It’s lunchtime and you really want a cheeseburger, but maybe you should have a salad instead – one with chicken, perhaps, a protein we all know is healthier than beef. Yes, you decide, you’ll be virtuous. One salad coming up.
Unfortunately, you may have made the wrong choice, if you’re watching your intake of calories and sodium. Sure, salads involve a good helping of greens and/or various fruits or vegetables, and sure, poultry or seafood is often a better choice than red meat. But many chain-restaurant salads, whether from fast food places or sit-down establishments, are loaded with salt and packed with extra calories in the form of crispy noodles, croutons, fried chicken, cheese, sugary dressings, and other dietary dangers.
According to the nutrition database Nutritionix, the average restaurant cheeseburger has 535 calories and 1,121 mg of sodium. Fast food burgers have even less of both. A standard McDonald’s cheeseburger, for instance, weighs in at 300 calories and 720 mg of sodium. (Some examples are worse, of course. You won’t believe the calories in some of your favorite fast food cheeseburgers.)
Consulting the official nutritional information on the company websites of some 33 prominent fast food and sit-down restaurant operations, 24/7 Tempo has compiled a list of salads that – while they may sound virtuous, at least comparatively – actually have more calories or salt than some burgers. Four salads we found had more than twice the calories of the average restaurant burger, and one had over 2,000 calories, exceeding the Food and Drug Administration’s recommended basic caloric intake for an entire day.
Regarding sodium, the news is hardly better. The American Heart Association recommends that we consume no more than 2,300 mg of sodium daily. One-third of the salads on this list exceed 2,000 mg, with four of them accounting for more than the AHA maximum.
Of course, salads can be healthy, and lower in both calories and sodium than even a McDonald’s burger. It’s the fried foods, the carb-heavy additions, and the sugary dressings that do the damage, and most of the restaurants on this list offer, in addition to their calorie-and-salt bombs, ample salad choices that turn out to be healthy after all. And if you really want one of the less healthy examples, consider asking if a half-portion is available, or share it with a friend. (Here are some healthy eating habits that will change your life.)
Or, what the heck, just have that cheeseburger.
Blue Cheese Pecan Chopped Salad
> Restaurant: Outback Steakhouse
> Calories: 590
> Sodium: 1,260 mg
Fire-Grilled Steak Salad
> Restaurant: Dave & Buster’s
> Calories: 595
> Sodium: 1,301 mg
Chicken Cobb Salad with Avocado and Caesar Dressing
> Restaurant: Au Bon Pain
> Calories: 650
> Sodium: 1,430 mg
Waldorf Chicken Salad
> Restaurant: California Pizza Kitchen
> Calories: 660
> Sodium: 1,010 mg
Garden Cobb
> Restaurant: Sweetgreen
> Calories: 675
> Sodium: 815 mg
Capital Grille “Cobb” Salad with Tenderloin
> Restaurant: The Capital Grille
> Calories: 680
> Sodium: 1,200 mg
Mandarin Crunch Salad
> Restaurant: P.F. Chang’s
> Calories: 750
> Sodium: 1,510 mg
Florida Cobb Salad with Wood-Grilled Chicken and Citrus Herb Dressing
> Restaurant: Bonefish Grill
> Calories: 760
> Sodium: 760 mg
Pesto Chicken & Burrata Salad with Pret’s Simple Vinaigrette
> Restaurant: Pret à Manger
> Calories: 760
> Sodium: 1,370 mg
Caesar Salad with Chicken
> Restaurant: Maggiano’s Little Italy
> Calories: 810
> Sodium: 1,650 mg
Chicken & Veggie Salad with Crispy Chicken
> Restaurant: IHOP
> Calories: 820
> Sodium: 1,510 mg
Classic Caesar Salad with Atlantic Salmon
> Restaurant: Red Lobster
> Calories: 830
> Sodium: 1,540 mg
Kale and Roasted Brussels Sprouts Salad with Blackened Salmon
> Restaurant: BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse
> Calories: 850
> Sodium: 1,580
Chicken Garden Salad
> Restaurant: Burger King
> Calories: 870
> Sodium: 1,605 mg
Cobb Salad with Fried Chicken
> Restaurant: Zaxby’s
> Calories: 875
> Sodium: 1,905 mg
Crispy Chicken Tender Salad
> Restaurant: Red Robin
> Calories: 880
> Sodium: 1,470 mg
Taco Salad with Beef
> Restaurant: Carl’s Jr.
> Calories: 890
> Sodium: 1,890 mg
Crispy Buffalo Chicken Salad with Bleu Cheese Dressing
> Restaurant: Buffalo WIld Wings
> Calories: 910
> Sodium: 3,180 mg
Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad
> Restaurant: Bob Evans
> Calories: 920
> Sodium: 1,780 mg
Chicken Taco Salad
> Restaurant: Hardee’s
> Calories: 940
> Sodium: 2,060 mg
Crispy Chicken Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing
> Restaurant: Friendly’s
> Calories: 977
> Sodium: 2,189 mg
Honey Mustard Chicken Crunch Salad
> Restaurant: Perkins Restaurant & Bakery
> Calories: 980
> Sodium: 2,050 mg
Million Dollar Cobb Salad with Grilled Chicken and Ranch Dressing
> Restaurant: TGI Friday’s
> Calories: 1,000
> Sodium: 2,520 mg
Double Tostada Salad with Shrimp
> Restaurant: El Pollo Loco
> Calories: 1,010
> Sodium: 1,770 mg
Sunday Homestyle Chicken Breast Salad with Buttermilk Ranch
> Restaurant: Cheesecake Factory
> Calories: 1,040
> Sodium: 2,290 mg
Mediterranean Chicken Salad with Traditional Greens
> Restaurant: Ruby Tuesday
> Calories: 1,060
> Sodium: 3,499 mg
Così Cobb with Così Vinaigrette
> Restaurant: Così
> Calories: 1,087
> Sodium: 1,979 mg
Chicken & Pear Salad
> Restaurant: Miller’s Ale House
> Calories: 1,140
> Sodium: 2,170 mg
Quesadilla Explosion Salad
> Restaurant: Chili’s
> Calories: 1,290
> Sodium: 1,570 mg
Chicken Florentine Salad
> Restaurant: Romano’s Macaroni Grill
> Calories: 1,340
> Sodium: 2,080 mg
Oriental Chicken Salad
> Restaurant: Applebee’s
> Calories: 1,560
> Sodium: 1,610 mg
Barbecue Ranch Chicken Salad
> Restaurant: Cheesecake Factory
> Calories: 2,020
> Sodium: 2,760 mg