How To Order Low Carb at Whataburger

***Guest Post: by Mr. SkinnyPants***

Learn how to order low carb Whataburger and get full for less than $10. Get a custom 64 item Whataburger low carb menu created by the author of this post. It’s a great resource for anyone who wants to eat low carb, low sugar, Atkins, keto, or diabetic friendly at Whataburger.

Today’s post is from Ryan Luedecke who shares practical tips for low carb living on his blog → Mr. SkinnyPants. Ryan is on a mission to eat low carb keto at the top 30 fast food chains in the United States. His latest stop was at Whataburger. ### Howdy! Ryan here. This is stop #23 on my low carb fast food challenge. For each fast food chain I evaluate:

1. Availability of low carb entrees (less than 20 net carbs).
2. Satiety of low carb entrees.
3. Price of low carb entrees.
4. Taste of low carb entrees.
5. Ordering experience.

In a hurry? Get my Whataburger Low Carb Menu one-pager if you want to see full macros and nutritional stats for the 20+ low carb burger options at Whataburger.

Whataburger headquarters are just down the road from me about 60 miles in San Antonio. They have 800+ restaurants spread across the southern United States. I'm lucky to have a location about 2 miles from my house in Austin. Famous for their large beef patties and signature A-framed restaurant roofs, they are a source of local pride for many Texans including me. I haven't eaten there much since transitioning to low carb so I'm excited to return for this fast food challenge.

What to order?
I made two separate trips to Whataburger for this challenge -- one for breakfast and one for lunch. The low carb Whataburger entrees I sampled are classified by meal occasion and then sorted in order of my preferences.

Breakfast
Whataburger serves breakfast from 11p to 11a and has several breakfast sandwiches, breakfast burritos (called "taquitos"), and ala carte items that can be ordered with out carb-heavy buns, biscuits or tortillas and made into a keto Whataburger breakfast.

1. Sausage Egg and Cheese Sandwich (No Bun)
This has become my standard low carb breakfast order -- "sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich, no bun please." The sausage patty is a must have because it's high calorie and low carb, so it's very filling. The cheese, egg patty, and sausage are stacked like a sandwich which presents well and makes it easy to eat with your hands (though for some reason I felt compelled to put a fork in the photo).

• Price - $2.94
• Nutrition - 430 calories and 0 net carbs.
• Taste - Well Above Average.
• Notes - The best of the 3 breakfast entrees I got. Clean enough to eat with your hands. Everything was served hot and too perfection. Enjoyed it.

2. Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Taquito (No Tortilla)
Taquito means small taco in Spanish. So this is Whataburger's version of a small breakfast taco. I order it without the tortilla to keep it low carb -- "sausage, egg, and cheese taquito with no tortilla please." The scrambled eggs, pork crumbles, and melted cheese are all mixed together so it's best to eat this one with a fork.

• Price - $2.69
• Nutrition - 185 calories and 3 net carbs.
• Taste - Above Average.
• Notes - Tasted good. Goes down quick because everything is mixed together, warm, and easy to eat. Probably not enough food if you're really hungry in the morning.

3. Scrambled Eggs and Bacon (a la carte)
Can't go wrong with this classic low carb breakfast order -- "I'd just like a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon please, no hash browns, no biscuit or anything like that."

• Price - $2.50
• Nutrition - 165 calories and 3 net carbs.
• Taste - Average.
• Notes - Scrambled eggs and 3 slices bacon was good but not great. Scrambled eggs were hot and fluffy. Good texture. Bacon was a good but a little dryer than I like still very good. Amazing value for $2.50

In addition to having good tasting low carb breakfast entrees, the value was amazing. I paid $8.80 for 3 breakfast entrees and got 780 calories and only 6 net carbs. Impressive.

