New Chick-fil-A Spicy Southwest Salad

fastfoodietofitcutie
fastfoodietofitcutie Posts: 523 Member
edited November 30 in Food and Nutrition
This salad is probably the best "fast food" salad I have ever had. It really is spicy and has a lot of chicken. The reason I'm posting this is more as a public service announcement... it's not macro friendly! The salad including the salsa dressing has 860 calories, 31 grams of fat, 45 carbs, and over 1,600 mg of sodium. I was shocked. This reminds me that I always should look up nutritional information before I order.

Replies

  • julyrunner
    julyrunner Posts: 79 Member
    edited April 2016
    The calories are acceptable if you only eat half and take a doggie bag home for tomorrow... Still pretty high fat and sodium even at a 1/2 portion, but that might not be a deal breaker once a week or twice per month etc...

    I sometimes order "comfort" fast food like Moe's or Chipotle and split a dish over two meals so the calorie count is reasonable.
  • fishshark
    fishshark Posts: 1,886 Member
    salads are actually some of the most calories heavy items and fast food restaurants... example the taco salad and taco bell has more calories then any other items. Pretty common.
  • Cynsonya
    Cynsonya Posts: 668 Member
    Typical restaurant salad sadly. But it sounds delicious, lol. I still eat Chipotle and HotHead about once or twice a month. My bowl has 860 calories. I skip lunch and replace it with a snack instead and fit it in easily.
  • OyGeeBiv
    OyGeeBiv Posts: 733 Member
    I do find it interesting what's considered "salad" at some restaurants. It's almost as if they say "Oh, it has lettuce and no bun. Let's call it a salad."
  • Cynsonya
    Cynsonya Posts: 668 Member
    64crayons wrote: »
    I do find it interesting what's considered "salad" at some restaurants. It's almost as if they say "Oh, it has lettuce and no bun. Let's call it a salad."

    Haha, truth!
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Yeah. I don't let anyone else make my salads.
  • JodieP13
    JodieP13 Posts: 94 Member
    64crayons wrote: »
    I do find it interesting what's considered "salad" at some restaurants. It's almost as if they say "Oh, it has lettuce and no bun. Let's call it a salad."

    POOF! You're salad!
  • CrabNebula
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
    That's why you can't take it at face value when someone claims they are eating salads and not losing weight. Salads do not automatically equal healthy or low calorie.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    fastfoodietofitcutie wrote: »
    This salad is probably the best "fast food" salad I have ever had. It really is spicy and has a lot of chicken. The reason I'm posting this is more as a public service announcement... it's not macro friendly! The salad including the salsa dressing has 860 calories, 31 grams of fat, 45 carbs, and over 1,600 mg of sodium. I was shocked. This reminds me that I always should look up nutritional information before I order.

    Yep, the salads at Wendy's are a prime example of this. A couple of them are actually a reasonable amount of calories and decent macros (not sure of the sodium as I don't track that). Then the other two are yummy but a hot mess for my numbers!
  • Owlfan88
    Owlfan88 Posts: 187 Member
    I find the amount of salad dressing they give you with salads really ridiculous. I usually only use 1/4-1/3 of the packet of dressing if that. Once I factor in my actual dressing amount, I usually find the salads fairly reasonable calories for me. OTOH, I've gotten a good bit more active since I started MFP and then especially my Fitbit, so I have what seems like loads of calories to work with now in maintenance (often 2100-2200+).
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
    64crayons wrote: »
    I do find it interesting what's considered "salad" at some restaurants. It's almost as if they say "Oh, it has lettuce and no bun. Let's call it a salad."

    That is what a salad is though.
  • MommyL2015
    MommyL2015 Posts: 1,411 Member
    People need to come to the realization that just because it has the name "salad" attached to it does not make it low calorie. I did a complete jaw drop when I learned how many calories a salad at Wendy's has.
    CrabNebula wrote: »
    That's why you can't take it at face value when someone claims they are eating salads and not losing weight. Salads do not automatically equal healthy or low calorie.

