25 Salads That Have More Calories Than a Big Mac
GoLocalProv Food Team and Graphiq
25 Salads That Have More Calories Than a Big Mac
America is seeing a health revolution. Grocery stores are selling green juices instead of soda and many restaurant menus now flag "gluten free" or "healthier" options. And people looking to stay healthy typically opt for salads.
But what many often forget is that salads can also be unhealthy. When loaded with fat-laden dressings and sugary toppings, they can do more harm to your waistline than a fast-food burger.
Using nutrition data from ESHA Research (named for its founders Elizabeth Stewart Hands and Associates), HealthGrove crunched the numbers to find 25 salads that have more calories than a 530-calorie McDonald's Big Mac. These are just a few of the most calorific salads out there, so you’ll surprised how many blow the iconic fast-food staple out of the water.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST#25. Denny's Chicken Strip Deluxe Salad
Calories: 590
Sodium: 1180mg
If you, for some reason, decide to opt for this salad instead of a stack of Denny's famous pancakes, you won't be cutting very many calories.
#24. Trader Joe's Baby Spinach Salad
Calories: 610
Sodium: 560mg
Just because the name of this salad is "spinach" doesn't mean you're eating air. The blue cheese, dried cranberries and candied walnuts make it more calorific than a Big Mac.
#24. Olive Garden Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
Calories: 610
Sodium: 1230mg
Olive Garden has never been known as a nutritional option, but even its most basic grilled chicken caesar salad packs a whole bunch of fat.
#22. Panera Bread Chicken & Avocado Cobb Salad
Calories: 640
Sodium: 1040mg
One chicken and avocado cobb salad from Panera accounts for almost half of your daily recommended sodium intake.
#21. Johnny Rockets Breaded Chicken Club Salad
Calories: 660
Sodium: 1510mg
The line between salad and deconstructed-sandwich-with-lettuce-sprinkled-throughout is very thin. This dish is more sandwich than salad at 660 calories.
#20. Costco Food Court Chicken Caesar Salad
Calories: 670
Sodium: 2680mg
After a long shopping trip, the food court at Costco seems like an oasis in the desert. But watch out — even a simple chicken caesar salad packs 40 grams of fat and 2680 milligrams of sodium.
#19. Panera Bread Steak & Blue Cheese Salad
Calories: 680
Sodium: 940mg
This salad from Panera packs almost as much sodium as a Big Mac, which has 960 milligrams.
#19. Burger King Chicken Apple & Cranberry Garden Fresh Tendercrisp Salad
Calories: 680
Sodium: 1010mg
Rule of thumb: Opting for a salad at a fast food joint isn't necessarily a healthier choice than a burger. This salad from Burger King is 680 calories, much more than a McDonald's Big Mac.
#17. Taco Bell Beef Fiesta Taco Salad
Calories: 780
Sodium: 1590mg
In general, taco salads are usually more taco than they are salad. The taco shells that hold them also add an extra boost of fat and carbs.
#16. Original Green Burrito Chicken Taco Salad
Calories: 810
Sodium: 1730mg
Like the taco salad from Taco Bell, this salad from the Original Green Burrito is just a deconstructed taco with a sprig of lettuce. No wonder it's 810 calories.
#16. Bertucci's Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
Calories: 810
Sodium: 920mg
A grilled chicken caesar salad at Bertucci's may seem like a light meal or even a side. But it is much more calorific than a Big Mac, and has a similar nutritional value to a chicken taco salad from the Original Green Burrito.
#14. Taco Del Mar Fish Taco Salad
Calories: 840
Sodium: 1320mg
Fish is usually a good, lean option at many restaurants. But in this case, this fish option won't do your waistline any favors.
#13. El Pollo Loco Chicken Tostada Salad
Calories: 860
Sodium: 1430mg
Between this salad's 1430 milligrams of sodium and 42 grams of fat, if you want a light option you're better off not ordering anything at all.
#12. Sbarro Primavera Pasta Salad
Calories: 870
Sodium: 1450mg
The word "pasta" in any salad name should be a tip-off to its nutritional value.
#11. Red Robin Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad
Calories: 873
Sodium: 1705mg
This salad has nearly two times as many grams of fat as a Big Mac (27g).
#10. Carl's Junior Beef Taco Salad
Calories: 880
Sodium: 1780mg
At 880 calories, the Carl's Junior Beef Taco Salad is a poor excuse for a salad.
