Healthy Dining Around The Outer Banks

By Robert Liberatore
Jan. 02, 2023

Keep a getaway from throwing off your healthy habits. This guide highlights healthier places to eat in the Outer Banks, including fresh smoothies, seafood-forward dishes, and more.

Just off the coast of North Carolina, the Outer Banks form a chain of barrier islands extending more than 175 miles south from the Virginian border. With clean beaches, distinctive wildlife, important history, and a feeling of quiet seclusion, the Outer Banks have long been a sought-after escape for travelers from North Carolina and across the country.

The islands are naturally famous for seafood, but places such as High Cotton and the infamous Duck Donuts have also made the area known for classic southern comfort food that is especially tempting on vacation. For travelers trying to avoid overindulging, the question becomes whether healthy restaurants in the Outer Banks can meet today’s wide range of dietary needs.

10 years ago, the answer might have been no. Over the past 5 or 10 years, though, healthier choices have appeared throughout the Outer Banks. These 10 restaurants, cafes, breweries, and shops serve some of the healthiest options available in the area.

Mom’s Sweet Shop in Kill Devil Hills

The first stop is Mom’s Sweet Shop in Kill Devil Hills. In spite of its name, Mom’s may offer the healthiest food in the Outer Banks. Its acai bowls use pure, organic acai, with organic pitaya, or dragonfruit, available as a swap at no extra charge. Mom’s also serves a broad lineup of vegan and dairy-free smoothies filled with supplements, superfoods, and optional additions such as CBD and bee pollen. True to the Mom’s Sweet Shop name, the menu is both flavorful and nourishing, and it honestly might have the best acai bowls and smoothies in the entire state.

Mom's Sweet Shop, image from sweetstuffinside.com

Even though it leads this list, Mom’s is not only about healthy eating. The shop also offers soft-serve ice cream, milkshakes, truffles, and candy for days when you want a treat. The overall experience stretches past the menu, with a storefront featuring a mix of modern and vintage clothing plus two luxury vacation rentals.

The Spot in Kitty Hawk and Nags Head

Less than a two-minute drive from Mom’s is The Spot’s Kitty Hawk location. As the other dedicated smoothie and acai bowl choice on this list, The Spot also has a second location in Nags Head, only five minutes from Jockey’s Ridge State Park. Although it is not as ingredient-focused as Mom’s, The Spot’s Nag’s Head location still makes for a cool, healthy break after time in the sun exploring the dunes at Jockey’s Ridge.

Outer Bean Cafe in Kitty Hawk

For anyone who wants smoothies and acai bowls alongside a wider menu, Outer Bean Cafe could be the right fit. A familiar favorite in Kitty Hawk, the cafe has offered vegetarian and vegan-friendly breakfast and lunch dishes for years. Locals come in for filling salads and sandwiches along with fresh-pressed juices rich in nutrients. Outer Bean Cafe also provides three-day and week-long juice and smoothie-based detoxes.

Freshfit Cafe in Nags Head

Like Outer Bean, Freshfit Cafe in Nags Head serves a strong range of nutrition-minded breakfast and lunch options made to support fitness goals. Freshfit’s menu uses ingredients such as local seafood and seasonal fruits and vegetables, offering smoothies, juices, detox drinks, organic coffee, wraps, sandwiches, salads, power bowls, pancakes, breakfast platters, and tofu scrambles. With so many choices, the kitchen can easily accommodate vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free diets. Recommended breakfast picks include espresso overnight oats, pancakes with gluten-free & vegan options available, and shrimp toast with feta cheese and balsamic drizzle. For lunch, build-your-own protein bowls and varied salads with fresh seafood are go-to choices.

Fresh Fit Cafe, Nags Head

Salad Bowl in Kitty Hawk

If a salad is what you have in mind, the Salad Bowl in Kitty Hawk is an easy choice. As the name implies, the menu includes multiple signature salads, a rotating monthly salad, and the option to build your own salad bowl. Beyond greens, the Salad Bowl also offers healthy juices, smoothies, and wraps, and it sources from local and/or organic farmers when possible.

