Chick-Fil-A is one of the most popular American fast food chains, so it’s understandable that ‘health’ is probably not the first word that most people associate with this restaurant.
With that being said, more people are now looking for health-conscious convenience food than ever before thanks to the rise of dietary choices such as veganism and keto in an increasingly busy world.
Besides, Chick-Fil-A actually has some of the healthiest menu items when compared to other fast food restaurants.
So, what should you order from Chick-Fil-A if you want to keep your calorie count down and stay within your macros?
We’ll be suggesting 13 of the healthiest options from the Chick-Fil-A menu (see also ‘13 Best Breakfast Menu Items At Chick-Fil-A That You Can Try Today‘) that you should consider for your next order!
13 Healthy Chick-Fil-A Options
1.Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Chick-Fil-A, as the chain’s name implies, is best known for its chicken-based menu items, and the chicken sandwich range is exceptionally popular.
Whereas most of the chicken sandwiches you’ll find on the menu at other fast food restaurants will contain fried chicken (and there are also fried chicken sandwiches at Chick-Fil-A), Chick-Fil-A offers a lower-calorie, healthier grilled chicken sandwich.
This is a great option if you fancy a high-protein comfort meal without all the extra saturated fat that comes with deep frying.
The grilled chicken sandwich at Chick-Fil-A weighs in at a modest 380 calories, including the multigrain brioche bun, with just 12 grams of fat and 28 grams of protein.
You can easily fit Chick-Fil-A’s grilled chicken sandwich into a low-calorie, low-fat diet for weight loss, so it’s definitely the chain’s healthiest chicken sandwich option.
2. Market Salad
Chick-Fil-A has several salad options on the menu, and we’re going to be discussing most of them over the course of this article, but one of our favorites is the Market Salad.
The Market Salad from Chick-Fil-A isn’t the lowest-calorie salad on the menu, but it’s still a healthy meal, with 540 calories per serving.
Health isn’t all about calories, though, as the Chick-Fil-A Market Salad proves with its nutritional content.
In a fairly generous portion of this salad (321 grams) with chicken included, you’ll get 28 grams of protein.
There are also 31 grams of fat in this salad, with only 6 grams from saturated fat and no trans fats.
That means that most of the fats in this salad are healthy and beneficial for your body, so if you want a satisfying yet healthy and nutritious meal, the Market Salad is a great choice.
3. Egg White Grill
Let’s now turn to Chick-Fil-A’s breakfast menu. We all know the importance of getting a healthy breakfast at the start of the day to fuel your body, but many fast food breakfast options miss the mark.
However, Chick-Fil-A’s Egg White Grill is high in protein and healthy fats and contains less than 300 calories!
There are 8 grams of fat in this egg white sandwich and an impressive 26 grams of protein.
Considering we’re talking about a breakfast sandwich, the carb content really isn’t very high either, at 30 grams.
If you want to add even more protein to this order, you can choose to add more egg whites, although this will increase the calories in the Egg White Grill by 30.
4. Kale Crunch Side
The Kale Crunch Side is definitely one of the healthiest options you can order from Chick-Fil-A.
It may be a side dish, but it’s a great one to order if you just want a light snack or if you want to make sure you get some micronutrients alongside a slightly less healthy menu item.
The Kale Crunch Side is basically a kale salad made of curly kale mixed with green cabbage leaves with a mustard vinaigrette and apple cider.
The salad is garnished with roasted almonds.
This is one of the lowest-calorie orders on the Chick-Fil-A menu, with only 120 calories per serving.
From those calories, you get 8 grams of carbs, 9 grams of fat and 3 grams of protein, but the main nutritional benefit is the vitamin and mineral content.
Kale is a superfood that is packed with various essential nutrients, so if your goal is to feel healthier, this is one of the best items you can order from Chick-Fil-A.
5. Grilled Chicken Cool Wrap
If you’re in the mood for some grilled chicken but don’t want it in the form of a sandwich, Chick-Fil-A offers a Grilled Chicken Wrap that tastes delicious and fits within a low-carb diet plan.
