Low Carb Chipotle Guide for Beginners

Learn how to order low carb at Chipotle, while still staying on your diet!!

Get my special 14 item Chipotle low carb menu for free. It’s a great resource for anyone who wants to eat low carb, keto, Atkins, low sugar, or diabetic friendly at Chipotle.

Follow my mission to eat low carb at the top 30 fast food chains in the US.

#1 Double Chicken Salad

Comes with romaine lettuce, chunks of marinated grilled chicken thigh, and your choice of low carb toppings. Ask for “no beans, no rice” upfront. Decline the free dressing they offer — it has too many carbs.

• Price: $10.60
• Macros: 760 calories, 12g net carbs, and 70g protein

To order it exactly as I did:

• Bed of lettuce with “no beans, no rice please”
• Chicken
• Fajita grilled veggies
• Sour cream
• Red tomatillo salsa
• Extra guacamole ($1.95 extra)
• Right as server finishes piling on the guacamole, ask “can I get some extra chicken on top please?” I feel like you get more chicken this way and it looks better stacked on the guacamole versus ordering double chicken upfront. There’s a $2.15 up charge for extra chicken.

Looks monstrous and tastes great. My friend who joined me for lunch was shocked by how quickly I finished it.

In hindsight, I’d omit the fajita grilled veggies as that adds 4g net carbs and wasn’t worth it.

#2 Double Carnitas Salad

This is my most recent Chipotle order where I’ve wised up and stopped ordering fajita grilled veggies (4g net carbs). I’ve also gotten a little better at taking pictures. Salad came with a double serving of pulled pork (aka “carnitas”), romaine lettuce, and my choice of toppings which were: shredded cheese, guacamole, and red tomatillo salsa. I added some hot sauce when I got home.

• Price: $11.55
• Macros: 800 calories, 6g net carbs, and 55g protein

PS. I used the same trick again and had them add the second scoop of carnitas after laying down the guacamole.

#3 Double Steak Salad

I ordered this one a long time ago. Notice the poor photo quality. I have to go off memory and the photo to determine what the ingredients were. I think it came with romaine lettuce, double steak, fresh tomato salsa, shredded cheese, and a huge scoop of guacamole from a generous server.

• Price: Probably $10-$12 (didn’t save my receipt)
• Macros: 675 calories, 4g net carbs, 51g protein

I remember that the steak was a bit dry to the taste and loosely packs into the servers’ spoon so you don’t get quite as much per serving compared to the chicken or carnitas.

#4 Double Barbacoa Salad

I ordered this when I was less diligent about photographing and documenting my orders. From the memory banks…it came with romaine lettuce, double barbacoa, guacamole, and fajita grilled veggies as I was trying to eat dairy free on this day.

• Price: Probably $10-$12 (didn’t save my receipt)
• Macros: 600 calories, 9g net carbs, 52g protein

This barbaco salad was a little mushy for my tastes. The soft meat, soft guacamole, and soft grilled veggies make this seem more like a casserole than a salad. This is why I rate it last of the meat options. Omitting the fajita grilled veggies would have saved me 4g net carbs.

#5 Sofritas Salad (Vegan Low Carb)

To order vegan low carb at Chipotle, you need to order their sofritas which is marinated & grilled tofu. The texture resembles a mix between shredded chicken and fried eggs. I’m not vegan, but I enjoyed the flavor. I paired the sofritas with guacamole and red tomatillo sauce to give it some flavor while still keeping it vegan.

• Price: $8.90
• Macros: 420 calories, 12g net carbs, and 11g protein.

#6 Side of Queso

Chipotle made news by introducing its version of queso. It’s made from real cheese (aged cheddar) and other real ingredients unlike Velveeta. I appreciate their effort here. You can use Chipotle’s queso as an indulgent low carb topping to any salad.

• Price: $2.05
• Macros: 120 calories, 3.5g net carbs, and 8g protein

What you can order

The great thing about Chipotle is that you can build your own salads from several different meat, dairy, veggie & salsa options. They have five low carb meat options, two low carb veggies, three dairy ingredients (queso, shredded cheese, and sour cream), and four salsas that you can mix & match to make fantastic low carb meals.

Download my Personal Chipotle Menu

It’s the same, custom low carb menu I used to plan my orders before going to Chipotle for this fast food challenge.

What you should avoid

In case you’re new to low carb or keto eating, I’ll start by saying that all Chipotle rice, beans, taco shells, tortillas, and tortilla chips should be avoided. They’re too high carb.

There are also some less obvious salsas and dressings to avoid that I’ve listed below.
Tempting salsas and dressings to avoid:

• Vinaigrette Dressing  – 11 net carbs
• Corn Salsa – 12 net carbs

Just in case you you’re a low carb drinker like me, their margaritas are also off limits. I was thinking to myself, “hey it’s tequila, lime juice, and soda water…that should be fine”. Then I checked the menu and found that their margaritas have 25g net carbs .

Overall Ratings

I rate Chipotle as low-carb heavenly. You can build your own low carb bowls from several different quality meat, veggie, and sauce options. The restaurant is clean and smartly designed. The servers are friendly and have a sense of humor. I like it.

• Low carb friendly – Yes
• Low carb entrees on menu – Yes. Their salads become low carb when you omit the rice and beans.
• Satiety of low carb entrees – Average. I ordered a heaping salad and yet I remember telling my friend who ate lunch with me that I could have easily eaten another one.
• Taste of low carb entrees – Excellent, especially when you stick to your favorites.
• Price / value of low carb entrees –  Average. I paid $10-$12 for each salad which included added meat & guacamole. The Chipotle experience sparks joy so I’m willing to pay the premium.
• Ordering experience – Excellent. The servers gave me huge heaps of meat, sour cream, and guacamole. The cashier playfully made fun of my snapback hat during one visit. Everything looked clean and delicious behind the display case. I was impressed.

Of note, Chipotle doesn’t serve breakfast. I love that decision. Stick to what you’re great at. Their food is better than the low carb Taco Bell options, but you pay a bit more.

What’s next

My next low carb fast food guide will be out in a week or so. Sign up to get it here:

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You’ll get some simple low carb recipes and other tips from me for all the times you’re not eating in a fast food joint :).

Cheers,
“Mr. SkinnyPants”