Bad Bean Baja Grill in Kitty Hawk

Bad Bean Baja Grill is not the standard healthy-food stop. Bringing together Latin American, Coastal Carolinian, Tex-Mex, and Asian influences, this multicultural fusion restaurant stands apart in the Outer Banks. With flavor as the first priority, the chef still includes plenty of guilt-free and vegetarian-friendly choices, including black bean quinoa burgers and marinated grilled tofu, giving health-conscious diners a reason to head to Kitty Hawk.

Outer Banks Brewing Station in Kill Devil Hills

The Outer Banks Brewing Station may be another surprising entry, but it is also a healthy-food favorite in Kill Devil Hills. The restaurant has plenty of comfort food and craft beer, yet it also rotates vegan and vegetarian specials and offers a dedicated gluten-free menu. In response to recent national food supply chain challenges that followed the pandemic, the team has also leaned into creative sourcing from local seafood providers and other ingredient sources. One example is the Tuna Brewdah Bowl, made with fresh local seared tuna over Asian noodle salad with edamame, Tokyo collards, roasted red pepper salad & miso roasted sweet potatoes.

Red Sky Cafe in Duck, NC

Red Sky Cafe in Duck, NC is another kitchen centered on locally sourced ingredients. The restaurant has cooked with seafood, poultry, beef, duck, and other ingredients directly from the Outer Banks for over 15 years now. Owner and chef Wes Stepp, who also wrote the Tastefully Fit recipe book, focuses on turning traditional southern and seafood dishes into healthy, hearty plates that can please both food lovers and picky eaters. These healthier offerings are so popular with locals that they also book Wes and Chefs on Call team for private in-home dining and catered events.

Single Fin in Nags Head and Pok’s Art in Kitty Hawk

Single Fin, Nags Head

Pok Choeichom, better known as Chef Pok, is another culinary artist recognized for personal chef work. He is the chef-owner of both Single Fin in Nags Head and Pok’s Art in Kitty Hawk. Single Fin was the first Thai-Sushi hybrid restaurant in the Outer Banks and serves a wide variety of sushi rolls, nigiri, and sashimi, ranging from tastefully simple to wildly extravagant.

The Avenue Waterfront Grille in Manteo

The Avenue Waterfront Grille in downtown Manteo does not have a sushi menu as extensive as Single Fin, but its Tuna Sushi Style is a definite favorite. The dish features perfectly seared tuna, which can be exchanged for crispy tofu, along with a jasmine rice cake, seaweed salad, and wasabi cream sauce. The Avenue Grille was one of the first restaurants in the area to creatively accommodate dietary restrictions, and Tuna Sushi Style is only one of many dishes that can be adjusted with substitutions for vegan, vegetarian and/or gluten-free guests. As the name suggests, the restaurant also pairs dinner with a spectacular waterfront view, which helps the chef draw on a varied selection of fresh seafood from close by.

Avenue Grill, Manteo

The Paper Canoe in Duck

The Paper Canoe, the final spot on the list, is a Duck mainstay that also emphasizes a memorable waterfront dining experience and locally caught seafood from the Outer Banks. Owner and restaurateur Tommy Karole personally selects the day’s catches for dishes such as the Chef’s Whim, which changes daily according to locally sourced ingredients. Some sides lean more decadent than health-focused, but gluten-free options are available at every point in the meal. For one of the finest dining experiences the Outer Banks has to offer, reserve a sunset table well ahead of time.

It is also worth mentioning that Karole recently launched The Pony and the Boat in Kitty Hawk, a new elevated comfort food concept that is not centered on healthy eating, but is likely still good for the soul.

Categories

Culinary

Tags

Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Duck, Nags Head, Manteo

Author

Robert Liberatore is an adventure, travel and lifestyle photographer, writer and cinematographer based out of Durham, North Carolina. His work can be found at www.nomadfuel.blog and @robert_lib.