#10. Uno Chicago Grill's Cobb Salad
Calories: 880
Sodium: 1940mg
The bacon, egg and blue cheese make it more calorific than a Big Mac.
#8. Mimi's Cafe Bacon & Bleu Cheese Salad
Calories: 900
Sodium: 1770mg
This salad is deceptive. Though it seems relatively healthy, its toppings — bacon, strawberries, blue cheese — and dressing are what really raise the calorie count.
#7. Uno Chicago Grill Honey Crisp Chicken Salad
Calories: 960
Sodium: 1770mg
This salad is loaded with extra less-than-healthy toppings and "crispy" (essentially just fried) chicken, adding up to a whopping 960 calories.
#6. The Old Spaghetti Factory Chicken Caesar Salad
Calories: 1120
Sodium: 1820mg
Though caesar salads are widely considered a simple dish, they can be packed with calories — especially if you include their fat-filled dressing. This one passes the 1,000 calorie mark.
#5. Baja Fresh Steak Salad
Calories: 1240
Sodium: 3440mg
If you're on a common 1,200-calorie diet, this salad will take care of the entire day.
#4. On The Border Beef Grande Taco Salad
Calories: 1280
Sodium: 2250mg
You already know that the word "taco" and "salad" are a risky combination. Adding "grande" to the mix is a recipe for disaster — a 1,280-calorie disaster, to be exact.
#3. The Old Spaghetti Factory Cobb Salad
Calories: 1290
Sodium: 2560mg
If the caesar salad from The Old Spaghetti Factory is bad news, the cobb salad (think blue cheese, bacon, egg, etc.) is next level.
#2. Jason's Deli Chili Taco Salad
Calories: 1310
Sodium: 1510mg
And the award for the most calorific taco salad on the list is from Jason's Deli. The added chili isn't doing your diet any favors.
#1. Red Robin Crispy Chicken Tender Salad
Calories: 1348
Sodium: 2325mg
At 1,348 calories, you can forget calling this a salad at all. It has 2,325 milligrams of sodium and 92 grams of fat, making a Big Mac look like a bag of spinach by comparison.
Research More Nutritional Information on HealthGrove
New England's 19 Best Colleges for Food
19. Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA
National Rank: 59
Home to over 14,400 students, Boston College Boston confers more than 4,000 degrees annually in more than 50 fields of study through eight schools and colleges. Routinely included as one of the best universities in the nation, U.S. News & World Report ranked BC 31st among national universities, and Forbes ranked it 26th in its 2012 America's Best Colleges listing.
18. Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH
National Rank: 56
Founded in 1769, Dartmouth is a member of the Ivy League and consistently ranks among the world's greatest academic institutions. Home to approximately 4,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students, Dartmouth was named by the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton as one of the world’s “most enduring institutions” in 2004.
17. Roger Williams University
Bristol, RI
National Rank: 53
Located in Brostol, Rhode Island, Roger Williams University is a leading independent, coeducational university with programs in the liberal arts and the professions, where students become community- and globally-minded citizens through project-based, experiential learning. RWU offers more than 40 majors, a plethora of co-curricular activities, and study abroad options.
16. Saint Anselm College
Manchester, NH
National Rank: 47
Founded in 1889 by the world's oldest religious order, the Benedictines—a Catholic order that has endured and thrived for more than 1,500 years—Saint Anselm is located on a hilltop overlooking Manchester, N.H. Named one of the country's "Colleges with a Conscience" by The Princeton Review, Saint Anselm requires several philosophy and theology courses and the completion of a humanities program entitled "Portraits of Human Greatness.
15. University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT
National Rank: 46
Home to, over 22,000 students, the University of Connecticut is the state's flagship institution of higher learning. Founded in 1881, the UCONN includes 13 Schools and Colleges at its main campus in Storrs, separate Schools of Law and Social Work in Hartford, five regional campuses throughout the state and Schools of Medicine and Dentistry at the UConn Health Center in Farmington.
14. Brown University
Providence, RI
National Rank: 44
Founded in 1764, Brown University is the seventh-oldest college in the United States. Brown is an independent, coeducational Ivy League institution comprising undergraduate and graduate programs, plus the Alpert Medical School, School of Public Health, School of Engineering, Executive Master of Healthcare Leadership and the IE Brown Executive MBA. In 2010, Brown was named by the 2010 Princeton Review as the #1 College in America for Happiest Students.
