Today’s guest post is from Ryan Luedecke who shares practical tips for low carb living on his blog — Mr. SkinnyPants. Ryan is currently on a mission to eat low carb keto at the top 30 fast food chains in the United States. His latest stop was at Five Guys Burgers.
In this post, you’ll learn how to order low carb at Five Guys and get full for less than $10. You can also get a customized 14-item Five Guys low carb menu for free. It’s a great resource for anyone who wants to know which burger toppings are the most keto friendly at Five Guys.
Howdy! Ryan here. In this post, you’ll learn how to order low carb at Five Guys and get full for less than $10.
You can also get a customized 14-item Five Guys low carb menu for free. It’s a great resource for anyone who wants to know which burger toppings are the most keto friendly at Five Guys.
This is stop #22 on my low carb fast food challenge. For each fast food chain I’m evaluating:
- Availability of low carb entrees (less than 20 net carbs).
- Satiety of low carb entrees.
- Price of low carb entrees.
- Taste of low carb entrees.
- Ordering experience.
In a hurry? Get my Five Guys Low Carb Menu one-pager if you want to see full macros and nutritional stats for all 14 of their Five Guys keto options (including their free peanuts!).
I’d never been to Five Guys prior to this fast food challenge. When they arrived in my city I wasn’t interested in a mid-tier burger option. It was one of those times in my life where I only ate burgers at cheap fast food joints or dive bars.
Let’s see what I was missing out on.
Overall Ratings
Five Guys is low carb friendly because you can order hot dogs and hamburgers without the bun. They also give away free peanuts in their restaurants which is a nice touch.
- Low carb friendly – Yes.
- Low carb entrees on menu – Nothing on the menu is specifically low carb. You need to special order their hot dogs and burgers without the bun. They don’t serve salads. Breakfast entrees are only available at their airport locations.
- Satiety of low carb entrees – Below Average.
- Single patty burgers are too small for a meal. As is a single hot dog.
- To get full, plan on ordering double patty burgers and double dogs.
- Taste of low carb entrees – Average. Given the burgers are fresh-made, I was expecting them to be thicker and juicier. They were thinner and a little dryer than the other flame grilled burgers I’d had on this challenge. The hot dog was good, but all hot dogs are good. I was hoping for something exceptional given the high price point.
- Price / value of low carb entrees – Well Below Average. This is where Five Guys struggles compared to the other fast food burger joints on this challenge. They are about twice the price.
- Bunless Cheeseburger (Lettuce Wrapped) – $5.89
- Bunless Hot Dog (In a Tin) – $4.89
- Bunless Bacon Double Cheeseburger (In a Tin) – $8.89
- Ordering experience – Average. The servers were personable but accidentally forgot to omit the bun from my bunless Bacon Double Cheeseburger. I’m not sure if that was a miscommunication on my part when I ordered or they forgot while they were making it. Of note, Five Guys do not have a drive-thru window so you must go inside to order.
What I ordered
#1 Bunless Bacon Double Cheeseburger (In a Tin)
This is my standard low carb fast food order. I get a bacon double cheeseburger with mayo and jalapenos. The bacon, mayo, and cheese add calories to make the burger more satiating and the jalapenos add some flavor & heat. To orders this at Five Guys just tell them that you want the “Five Guys No Bun Bowl” Burger and then tell them what toppings you want.
- Price – $8.89
- Nutrition – 697 calories and 2 net carbs.
- Taste – Above Average. Loved the fresh jalapenos.
- Notes – Indulgent, filling, and delicious. They accidentally served it on a bun (which is why the pictures don’t look as appetizing as they could have), but I removed it. Most fast food places use pickled jalapenos, but the Five Guys jalapenos are fresh cut, raw, and very hot.
This order is also known as the Five Guys Keto Bowl or the 5 Guys Burger Bowl. It was my favorite of the four different things I ate at Five Guys, though it was not quite as good and $1 more expensive than the best burger I’ve had on this challenge.
#2 Bunless Hot Dog (In a Tin)
- Price – $4.89
- Nutrition – 310 calories and 7 net carbs.
- Taste – Average. It’s good, but not much different than your average hot dog.
- Notes – I like how they split the hot dog open so the toppings can actually rest on top. You can eat it with your hands too if you’re not afraid of getting a little messy.
I only at a bit of the relish for flavor and left the rest off as the relish is relatively high carb at 4 net carbs per serving. This was a tasty low carb hot dog, but not as indulgent and decadent as the footlong hotdog I got from Sonic.
#3 Five Guys Lettuce Wrap Burger with Cheese
I was planning to order a standard hamburger to test it, but for some reason, I always go cheeseburger. I did want to compare their lettuce wrapped burger to their burger in a tin.
- Price – $5.89
- Nutrition – 394 calories and 1 net carb.
- Taste – Average. It was good, but not “WOW” good considering the price.
- Notes – Probably added a little more lettuce leaf than what was necessary. It dwarfed the patty inside.
#4 Shelled Peanuts (Free In Store)
One of the nice touches at Five Guys is that they offer free shelled peanuts that you can snack on while you wait for your order. I treated myself to a handful.
- Price – FREE 🙂
- Nutrition – About 100 calories and 1 net carb for 10 peanuts.
- Taste – Average.
- Notes – A nice touch by Five Guys.
How to Get Full for Less than $10 at Five Guys
One of the challenges of eating low carb at Five Guys is that it’s more expensive than your average fast food chain. They cook their burgers fresh to order and don’t operate as efficiently places like McDonald’s and Taco Bell, so they have higher costs.
To get full on a low carb / keto diet for less than $10, you have two options:
- Double cheeseburger with mayo (no bun). About 700 calories for $9.
- Double regular hot dog w/ mustard (no bun) – About 620 calories for $8.
Both of these options will deliver 600+ calories for less than $10. You can stuff some of their free peanuts in your to-go bag for an extra 100 calories or so as well :).
What else can you order
As of writing this post, the Five Guys menu only has burgers and hot dogs on their menu for main entrees. They don’t have salads or chicken.
One of the cool things is that they have 12 different Five Guys keto toppings that you can add to your bunless burgers and hot dogs.
Review my Five Guys Low Carb Menu one-pager if you want to see which toppings give you the most calories for the fewest carbs or you want to know the Five Guys lettuce wrap burger nutrition info.
It should be the perfect resource if you’re looking to eat low sugar, low carb, or diabetic friendly at Five Guys.
My low carb menu is derived from this Five Guys nutrition menu.
What you should avoid
In case you’re new to low carb eating, I’ll point out that you can’t eat any of the Five Guys buns, fries, or milkshakes.
You should also avoid the ketchup (5 net carbs), relish (4 net carbs), and A-1 steak sauce (3 net carbs) that they offer as condiments because they have too many carbs for too few calories.
Summary
If you’re driving around town or Googling for a low carb fast food option, I wouldn’t recommend Five Guys as your first stop. They are slower and more expensive than other low carb fast food options like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Chick Fil A.
Five Guy’s food is decent, but not good enough to justify their higher prices and longer wait.
If you do find yourself going to Five Guys, then I hope this article has given you some ideas on how you can quickly and confidently order low carb and stick to your diet.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Ryan
aka “Mr. SkinnyPants”
THANKS FOR CONTRIBUTING RYAN!
If you are interested in starting the keto way of eating checkout this Keto Beginners Guide. It gives great information when starting out and has lots of meal and food ideas!
Here is a Keto weekly meal plan as well that is balanced and ready to go!
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