Background For patients with T2DM, dietary control is a basic treatment which must be adhered to for a lifetime. However, the dietary compliance situation among patients with T2DM is not optimistic. Inhibitory control, as the key component of self-control,may be a potentially important influencing factor of dietary compliance. However, recent research on this topic is quite limited; therefore, further research is necessary. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between inhibitory control and dietary compliance among patients with T2DM based on subjective and objective measures. Methods A total of 393 patients with T2DM were enrolled consecutively from the endocrinology departments of three tertiary hospitals in China. Participants completed the Sociodemographic Questionnaire, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Dietary Behavior Compliance Scale for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales with 21 items (DASS-21), and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult version (BRIEF-A). Among them, 105 subjects completed the stop signal task,and 101 completed the Stroop task. The relationship between inhibitory control and dietary compliance was analyzed. Results Regarding results related to subjective measures, the t score of inhibitory control was negatively correlated with dietary compliance (r=-0.287, p<0.05). Regarding results related to objective measures, SSRT was significantly negatively correlated with carbohydrate and fat compliance behavior (r=-0.239, p<0.05). The conflict effect was significantly negatively correlated with two dimensions: oil and salt compliance behavior (r=-0.214, p<0.05) and carbohydrate and fat compliance behavior (r=-0.291, p<0.05).The conflict score was significantly negatively correlated with dietary compliance (r=-0.216, p<0.05) and carbohydrate and fat compliance behavior (r=-0.309, p<0.05). Conclusions The different aspects of inhibitory control were significantly associated with dietary compliance among patients with T2DM. In the future, we can consider improving the dietary compliance of patients with T2DM based on inhibitory control training.