    Yup, that.

  • kwtilbury
    kwtilbury Posts: 1,234 Member
    fastfoodietofitcutie wrote: »
    This salad is probably the best "fast food" salad I have ever had. It really is spicy and has a lot of chicken. The reason I'm posting this is more as a public service announcement... it's not macro friendly! The salad including the salsa dressing has 860 calories, 31 grams of fat, 45 carbs, and over 1,600 mg of sodium. I was shocked. This reminds me that I always should look up nutritional information before I order.

    Scrape out a good portion of the cheese, ditch the tortilla strips, trade out the creamy southwest dressing for a vinaigrette (and use sparingly). You'll cut the calories in half and make the macros more balanced.
  • cookielover_96
    cookielover_96 Posts: 177 Member
    edited April 2016
    I don't really care about the calories much because I know I don't DROWN my salad in the dressing.
  • kristen6350
    kristen6350 Posts: 1,094 Member
    Salads will most likely be the highest caloric item on ANY menu. And sadly, when you strip off all the lovely things that make it taste good, you have a sad sack of a salad. Typically the only salad I eat is the one I make, unless I find one worth it (AKA the Thai chicken salad at BJ's Brewhouse).

    I'd much rather eat chickin' nuggets when I go to Chick Fil a. But I rarely do fried/fast food any more.
  • CrabNebula
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
    cookielover_96 wrote: »
    I don't really care about the calories much because I know I don't DROWN my salad in the dressing.

    Like that's the only way you can calorie bomb a salad. :p

    Dried fruits, nuts, fried meats, cheese, seeds, croutons, etc.
  • hgycta
    hgycta Posts: 3,013 Member
    My favorite fast food salad will always have to be McDonald's premium southwest salad with grilled chicken! About 330 calories for the entire thing, and you really don't need dressing! It comes with it but I never use it, the cilantro lime glaze is more than enough for me! Super flavorful and recommended ;)
  • Gurney_Halleck
    Gurney_Halleck Posts: 18 Member
    Where did you find that nutrition info? It seems pretty far off from what Chick-fil-a lists on their website:

    http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Food/Menu-Detail/ChickfilA-Spicy-Southwest-Salad#?details=nutrition

    420 cal
    19g fat
    32g carbs (8g fiber, 7g sugar)
    34g protein

    Unless I'm missing something?
  • kwtilbury
    kwtilbury Posts: 1,234 Member
    Gurney_Halleck wrote: »
    Where did you find that nutrition info? It seems pretty far off from what Chick-fil-a lists on their website:

    http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Food/Menu-Detail/ChickfilA-Spicy-Southwest-Salad#?details=nutrition

    420 cal
    19g fat
    32g carbs (8g fiber, 7g sugar)
    34g protein

    Unless I'm missing something?

    I'm pretty sure that doesn't include the dressing (and possibly some of the toppings).
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    edited April 2016
    kwtilbury wrote: »
    Gurney_Halleck wrote: »
    Where did you find that nutrition info? It seems pretty far off from what Chick-fil-a lists on their website:

    http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Food/Menu-Detail/ChickfilA-Spicy-Southwest-Salad#?details=nutrition

    420 cal
    19g fat
    32g carbs (8g fiber, 7g sugar)
    34g protein

    Unless I'm missing something?

    I'm pretty sure that doesn't include the dressing (and possibly some of the toppings).

    The dressing, according to the website, is an additional 290 calories. It has 31 grams of fat all by itself.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    hgycta wrote: »
    My favorite fast food salad will always have to be McDonald's premium southwest salad with grilled chicken! About 330 calories for the entire thing, and you really don't need dressing! It comes with it but I never use it, the cilantro lime glaze is more than enough for me! Super flavorful and recommended ;)

    I agree! I leave off the tortilla strips.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories