Healthy Eating Around OBX: Low-Sugar, Gluten-Free, Vegan, and More

Written by Cheryl Rodewig · Oct. 11, 2024

Vacationing in the Outer Banks usually means making room for the area’s famously good food. Still, you may want meals that feel a little lighter, or you may be looking for choices that are dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, keto, or otherwise aligned with the way you eat.

Whatever brings you to the healthier side of dining, the Outer Banks offers a generous range of restaurants that can help. Use this guide to explore OBX spots with wholesome meals, including a few menu ideas worth trying.

Freshfit Cafe

Freshfit Cafe lives up to its name with fresh, feel-good ingredients. At lunch, the menu includes salads, sandwiches, and build-your-own bowls filled with options such as chicken, chickpeas, carrots, cucumbers, rice, beans, and more. If you want something more filling, consider the turkey burger, the yellowfin tuna on a multigrain bun, or the bacon shrimp wrap made with thick-cut turkey bacon and plenty of North Carolina shrimp.

For groups managing allergies or dietary needs, this might be the best place to eat in OBX. Menu items are marked for gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and lactose-free diets. Guests with gluten sensitivities can still enjoy bagels, pancakes, muffins, and other baked goods, and keto bagels are available as well. Vegan diners can start the day with tofu scramble or vegan pancakes, choose from lunch options such as the portobello wrap, and even find vegan grilled cheese on the kid’s menu.

This counter-service cafe also offers plenty of waterfront seating and a convenient causeway location. With fresh-squeezed juices, smoothies, kombucha, and coffee rounding out the menu, it is clear why Freshfit has been a Nags Head staple since 2018.

The Hungry Pelican

Many restaurants list salads, but The Hungry Pelican in downtown Manteo goes beyond basic lettuce covered in ranch. The Hawaiian Chicken Salad, for instance, includes carrots, cucumbers, cabbage, croutons, pineapple, bacon, and deli chicken. If there is an ingredient you would rather skip, you can ask the staff to leave it off. The menu also includes gluten-free soups such as tomato basil, vegetable, and chili.

Sandwiches are what this deli counter is especially known for. You can go big with the Godfather, stacked with ham, salami, pepperoni, and provolone, but there are lighter choices too. The Wheatberry Veggie keeps the focus on vegetables with a bit of cheese for balance. Other healthier picks include tuna salad served over lettuce, a hummus sandwich packed with vegetables, and a vegetarian Reuben.

The Colington Café

Colington Café in Kill Devil Hills is Family owned and operated for over 30 years, with a setting that feels intimate, cozy, and romantic. Dinner is served inside one of five rooms in a historic Victorian-style house or outdoors in the wooded backyard with a screened-in gazebo. It is not the place for a large tourist crowd, but locals know the food and wine are excellent, so reservations are recommended.

You can certainly indulge in crab cakes or fettuccine alfredo, but lighter dishes are available as well. Shrimp and Scallop Tropicale features grilled shellfish finished with fruit salsa.

Seafood is a strong choice here, especially the fresh fish of the day. The chef’s special is also a consistent standout and might include pan-seared salmon, cauliflower cheddar soup, a kale arugula blend with butternut squash, or another seasonal creation.

Colington Café also provides a dedicated gluten-free menu with appetizers, salads, desserts, and over a dozen entrees. Options range from chicken Normandy in a classic apple brandy sauce to a trio of filet mignon, grilled shrimp, and jump lump crabmeat.

If you can, leave space for one of the homemade desserts.

PokeBox

A helpful healthy-travel strategy is to find the closest poke bowl restaurant. PokeBox has two locations in Nags Head, including the newest in the Outer Banks Mall, and both are highly rated with online ordering available.

If raw fish is not your thing, the menu goes past tuna and salmon. Chicken, shrimp, steak, and scallops are offered grilled rather than fried. Vegan bowls can be built with tofu or vegan steak, and the base can be made gluten-free with rice or lettuce.

PokeBox bowls make it easy to choose a low-sugar and low-fat meal that is still nutrient-dense and flavorful. Add-ins include edamame, cucumber, carrots, kale, mango, and more. Sauces are labeled for gluten-free, able to be made GF, vegetarian, or containing egg. To make the bowl even fresher, finish it with avocado, nori, pickled ginger, or seaweed salad.

Surfin’ Spoon

A dessert shop may not be the first place you expect in a guide to healthy Outer Banks restaurants, but Surfin’ Spoon focuses on frozen yogurt, which has fewer calories than ice cream. During a typical week, the shop offers 10 self-serve froyo flavors and around 50 toppings. Choose a bowl, go small if portion control is the goal, and build it however you like.

There is something for nearly everyone. Vegan and dairy-free guests can choose sorbet or almond milk frozen yogurt, and most flavors are already gluten-free.

For a lower-fat, all-natural topping strategy, keep to fruit. Fresh-cut mango, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries make the classic nature’s-candy case well. Almonds, toasted coconut, and gluten-free granola are also available.

Surfin’ Spoon’s ice cream sandwiches are more of a treat than health food, but they are made with high-quality ingredients such as non-GMO unbleached flour, organic agave nectar, vegan butter, organic unsweetened applesauce, and organic coconut milk. A couple of options are gluten-free, too.

Waveriders

Waveriders blends Nags Head coffee shop, deli, and attached market, making it useful whether you want breakfast, picnic provisions, or a craft beer with a sandwich. Indoor and outdoor seating is cute and quirky, games included, and the counter line tends to move quickly.

Alternative diets are easy to navigate here. The bean burger comes on a pretzel roll, is panini pressed, and is layered with avocado, tomato, and lettuce; it can also be made vegan or gluten-free. The Veggie sandwich or wrap is another nourishing option, filled with vegetables and the house sundried tomato white bean hummus. Salads are bright and inventive, with toppings that range from fresh grapefruit to beets and feta.

Open at 7am Thursday through Monday, the cafe works well for a healthy breakfast in OBX. Beyond egg-centered dishes, the menu includes overnight oats, a Tree Hugger bagel with veggie cream cheese, tomato, cucumber, and onion, and a filling breakfast bowl with spinach, bread, fruit, egg, and more under a drizzle of balsamic glaze.

Avocado toast is here, of course. It is served on multigrain sprouted bread with vegan cashew spread and tomatoes.

Outer Banks Brewing Station

Breweries are not usually associated with healthy menus, but Outer Banks Brewing Station earns a place here because of its extensive gluten-free menu. That includes burgers, barbecue, steak, scallops with risotto, and more.

The restaurant also offers several vegan selections, going beyond salads with entrees such as jackfruit birria tacos and chickpea tofu curry. Diners simply looking for health-conscious options can choose dishes like edamame appetizers, salads, steamed peel-and-eat shrimp, or a bean burger with avocado aioli.

Check the chef’s specials as well, since they sometimes feature lighter choices such as the seafood pasta bowl.

Açaí Bowls and Smoothies in the Outer Banks

One impressive thing about the Outer Banks is how many ice cream and coffee shops also serve smoothies. That makes it easy to find a refreshing snack full of antioxidants, vitamins, and fiber at almost any time of day.

Listing every Outer Banks smoothie and açaí bowl stop would take a while, so these are a few strong options.

Noosa Scoops

Noosa Scoops opened in May and, as the name suggests, serves ice cream, including non-dairy options. It also offers 20-ounce smoothies in vivid combinations. The True Blue blends açaí blueberries, strawberries, and mint. The Vida Verde combines kale, spinach, mango, pineapple, and banana. You can pick the liquid you want, such as oat milk or coconut water, and açaí bowls are on the menu too.

Shine On Juicery

Shine On Juicery in Kill Devil Hills is all-vegan and owned by a certified raw food chef. Beyond cold-pressed juices, wraps, and Buddha bowls, the smoothie menu is a major draw. Blends include Pure Passion with papaya, pineapple, mango, orange, and turmeric, plus the seasonal Autumn in Asheville with pumpkin, banana, orange mylk, vanilla maple, date, and spices. Nearly the entire menu is organic, including the popular açaí bowls.

Hatteras Bowls

If your route takes you along the Outer Banks National Scenic Byway, stop in Waves for highly rated açaí bowls from Hatteras Bowls. The shop operates seasonally and also serves smoothies with flavor accents such as lavender, coffee, ginger, and cacao.

Outer Bean Cafe

Outer Bean Cafe in Kitty Hawks is small in size but broad in menu. Along with many coffees, salads, and sandwiches, many of which are vegetarian, the cafe offers a juice bar, smoothies, and açaí bowls. Customization is welcome. To reduce sugar in a smoothie, ask for unsweetened almond or coconut milk instead of juice. For extra protein and texture, add hemp, pea, or whey protein along with chia or flax seeds.

Author

Cheryl Rodewig is an award-winning journalist specializing in travel. When she is not mapping out another trip, ideally to a waterfall or garden, she uses her MBA to create marketing stories for brands. Her writing has appeared in Thrillist, AARP, Insider, The Guardian, and on cherylrodewig.com.