Lunch and Dinner
Low carb lunch options are plentiful at Whataburger. You can get burgers or grilled chicken sandwiches without the bun. Chicken fajita tacos without the tortilla. Or, even salads with grilled or fried chicken (moderately low carb) on top. Here are the low carb Whataburger entrees I ordered for lunch & dinner in order of preference.

1. Whataburger Patty Melt (No Bun)
Two beef patties, grilled onions, two slices of Monterey Jack cheese and a creamy pepper sauce make this bunless burger a formidable, and slightly more spicy competitor to the McDonald's low carb Big Mac. Ordering the low carb Whataburger Patty Melt is simple, "I'd like a Whataburger Patty Melt, sandwich-only, no combo, and no Texas Toast please, and can you put in a plastic container like the ones you serve salads in?

• Price - $5.79
• Nutrition - 720 calories and 2 net carbs.
• Taste - Well Above Average.
• Notes - Delicious. The sauce is like Big Mac sauce but a little spicier. The diced onions are grilled add a nice flavor. Can eat this with your hands if you're not afraid of a little messiness. White cheese is decadent & indulgent and looks cool juxtaposed against the light orange sauce. Can't beat their grilled beef patties.

2. Double Meat Whataburger with Double Cheese, Bacon, and Jalapenos (No Bun)
This my go-to low carb fast food lunch order. It really gives you a sampling of everything a burger joint has to offer - their meat patties, bacon, cheese, veggies, and jalapenos. To get this at Whataburger ask for the "Double Meat Whataburger with Double Cheese, add Bacon & Jalapenos please, no combo, and no bun please. Can you serve it in a plastic container like the ones you serve salads in?" I also got an extra side of their Jalapeno Ranch dressing just for fun.

• Price - $7.79 +$0.35 for the extra side of Jalapeno Ranch
• Nutrition - 780 calories and 5 net carbs for the burger. 140 calories and 1 net carb for the Jalapeno Ranch.
• Taste - Well Above Average.
• Notes - Again Delicious. Not quite as tender or gooey & indulgent as the Patty Melt, but still very good. Definitely need to eat this one with a fork and knife because the toppings will slide off if you eat it with your hands. Dipping the ingredients in the jalapeno ranch is a nice tough. A little price-y once you add the extra bacon, cheese, and ranch dressing.

3. Grilled Chicken Melt plus side of Lettuce (No Bun)
I like to order something a little eccentric each time I visit a new place like this on the low carb challenge. At Whataburger, I went with their Grilled Chicken Melt which has chicken breast with Monterey Jack Cheese, grilled poblano peppers, onions, red peppers along with an additional side of lettuce.

• Price - $4.54
• Nutrition - 220 calories and 3 net carbs.
• Taste - Well Above Average.
• Notes - Has a southwest flavor with a little kick. Tastes like a chicken breast fajita entree at a Mexican restaurant. Excellent taste, but not super filling. You'd need to order at least 2 of these to get full. Would have paired it with the Jalapeno Ranch in hindsight.

4. Garden Salad with Whatachik'n
Whataburger is one of the few places where the breading on their chicken breast filet is light enough such that you can still eat it for a moderately low carb meal. I wanted to test the quality of their fried chicken breast filet so I ordered their house salad with their Whatachik'n breast on top. I'd only recommend this order if you have plenty of carbs to spare for the day.

• Price - $6.09
  
• Nutrition - 400 calories and 17 net carbs for the whole salad.
  • You can reduce by 2-3 net carbs by pecking around tomatoes and carrots.
  • Ranch dressing adds about 140 calories and 1 net carb.
• Taste - Above Average.
• Notes - Fried chicken breast was good, but I wanted it to be more crispy. I like that it was firm, yet tender and wasn't heavily breaded. The salad ingredients looked and tasted fresh and crisp. Jalapeno ranch was delicious on top.

