Low Calorie Menu Items at Chick-fil-a
It is our pleasure *wink* to bring to you, this list of delicious, low calorie menu items from Chick-fil-a!
Diet culture often tells us that there is no place for eating out if you want to be “healthy” or “skinny”, which simply isn’t true.
This article helps give you a guide for how to create low calorie meals when eating out at Chick-fil-a!
Note: All numbers and nutrition facts for this article have been retrieved from the Chick-fil-a company website linked here.
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Low Calorie Chick-fil-a list
Below I have listed 4 of the lowest calorie items on the Chick-fil-a menu for each category. This way, you have options to mix and match your orders at Chick-fil-a, and fuel your body well, even when eating out.
Breakfast Items
They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and it’s true!! How you start off your day can significantly impact the energy you have, your mood, and even your cravings later!
In order to start off on the right foot, it’s a good idea to get some protein in you. Things like complex carbs (such as whole wheat breads), natural sugars (such as fruit and honey), and protein sources (such as eggs, meat, and cottage cheese) can all help you get going in the morning.
Below are some food items from Chick-fil-a that you could eat in the morning to kickstart your day with a tasty (and relatively healthy) boost!
Reminder: Chick-fil-a breakfast is served from 6:30am – 10:30am.
- Fruit Cup – 70 calories
- English Muffin – 140 calories
- Greek Yogurt Parfait – 270 calories
- Egg White Grill – 300 calories
Chicken
Chicken is a lean protein source, meaning that it has lots of protein but little fat or calories.
The nice thing about Chick-fil-a is that they have 2 delicious ways of preparing their chicken: grilled and fried. These 2 types of chicken come in a variety of forms such as nuggets, strips, and sandwiches.
Below are the lowest calorie Chick-fil-a chicken menu items!
- Grilled nuggets (8 ct) – 130 calories
- Chick-fil-a nuggets (8 ct)- 250 calories
- Chick-fil-a Strips (3 ct) – 310 calories
- Grilled chicken sandwich – 390 calories
Sides
I will admit, of all the categories, this one is the most sad. The classic Chick-fil-a waffle fries just don’t make the cut on low calorie sides. However, it’s not a total loss. You can buy the chip form if you’re wanting that salty potato goodness! (Def not the same, but still good!)
While I am sad to tell you the waffle fry news, here is an upside: A lot of these sides focus on adding a vegetable or fruit to your meal, which will definitely help make it more balanced and nutrient dense!
- Apple sauce – 45 calories
- Chicken noodle soup – 170 calories
- Kale crunch side – 170 calories
- Waffle potato chips – 220 calories
Note: You can also purchase the fruit cup or parfait from the breakfast category as a side, since they are served all day!
Drinks
I am always an advocate for water!! I would way rather eat my calories than drink them. However, there are also some lower calorie, refreshing Chick-fil-a drinks you can enjoy!
The tea, juice, lemonade are all high in sugar, but they are definitely better alternatives to the soda or other beverages!
- Water!! – 0 calories – Another 0 calorie drink option served at Chick-fil-a is their coffee.
- Sunjoy (1/2 unsweet tea, 1/2 diet lemonade) – 20 calories
- Kids Apple Juice – 35 calories
- Chick-fil-a Diet lemonade – 60 calories
Sauces / Dressings
If you are a sauce person, I’m sure you love the array of sauces that Chick-fil-a offers to go along with their juicy chicken, sandwiches and salads. However, these sauces are not made equal.
We have sauces such as the ones below that are under 50 calories each, but we also have high calorie sauces such as the famed Chick-fil-a sauce (140 calories, Garden Herb Ranch (280 calories), Creamy Salsa (290 calories), and Avocado Lime Ranch (310 calories).
Just be mindful of this when choosing what dipping sauce or salad dressing to smother your food in!
- Zesty Buffalo – 25 calories
- Lite Italian Dressing – 25 calories
- Sweet and Spicy Sriracha – 45 calories
- BBQ sauce – 45 calories
Sweet treats
We all have a craving for a sweet treat here and there, and these ones are the lowest calorie options at Chick-fil-a!
