The Best Low Carb Options at Arby’s
Arby’s is a favorite fast food joint, but if you’re following a low-carb diet you might be wondering if you can still eat there. I’ve gathered up the best low-carb options at Arby’s so that you can confidently eat out while managing your blood sugar levels.
Eating out anywhere can feel like an impossible task when trying to manage diabetes. How are you supposed to keep your blood sugars under control when everything seems loaded with carbs?!
But don’t stress. You absolutely can eat out and still manage diabetes and blood sugar – it just takes a little research and planning. When it comes to eating low carb at Arby’s, you will have to modify some of the menu items, but there are plenty to choose from.
Here are some pro tips for eating out when managing your blood sugars:
- Do your research. Check out the menu online ahead of time if possible.
- Be careful of sauces and dressings. While some dressings and sauces are mostly fat-based, others can pack in a lot of added sugar and significantly raise the carbohydrates in a meal.
- If the nutrition facts aren’t available, do your best to make a balanced meal. Include non-starchy vegetables, proteins, and ask for dressings and condiments on the side.
How to Find the Carbs on Arby’s Menu Items
You won’t find the nutrition information listed on the food itself. Thankfully, Arby’s has the nutrition information for all of the menu items listed on the website. They also list major food allergens that the menu items could have in them, which is useful if you need to avoid any of the Big 8 allergens (milk, fish, shellfish, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, and soy).
When looking at the Nutrition Facts for a menu item, make sure to check the fine print. Some restaurants include sauces, dressings, and toppings in their nutrition facts, but not all do.
What’s Considered Low Carb at Arby’s?
“Low carb” isn’t an FDA-regulated claim like low-fat, low-cholesterol, low-sodium, or low-calorie is. For our list, I’ve chosen the menu items that have 20 grams of carbohydrate or less. If you count carbs, this means that each item on the list has less than 1 ½ carb choices per serving.
Unfortunately, many of the menu items at Arby’s have to be ordered without the bread, wrap, bun, or pita to work in a low-carb diet. In some cases, you can order the bun, but just eat it open-faced to cut down on the carbohydrates. Or you can bring it home and swap out the bun for these low carb bread options instead. Even so, there are plenty of delicious menu items for you to enjoy.
Arby’s Low Carb Options
Roast Beef and Chicken Sandwiches
You won’t find a low-carb sandwich at Arby’s unless you ask for no bun! The carbohydrate counts provided below are for the sandwiches without the bun and without Arby’s sauce or horsey sauce. If you want to enjoy one of these sandwiches as an open-face with just half of the bun, add 18 grams of carbohydrate to each.
- Classic Beef ‘n Cheddar: 8 grams
- Double Beef ‘n Cheddar: 12 grams
- Half Pound Beef ‘n Cheddar: 12 grams
- Classic Roast Beef: 1 gram
- Double Roast Beef: 2 grams
- Half Pound Roast Beef: 2 grams
- Classic French Dip & Swiss/Au Jus: 14 g
- Smokehouse Brisket: 6 grams
- Chicken Bacon Swiss: 15 grams
- Roast Chicken Bacon Swiss: 3 grams
- Classic Chicken: 12 grams
- Classic Roast Chicken: 1 gram
- Buffalo Chicken: 12 grams
- Roast Buffalo Chicken: 1 gram
Market Fresh
Arby’s offers wraps, sandwiches, and salads on their Market Fresh menu. The bread, wraps, and pita used all make these items higher carb choices. Without the bread, you can find several low-carb options. The nutrition information for the wraps and bread is not provided on the website, so these carb counts are an estimate based on the best information available. The carbs listed below are without bread, pita, or wrap.
- Roast Chicken Club Wrap: 7 grams
- Jalapeño Bacon Ranch Roast Chicken Wrap: 2 grams
- Creamy Mediterranean Roast Chicken Wrap: 1 gram
- Roast Beef Gyro: 15 grams
- Roast Turkey Gyro: 15 grams
Sides
A few of the side options will work in a low-carb diet. Just remember to add in the dipping sauce or dressing.
- 4-piece premium nuggets: 12 grams
- 6-piece premium nuggets: 15 grams
- Side salad: 4 grams
Sauces
While the carb counts for the sandwiches above are listed with the sauce that is included on the menu, if you’re adding any extras make sure to add the carbs of the meal options and the sauce for your total carb count.
- Arby’s Sauce: 3 grams
- Horsey Sauce: 3 grams
- Tangy BBQ Dipping Sauce: 10 grams
- Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce: 5 grams
- Buffalo Dipping Sauce: 2 gram
- Ranch Dipping Sauce: 1 gram
- Light Italian Dressing: 2 grams
- Dijon Honey Mustard Dressing: 7 grams
- Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing: 4 grams
- Buttermilk Ranch Dressing: 2 grams
- Ketchup: 3 grams
- Marinara Sauce: 4 grams
- Bronco Berry Sauce: 15 grams
Looking for other low-carb fast food options? Check out the low-carb menu items at Subway.
The Bottom Line on Arby’s Low Carb Options
While almost all of the menu options at Arby’s will need to be ordered without bread to work for your low-carb diet, there are plenty of options to choose from. Remember, for many of these options you can always order it with the bun and just eat half as an open face sandwich if you don’t want to give up the bread. But as you can see, even if you have diabetes or insulin resistance, you can still enjoy meals at Arby’s. All foods can fit, it just takes a little planning.