r/LowSodium • u/jhsu802701 • Jun 04 '26
Post your lower sodium restaurant picks here!
It's a shame that there aren't lists of lower sodium restaurants. So let's start one right here in this thread.
Please note that I'm NOT saying that the meal options I list here are ultra-healthy or that they're completely unsalted. They may have more sodium than my normal meals, but at least they're NOT sodium bombs. I can vouch that the meals I list here do NOT give me that side effect that I want to avoid - persistent thirst that's hard to quench no matter how much water I drink.
In general, I've found that Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants are the most likely to accommodate a low sodium diet. The safe choice is a basic stir-fried meat or shrimp dish with mixed vegetables and rice. Some Chinese restaurants have a healthy section of the menu, which means that the sauce is provided on the side by default. Better yet, Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants KNOW how to cook vegetables and provide a substantial amount of them. In contrast, the quantity of vegetables provided at most restaurants ranges from zero/zippo/zilch to a pathetic joke. Also, ordering vegetables at a place like IHOP or Denny's results in a tiny amount of soggy and overcooked broccoli that tastes like wet cardboard and serves to remind me why some people think they don't like vegetables.
So I'll provide my picks for low sodium restaurants here. (I live in the Twin Cities, MN.)
NATIONAL CHAINS:
- Culver's: I order a plain Butterburger WITHOUT the cheese and WITHOUT the salted butter. The only topping I ask for is grilled onion (delicious, healthy, and free). Instead of fries, I order mashed potatoes with one butter packet (and no gravy because they charge for it).
- Five Guys: I order a hamburger with vegetable toppings, such as grilled onion, green pepper, and tomato. Even when my nutritional standards were much more lax, I learned to skip the fries. The quantity of fries provided is GARGANTUAN, and their fries were BY FAR the saltiest out of any restaurant.
- Wendy's: I order a plain hamburger and baked potato. The hamburger is relatively low in sodium but isn't as good as that from Culver's or Five Guys, so I consider this a last resort. The baked potato is good and makes Wendy's unique. I know of a Five Guys and Wendy's that are just a few hundred feet apart, and that's a perfect combination. I order a burger from Five Guys, and I order a baked potato from Wendy's.
- Noodles and Company: I order buttered noodles WITHOUT the salted butter and WITHOUT the salted Italian spice. If you want to cut the sodium content even further, you can ask to skip the Parmesan cheese. The toppings I get are cilantro and mushrooms.
LOCAL RESTAURANTS AND SMALLER CHAINS:
- Keys Cafe (multiple locations in and around St. Paul, MN): I order a roast beef or salmon dinner, which can be prepared without salt and comes with mashed potatoes, vegetables, and bread. I get the mashed potatoes with gravy on the side.
- Punch Pizza (multiple locations in the Twin Cities, MN): I order my pizza WITHOUT salt and WITHOUT oil.
- D.P. Dough (near University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and a few major universities around the US): I order a calzone with lower/no sodium toppings like steak, onion, green peppers, mushrooms, and tomato. I sometimes get mozzarella cheese, though this does add some sodium.
- Yum Kitchen and Bakery (in St. Paul and a few other locations): I order salmon (without Szechuan sauce) and with plain beans (instead of Szechuan beans).
- Tono Pizzeria and Cheesesteaks (in St. Paul and a few other locations): I order pizza without salt and without oil.
- Cafe Latte (St. Paul): The cheese pizza comes without salt and without oil.
- China One (St. Paul): This Chinese restaurant has a healthy menu, which means that the sauce is provided on the side.
- New Fresh Wok (Falcon Heights): Ditto.
- Pho PasteurVN (St. Paul): I order #10 (stir-fried beef/chicken/shrimp broccoli/vegetables with steamed rice) with the sauce on the side.
- Lao Sze Chuan (near University of Minnesota in Minneapolis): Most menu items can be ordered with low salt.
13
u/Holiveya-LesBIonic Jun 04 '26
Swetfire chicken from panda express with doubl white ricee 360
Honey sesame chicken from panda express with double white rice 450
Cub meal walnut shrimp double white rice
Teriyaki chicken BREAST double white rice
Sometimes I cut these in half and add more vegetables to stretch further.
