Here is the thing..
As a keto addict, you have the right to eat thick and juicy steaks anywhere and anytime, are we right?
However, it does come with a downside…
You can’t eat a burger (with buns) and fries.
This is why most people on a low-carb diet avoid grills and bars like TGI Fridays as much as they can.
But we have good news for you.
TGI Fridays finally listened to your woes and have come up with lots of delicious keto-friendly options?
Case in point: their green-style burgers.
But that’s not all.
This popular fast-food restaurant has lots of menu items that you should check out.
Do you want to hear even better news? You can find all of those on this list!
Tips on How to Make Your TGI Fridays Meals Keto Friendly
Before exploring the keto-friendly options at TGI Fridays, let’s first check out the secrets to ordering the best low-carb options when dining out. Here they are:
Choose low-carb dips.
For sure, you’ll never leave TGI Fridays without ordering their bestseller—chicken wings! If you plan on ordering this, we recommend going for the bone-in variant as it often contains lesser carbs.
And of course, choose only keto-friendly dips! For that, we have two recommendations—Blue cheese (1g net carb) and Ranch (1g net carb).
Order burgers and sandwiches in green style.
TGI Fridays finally got the memo! They’re now getting on with the health-conscious trend. Their first offering? They’re now serving all of their burgers “green style”.
This means that the burgers will be served with a lettuce bun. Yes, the bun will be replaced with lettuce for a fiber-rich and healthier version.
To make your meals even more keto-compatible, ask the servers to hold the sauces. Also, ditch the fries and opt for the side salad instead.
Steak and low-carb sides are always a good idea.
When it comes to eating out while on keto, your safest bet would be an order of a piece of meat with vegetable sides. Fortunately, you have plenty of options at TGI Fridays.
Some of our recommended side dishes are super veggies (4g net carbs), coleslaw (5g net carbs), and lemon-butter broccoli (6g net carbs).
For the steak meals, you can see some of our recommendations in the following few sections.
Salads and soups too!
If you want something light, your best bet would be their salads. The most keto-friendly option is the house salad with no dressing and breadstick (6g net carbs).
Other options are
- Caesar salad with no breadstick (12g net carbs)
- Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken Lunch Portion (12g net carbs)
- Million Dollar Cobb Salad with Grilled Chicken (10g net carbs)
- Strawberry Fields Salad with Grilled Chicken and Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing (13g net carbs).
On the other hand, the soup should be your last option as it contains more carbs.
Fortunately, they have crave-worthy soups that won’t kick you out of ketosis. These include White Cheddar Broccoli Cheese (16g net carbs), Tomato Basil (16g net carbs), and Chicken Noodle (17g net carbs).
As you may have noticed, the soups still contain significant amounts of carbs, so you should limit your carbohydrate consumption for the rest of the day.
Drizzle your salads with keto-friendly dressings.
If you want to get their salads (which you should!), make sure to order them with one of their low-carb dressings. Our recommendations are Blue cheese, Caesar, Lemon Soy Vinaigrette, Green Goddess, and Ranch. All of these contain only 1g net carb.
You can also try their balsamic vinaigrette and bbq ranch. However, drizzle sparingly as these contain 4g and 5g net carbs.
What are the Best Dishes at TGI Fridays for Keto Dieters?
Now, we head on to the exciting part—the list of the best low-carb TGI Fridays meals that you can incorporate into your ketogenic diet. If you’re ready, let’s get started!
Keto-Friendly Appetizers at TGI Fridays
There’s no better way to begin this list than appetizers. Here are some TGIF faves that are recommended for keto dieters:
Grilled Wings
Of course, you’ll never go wrong with grilled chicken! These perfectly grilled wings also come with blue cheese dip and celery sticks.
Macronutrient content: 34g fat, 38g protein, and 3g net carb.
Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wings, Bone-in
Here’s one excellent ordering tip: always go for bone-in over boneless! (1)
Commonly known as their hot wings, this one is a hit for people who love spicy food. The hot wings are tossed in the famous Frank’s RedHot sauce and served with blue cheese dip and celery sticks— both are perfect for the keto diet!
Macronutrient content: 380 calories, 24g fat, 34g protein, and 4g net carb.
Low Carb TGI Friday’s Burgers for Keto Dieters
As mentioned, TGI Friday’s found a way to help people on a keto diet to enjoy their bestselling burgers.
All that you need to do is to order any of their burgers green styles to replace the bun with lettuce so you can enjoy low carb and high fiber keto diet meal.
Oh, and don’t forget to replace the fries with a side salad.
Here are some of the burgers that you can enjoy:
Really Good Cheeseburger Green Style
This burger shows that the lesser is always, the better as it focuses on having the essential toppings that you can enjoy in a burger. It contains all-beef patty, brioche bun, American cheese, and their classic fixings.
Macronutrient content: 550 calories, 42g fat, 33g protein, and 9g net carbs.
Green Style Beyond Meat Cheeseburger Green Style
TGI Friday’s are now catering for more than the people on a ketogenic diet. They also now have something for vegetarians on a keto diet!
Their Beyond Meat Cheeseburger has a plant-based beef patty that is as delicious and juicy as beef. It’s topped with cheddar, tomato, red onion, Friday’s sauce and pickles.
Macronutrient content: 630 calories, 46g fat, 38g protein, and 12g net carbs.
Turkey Burger
Turkey is known to be one of the healthiest meats you can ever consume in the ketogenic diet. (2)
Their Turkey Burger has a perfectly seasoned and fire-grilled ground turkey patty and topped with their classic fixins—lettuce, red onion, tomato, and pickles.
