But you may be surprised to learn that many fast food places offer a decent selection of salads and vegetable sides. You heard right: fast food and vegetables both in the same sentence.
These dishes won’t satisfy those carnivorous cravings nor will they live up to your uppity farmer’s market criteria, but it’s always good know some healthy options do exist when you’re on the go and need to eat.
A breakdown of the number of salads and/or vegetable sides at eight popular fast food joints follows. It’s listed by increasing number of options, so the further down you go, the more options you’ll find.
Chipotle: 1 salad
If burritos are your favorite, you may have missed the single salad on Chipotle’s menu. Unfortunately, however, it’s a bit tricky to figure out calorie info because they make you add up individual listings for each ingredient.
Burger King: 3 salads
Yes, that’s right — the King offers his clientele three vegetable options. One of them, the Tendergrill Chicken Salad, has 490 calories and 30 grams of fat.
Taco Bell: 3 salads
Believe it or not, Taco Bell has three salads on its menu. They’re a little heavy on the meat-side, but you could certainly do worse there. If you order the Fiesta Taco Salad, you’ll be getting 770 calories and 41 grams of fat.
Taco Bell also has Mexican Rice on its menu with just 130 calories and 3.5 grams of fat.
Wendy’s: 4 salads Dave Thomas’ chain has a bit more variety salad-wise, although you may want to consider a burger or chicken sandwich when you consider this: the Spicy Chicken Caesar salad has 740 calories and 49 grams of fat. To be fair, Wendy’s also has three baked potatoes — its Sour Cream and Chives Potato has 320 calories and 4 grams of fat — and a side of Mandarin Oranges that have just 90 calories and absolutely no fat.
Carl’s Jr.: 4 salads
If you live near a Carl’s Jr., you’re in luck — it has four vibrant salads to choose from. And here’s the best part — its Hawaiian Grilled Chicken Salad has only 260 calories and 8 grams of fat. (If you want to splurge a little, you could also order a side of fried zucchini, which has 330 calories and 18 grams of fat.)
Famous Dave’s: 5 salads
Unfortunately, Dave doesn’t provide nutrition info on his website. And there may be good reason. Dave’s Sassy BBQ Salad probably won’t do you any favors in the calorie department — it’s essentially meat on a bed of greens, with bacon, cheese and shoestring potatoes.
KFC: 6 salads
The Colonel has quite a few options, including a Grilled Chicken BLT Salad which, without dressing, has 230 calories and 8 grams of fat.
KFC also has a whole lotta sides to choose from: cole slaw has 180 calories and 11 grams of fat; corn on the cob has 70 calories and .5 grams of fat; and a side of green beans has 20 calories and 0 grams of fat.
McDonald’s: 11 salads
If it’s variety you’re after, the original fast food behemoth wins again with a total of eleven salads on its menu. And they seem genuinely good for you — its Premium Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken, for example, has 320 calories and 9 grams of fat.
Image via Saucy Salad/Flickr
