What's a Sandwich Without Bread? Eating a Keto Diet at Subway

December 10, 2018

What's a Sandwich Without Bread? Eating a Keto Diet at Subway

Can you eat at Subway on a keto diet? Yes, you can… if you’re not too hungry. Take out the carb-bloated bread, and a lot of their popular sandwiches ring in at under 150 calories. Don't want to order double sandwiches? The chopped salads are better for eating keto at Subway, packing in much-needed fiber and more protein and fat than the bread-bombs.

Subway sandwiches

Sandwiches

Once you remove the bun, most Subway sandwiches have reasonable net carbs, unless they have names that involve the words “Sweet Onion,” “Teriyaki,” “Marinara” or “Barbecue.” Those options have at least 20g of sugar per serving.

  • Best Subway sandwich for keto: Chicken & Bacon Ranch Melt, with 610 calories, 28g fat, 30g protein, and 6g net carbs (without bun)
  • Runners-up: Spicy Italian, 270 calories, 14g fat, 12 protein, 5g net carbs, and Tuna, 270 calories, 23g fat, 12g protein, 3g net carbs
  • Weight-loss specials:
      • Cold Cut Combo, 150 calories, 10g fat, 9g protein, 5g net carbs
      • Rotisserie-Style Chicken, 140 calories, 4g fat, 21g protein, 5g net carbs.
  • Load on the keto-friendly condiments for extra nutrition to take you through the day. Most of Subway’s sandwich toppings have 1-3 net carbs, including bacon, guacamole, and Tzatziki Cucumber sauce.
  • AVOID Barbecue Sauce, Sweet Onion Sauce, Honey Mustard, and Sweet Chili Sauce, which all have 7-9g mostly-sugar carbs per serving.
Subway salad

Chopped Salads

Subway has two types of chopped salads: “Fresh Fit” and regular.

  • Fresh Fit salads have 60-170 calories and 7-9 net carbs - EXCEPT for the Sweet Onion Teriyaki, which boasts a bloated 30g net carbs and 23 grams sugar.
  • Subway’s regular chopped salads clock in at 200-300 calories, except for the gut-busting keto star Chicken Bacon & Ranch, which has 540 calories, 40g fat, 32g protein, and 11g net carbs. AVOID the Meatball Marinara chopped salad, which will set you back 21g net cabs, including 12g sugar.  
  • Add any salad dressing you want for 0-3 net carbs and 100-220 calories - EXCEPT for Sweet Onion Sauce, which is basically onion-flavored syrup (16 g sugar/18g net carbs).

If you need to boost your fat and calories, order extra toppings of cheese, bacon, pepperoni, avocado, or guacamole.

With more than 25,000 stores in the US alone, chances are there’s a subway somewhere near you — or you’ll be near a subway next time you go to the airport, a game, the bus… which means there are more than 25,000 places in the US to get a keto-safe meal. Eat fat and stay healthy!

Check out our guides to eating keto at Dunkin Donuts, Sweetgreen, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Shake Shack too!