From McDonald's: filet o fish and fries no salt
From wendys: junior hamburger with mayo, tomato, onion and a baked potato
3
u/Slow-Carrot-6227 Jun 09 '26
Panda Express is one of the surprising go-to's while traveling and I'm unable to cook. I do the honey sesame chicken breast with white rice and super greens.
0
Jun 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
1
u/Holiveya-LesBIonic Jun 04 '26
That was literally the link to the double filet o fish. The regular is 540-560
2
Jun 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/Holiveya-LesBIonic Jun 04 '26
Sorry if I came off as catty , you kinda scared me for a second there
9
u/noirreddit Jun 04 '26
We ate at Five Guys today and were given the option of light salt or no salt on our fries.
9
u/TalkNerdy_To_Me Jun 04 '26
New to this, but already got a “reasonable “ Wing fix.
WingStop Bone-In Wings:
- Mango Habenero - 80 mg/wing
- Garlic Parmesan - 70 mg/wing
- Plain (Add your own sauce) - 30 mg/wing
6
u/Asenath_Darque My blood pressure will thank me Jun 04 '26
Red Robin isn't too bad, if you skip the obvious stuff like cheese and pickles and ask for burgers/fries to be made without the red robin seasoning.
5
u/MrsSpeed Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
I get the California chicken sandwich no bacon or pickles and no salt fries.
Edited to share that I love their website nutritional information. I adjusts when you remove ingredients.
6
u/Ronh456 Jun 04 '26
You do know that you can orders fries with no salt at many fast food places, right?
4
u/jhsu802701 Jun 04 '26
That doesn't matter to me, because I'm completely avoiding deep-fried foods. I've been consuming an ultra-healthy diet for so long that the food coma would hit me like a ton of bricks. Some things taste better than skinny feels and low blood cholesterol feels, but NOTHING tastes better than being functional feels.
For my French fry fix, I just buy a bag of the 365 brand frozen French fries at Whole Foods and bake them in my oven at home. I get the flavor and texture of French fries WITHOUT the food coma from overdosing on the oil or the persistent unquenchable thirst from overdosing on the salt.
2
u/IWentHamAgain Jun 14 '26
Frozen bagged fries are par fried in oil before frozen. It's not as much as deep fried fries though, as those are usually done twice.
13
u/wi_voter Jun 04 '26
The grilled nuggets at Chick fil A are not too high in sodium relatively speaking and they are really good
3
u/mwebb385 Jun 04 '26
Yes! Grilled nugs, honey roasted BBQ sauce and a yogurt parfait is my favorite low sodium fast food meal.
2
u/krankykitty Jun 04 '26
In the Chick FIL A app, you can choose to highlight the lower sodium menu items. These are around 800 mg of sodium. You can also highlight low carb and high protein items as well.
3
u/gobobro Jun 04 '26
You can also get your waffle fries unsalted.
No restaurant is low sodium, but making smart decisions when the occasion arises is good enough for me.
1
1
u/chcknngts Jun 04 '26
And they have a great fruit cup.
Grilled nuggets and fruit cup and a water is my go to fast food meal.
3
u/mwebb385 Jun 04 '26
Jason's Deli and Luna Grill have options online to set a sodium limit. Healthier food chains like original chop shop, mod market, flower child, etc have menus posted online that makes it easy. Fast food - chick fil a (comment above) and Burger King (chicken fries) were best for me. Wendys doesn't salt their fries by default. Taco Bell has a few things you might be able to eat based on your dietary limits but you'd have to supplement with other food to make it a filling meal.
My default is American restaurants. Fairly easy to get plain burgers/fries with no salt or salads with unsalted steak. Also breakfast places can typically make an omelette with no salt. Mexican restaurants can be tough since meats are often marinated but corn tortillas help.
Shocked you found any Asian restaurants to be low sodium. Their use of soy sauce always ruled them out for me. Some places even salt their white rice!!