How to Get Full for Less than $10
Unlike my recent stops at places like Chipotle and Arby's. Getting full at Whataburger for less than $10 is pretty easy. To get full for less than $10 order the following:

• Breakfast - Get 2 sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwiches with no bun. That's 860 calories and 0 net carbs for $5.88
• Lunch and Dinner - Any double meat Whataburger with Cheese gets you 620+ calories starting at $5.59. If you're starving, you can get a triple meat Whataburger with triple cheese and that'll be 1050 calories and 4 net carbs for only $8.09.

A side of Jalapeno Ranch is a great way to add some filling, low carb calories to your meal and for only $0.35 it's a steal.

What else can you order?
I've covered several of the possible Whataburger keto options, but there are several more low carb options that you can experiment with yourself (some only offered in certain regions):

• Bunless Avocado Bacon Burger
• Bunless Green Chile Double Burger
• Bunless Chop House Cheddar Burger
• Bunless Justaburger (for smaller appetites & snacks)
• Garden Salad with Grilled Chicken
• And much more...

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Review my Whataburger Low Carb Menu one-pager if you want to see full macros for these entrees. It's also great if you're looking for the full Whataburger keto menu.

My personal low carb menu is derived from this much longer and more complicated Whataburger nutrition menu.What you should avoidIn case you're new to low carb eating, I'll point out that you can't eat any of the Whataburger buns, fries, onion rings, milkshakes, biscuits, buns, pancakes, hash browns, and tortillas. All are off the limits. There are some less obvious entrees and sides to avoid that I’ve listed below. They seem like they might be low carb, but aren’t. Tempting chicken entrees to avoid:

• Whatachick'n Strips 3 piece - 40 net carbs
• Whatachick'n Strips 2 Piece - 30 net carbs
• Whatachick'n Bites 6 pcs - 31 net carbs
• Whatachick'n Bites 4 Piece - 23 net carbs

If you're looking for lower carb chicken nugget options, then Chick Fil A has some moderately low carbs ones you can try. Tempting dressings to avoid:

• Low Fat Honey Pepper Vinaigrette -15 net carbs
• Fat Free Ranch Dressing - 11 net carbs
• Thousand Island Dressing - 8 net carbs
• Honey Mustard Dressing - 7 net carbs
• Low Fat Herb Vinaigrette Dressing - 7 net carbs

Tempting sauces to avoid:

• Honey BBQ Dipping Sauce - 22 net carbs
• Honey BBQ Sauce - 11 net carbs
• Honey Butter Sauce - 10 net carbs
• Cream Gravy - 8 net carbs (say it ain't so!)
• Honey Mustard Sauce - 8 net carbs

Tempting salads to avoid:

• Apple and Cranberry Salad - 29 net carbs

Overall Ratings
Whataburger is low carb friendly because they have several different lunch and breakfast items that can be easily modified to fit a low carb diet. They even have a few salads that are low carb / keto friendly as is.

• Low carb entrees on menu – Yes, though most options require a special order. They have a Garden Salad with Chicken that is 290 calories and 6 net carbs.
• Satiety of low carb entrees – Above Average. Lots of low carb options will get you full for less than $10.
• Taste of low carb entrees - Well Above Average. Overall, this is the best assortment of low carb fast foods that I've had on the challenge.
• Price / value of low carb entrees – Slightly Below Average. Though they give you good-sized portions, Whataburger is definitely a bit more expensive than McDonald's and Burger King.
• Ordering experience – Average. The cashiers accommodated me and were patient but there were a few mistakes that required me to go back up to the counter. For example, they originally forgot the cream pepper sauce on my Double Patty Melt.

Summary
Whataburger ranks in my top 5 low carb fast food places. It's right up there with Chipotle, McDonald's, and Jimmy John's. The food is delicious, the prices seem fair, and the sides of Jalapeno Creamy Ranch and Creamy Pepper Dressing add a flavorful touch that isn't available at most fast food places. I could very easily see myself doing the all Whataburger Atkins diet if needed :). Hope you find my low carb ordering advice useful the next time you go! Cheers, Ryan aka “Mr. SkinnyPants”