13. Colby College
Waterville, ME
National Rank: 40
Founded in 1813, Colby is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the nation, and in 1871 it became the first previously all-male college in New England to admit women. Home to just over 1,800 students, undergraduates can choose from 55 majors and 31 minors, or design their own independent major.
12. College of the Atlantic
Bar Harbor, ME
National Rank: 39
Founded in 1969, College of the Atlantic is a small, liberal arts college on Mount Desert Island, off the coast of Maine. At COA each student designs his or her own course of study in human ecology. Whether observing whales from the college's research vessel, pursuing an independent photo-journalism project in the Yucatan, studying international treaties, converting a campus building to solar power, or volunteering on one of COA's organic farms, students at COA learn from experience both inside and outside the classroom.
11. Connecticut College
New London, CT
National Rank: 38
Founded in 1911, Connecticut College is a diverse school with 1,900 students hailing from 45 states and 72 countries. Forbes ranked the school 102nd in its 2013 overall list, and 78th among private colleges. U.S. News and World Report ranked Connecticut College 41st among the top liberal arts colleges in 2012. The school offers more than a thousand courses in 29 academic departments and 7 interdisciplinary programs.
10. Boston University
Boston, MA
National Rank: 36
Founded in 1839, Boston University is home to more than 33,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 140 countries, and 10,000 faculty and staff. It features 16 schools and colleges, and 250 fields of study across two campuses. U.S. News & World Report ranks BU 41st among national universities for 2014.
9. Bates College
Lewiston, ME
National Rank: 32
Home to over 1,700 students, Bates College is a private liberal arts college, which was founded by abolitionists in 1855. It is the oldest oldest continuously operating coeducational institution in New England. The school was ranked 22nd in the nation in the 2014 US News & World Report Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. Home to roughly 2,000 students, Bates offers 32 departmental and interdisciplinary program majors and 25 secondary concentrations.
8. Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT
National Rank: 29
Known for the excellence of its academic and co-curricular programs, Wesleyan University is home to about 2,900 undergraduates—and some 200 graduate students—from all around the world. Founded in 1831, the school 40 undergraduate academic departments and 11 graduate departmental programs in the sciences, mathematics, computer science, music , and psychology.
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
National Rank: 25
Founded in 1861, MIT is home to more than 11,000 students and nearly 1,800 faculty members. It offers 49 major programs and 46 minor programs. One of the most prestigious universities in the country, MIT has been affiliated with 78 Nobel Laureates, 53 National Medal of Science winners, 43 MacArthur Fellows, 27 National Medal of Technology and Innovation winners.
6. Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT
National Rank: 22
Founded in 1800, Middlebury College is home to 2,500 undergraduates from all 50 states and over 70 countries. It offers 44 majors in the arts, literature, humanities, foreign languages, social sciences, and natural sciences. Middlebury became one of the first all-male liberal arts colleges to become coeducational when it opened its doors to women in 1883.
5. Harvard Universtiy
Cambridge, MA
National Rank: 21
Established in 1636, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States. The University, is home to over 20,000 degree candidates, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Harvard has more than 360,000 alumni around the world. Eight U.S. presidents have graduated from Harvard and 150 Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the school.
4. Yale University
New Haven, CT
National Rank: 10
Home to more than 11,000 students, Yale University comprises three major academic components: Yale College (the undergraduate program), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the professional schools. In addition, Yale encompasses a wide array of centers and programs, libraries, museums, and administrative support offices. U.S. News & World Report ranked Yale 3rd among national universities in 2014.
3. Tufts University
Medford, MA
National Rank: 9
Home to nearly 11,000 students, Tufts is a private research university founded in 1852. Tufts is organized into ten schools—including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and the French Alps. In 2013, Forbes ranked Tufts 17th among Research Universities.
2. University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Amherst, MA
National Rank: 7
The Commonwealth's flagship campus, UMass Amherst is a nationally-ranked public research university offering a full range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. Home to 28,236 total undergraduate and graduate students, the school offers 108 bachelor's degree programs, six associate's, 76 master’s and 52 doctoral programs in nine schools and colleges.
1. Bowdoin College
Brunswick, ME
National Rank: 1
Founded in 1794, Bowdoin is home to 1,775 students and 190 full-time faculty members, 99% of which possess a Ph.D. or the highest degree in their field. It was listed as the fourth-best liberal arts college in the U.S. in the 2014 U.S. News & World Report rankings.