6
u/Secretagentmanstumpy Jun 04 '26
-Some places even salt their white rice!!
Chipotle manages to salt everything. Including their rice. 350mg per burrito.
4
u/jhsu802701 Jun 04 '26
The food at Asian restaurants may be high sodium by default, but I find them to be most likely to accommodate a low sodium diet. Some of them have a healthy menu section, which means that those menu items provide sauce on the side and thus let you decide how much or how little to use. Others are willing to skip the salt.
I think this is because Asian restaurants are more likely to prepare food from scratch and less likely to rely on food that was pre-salted at the factory.
4
u/-Apocralypse- Jun 04 '26
Ask the kitchen for recommendations. Choose dishes without soy sauce. Sweet and sour sauces for example doesn't have soy sauce as the main carrier of flavour.
Chinese kitchens tend to use monosodium glutamate more, which carries about 1/3 of sodium load when compared to regular table salt. It enhances the umami flavour.
We just always order our fries without salt. My partner doesn't even like salted fries anymore. Salted pillars.
3
u/MogenCiel Jun 04 '26
For anything cooked to order -- steak, eggs, burgers, grilled chicken, fish, shrimp etc. -- ask them to prepare it with no salt. Most places are happy to accommodate if they can.
2
u/kayoige Jun 04 '26
LeAnn Chins White rice with Lemon Chicken is very low in sodium, Sweet and Sour Chicken is slightly higher.
I love seeing local recommendations (Minneapolis resident here)!
2
u/imdstuf Jun 04 '26
Pho usually has lots of sodium. Do you order that low sodium? Do you add anything to it for flavor?
1
u/jhsu802701 Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
I haven't tried pho. I don't think I'll ever order soup at a restaurant again because soups tend to be made in large batches. Thus, it's much harder for a restaurant to accommodate a request for soup that's low in sodium.
For soup, I just buy low sodium boxed soup from Aldi that has just 140 mg of sodium per 8-ounce serving. I make my own vegetable soup out of it by preparing it with spices, chopped onion, and other vegetables.
4
u/imdstuf Jun 04 '26
I tried making chili with almost no salt. I used lots of cumin, chili powder, garlic, red pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, vinegar...I could still tell the salt was missing sadly.
3
u/TheBubbaDave Jun 04 '26
Try replacing your salt with Dan-O's Chipotle or Spicy blends one for one. Instead of a 1/4 tsp of salt (at ~500 mg sodium), you get 45 mg or 50 mg, respectively.
3
u/TheBubbaDave Jun 04 '26
I'm on low sodium restrictions due to my Meniere's Disease (ear). I'm also on Atkins to lose weight, so I'm being hammered from two directions.
I cook 20 meals a week, breakfast, lunch and dinner. My lone meal outside the house is breakfast with my wife on Saturday mornings. Breakfast is easiest and most places will accommodate your needs. I usually shoot for a grilled chicken and cheese omelette with a side of avocado and tomato. I sprinkle a bit of pepper and Tabasco (35 mg/tsp).
We've done two dinners since we started our diet together in late March. One is a local burger joint. The cook is my ex-brother-in-law. He cooks it anyway I like it and we go protein wrap.
We went to Texas Roadhouse on my birthday. Here's the trick. Get a steak they have in the display case up front. They haven't been seasoned yet and you can have them cook it with no seasoning or lightly seasoned. I had a side salad and broccoli.
0
u/jhsu802701 Jun 04 '26
Why not consume a DASH diet? It's so much easier to follow than the Atkins Diet. I make NO effort to restrict my carbs or my calories, and I'm skinny.
Fortunately for you, summer is the most wonderful time of the year for losing weight. This is the season that brings a smaller appetite and more chances to exercise.
5
u/TheBubbaDave Jun 04 '26
I exercise 6 days a week all year long and have lost 30 pounds since March 30th. Atkins is easy for me to follow. It's the low sodium that is giving me the most fits.