Macronutrient content: 250 calories, 11g fat, 25g protein, and 10g net carbs.
Green Style Bacon Cheeseburger
If you want to take TGIF’s perfect Cheeseburger to another level, just add bacon to it! And that’s what their bacon cheeseburger is all about.
Macronutrient content: 580 calories, 43g fat, 35g protein, and 10g net carbs.
Green Style Buffalo Wingman’s Burger
This meal contains two of the most popular TGI Friday’s meals—chicken wings and burgers.
The burger comes with two skewered buffalo wings which is a unique and interesting concept. The fun didn’t stop there. It’s also loaded with lots of fixings—spicy mayo and buffalo pimiento cheese.
Macronutrient content: 660 calories, 50g fat, 45g protein, and 7g net carbs.
Keto Friendly Sandwiches at TGI Friday’s
Here’s another great news: you can also incorporate a few of TGIF’s sandwiches into your diet.
But keep in mind that you only have two options on their menu since most of their sandwiches come with breaded meat or glazes.
Here they are.
Turkey and Avocado BLT
This sandwich is packed with fats and protein as it contains turkey, ham, bacon, and avocado. It also has lettuce and small pickles on top. Make sure to order this without bread to suit your keto diet.
Macronutrient content (with bread): 770 calories, 42g fat, 47g protein, and 48g net carbs.
French Dip
If you don’t want to commit to a steak fully, but you want to satisfy your meaty cravings, their French Dip sandwich is what you should order.
This features shaved ribeye mixed with mushrooms, horseradish, red onions, and au jus.
Order this without a baguette to keep it keto friendly. Ask them to hold the sauce to reduce the carbohydrate content significantly.
Macronutrient content (with baguette): 950 calories, 49g fat, 48g protein, and 71g net carbs.
Low Carb TGI Friday’s Steaks and Ribs Options
Steak—the crème de la crème of keto food items. These meals come with a good amount of fats and protein, which you can take advantage of while on keto.
Not only that, steak is perfect for keto as most of its kind contains zero carbs.
When ordering these steak dishes, you’ll be given two choices for toppings—whiskey glaze and parmesan butter. We recommend going for parmesan butter as it has lower carbs.
These also come with two sides—lemon butter broccoli and mashed potato. We suggest replacing the potatoes with a side salad to keep it keto.
Just make sure to order these with the low-carb sides we’ve mentioned so you can meet the keto requirements.
Now, without further ado, here are the best steak options you can enjoy at TGI Friday’s.
NY Strip
This features a 12 oz strip grilled to perfection and comes with your choice of topping.
Macronutrient content (with original sides): 985 calories, 56g fat, 77g protein, and 29g net carbs.
Center-cut Sirloin
This is probably one of the most flavorful steaks that you can enjoy. It features a 6 oz center-cut sirloin with your choice of topping.
Macronutrient content (with original sides): 640 calories, 41g fat, 34g protein, and 26g net carbs.
Flatiron Steak
With this one, you have no toppings choice as it only comes with their signature whisky glaze. The good news is this meal is already flavorful without it, so you can ask the server to hold the glaze.
The steak is served on top of melted cheese with red and green bell peppers and onions. It also comes with mashed potatoes and Cajun-spiced onion rings. We recommend holding these sides.
Macronutrient content (with no tweaks): 1380 calories, 79g fat, 52g protein, and 100g net carbs.
Keto Chicken and Seafood Options at TGI Friday’s
Of course, steak is not your only choice of meat when on a low-carb diet.
Seafood and chicken will provide you with a significant amount of fats and protein while helping you keep your carbohydrate consumption to a minimum.
The great news is TGI Friday’s also offers three excellent chicken and seafood dishes that are perfect for a low-carb diet. These are as follows:
Simply Grilled Salmon
True to its name, the Simply Grilled Salmon is one of the simplest salmon dishes you can eat at restaurants. They just seasoned it with hickory sea salt and topped it with parmesan butter after grilling.
But guess what? The simple preparation works!
The combination of these no-fuss ingredients has made the salmon’s flavour stand out.
The salmon is served on top of jasmine rice with lemon butter broccoli on the side. We recommend ditching the rice and go for a side salad instead.
Macronutrient content (without any sides): 480 calories, 36g fat, 37g protein, and 3g net carbs.
Bacon-wrapped Shrimp
If you love shrimp and bacon, you’ll enjoy this dish!
It contains two skewers with three jumbo shrimps wrapped with bacon and finished with parmesan butter sauce.
The dish often comes with super veggies and jasmine rice. Again, ditch the rice and go for the salad.
Macronutrient content (with original sides): 930 calories, 48g fat, 44g protein, and 77g net carbs.
Sizzling Chicken and Shrimp
Even though this meal uses the blandest chicken part, it’s surprisingly flavorful as the chicken breasts have been marinated in garlic. On the other hand, the shrimp is tossed in marinara to give it that tartness.
The shrimps and chicken breasts are served on top of mashed potatoes, red and green bell peppers, melted cheese, and onions.
Ask them to hold the mashed potatoes to keep it low carb.
Macronutrient content: 1310 calories, 87g fat, 65g protein, and 49g net carbs.
Final Words
Since their menu is packed with deep-fried and breaded food items, potato sides, and greasy food, TGI Friday’s is the restaurant that you would least expect to have keto options. But surprise, surprise—they have plenty!
This just shows that eating out is possible even if you’re on a low-carb diet. However, you must do your research beforehand and always pay attention to the nutrition facts.
Order these at TGI Friday’s, and you can finally say Thank God It’s Friday—even if you’re on keto!
