All right guys, we all know no one goes to fast food joints for their salad options, but sometimes you have to say no to tacos and pizza in order to fit in your jeans (and, you know, be good to your heart and all that). Here's what you should try.
Wendy's: Power Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Loaded with grilled chicken, feta, hummus, and a sun-dried tomato-quinoa blend, this salad has tons of flavor without packing in a ton of calories. The one catch is it's only available at select locations.
Calories: 450
McDonald's: Bacon Ranch Grilled Chicken Salad
McDonald's made the move a few years back to serve antibiotic-free chicken and even went so far as to change its McNugget recipe. Along with these changes, the chain has introduced a variety of healthier options to its menu, like this bacon ranch grilled chicken salad. A sliced, grilled chicken breast sits on a bed of romaine, kale, baby spinach, red leaf lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, which is garnished with jack and cheddar cheeses. Oh, and the main events: bacon and ranch, of course.
Calories: 320
Chick-fil-A: Grilled Market Salad
Chick-fil-A vowed long ago to ditch iceberg due to its lack of nutritional benefits, so it's not surprising that you won't find a single iceberg leaf in its healthiest salad. What you will find is sliced chicken breast on top of romaine and baby greens. It's mixed with blue cheese, red and green apples, strawberries, blueberries, granola, and a roasted nut blend, so you can hit all the main food groups in one salad.
Calories: 200
Chipotle: Chicken Salad
Chipotle is great because you can basically make it as healthy (or unhealthy) as you want, depending on what ingredients you pop in your bowl. To keep it as healthy as possible, try this order: chicken, pinto beans, fajita veggies, and pico de gallo. Whatever you end up ordering, make sure to avoid the vinaigrette — you might think it's healthy if they're offering it with the salad, but that sauce is a whole 270 calories. At that point, you might as well just eat a tortilla (the big ones are 300 each).
Calories: 350
Burger King: Garden Grilled Chicken Salad
BK keeps it simple with its salad options (there are only two on the menu) and even simpler with its lightest option: the garden grilled chicken salad is nothing more than chicken, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, croutons, and cheddar cheese. If you want to add a little texture, you can get the chicken breaded, but it'll be an extra 130 calories.
Calories: 590
Taco Bell: Power Menu Bowl
If you weren't aware, Taco Bell is actually one of the healthiest fast food chains out there (shocking, we know). Despite this, the salad options are limited to the Fiesta Taco Salad, which has between 710 and 760 calories. So, in honor of its overall healthy status we're including a bowl/salad-esque item that's much lower-cal: the power menu bowl. The bowl comes with grilled chicken, guac, pico de gallo, romaine, rice, and black beans, all packing in a whopping 28 grams of protein.
Calories: 480
Arby's: Roast Turkey Farmhouse Salad
If you're feeling like a turkey sandwich from Arby's but want to skip the extra calories, this salad is a great choice. Roast turkey, pepper bacon, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, iceberg lettuce and other greens will fill you up and keep you going.
Calories: 230
Subway: Oven Roasted Chicken Salad
Like Chipotle, Subway is another place where you can basically build a salad however you want it. Our suggestion: Get your salad with the oven-roasted chicken for a low-cal, high-protein (19 grams!) meal.
Calories: 140
Quiznos: Peppercorn Caesar Salad
Most Caesar salads don't make the cut when it comes to healthy eating (the dressing is not exactly the lightest), but Quiznos' version is one of the few that actually isn't too bad. Watch out though — the salad contains 760 mg of sodium, so if you're trying to lay off the salt, you may want to stay away.
Calories: 170
Dairy Queen: Chicken Garden Greens
Let's be real: People don't go to DQ for the salads (it's all about those blizzards) but if you find yourself there while you're trying to diet, the chicken garden greens salad is a good option. It's a no-frills dish — a basic salad with tomatoes, red cabbage, onions, and carrots — but it's only 160 calories so that's a major plus in our eyes.
Calories: 160
Panera Bread: BBQ Salad With Chicken
Panera has tons of salad options, and while they are all delicious, this one reigns supreme in the low-cal category. Romaine lettuce and an adobo corn blend are tossed with BBQ ranch dressing and topped with grilled chicken and BBQ sauce. And yet, with all that, it still has the least fat and sodium of all the Panera salads.
Calories: 470
Dominos: Chicken Apple Pecan Salad
If you're passing on a pie, you better be getting a damn good salad, right? Well, this is a damn good salad. Aside from the fact that it's got a sweet-and-savory vibe going on, it's also got the least calories from fat, grams of fat, and saturated fat than any of the other salads (and probably anything else they sell at Dominos, really).
Calories: 190
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