken (hold the glazed pecans; if you’re strict keto, then you may want to hold the strawberries, too)
- Caesar salad with grilled chicken (no croutons)
- Million dollar Cobb
Foods To Avoid at TGI Friday’s
The following foods make our “do not eat” list because they contain too many unhealthy ingredients that are hard to customize and there are much better options listed above.
Appetizers:
- Friday’s signature whiskey-glazed sampler
- Tostado nachos
- Sizzling queso chips
- Mozzarella sticks
- Friday’s signature whiskey-glazed sesame chicken strips
- Boneless and traditional wings
- BBQ chicken flatbread
- Pan-seared pot stickers
- Spinach florentine flatbread
- Warm pretzels
- Friday’s signature whiskey-glazed sliders (get the cheeseburger sliders instead)
- Spinach and queso dip
- Green bean fries
- Loaded potato skins
- Loaded chicken nachos
- Friday’s combo
- Chicken quesadilla
- Giant onion rings
- Bucket of bones
- Philly cheesesteak egg rolls
- Wings roulette platter
- Loaded fries
Burgers and sandwiches:
- Friday’s signature whiskey-glazed burger (we recommend going with a regular bacon cheeseburger instead)
- Buffalo wingman’s burger (just go with a regular burger instead and double up on the meat if you’d like)
- Mac and cheese burger
- The beyond meat cheeseburger
- Friday’s signature whiskey-glazed chicken sandwich
- Southern fried chicken sandwich (you could ask for this grilled; hold the mayo, pepper sauce and bun)
- Buffalo fried chicken sandwich
- Loaded cheese fry burger
Chicken, seafood, and pasta:
- Crispy chicken tenders
- Fried shrimp
- Fish and chips
- Cajun shrimp and chicken pasta
- Lemon and garlic shrimp pasta
- Sizzling chicken and shrimp alfredo
- Sizzling street noodles
- Chicken parmesan pasta
- Shrimp and lobster pasta
- Chicken and broccoli tortellini
Steak and ribs:
- Center-cut sirloin and shrimp topped with whiskey glaze (only order this dish if you can get the shrimp grilled and not fried; hold the whiskey glaze and ask for double broccoli in place of mashed potatoes)
- Sizzling Fridays Signature Whiskey-Glazed Flat Iron Steak
- Sizzling Fridays Signature Whiskey-Glazed Filet Mignon
Salads and soups:
- Avoid all soups (French onion and white cheddar broccoli)
- BBQ chicken salad (you could ask to have the chicken prepared without the BBQ sauce; you would also need to hold the black beans, corn, onion rings, tortilla strips, and ranch dressing)
- Chinese chicken salad
- Pecan-crusted chicken salad (you could order this if you asked for grilled chicken instead; you would also need to hold the cranberries, oranges, and glazed pecans)
It goes without saying that all desserts and sweetened beverages should also be avoided on a low-carb diet!
Conclusion
We’re shocked at how many foods at TGI Friday’s are either breaded or covered in sauce. For this reason, it can be tricky to order low-carb here. We’ve gone through every dish on the menu and placed it on a safe list or a do not eat list based on how many carbs it has.
We recommend going with a Cobb salad at TGI Friday’s. Ask for oil and vinegar dressing in place of house. You can also get a steak, but there are only two steak options that come without sauce.
Be sure to order all of your meat dry and grilled instead of crispy. For your side dishes, stick with steamed vegetables or a side house salad. If you’re strict keto, you’ll want to hold the sugar snack peas in your vegetable medley.
If you want to follow a plan for weight loss, check this free meal plan with downloadable PDF file.
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