Note: All the sweets below contain dairy in them. This can be hard for those with allergies. However, dairy is a great source of vitamin D!
- Chick-fil-a Ice cream cup – 140 calories
- Chick-fil-a Ice cream cone – 180 calories
- Frosted Coffee – 230 calories
- Diet Frosted Lemonade – 250 calories
While there is a lot of information in this article, I hope it helps you feel empowered to eat out and feel good about it! You’ve got this!!
High Calorie Chick-fil-a Foods to Avoid
Now I want to preface, I don’t believe there is such thing as “good” foods and “bad” foods. Instead, I try to focus on the portion sizes I eat of high-calorie foods, and what I can add to make it more nutrient filled.
So, while these foods might be deemed high-calorie, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever eat them. You can eat any kind of food you want. However, these foods might be a little more difficult to fit into a healthy daily calorie count.
Note: Need help calculating the appropriate number of calories for someone of your age/gender/size to consume each day? No problem! Try this free, easy-to-use calculator to get your unique number.
High Calorie Chick-fil-a Foods
- Salads – I know. I know. You’ve been sacrificing eating one of the delicious, buttery sandwiches to opt for the “healthy” option. It can feel like the ultimate betrayal! But here are the facts. One of Chick-fil-a’s market salads has 550 calories, the spicy southwest salad has 680 calories, and their Cobb salad has 830!! That means that the Cobb is basically double the calories of a normal chicken sandwich. But if you’re looking for a lower calorie substitute, you can try my salad recipes linked at the bottom!!
- Creamy dressings – If the salads weren’t bad enough, listen to this. A package of the avocado lime ranch dressing has a whopping 310 calories! Along with that, the creamy salsa has 290 and the garden herb ranch has 280. If you choose to use one of these, maybe try adding a bit of the dressing first and seeing if you enjoy it without quite so much! Or, use one of the lower calorie vinaigrettes.
- Side salad – Shockingly, there are over 100 more calories in a side salad than in a medium order of fries! (If you use all the toppings and dressing). Chick-fil-a says that a normal side salad contains 530 calories! Who would have thought?! So while I wouldn’t necessarily call the fries “healthy”, neither is the side salad. Some lower calorie alternatives include the fruit cup, applesauce, kale crunch, or soup.
- Milkshakes – The lowest calorie milkshake that Chick-fil-a offers is a vanilla shake for 580 calories. The others come in at 590 for chocolate or strawberry and 630 for cookies and cream. This means that each one of these shakes has bout as many calories in it as a cool wrap or large salad! If you want that same smooth, creamy texture, maybe sway out the shake for a diet frosted lemonade or ice cream cone!
- Hash Brown Scramble Burrito – Because you can choose your protein in this one, the calories may vary. It gets as low as 650 if you fill it with grilled chicken and as high as 720 calories with the sausage. The regular nuggets bring it to 700 calories……yeah, not great. If you want to make it lower calories, you could always remove the tortilla or take out the hash browns.
- Sausage Egg and Cheese Biscuit – This breakfast item comes in at 620 calories per biscuit! The good news is, you can shave off 200 of those calories simply by ordering it with chicken instead of sausage. That’s a simple change that can significantly impact the calorie count!
- Chick-fil-a Cool Wrap – A lot of people think of the cool wrap as a “healthy” way to eat Chick-fil-a. It is healthier in the fact that it includes nutrients from lettuce, cheese, and a flax seed flatbread layer. However, the trade off is that it is also much higher in calories (660) than other entree options, especially if eaten with the avocado lime ranch dressing (making it nearly 1,000 calories in total!!). If you want to eat this meal, try eating half and splitting it into 2 meals.
If you like this, you might also like
- Chick-fil-a Peach Protein Shake
- Homemade Chick-fil-a Grilled Nuggets
- Crumbl Cookies Calories, Macros, and WW Points
- Calories in a Slice of Pizza from Your Favorite Take Out
- Grilled Chicken Cobb Salad
- Grilled BBQ Chicken Salad
