What Can I Order at Hawaiian Bros Island Grill on a Keto Diet?
/Recently a Hawaiian Bros Island Grill opened in my area and I was anxious to try it out if they served keto-friendly options. I did a little research to find exactly what to order when following a low carb diet.
If you follow a keto diet the best order at Hawaiian Bros is the Luau Pig Low Carb Mixed Plate with seasoned vegetables. Luau Pig is slow-roasted kalua pork seasoned with Hawaiian sea salt, and the seasoned veggies do not have added sauces. Avoid the marinated chicken, rice, macaroni salad, and pineapple.
Because Hawaiian Bros has some amazing flavors, let’s explore what to order and what to avoid when following a keto diet.
What is Hawaiian Bros Island Grill?
Hawaiian Bros Island Grill was founded in 2018 and serves authentic Hawaiian comfort food. They currently have 16 locations and are located in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas.
They serve what is called a Hawaiian plate lunch, which consists of sweet or savory chicken, pork or veggies, and served with white rice and macaroni salad. Totally delicious, but not keto-friendly. Thankfully they do offer low carb options.
Hawaiian Bros offers online ordering, curbside and in-store pickup, and delivery through GrubHub, DoorDash, and Uber Eats.
You can learn more about Hawaiian Bros Island Grill and check out their menu at their website: Hawaiian Bros Island Grill
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.
Hawaiian Bros does not provide detailed nutritional information.
I can't give you exact carb counts because Hawaiian Bros does not provide detailed nutritional information on their website. I even emailed their Guest Relations and was told:
"We currently do not have a published Nutritional or Allergen menu. We are still a young and growing company and this is something we are working on developing. In the meantime, here is what I do know. Our full menu is both dairy and nut free! All items aside from our buns, noodles for the salad, and our pasta salad are gluten free. The only item that contains eggs is the pasta salad, because egg is found in mayo."
This is disappointing because, as a keto eater, I like to know if what I'm eating will kick me out of ketosis.
However, sometimes we, as low-carb dieters, have to use our detective skills to find the best options. So I put on my Sherlock Holmes cap, grabbed a magnifying glass (totally kidding), and went to work.
RELATED: See all of my Keto Restaurant Guides.
I love the Luau Pig SO MUCH!!! It has a slightly smoky, delicately salty flavor and is so moist and tender. The steamed veggies are yummy too.
The "Low Carb Plate" has fewer carbs than the plates with rice or macaroni salad, but there is no way of knowing exactly how many carbs it contains.
At Hawaiian Bros, ordering a Low Carb Plate consists of a protein (marinated chicken or Luau pig) plus seasoned vegetables, instead of the standard white rice and macaroni salad.
If you order Luau pig as your protein, it is slow-roasted pork seasoned with Hawaiian salt, which one can assume is straight protein and fat, with few if any carbs.
All four types of chicken (Huli Huli, Molokai, Honolulu, and Kilauea chicken) are cooked in flavorful sauces that likely contain some form of sugar and would have lots of carbs.
I looked at some recipes from around the web to see what ingredients are in each of those chicken sauces.
Huli Huli chicken sauce is typically made with (a lot of) brown sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic.
Honolulu chicken contains peach preserves, barbecue sauce, and soy sauce.
Molokai chicken sauce contains pineapple juice, brown sugar, sriracha, ketchup, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and sesame oil.
Kilauea chicken sauce, named after a volcano in the Hawaiian Islands, is described as a sweet and spicy sauce.
Because all of these marinades contain sugar/carbs in some form (brown sugar, pineapple juice, peach preserves, ketchup) they are likely NOT low carb at all and are not a good choice for a keto diet.
I found a Hawaiian Bros Facebook advertising their Low Carb Plate and, scrolling through the comments, it seems to confirm that they do use sugar or other sweeteners in their sauces and whoever answered the customer’s question about carb counts does not have a definitive answer.
Best keto options at Hawaiian Bros.
If you love to eat low carb, these are the best items to order:
Luau pig
Seasoned vegetables
Water or diet soda
This is what a keto order looks like with Hawaiian Bros online ordering:
Though Hawaiian Bros has a limited keto-friendly menu, I LOVE their luau pig and the fresh steamed vegetables. If you live near a restaurant and haven't tried it, you are missing a delicious low-carb meal.
If you follow a keto diet DON’T order this delicious, yet high-carb meal like my husband did. It’s a combination of the Huli Huli and Molokai chicken dishes, plus lots of rice and macaroni salad.
Don't order these foods at Hawaiian Bros if you follow a keto diet.
If you follow a low-carb diet, don't order these menu items:
Pacific Island Salad (high carb ingredients include marinated chicken, mandarin oranges, chow mein noodles)
Macaroni salad
White rice
Fresh pineapple
Spam Musubi
Dole Soft Serve desserts
Hawaiian Sun beverages
Use caution when ordering the Hawaiian Bros chicken on a keto diet.
Though you can order chicken as part of the Low Carb Plate, the chicken is cooked in sauces that may contain lots of carbs. Without published nutrition facts there is no way of knowing exactly how many carbs the chicken dishes have.
Huli Huli chicken
Molokai chicken
Honolulu chicken
Kilauea chicken
Hawaiian Bros is actually one of my favorite fast food restaurants right now and I hope they do provide detailed nutritional information in the near future. I encourage you to speak up and ask for it as well. Nutrition facts are important not only for keto eaters, but for people following other diet or health plans.
Mea'ai Maika'i!
--The Keto Minimalist
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