The Grilled Chicken Cool Wrap features grilled chicken, cheese and lettuce inside a wrap with a side of avocado ranch dressing.
There are 32 grams of carbohydrates per wrap, so this is not necessarily a suitable order for a keto diet, but if your goal is simply to eat under 100 grams of carbohydrates per day while increasing your consumption of beneficial fats and protein, we recommend this order wholeheartedly.
It contains 43 grams of protein and 45 grams of fat, with just 9 grams from saturated fat and no trans fats.
Chick-Fil-A’s Grilled Chicken Cool Wrap contains 660 calories altogether, so admittedly, it’s not the lowest-calorie option on the menu, but it’s a great healthy choice for when you really need a satisfying meal.
6. Fruit Cup
Many fast food chains now offer fruit options on their menus, and Chick-Fil-A is no exception. Chick-Fil-A offers a fruit cup containing strawberries, blueberries, mandarin slices, and pieces of apple, which makes a great light dessert or snack.
The fruit cup from Chick-Fil-A has just 60 calories per serving and only 15 grams of carbohydrates, so it’s a suitable choice even if you’re trying to limit your daily carb intake.
The vitamins and minerals you’ll get in each serving of the fruit cup are the main reason why this dessert option is one of the healthiest choices you can make at Chick-Fil-A.
7. Spicy Southwest Salad
When we recommended the Market Salad as one of the healthiest options from Chick-Fil-A, we mentioned that the fast food chain also has other salad options you can choose from when you feel like a lighter meal.
The Spicy Southwest Salad is arguably the most popular salad at Chick-Fil-A, and it’s also one of the more healthy choices on the menu.
If you order the Spicy Southwest Salad with spicy grilled filet slices, the entire dish comes to 690 calories, which might sound like a lot for a salad.
However, this just goes to show that a salad can still be a filling and satisfying meal.
Additionally, within those 690 calories you get 29 grams of carbs, 33 grams of protein and 49 grams of fat (10 grams saturated).
That means you could even fit this salad into a keto diet with 20 grams of carbs left within your daily limit.
8. Grilled Nuggets
Sometimes, when you order fast food, all you want is chicken nuggets, even if you’re trying to make healthier choices or lose weight.
We get it, and so does Chick-Fil-A, because the Chick-Fil-A menu offers grilled nuggets as an alternative to the deep-fried chicken nuggets on their menu.
You can order Chick-Fil-A’s Grilled Nuggets in a box of 5, 8, or 12, with 8 being the standard order.
Assuming you go for the box of 8, your order will contain just 130 calories with 25 grams of protein and just 3 grams of fat and a single gram of carbohydrates.
This makes the Grilled Nuggets the perfect order for people who are trying to centralize lean protein in their diet.
You can also choose your favorite dipping sauce to accompany your Grilled Nuggets, although some of these are better for a healthy meal than others.
The Buffalo Sauce is the lowest-calorie dip at just 25 calories, with the Barbeque Sauce and Sweet and Spicy Sriracha coming in second place at 45 calories per serving.
The Honey Mustard and Honey Roasted Barbeque also aren’t too bad from a health perspective, with 50 and 60 calories per pot respectively.
However, you may want to avoid the Polynesian Sauce (110 calories) or the Chick-Fil-A Sauce (140 calories) if you’re trying to reduce your calorie intake.
For a zero-calorie addition to your order, you could get your Grilled Nuggets with a helping of jalapeno peppers.
9. Greek Yogurt Parfait
The fruit pot isn’t the only healthy dessert you can order at Chick-Fil-A!
If you’re in the mood for a higher-protein dessert that really tastes like a treat without adding too many calories to your daily intake, the Greek Yogurt Parfait is an excellent option.
In Chick-Fil-A’s Greek Yogurt Parfait, there are 270 calories, including 39 grams of carbohydrates, 13 grams of protein, and 9 grams of fat.
Some of the fat in the yogurt is saturated, but it also contains a fair amount of healthy, monounsaturated fats which are beneficial for your body.
The yogurt is topped with harvest nut granola, strawberries, and blueberries, which is where a lot of the carbohydrates in the parfait come from.
