The grilled chicken margherita from Olive Garden is a popular dish. However, many people following a ketogenic (keto) diet wonder if this meal fits within their low-carb, high-fat parameters. This article examines the grilled chicken margherita’s nutritional information to determine if it can be part of a keto diet.
What is Keto?
The ketogenic diet is a very low-carb, high-fat diet. It typically limits carbs to 50 grams or less per day. The goal is to reach ketosis, a metabolic state where your body switches from burning carbohydrates to burning fats for energy. Reaching ketosis helps promote weight loss, mental focus, and other health benefits.
To stay in ketosis, most keto diet guides recommend keeping net carbs under 20-50 grams per day. Net carbs are calculated by subtracting fiber from total carbs, as fiber does not impact ketosis. Keto also emphasizes high fat intake to replace carb calories. Protein should be moderate.
Keto Macronutrient Ratio
The typical keto macronutrient ratio is:
- 75% fat
- 20% protein
- 5% carbs
However, these ratios can vary based on individual needs. The key is keeping carbs very low and fat high enough to stay in ketosis.
Analyzing the Grilled Chicken Margherita Nutrition Facts
Here are the nutrition facts for Olive Garden’s grilled chicken margherita, according to their website:
| Nutrition Facts | Amount Per Serving |
|---|---|
| Calories | 650 |
| Total Fat | 12g |
| Saturated Fat | 3.5g |
| Trans Fat | 0g |
| Cholesterol | 145mg |
| Sodium | 930mg |
| Total Carbohydrates | 50g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4g |
| Total Sugars | 10g |
| Protein | 63g |
Based on a 2000 calorie diet, this meal has:
- 14% calories from fat
- 13% calories from saturated fat
- 32% calories from carbohydrates
- 32% calories from protein
Analyzing the Carbs
The biggest factor in determining if a food is keto is the carb content. This meal has 50g total carbs. After subtracting 4g fiber, the net carbs come to 46g.
Most keto experts recommend sticking to under 20-50g net carbs per day. Eating this entire margherita chicken meal would use up nearly all of your daily carb allotment in one sitting.
Analyzing the Fats
Next, let’s look at the fats. This meal contains 12g total fat, with 3.5g saturated fat. On a 2000 calorie diet, it makes up 14% calories from fat.
Keto typically recommends getting around 70-80% of calories from fat. This meal is quite low in fat compared to keto standards.
Analyzing the Protein
Finally, let’s look at protein. This dish contains 63g protein, making up 32% calories on a 2000 calorie diet.
Keto encourages moderate protein intake, usually around 20-25% calories. This meal is slightly higher in protein than a typical keto meal.
Is Grilled Chicken Margherita Keto Friendly?
Based on this nutritional analysis, Olive Garden’s grilled chicken margherita is too high in carbs and protein and too low in fat to fit a standard ketogenic diet.
Eating this entire meal would use up nearly all of your daily net carb allowance. And while the protein is not extremely high, it is slightly above keto recommendations. Lastly, the fat content is well below what’s typical for keto.
Possible Modifications
While the standard grilled chicken margherita as served by Olive Garden is not keto friendly, there may be ways to modify the meal to make it work with a low-carb high-fat diet:
- Order it without the side of pasta – this removes around 30g net carbs
- Ask for extra olive oil or butter to increase the fat ratio
- Request fewer tomatoes to reduce the carbs
- Add extra chicken to increase protein and reduce the carb ratio
With significant modifications, it may be possible to get this meal into keto-friendly ranges. But in its original form, the carb and fat ratios are not aligned with a ketogenic diet.
Keto-Friendly Olive Garden Options
While the grilled chicken margherita doesn’t fit a keto diet, Olive Garden does offer some low-carb options that may work:
- Salads with low-carb dressing and protein added
- Grilled chicken entrees without pasta sides
- Meat sauces like alfredo or marinara over zucchini noodles instead of pasta
With the right customizations, you can certainly eat at Olive Garden while staying keto. But most menu items, including the margherita chicken, will require modifications to remove high-carb elements and increase the fat content.
The Bottom Line
The grilled chicken margherita from Olive Garden contains too many carbs and not enough fat to fit a standard ketogenic diet. Eating the entire meal as presented would use up nearly your entire day’s carb allowance. With modifications like removing the pasta and adding extra fat, it may be possible to make this meal keto-friendly. But in its original form served at the restaurant, the grilled chicken margherita is not a keto-approved option.
When dining at Olive Garden, opt for customizations like salads with low-carb dressing and meat entrees without pasta sides to stay within your keto macros. While many menu items are too high in carbs for keto, with the right substitutions, Olive Garden can be an option for low-carb dining.