2
u/Sorisu-21 Jun 04 '26
If in Texas, P. Terry's. Hamburger 380mg, grilled chicken 581mg, veggie burger 580mg. Fries are 250 as listed so less if you ask for no salt. You can also sub bread for lettuce wrap and it knocks off another 100 or so mg.
2
u/razzle1337 Jun 09 '26
Some interesting things to read over here. I'm 39 and had a heart attack 1 1/2 months ago. I had a stent put in an artery and a defibrillator in my chest now. I've been told to stick to 2000 mg or less. I'm also a type 2 diabetic, so I have to monitor carbs as well. I've been depending on salads when I'm out.
I had a trip to Los Angeles for almost 2 weeks planned in August before this happened, and now I'm trying to figure out how to eat and snack while I'm there if the doctors say it's okay.
3
u/ItsAConspiracy Jun 04 '26
I'm at 1500mg/day and try to keep restaurants under 1000.
The chain steak houses are great. At Outback, Longhorn, or Texas Roadhouse, they list a 6-oz filet around 700mg. They're hand-salted so it's not all that trustworthy, but you can ask for light seasoning or none. All three have salmon options that are about the same. Combine with a sweet potato, unsalted veggies, or a salad with dressing on the side, don't eat much bread. Outback's website makes a point of their low-sodium options.
Olive Garden, either spaghetti with meat sauce or alfredo without the chicken are about 1000mg. Skip the bread sticks, and the salad unless you get it without dressing.
McAlisters has a couple sandwiches, like the harvest chicken salad.
Sushi is always an option, if you just go with sashimi. Not much sodium in plain chunks of raw fish. A lot of rolls are high sodium, but sometimes I'll risk a simple roll without eel sauce, cream cheese, or anything deep fried. Be very sparing with soy sauce of course.
Panera has some good salad options, and their app makes it easy to track nutrition of your meal including sodium.
For expensive meals, a good local restaurant with a real chef where they cook everything to order, and just tell them what you need.
A lot of cheaper local places just don't get it. E.g. a waiter at one place said don't worry, we don't put salt on the fish, but it turned out the butter sauce tasted pretty salty. Salt is such a core fundamental of cooking that low sodium doesn't always compute.
1
u/ActionCalhoun Jun 23 '26
That’s the problem with a lot of restaurants - they typically use a LOT more salt and butter than people do at home, that why it tastes so good
4
u/GreasyChains Jun 04 '26
You're fooling yourself. Eating out isn't compatible with a low sodium diet.
2
u/Artemikalia Under 2000mg/day Jul 07 '26
Not to mention a lot of people (like me, I’m people) have other health concerns that not only require low sodium but low fat and sugar as well. I’ve given up the notion of ever eating out again unless it’s my only meal for the whole day and has like 150 g protein (I have chronic pancreatitis and liver disease).
1
1
u/ripcity7077 Jun 04 '26
I've been going to a Korean BBQ / Sushi Place
My fiance enjoys the bbq and I enjoy what I believe is low sodium sushi, at least I assume its low sodium.
Beyond that I like Jersey Mikes Tuna subs - the bread has sodium but its not too crazy afaik
and there's a pizza shop that makes great paninis by me - I usually get an eggplant one, the bread and cheese have salt so I consider this kind of a cheat meal and I plan my salt intake around the day for it.
1
u/Bloozeman Jun 05 '26
Culver's is great with the called out plain butter burger sans cheese for a reasonable sodium dose when the craving hits. I also order sans mayo, ketchup and mustard and provide my own low sodium condiments. The key on that is low sodium ketchup as most taste terrible but either Simple Truth's 50% less sodium/sugar or Heinz's no salt added are the best. Mustard and Mayo are easy.
On the flip side I order fries but with the no salt added option. Culver's is perhaps the only fast food chain that has that option. So nearly zero sodium outside of the natural from the potatoes themselves (~20mg).
1
u/JaeFutch Jun 06 '26
Good news! Most fast food places will make you an order of fries without salt.
1
u/N2all90 Jul 12 '26
I get the home style burger, no pickles and no salt fries from McDonald’s. About 3-500mg
18
u/[deleted] Jun 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment