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Calories in Salad Toppings

Caution: Salad Toppings Pack On the Pounds

April 7, 2013

A common suggestion to lose weight is to eat salads for meals. While the fresh veggies are healthy and delicious, the tasty toppings of cheese and nuts can really add up — your simple salad could end up containing half a day's worth of calories!

Check out the list of popular salad toppings below, and be extra aware that the more toppings you add, the more calories are going into your body. Salads definitely make excellent meals, but hopefully this nutritional breakdown will help keep your bowl healthy.

Topping	Calories	Total Fat (g)	Sat Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)	Carbs (g)	Fiber (g)	Protein (g)
1/8 cup sliced almonds	80	7	0.5	0	3	1.5	3
1/2 avocado	114	10.5	1.4	5	5.9	4.6	1.3
2 tbsp. bacon bits	50	2	0	220	4	2	6
1 oz. blue cheese	97	8	5.3	381	1.8	0.4	6.2
3 oz. grilled chicken strips	100	1.5	0.5	390	3	0	19

Keep reading to see the nutritional info for other salad toppings.

Topping	Calories	Total Fat (g)	Sat Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)	Carbs (g)	Fiber (g)	Protein (g)
1/4 cup chickpeas	65	0.5	0	15	11.5	2.5	3.5
1/4 cup lowfat cottage cheese	45	1	0.5	240	2.5	0.5	6
1/8 cup craisins	51	0.4	0	0.4	12	0.8	0
10 garlic croutons	100	8	0	350	1	0	6
1 hard boiled egg	78	5.3	1.6	62	0.6	0	6.3
1/4 cup crumbled feta	90	7	4	390	2	0.5	7
1 oz. goat cheese	80	6	4	45	1	0	5
4 olives	25	2.5	0	0	0	0	0
1/8 cup raisins	56	0.1	0	2	14.9	0.7	0.6
1 tbsp. salted sunflower seeds	47	4	0.4	33	1.9	0.7	1.5
3 oz. marinated tofu	120	6	1	480	4	1	13
7 walnut halves	93	9.2	.9	0	1.9	.9	2.2

Toppings like nuts and avocado aren't the only things to add calories to your salad — dressings are the culprit too. So here are 10 salad dressings under 50 calories that you can pour on your greens.

Source: Flickr User Canadacow

9 Comments

Guest44989 1 year 9 weeks

Like others stated, this is kind of an obnoxious post. As Anna mentions, many people are well aware of these items, but it almost suggests that adding avocado, some cheese or nuts to a salad means you're not making a healthy choice. Sorry I don't want to munch on spinach and tomatoes with no dressing for my lunch.

zeze 3 years 11 weeks

I think fit is saying KNOW the amount, rather than topping a cup of lettuce with 1/2 cup of cheese and 5oz chicken and 1/2 crasins, and 20 croutons and two table spoons of sunflower seeds and thinking "I only ate a salad for lunch, I can totally have that large piece of cheesecake later" Knowledge is power is the name of the game, not chicken is bad.

SaraJeanQueen 3 years 11 weeks

Great, so we should skip the grilled sandwiches, burgers and pasta is full of carbs, but salads are horrible for you too!! Geez. I understand the knowledge of it is important -- I mean geez I didn't know that almonds were 52 calories per TABLESPOON -- but what do you want us to eat, Fitsugar, 20 calories per meal? Why is 100 calories for chicken bad? I don't even eat salads very often, but when I do I enjoy reduced fat feta cheese, almonds, craisins and chicken with a rasberry vinaigrette dressing. I know these things don't have 0 calories, but I need energy and I like to eat!!

Spectra 3 years 11 weeks

I eat salads a lot, too. For the most part, my salads are mainly veggies, but I do put nuts on mine as a "treat" and to add some protein. I know how many I'm putting on and I generally avoid most other toppings, like cheese and croutons and creamy dressings. My mom is such a victim of this type of thing...she'll order a salad because it's "healthy", but she tops it with Ranch dressing, cheese, eggs, and tons of bacon bits. By that time, it's pretty much like eating a burger.

ticamorena 3 years 11 weeks

I also eat a salad evey day (either as lunch or dinner) but never put cheese or croutons (I hate croutons) in it, nor dressing (which I also dislike) or bacon (prefer chorizo or jamon); I think if you are eating a salad as a main dish, then by all means put in plenty of healthy protein, like seafood, cured meats, pulses and get fibre from veg in the salad. However, if your salad accompanies a main dish e.g. some pasta or mexican, then keep it totally naked, except for a drizzle of oil - just select interest variety of salda leaves.

staceyny35 3 years 11 weeks

I love Chop't in NYC!!! Chicago has a place like that called Ponte Fresco but it's much cheaper than Chop't and has as many toppings as Chop't.

bluebellknoll 3 years 11 weeks

I eat salad everyday at work and I used to put a few toppings on that were higher calories/fat (croutons, bleu cheese and sometimes nuts). I only do it occasionally now and stick to all veggies & fruit with a small amount of protein. Sigh...it does get boring sometimes though...

lilkimbo 3 years 11 weeks

I don't get that either, chloe. I mean, I enjoy a good Cobb salad from time-to-time, but I'm not under the impression that it's healthy. I go to Chop't a lot (it's a salad place in D.C. and NYC where you can "make your own salad") and I typically get a ton of veggies and one "luxury" item, like goat cheese, grilled chicken, or croutons. Although, there are the occasional days when I want an unhealthy salad and I get goat cheese, grilled chicken, bacon, and croutons. But at least I know it's not healthy! :oops:

chloe bella 3 years 11 weeks

This post makes me laugh because my office recently hosted a free "healthy lunch." I asked ahead of time whether there would be anything vegetarian and was assured that we were having "healthy" salads. Well, it turned out to be Cobb salad, which consisted of a few measly lettuce leaves loaded with blue cheese, bacon, and hard boiled eggs, topped with full-fat blue cheese dressing. Literally, the cheese to lettuce ratio was 1 to 1. I don't know if people honestly think that adding a few pieces of lettuce to a mound of bacon, egg, and cheese somehow converts what is otherwise a saturated fat and cholesterol bomb into a "healthy" vegetarian meal or what. I didn't say anything for fear of sounding like a preachy health nut, but it was really baffling to me.

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