Pick carefully
The carb-heavy cuisine at Cracker Barrel, with its Southern flair, could be more keto-friendly if you’re following the ketogenic diet. However, many dishes adhere to the keto diet, and breakfast foods like eggs, bacon, and sausages are available all day. Here are some recommendations on how to eat keto if you’re stopping by Cracker Barrel for a meal.
What Kind of Food Belongs in a Keto-Friendly Meal?
The ketogenic diet can be limiting. Your daily diet will mainly consist of fatty foods, which should account for 60% to 80% of your daily caloric intake. Your protein intake should be between 15% and 20%, while you should keep your carbohydrate intake between 5% and 10%. This equates to around 165 grams of fat, 75 grams of protein, and 40 grams of carbohydrates for a 2,000-calorie diet.
Being on a high-fat diet causes your body to burn fat for energy and create a molecule of acid known as a ketone. Like glucose, ketones provide your body with energy. When ketones are present in your blood, your body enters a metabolic state known as ketosis. You run the danger of exiting ketosis if you consume too many carbohydrates.
Several foods fit the keto diet:
Dairy items with added fat
Grecian yogurt
Fibrous and non-starchy vegetables
Fats and oils
Fish, meat, and eggs
Nut and seed
What Are Cracker Barrel’s Keto Options?
The majority of the food options at Cracker Barrel have total carb counts that are too high to be compatible with the keto diet, whether they be buttered biscuits, mashed potatoes, or fried chicken. It is important to check their web menu in advance to make decisions compatible with this diet.
To keep it as keto-friendly as possible, if you don’t have time to prepare, the best choice is to stick to eggs, meats, and vegetables.
Breakfast
2 eggs (2 grams carbohydrates, 10 grams fat, 14 grams protein) (2 grams carbs, 10 grams fat, 14 grams protein)
ham cured in sugar (2 grams carbs, 29 grams fat, 36 grams protein)
Farmhouse ham (12 grams carbs, 26 grams fat, 66 grams protein)
three pieces of bacon (0 grams carbs, 17 grams fat, 14 grams protein)
two sausages made of turkey (1 gram carbs, 6 grams fat, 13 grams protein)
a pair of smoked sausage patties (2 grams carbs, 19 grams fat, 13 grams protein)
Breakfast is available at Cracker Barrel all day long, so you may sate your hunger for eggs and bacon whenever you like.
Suggested Entrees
No matter if it’s lunch or dinner, Cracker Barrel’s low-carb selections from the “Lunch n’ Dinner” and “Home Cooked Classics” sections of the menu will please your palate and support your keto diet.
This comprises:
Chicken tenders grilled (5 grams carbs, 7 grams fat, 48 grams protein)
2 filets of spicy, grilled catfish (2 grams carbs, 11 grams fat, 38 grams protein)
Steak burger (1 gram carbs, 31 grams fat, 36 grams protein)
2 filets of grilled rainbow trout with lemon pepper (6 grams carbs, 14 grams fat, 43 grams protein)
Cooked sirloin steak (1 gram carbs, 17 grams fat, 49 grams protein)
Extras and Sides
Leave the hash browns and biscuits off your dish if you wish to add sides or extras.
Choose low-carb alternatives like:
Green beans (7 grams carbs)
Steamed broccoli (6 grams carbs)
Radish greens (6 grams carbs)
Pot roast soup in a cup (8 grams carbs)
Choose low-carb dressings and toppings like: to give your dish a bit more taste.
Ranch dill pickle (2 grams carbs)
Sour cream ranch (3 grams carbs)
Blue-cheese sauce (3 grams carbs)
True butter (0 grams carbs)
Clabbered milk (1 gram carbs)
What Cracker Barrel Products Should I Abstain From When Following a Keto Diet?
When placing your order, you should avoid the following:
Three butter-topped pancakes (111 grams carbs, 29 grams fat, 9 grams protein)
A casserole of potatoes (37 grams carbs, 8 grams fat, 5 grams protein)
Hushpuppies (7 grams carbs, 2.5 grams fat, less than 1 gram protein each) (7 grams carbs, 2.5 grams fat, less than 1 gram protein each)
Apple fritters (37 grams carbs, 2 grams fat, less than 1 gram protein)
Biscuit and gravy (86 grams carbs, 34 grams fat, 17 grams protein)
Grits (15 grams carbs, 2.5 grams fat, 2 grams protein) (15 grams carbs, 2.5 grams fat, 2 grams protein)
Bread is another item on the menu that you should avoid.
There are numerous options on the menu. However, they are all high in carbohydrates and not suitable for those following a ketogenic diet.
Desserts at Cracker Barrel include fruit cobblers with ice cream, double fudge chocolate cake with ice cream, and biscuit beignets. They do include some fat, but they also contain more than 70 grams of total carbohydrates per serving, making them forbidden if you want to maintain ketosis. To wash down your breakfast, keep to drinking water or basic, hot coffee or unsweetened tea. A variety of calorie- and carbohydrate-free diet sodas are also available.
