We’ve been there. We’ve all tried to be the healthy one that orders a salad at a fast food joint and ended up eating almost the same calories and grams of fat as those who went with burgers. In order to help you know which salads are actually the healthy ones that are worth eating, we ranked the 8 healthiest fast food salads.
8. Arby’s Roast Turkey Farmhouse Salad
Calories: 230
Total fat: 13g
If you are looking for a healthy option but are just too tired of grilled chicken, Arby’s has the best option for you. For greens, they use a mix of different kinds of lettuce. For flavor, they add some roasted turkey pieces, pepper bacon, tomatoes and cheddar cheese.
7. McDonald’s Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad
Calories: 350
Total fat: 12g
McDonald’s salad might not be the healthiest on the list but it is still a good option when you want to order something healthier in McDonald’s. It contains nicely flavored grilled chicken over a bed of greens. Something I really like about this salad is that it not only has romaine, it also contains a mixture of spinach and kale. For flavor they also add black beans, tomatoes, a lime wedge, and some cheddar and jack cheese.
6. Carl’s Jr.’s Original Grilled Chicken Salad
Calories: 280
Total fat: 12g
Carl’s Jr.’s salad is a surprisingly healthy option for how tasty it is. Their grilled chicken and spring mix is really good, but it’s their vegetables that steal the show here. Their cucumber, tomates, and onions are even fresher than they look.
5. Jack in the Box’s Grilled Chicken Salad
Calories: 245
Total fat: 9g
With basically only grilled chicken, tomatoes, carrots, red onions, and cucumbers, this salad is another really healthy option you can order. And if you are feeling like you’ve earned yourself a cheat day, feel free to add some croutons and dressing to it. The calories will increase to 321, but we all deserve a break every now and then.
4. Chipotle’s Steak Salad
Calories: 220
Total fat: 6g
One of the best parts about Chipotle is that you can make it as healthy as you want. The healthiest option here is if you mix together romain lettuce, steak, fajitas, vegetables, fresh tomato salsa and tomatillo green-chili salsa.
3. Chick-fil-A’s Grilled Market Salad
Calories: 200
Total fat: 6g
With the classic combination of sliced grilled chicken and Romaine lettuce, Chick-fil-A earned itself one of our top 3 spots. However, their salad is a lot more different than the others due to their combinations of red cabbage, blue cheese, red and green apples, strawberries and blueberries.
2. Dominos’ Chicken Apple Pecan Salad
Calories: 190
Total fat: 6g
Personally, I’m not a big fan of prepackaged salads, but this is basically the healthiest option you can find at Dominos. Plus, it’s actually pretty good. This salad consists of spring mix, chicken, cheddar cheese, apple slices, cranberries, and pecans.
1. Subway’s Turkey Breast Chopped Salad (No Cheese)
Calories: 200
Total fat: 4g
Another good alternative if you are tired of grilled chicken salads, is to leave out the cheese at Subway and get some turkey instead. Add spinach and iceberg as a good base for the salad and don’t forget to add as many vegetables as you can.
Now, next time you find yourself in a fast food restaurant know that you can still follow your diet with this list. Just remember that with salads the worst part is the dressing. It is mostly just filled with sugar, extra calories, and sodium. That is where the fat really is.