The Chipotle salad

The Chipotle chicken salad bowl used to be my favorite guilty pleasure. Sure it had some "bad stuff", but I figured there was plenty of lettuce, tomatoes, and healthy things to go around.

Until I visited ChipotleFan.com.
Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
Calories 775Cal from Fat 465
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 51g78%
Saturated Fat 18g90%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 185mg62%
Sodium 2160mg90%
Total Carbs 34g11%
Dietary Fiber 4g16%
Sugars 21g
Protein 46g
Vitamin A0%Vitamin C0%
Calcium0%Iron0%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
INGREDIENTS: Chicken (4oz),Tomato Salsa,Corn Salsa,Cheese,Sour Cream,Lettuce,Chipotle Vinaigrette

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I used to think I was intelligently cutting corners by forgoing the tortilla, but it looks like you'd need to try harder to get a healthy meal out of a visit to the No. 6 healthiest fast food restaurant.

So what is the healthiest burrito you can construct? I played around with the calculator and considered each category:
  • Wrap? No thanks. That will set you back 15% saturated fat and 25% sodium, unless you opt for mini hard tacos.
  • Rice? Let's skip that too, just to keep the carbs down. But as people suspect, the brown rice fairs better than white, though by negligible amounts.
  • Beans? Black wins over pinto by a hair (more fiber, less sodium). We'll need some filling here, especially if we cut the meat.
  • Protein? I used to think chicken was the healthiest of the bunch, but actually steak looks the best overall. Same inevitable 10% fat and saturated fat, but with half the cholesterol and 13% less sodium. It even has 25% more protein.
  • Salsa? Medium trumps mild (tomato) and hot (red) with half the sodium content. We need some sort of sauce, so we'll go with this.
  • Extras? All the "good stuff" that's really the "bad stuff". Forget your cheese, sour cream, and chips; you don't even want to know their fat content. The salad dressing is surprisingly bad for you, with generous amounts of fat and sodium to go around. The guacamole fares better, but 20% fat and 10% saturated fat don't make up for its 24% fiber (and price hike). In short, you'd have to skip them all.

So besides a larger bill, what does this leaner steak-and-beans salad bowl with mild salsa get you?

Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
Calories 330Cal from Fat 75
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 8g12%
Saturated Fat 2g10%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 65mg22%
Sodium 800mg33%
Total Carbs 28g9%
Dietary Fiber 12g48%
Sugars 5g
Protein 38g
Vitamin A0%Vitamin C0%
Calcium0%Iron0%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
INGREDIENTS: Black Beans,Lettuce,Green Tomatillo Salsa,Steak (4oz)

And what if we pass on the steak altogether for a tasteless bean-and-salsa salad?

Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
Calories 140Cal from Fat 15
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 1g2%
Saturated Fat 0g0%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg0%
Sodium 480mg20%
Total Carbs 26g9%
Dietary Fiber 12g48%
Sugars 4g
Protein 8g
Vitamin A0%Vitamin C0%
Calcium0%Iron0%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
INGREDIENTS: Black Beans,Lettuce,Green Tomatillo Salsa
(Of course, at this point, why even bother ordering?)

I guess I'll have to think twice before visiting Chipotle.

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