How Many Calories Are in Restaurant Salads?

How Many Calories Are in These Restaurant Salads?

June 30, 2009

Estimating the number of calories for menu items is a challenging task, even for eaters who think they have an eye for making healthy restaurant choices. One person's 400-calorie estimate could be another person's 700-calorie guess.

These dressed up greens aren't necessarily the worst salads in America, but some of their nutritional stats are pretty surprising. Can you guess how many calories are in these salads? Take the quiz!

Source: Getty

16 Comments

danakscully64 3 years 19 weeks

I've recently discovered how awesome Balsamic Vinaigrette is. I make it at home, so I know what exactly is going into it. Many of the store bought dressings are mostly corn syrup and have over 300mg of salt per serving. That's what you're getting at a restaurant too. To be completely honest, over the last few months I've stopped eating out as much and have been feeling much better. I'm probably not eating as much salt, fat, and sugar as I was. Restaurants load their dishes with junk so they taste awesome. You can make an equally awesome dish at home that are healthier using olive oil instead of butter, sea salt instead of table salt, and lots of spices. Cheaper too, much much cheaper. I like to make "fully loaded" salads at home to avoid this mess. I heat up a faux chicken patty (breaded, still less than half the calories or real chicken), buy a mix of greens, make a homemade dressing, cut up some fruit, and sprinkle some nuts and seeds on it. If you're looking for a good homemade dressing, check out Recipezaar (.com) and search for: "Kittencal's Balsamic Vinaigrette" and "Winter Fruit Salad With Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing."

3 years 19 weeks

I rarely eat salad when I go out, but if I do I always ask for no dressing, no cheese, no croutons and substitute it with Balsamic vinegar, fresh lemon juice, and a tablespoon of olive oil. Tastes great!!!

3 years 23 weeks

In my idea, there are few calores the salads. so I eat many salads. Thanks How Many calories in a banana

danakscully64 3 years 46 weeks

1/6, I over guessed the calorie count on 4 of them. The worst part is people go out and order salads and expect them to be the healthier choice. When I was a meat eater, I'd go and get a chicken finger salad... 3 pieces of deep fried chicken, cheese, bacon, and 1000 island dressing. Horrible, absolutely horrible. I eat salads now, but I'm more aware of what goes on (light dressing, variety of veggies, limited amount of nuts, no dairy/meat) :) When I was a waitress, I witnessed firsthand why the American waistline is expanding... people were drinking ranch!

Poppie 3 years 46 weeks

0/6 haha

TeresaB81 3 years 46 weeks

I got 0/6. What a loser! For this many cals I might as well have a baked potato and steak.

BeautifulHealth 3 years 46 weeks

Leave it to American restaurants to take a salad - a meal that is supposed to be healthy - and totally make it a calorie bomb.

cg130 3 years 46 weeks

Yikes! Good thing I always request no dressing, and I never order salads with cheese, nuts, or bacon!

Talldiva45 3 years 46 weeks

Eww - I just about never go out to eat bc. many restaurants don't offer gluten free items for my celiac/crohn's disease. Now I know I am not missing out on much. Damn!

simplyfab87 3 years 46 weeks

I never knew salads could be so unhealthy. Not a big fan of dressings, I usually use fruits and nuts to decorate my salads instead of dressing.

JenDeck711 3 years 46 weeks

Yuck. I never eat at any of these places anyway. Or any chain "restaurant" for that matter.

filmgirl81 3 years 46 weeks

I usually order my salad with dressing on the side, so I end up eating only 1/4 of the dressing, and I say no to any type of fried product or bread product on the salad as well.