Alternatively, you could order your parfait with cooking crumbs instead of granola, which actually lowers the calories to 240 and lowers the fat content by a gram, but you’ll be getting less protein and more carbohydrates.
10. Side Salad
The Side Salad from Chick-Fil-A is yet another great salad option.
At 470 calories, you could have this by itself if you wanted a lighter meal, or you could enjoy it alongside one of the other healthy entree options on this list for an added micronutrient boost.
The base of the side salad from Chick-Fil-A is mixed greens, but the greens are topped with shredded Monterey Jack cheese, cheddar, and tomatoes and red bell peppers.
Most commonly, the side salad is served with avocado lime ranch dressing, which contributes 310 of the calories.
However, you can choose from a range of other dressings, many of which are healthier alternatives. iFor example, you could choose the light balsamic vinaigrette (80 calories), light Italian dressing (25 calories), or the fat free honey mustard dressing (90 calories).
The creamy salsa dressing has 290 calories, while the garden herb ranch dressing has 280 and the zesty apple cider vinaigrette has 230.
11. Chicken Noodle Soup
There are few things more comforting than a delicious Chicken Noodle Soup, and the good news is that Chick-Fil-A’s own Chicken Noodle Soup is one of the healthiest options on the menu.
Depending on how hungry you are, you can either order a cup or a bowl of the Chicken Noodle Soup from Chick-Fil-A.
The cup contains 170 calories while the bowl contains 280, so either way, it’s a pretty low-calorie meal.
The cup of Chicken Noodle Soup provides 25 grams of carbs, 10 grams of protein, and 4 grams of fat, while the bowl has 6 grams of fat, 28 grams of carbs and 17 grams of protein.
12. Lemon Kale Caesar Salad
Our final healthy salad recommendation from the Chick-Fil-A menu is the Lemon Kale Caesar Salad.
We’ve already discussed the Kale Crunch Side from Chick-Fil-A, but if you’re in the mood for a more substantial portion of this renowned superfood, the Lemon Kale Caesar Salad is the order for you.
The Lemon Kale Caesar Salad is typically served with the Grilled Nuggets (see above).
The base for the salad is a mix of romaine lettuce and kale, and it’s topped with lemon wedges and shaved parmesan.
Your order will also come with a lemon vinaigrette dressing.
13. Chick-N-Strips
Overall, the Chick-n-Strips from Chick-Fil-A are the least healthy menu item on this list.
However, compared to a lot of the fried chicken options from other fast food restaurants, these chicken strips come in a fairly low-calorie portion.
The Chick-n-Strips come in servings of either 2, 3, or 4.
The serving of 3 is the standard size, and it contains 310 calories, 29 grams of protein, 16 grams of carbs, and 14 grams of fat.
Adding another Chick-n-Strip to your order will add another 100 calories, but also another 10 grams of protein.
You can also add jalapeño peppers or your choice from the selection of Chick-Fil-A dressings to your order.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chick-Fil-A Okay To Eat On A Diet?
If you choose the healthier options from the Chick-Fil-A menu, you can definitely keep ordering from Chick-Fil-A when you’re on a diet.
You might want to avoid getting the higher-calorie or deep fried options on a regular basis if you’re trying to lose weight, but the salads and grilled chicken options shouldn’t compromise your diet as long as you fit them within your calorie allowance.
Is Chick-Fil-A Real Or Processed?
Chick-Fil-A’s chicken breasts are 100% real and have not been ground or processed.
Are Chick-Fil-A Fries Healthy?
We didn’t mention Chick-Fil-A’s fries in today’s article, but at 280 calories per serving, they are much healthier than the fries at most other fast food restaurants.
Final Thoughts
Chick-Fil-A’s healthy menu options prove that you don’t have to exclude fast food from your diet altogether if you’re trying to make healthier choices.
The salads, grilled chicken, egg white grill, and fruit and yogurt desserts are the healthiest items on the Chick-Fil-A menu, so you can still order from your favorite fast food restaurant without abandoning your healthy lifestyle.
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