The Rio: A Keto Restaurant Near You!
When you think TexMex, you probably envision tortillas, rice, beans, and chips and salsa – not the most keto-friendly foods around. So you’re probably asking, “I can eat keto at the Rio? Are you sure?” We can assure you, the Rio is a keto-friendly restaurant – with enchiladas, fajitas AND burritos!
TLDR; Keto-friendly options to order:
Keto appetizers
- guacamole w/ fresh cut veggies
- salsa w/ fresh cut veggies
- chile con queso w/ fresh cut veggies
- shrimp diabla* (if you’re doing strict keto, you should avoid this one because of the sugar)
Keto entrees
- any burrito, no tortilla (recommend adding sour cream and/or green chile)
- any enchiladas, no tortilla, sub beans and rice for extra lettuce & tomato
- fajitas, no tortilla, sub beans and rice for extra lettuce & tomato
- green chile soup w/ braised pork
- tortilla soup, no tortilla strips
- caesar salad
- Rio salad w/ meat of your choice, no tortilla strips (we recommend extra avocado & the poblano ranch dressing)
- any tacos, no tortillas
- side of garlic veggies
- side of coleslaw
- request no tortillas, rice, beans, and chips
Keto-friendly drinks
- coffee
- soda water w/ fresh lemon and lime slices
- tequila on the rocks w/ lime
- tequila w/ soda water
- White Claw hard seltzer
Staying keto-friendly at the Rio is surprisingly easy…
We eat at the Rio a lot. Often, two times a week for lunch. We’re certain the kitchen staff knows us by our creative keto orders that are quite delicious and super simple. When you eat keto, you work to leave out as many carbohydrates as possible like the ones we mentioned earlier – tortillas, rice, beans, and chips. So, at the Rio, you simply order just about any dish without those and receive a successful keto meal.
Keto-friendly burritos?
Hell yeah. The burritos – especially the steak burrito with some atómica salsa – are delicious. Simply order your burrito without the tortilla! Instead, you’ll get a burrito on a plate with all the delicious ingredients minus the tortilla. Not into steak? Try the breakfast burrito. You get that great egg protein as well as another meat of your choosing. We recommend the house-made chorizo or the Texas sausage. As a side, we recommend the fajita veggies. Eat them on their own or mix them in with the burrito fillings.
Did you say enchiladas?
Oh yes we did.
We often order the enchiladas à la carte and always add tomatillo salsa. And, of course, we order them without tortillas. We especially like the crab and shrimp. And if veggies are your thing, get the spinach enchiladas with tomatillo – delicious!
Fajitas? Of course.
As one of the easiest keto meals on the Rio menu, simply order the fajitas without the rice, beans, and tortillas. Add a side of veggies and you’re good to go!
OUR salads are delicious – just watch out.
The Rio Salad gets ordered by at least one of us each time we visit. It’s usually the steak version. We order it with the Poblano Ranch dressing which has nearly zero carbs. But watch out: unless you like to pick things off the top of your salads, order it without the tortilla strips.
Skip the margarita, order this drink instead.
Yeah, we know, the margs are the Rio’s thing. But margaritas have sugar, and usually plenty of it. If you’re wanting to imbibe, we recommend simply ordering tequila on the rocks with lime. It works and works pretty darn well and it won’t add any carbs to your daily intake.
Eating keto at the Rio is gratifying
Aside from adding guacamole and sour cream to most of our orders, which is always fun, eating keto at the Rio itself is surprisingly effortless. When we’re out with guests, we always get great questions as we all order this without that and that without this. And it’s always entertaining when the kitchen staff stops by our table to admire our creative orders and inquire about our keto obsession. When we run into any new keto dieters, we always recommend the Rio as a local, keto-friendly restaurant option!
